Maybe, for their trouble, people should get gift certificates for the Pickrick or vouchers for all those "private" schools that mushroomed up so long ago to skirt federal law.

Excellent article; the author is sure to receive plenty of grief for it. And many cities went the way of Atlanta, which could be said to be the birthplace of modern conservatism.

Will the people of the south see this and start to change who they select as leaders?

are all run by Democrats... this has nothing to do with party...

sP

Since we Georgians now vote on Diebold machines, I don't see that happening in the near future.

Period!

This is the mess you get.

The ice and snow is a metaphor for all bad things.

Government services are a necessity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, all of which are missing in the South due to weather.

If you can't take care of snow, how can you regulate nuclear or petrochemical industries?

Inept is inept! Too small is TOO small!

The ground is warm in Atlanta, the snow falls, turns to slush and then refreezes as slick ice as temperatures drop and more snow falls on it. This time it happened in mere minutes and while the streets were jammed with cars.

It also doesn't help that downtown Atlanta is the intersection of three major interstate highways, I85, I75 and I20 all of which carry considerable through truck freight traffic. Through truck traffic is prohibited inside the Perimeter highway so all those trucks go around that. Three major interstates worth of 18 wheelers on one stretch of road makes for miserable traffic even on clear and dry days, those were what you saw jackknifed all over the interstates here.

I don't think government would have made that much difference one way or another unless they had just prohibited travel and they weren't going to do that until snow actually started falling by which time it was too late.

This happens once or twice a decade here, this time the timing was just perfectly awful.

to be careful because the rain was first freezing, then it was sleeting, then a light dusting of snow was falling on top of that.

I really don't think people should be calling what just happened in the south, "snow," because what really happened was freezing rain falling on the roads, melting, then re-freezing, then a light dusting of snow on top of that. That's not snow. That's freezing rain with a light dusting of snow on top. There was a 3 inch layer of ice under a 1 inch layer of snow where I live. On the surface, it looks like a winter wonderland, but the minute you step on it, you learn it's slippery as hell because of the layer of ice underneath some very wet snow. When you step on it, you don't get that crunch sound you get from snow. You get a shattering sound where the ice breaks underneath.

I wish some of the people who talk shit about how the south handles "snow" would realize how it works down here. Our daytime temperatures are almost always above freezing in winter. Our nighttime temperatures are usually below freezing in winter. So, part of the "snow" melts, then refreezes into an icy slippery mess. I predict even more troubles today as many try to go back to work and school. The "snow" is still out there because it didn't have time to finish melting. It will be refrozen early in the morning and only melt a little as the daytime temperatures reach today's expected high temperatures.

The exact same thing happens everywhere. The temperature remaining below freezing day and night is actually pretty rare up here. This is why we pretreat the roads BEFORE the storm. Atlanta elected not to spend the money to do that and this is the result.

According to their mayor, they sent the sand trucks out at 9 AM the morning of the storm--before it it. It's not Atlanta itself that is the problem here. It's all of the surrounding towns. The mess you are seeing is not in Atlanta proper, but in the exurbs. Yes, Mayor Reed could have done a better job as far as staggering school and business closings, but most of the blame lies on the governor and the mayors of the surrounding towns and cities, as well as those who permitted the slap-dash development of the metro Atlanta area over the past few decades. The latter is the real culprit here.

who I think is doing a pretty good job of defending himself. As you stated, it is the fault of the mayors or whatever local officials control the burbs and definitely the fault of their asshole governor who thinks blaming the weather people is a winning strategy even when the facts prove he's lying. They took a gamble and they lost huge. But like most republicans, they take responsibility for nothing.

Or, trying their damnedest to pin it all on him. That just bugs the crap out of me. As I said in another post below, they're doing their best to turn him into the next Ray Nagin, which is grossly unfair to him. And, I couldn't agree more about their asshole governor. The fact that this sack of shit was caught in a pack of lies is the reason they're trying to deflect this all onto Mayor Reed. And, given that Mayor Reed is a black Democrat, it will probably work, sadly.

I personally lay the blame to Nathan Deal, but the media is skewering Reed.

once in a blue moon. It's too expensive for just a once in a while thing. You really think we can just shit money to keep stuff like that on hand? You don't know how things are outside your area very well, do you? That is the difference between those of you who live in bigger cities and the rest of us who live out here in what you call "flyover" country. We just don't have that type of budget like the rest of you do.

And they do have the equipment to treat the roads before a storm - the governor has said so. They certainly could have done the major highways (pssst - that's what they do up here in the big city and the surrounding burbs - they don't treat ALL the roads) They elected not to do for for what I expect are money reasons or perhaps even a macho - we can handle this - mentality. They fucked up - I have no idea why people are fighting this notion so badly.

But the points about expanding MARTA are valid. People are scared crooks will ride the train to their neighborhoods. I doubt you'd ever see a crook toting a flat screen riding a train. People should know by now that in Atl., the crooks also have cars! And we can never build enough lanes to keep up with growth.
But as I said on another thread, the Gov and Mayor cant control when businesses close. And school systems make their own choices too. Where I live, all the school systems were closed for the day already. Atl WAS only supposed to get a dusting and most of the snow was to the south.
Everybody has access to the weather and most of those cars on the road were not controllable by any decree of the mayor or governor.

Atlanta is just too spread out, the metro area doesn't have any natural geographical boundaries and has spread to hell and gone, the metro area is over 70 miles across now.

A lot of the commuters aren't going downtown any more, haven't for a long time, mostly they are going from one suburban area to another, something rail transit isn't really good at handling.

I don't know what the answer is but I don't think heavy rail like MARTA is it.

Costs too much to park at the airport. But I think if it expanded along the interstate routes it may make a difference. Another idea which I like but would be hard to implement, imagne MARTA riding in the median of the interstates. While people creep down the road at 15mph, the train goes flying by over and over. I think that would get a lot of folks on board. I know people who live up 85 who would ride if it went further north.
But like you said, if its not more rail, I dont know what it is.

MARTA runs along 400. It should also be built along 75 and 85, all the way to Kennesaw and Buford

to declare an emergency? I know up here in NY if an emergency is called, only official vehicles can ride the roads and everyone else gets ticketed. If he had done that, it wouldn't have mattered what the individual employers did.

about urban sprawl and roads vs public transit in regards to federal funds. It compared Portland, Oregon and Atlanta, Georgia. Atlanta took their funds and built a 2nd massive circular road. Portland took theirs and built downtown public transit and renovated the downtown area. Portland became a mecca of coolness and a great example of how a city should be run. Atlanta became frankensteins monster waiting to finally snap.

Politico's are now blaming a lack of centralized planning but there are multiple factors that caused this. 1) The good ole boy system and the handing out of federal contracts to friends in order to get a kickback. 2) Lack of adoption of progressive policies. 3) Overpopulation and the encouragement of such. 4) The fact that so called leaders actually lead very little these days and instead spend all their time focusing on getting re-elected.

And these problems are myriad across the U.S. The capitol of the South's breakdown highlight's what happens when Republican policies dominate. Portland exemplifies just the opposite.

And an accurate view of the big picture.

You could have found that out on Google maps in about ten seconds.

In fact the property I'm sitting on right now would have been a major interchange on the proposed outer perimeter.

(Georgia Highway 400)

and MARTA runs along 400

Nt

If anything it begs the question.. where did the funds go. Most likely into the good ole boy system and the result is still the same. Highways vs. public transport and adoption of progressive ideas are the primary points of my post.

Self driving electric cars are going to open up a tremendous surge in transportation capabilities.

You don't have to own a car, just hail one on your smartphone, it knows your location and destination before you get it, it has access to any sort of information necessary to get you to your destination as rapidly as feasible, traffic and so on. When it delivers you it picks up the next closest person to hail for a car or goes to a recharging station to freshen the battery.

Building heavy rail at this juncture is so limiting and vastly expensive.

Yes, roads are expensive but we could increase the traffic carrying capacity of our roads considerably under computer control.

Heavy rail is a term of the past. MagLev high speed trains on the other hand would do wonders for Atlanta suburbs. Personally I don't see all those Atlanta desperate housewives with their big SUV's giving up their routines for a self driving electric car.

The problem with infrastructure is that it requires vast amounts of money up front, negotiating for and purchasing land, surveys, preliminary plans, models, engineering studies, environmental impact, building codes and red tape out the wazoo.

Those same SUV driving housewives definitely won't be on your monorail in close sweaty proximity to the lumpenproletariat.

The only thing that's likely to get people out of big cars is really expensive energy prices and that's definitely a two edged sword economically.

A handful of fringe nut-jobs do, then people like you carry their message for them.

He does not speak for anyone but himself and the aforementioned nut-jobs.

And you propagate their nonsense for them.

him keep electing his ilk and don't tell the nut jobs very publicly that they don't agree with them. What rises to the top in the nation is the sound of their shrill craziness. Your voice then is either stifled or is not being used.

Half those people came from snow country...they couldn't have completely forgotten everything they knew about winter survival.

The other half prided themselves on their "smartness" in living in the Sun Belt. They look down their noses at those of us who prefer living through 2 months of polar vortex rather than having to deal with their Dunning–Kruger syndrome...

Thats why the sports teams have a hard time getting solid support unless they ALWAYS win.

They might be able to handle driving in this mess but they discount how many others can't and then get trapped anyway. It's hard to get out of that mindset that expects plows and salting the roads and so forth as a normal thing and they tend to get on the roads when us dumb ass locals know better.

In a couple more days this will all be mostly fodder for people to tell stories about for the next few decades.

because everything was fine until they showed up.

What part of "part of the problem" did you fail to understand?

You know, improved mass transit, or at least attempts to make themselves a little less car-dependent than they are now as Houston East?

No, probably not, not with Republicans in charge.

Has he spoken out on this issue? Just curious.

The last election, they had the chance to vote in regional transportation taxation and it was soundly defeated.

No, no, no, no......these racists in the suburbs are terrified a black man might ride a bus to their door!

that kept these people home? We did here in the Midwest on the worst days.

He was saying that all of the footage that NBC was showing wasn't in Atlanta proper & that Atlanta streets are "80% clear." He kept saying it over and over and over again as if trying to convince even himself, LOL.

We're going through the worst winter in decades here in Michigan, so I see nothing funny about what's happening down south. It's bad enough when you're used to this awful weather, but it can be devastating when it surprises you & hits you upside the head.

They are trying to turn him into another Ray Nagin. They're doing their best to pin this on the black Democrat, when the real blame lies elsewhere. The causes of this mess go far beyond whether or not the streets in the city of Atlanta were properly prepared, especially when most of the gridlock occurred in the exurbs. As the article accurately points out, the main culprit is congestion, that is horrible even in the best weather. And, that congestion is caused by unchecked, unregulated urban sprawl that has been occurring over decades. Why should Mayor Reed have to shoulder the blame for that?

Everyone immediately thinks "South" and therefore "Republican" when it's not true for Atlanta.

Some (not all) of the suburbs are Republican but Atlanta has been Democratic since basically forever.

Here in Richmond, we got snow, lovely 3-4 inches. We already had the salt and sand working for us from our last storm. We get an event like that and schools close, warnings are issued and people take heed. We had a poor response three-four years ago and the mayor got so much flack for not prepping and the cost after the fact was much higher than the prep would have been.

Ranks right up there with the DC/Baltimore nightmare.

With icing on top? - oh god ouch.

to evacuate any major American city due to the very transportation system that would be needed to do it.

Details the history of this well:

3. The transit that eventually was built does not serve the whole region.

In the early 1970s, Atlanta finally got some transit. But the system that was created, MARTA (the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority), serves only the city of Atlanta and the two counties in which its boundaries fall, DeKalb and Fulton. In 1965 and 1971 votes, residents of the other adjoining counties—Cobb, Clayton, and Gwinnett—rejected MARTA, with votes following racial lines. A 1971 compromise hammered out in the statehouse hamstrung the transit authority’s governance, restricting its use of income for operations and service, meaning that MARTA has not be able to add more service or increase frequency even as the region’s population has grown. In the 1990s alone, 650,000 people moved to metro Atlanta, most of them settling in the northern suburbs.

Ironically, as the metro area grew over the past three decades, those suburban counties have become more diverse, more crowded and more congested. But even if those new residents wanted to use MARTA, it wouldn’t be easy for them to do so. There are few connections between MARTA and systems such as Cobb County Community Transit (CCT), which mostly operates bus routes between major commercial centers in Cobb and the heart of downtown Atlanta. Among the stranded vehicles Tuesday were regional buses. Indeed, a CCT bus spun its tires right behind me, to the amusement of those tourists. Clayton County’s bus service was eliminated in 2010, a victim of the recession.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/atlanta-snow-storm-102839_Page2.html#ixzz2rteveWUS

Atlanta is the worst example of unregulated sprawl in the United States.