Happiness for Atlanta Transportation

This November voters in the Atlanta region will decide on a referendum for a new one percent sales tax that would be used to dramatically accelerate spending on transportation projects in Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties.
Like many people I am hopeful that this effort leads to a more balanced transportation system that gives more metro residents a choice of walking, cycling, riding public transportation or driving.
But how and where should this change in thinking start?
Fifteen percent of the funds raised by this tax will go to local governments for any transportation projects they choose, and the remaining 85 percent will fund a list of projects voters can review before the November referendum.
Developing that list is the responsibility of a group of county commissioners and mayors called the Atlanta Regional Roundtable. Its executive committee is now drafting the project list which will be reviewed and approved by the full Roundtable before going to voters in the Fall.
To be sure, most of this money will be spent in service of Atlanta's roadway empire, based on the tired assumption that we need and want more pavement and more elaborate intersections. And as has history always shown us, the result will eventually take us back to where we started.
There are better ways of approaching this.
Each of those taking part in these decisions, including Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, should first read The Politics of Happiness, a delightful essay written in 2004 by Enrique Penalosa. He writes how, as mayor of Bogotá, Columbia, he cast aside this old way of thinking in favor of an approach that considers what really makes a city a great place to live.
Like all bustling world capitols, Bogotá struggles with traffic congestion and air pollution. They also face societal problems such as crime and poverty.
Perhaps, Penalosa assumed, transportation policy goes farther at influencing public well-being than simply providing mobility.
Instead of spending $600 million on a new freeway, he decided to spend $300 million on a modern bus system serving all parts of the region. They created hundreds of pedestrian-only streets, parks, plazas, and bike paths, planted trees, and got rid of cluttering commercial signs. They constructed the longest pedestrian-only street in the world, through some of the poorest neighborhoods in Bogotá.

All this pedestrian infrastructure shows respect for human dignity. We're telling people, “You are important—not because you're rich or because you have a Ph.D., but because you are human.” If people are treated as special, as sacred even, they behave that way. This creates a different kind of society.

This makes me think how our roadways and our parks share the same status in that they are both forms of public space: our space.
As you move about Atlanta's roads, ask yourself what you see in terms of the public realm. All of those elaborate turn lanes, traffic signals, billboards, parking lots, the dearth of trees, safe sidewalks and bike lanes...send the message "we are trying to get you there as quickly as possible, sorry if it isn't happening that way."
What if we instead thought of the journey itself as having an intrinsic value?
What if at least some of our public realm serves our needs for transportation and for recreation, social contact, and reconnecting with nature?

A city is successful not when it's rich but when its people are happy. Public space is one way to lead us to a society that is not only more equal but also much happier.

Let's not forget that we have our share of societal problems with crime and poverty. We, too, can make smarter transportation policy decisions that will make our communities more livable.

- As always, thank you for reading and stay in touch!