My Athens

Athens: Not Cheap to Live Here if You Count Transportation Costs

According to the Housing + Transportation Affordability Index, most of Athens-Clarke Co. is not an especially affordable place to live. That's because our location efficiency is low--which is to say, most of us live in not very walkable neighborhoods and have limited access to transit.

The index, a tool created by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, gauges the true cost of living in a particular places by factoring in transportation costs along with the cost of housing itself. Traditionally, housing has been considered affordable if it costs 30 percent or less of a household's income.  In contrast, this housing and transportation index defines affordability to mean combined transportation and housing costs should consume no more than 45 percent of household income.  By this measure--if I'm interpreting things correctly--most of Athens-Clarke Co. is not in the affordable range.

Here's the link for the Athens region.  In addition to looking at combined housing and transportation costs, you can separate them out and also explore gas costs and greenhouse impacts by region. It's not the most intuitive site, but it's definitely worth a look.

(Via Discovering Urbanism)

Lower Bus Fares? Not Ambitious Enough

Well, actually, lowering bus fares is not a bad idea. If you want to give low-income people a break and attract increased ridership, this is a reasonable suggestion.

But there's a better idea: expand service and make it free.

Doing this will save poor folks more money, will likely prove more effective at attracting new riders--and will benefit the community in other ways as well.

This idea is not as crazy or as fiscally irresponsible as it sounds. Read on!

Lower Fares Effort

According to this Athens Banner-Herald article, the Athens Bus Campaign, an effort led by anti-poverty activist Michael Smith, proposes cutting bus fares by 25 cents (from $1.50 to $1.25 for an adult fare). Smith says the fare reductions would not only cut expenses for low-income people who ride the bus everyday but would also attract more ridership and thus fill the budget gap created by the reduced fares.

Not bad logic.

But like some other folks, I'm not convinced that lowering the fares by 25 cents will--by itself--do much to attract new riders. I think Athens Transit Director Butch McDuffie is right when he says the most effective way to boost ridership is "to make your service more frequent and available."

Shaving off 25 cents for two rides a day, five days a week, most weeks of the year (25 cents x 2 rides x 5 days x 48 weeks) cuts transit costs by $120 a year--which is a modest, but real savings for low-income folks. This is a viable way for a local government to actually do something to help low income folks directly. Free, however, is an even better deal (surprise!). Compared to today's today's current $1.50 fare, paying nothing would save riders $720 annually.

Going Free

So, if we really want to boost ridership and also cut costs for low-income riders, here's what we need to do as I suggested in an earlier post: increase the frequency of service, add more routes, extend hours of operation--and offer free rides for everyone, all the time.

"Hold on," you may say. "First of all, even if we could afford to do this, not everyone rides the bus. So why isn't it fair to charge actual users for their use?"

Well, to paraphrase Aaron Renn, who runs Urbanophile, a blog about cities, no one is charged to check out library books or to take a walk in county park even though not all of us take advantage of these services.  Police officers and fire department workers don't ask for tickets or fares when they respond to emergencies.  And, there are plenty of other public services that aren't used by everyone but are paid for by us all: schools, is just one example.

"OK, then sure," you may continue, "free is great in principle but we simply can't afford to give out free bus rides in this fiscal climate. Free buses are a pipe dream!"

Affordability

We might not be able to afford it. That's true.

But consider this: the bus is already roughly 64 percent "free." Which is to say that only 36 percent of revenues for the bus come from passenger fares (which includes UGA's payments)--the rest is government subsidy (20 percent fed, 44 percent local).

In 2000, the bus system cost about $2.3 million to operate. (These decade old numbers are the only ones I could find on the Athens Transit web site.) If current costs are comparable, that means we'd only need to kick in another $840,000 or so to fund the system at its current capacity. But we want more buses and more bus stops and shelters--so let's say we'll need three times that amount or $2.53 million every year.

That's a big number for a smallish city in a bad recession--and there's no chance that Athens taxpayers will support that increase.

So, is that it? The smoke has cleared; the dream has died?

No, because while $2.53 million looks big from a local perspective, it's not so big if we can boost federal, and--potentially--state contributions.

Of course, getting these extra funds won't be easy. We may, in fact, have to help create the federal and state programs we'll need. So, this is probably a good juncture for me to confess that my proposal for a free and expanded bus system is--unlike Michael Smith's more modest, more locally-focused and easy-to-implement fare reduction proposal--a multi-year project.

Scaling Up

But I think the downside of the longer time horizon could be compensated for by the upside that an ambitious, creative campaign for a free and expanded bus system would generate. Done right, such a campaign would capture lots of positive attention for Athens--and might just put us in a position to actually receive and spend new federal and state funds to build a truly outstanding local transit system.

And remember: we're not starting from scratch here. Athens Transit is already progressive, creative and well-run. College students and faculty already ride for free. We've got some nationally recognized bus shelter designs. There's a relatively new, really nice Multi-Modal Transit Center.

What's needed is an ambitious and detailed plan to scale up. Let's deploy enough buses to dramatically reduce wait times and expand hours of service. Let's plan very simple direct routes, and have many of them converge downtown to create a very frequent "circulator" route.  Let's put up more really cool bus shelters. Let's scrap the tacky advertising. And let's work with other small cities in Georgia and across the country to build a coalition to advocate for federal and state funding of free bus systems.

By the way, it's possible that a well-designed free bus system will do a lot more than cut transportation costs for citizens, reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality. Such systems may prove attractive to employers. Potential employees may find free bus service very appealing, and--by and large--employers locate where they can most easily find employees.

Importance of Being Ambitious

Now, before one's natural pessimism kicks-in again, please note that there are reasons to be hopeful about the prospects for increased federal and state funding for local transit programs--at least post-recession.

On the federal front, federal transportation spending priorities are changing at least a little in favor of mass transit. For example, as part of stimulus spending, the Federal Department of Transportation in February awarded $1.5 billion in Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants.  More than half of that money went directly to local jurisdictions for a range of projects, including streetcars to link working class neighborhoods to downtown areas and to fund local multi-modal transit centers.

National transportation advocates are lobbying for billions in additional funding for bike lanes, buses, light rail and sidewalks--and, for the first time in recent memory, aren't being dismissed as quacks by politicians.

Even on the state front here in Georgia, there seems to be increasing recognition of the need to--maybe--do something about reducing traffic congestion other than building more roads and freeway lanes.

Plus it's likely that gas prices will start climbing a bit more aggressively--on average--as the years pass and generate more support for mass transit.

Here's the deal, though: unless there's ambition there's no plan; and unless there's a plan, there's little chance of getting funded. Because Georgia had no plans and had demonstrated very little interest over the years, the state got passed over for high speed rail funds. Let's avoid that mistake locally. Let's get ambitious and start planning now.

Free the Bus!

Go Free and Multiply!

Buses Unleashed!

Fare is Free, Free is Fair!

Buses Should be Free Like the Country and Flagpole!

(Clearly, a good slogan is needed. Any suggestions?)

* * *

APPENDIX: Advantages of Going Free (adapted from a post by Aaron Renn)

1.  No fares = no expensive fare collection equipment, and no cash box related accounting, security, etc.

2.  No fares = quicker bus boarding, less bus idling time.

3.  No fares = really good way to boost ridership.

4.  No fares = great city marketing asset.

Free "The Bus"?

Local bus systems can't survive without lots of subsidies from government, and Athens Transit is no exception.

So, to help turn local bus service into a power tool for economic development--and this is not counting its anti-pollution and traffic safety improving effects--subsidize it even more.

In fact, drop the whole (rather expensive) exercise of collecting fares. Instead: increase the frequency of service, add more routes, extend hours of operation--and offer free rides for everyone, all the time.

It might work, at least according to this article which notes what a "distinct chorus" of transit advocates are suggesting.

Of course, we'd probably need to get the state to start chipping in on the subsidy front, push for some rejiggering of federal transportation aid, and start considering local subsidies as investments in economic development...but all this might be doable if cities--including small ones like Athens--started pushing more aggressively and intelligently for their interests.

(Via Planetizen.)

Summer Smell Map of Athens

Click here to check out a map of the summer smells of New York City's various neighborhoods.

What would a summertime smell map of Athens, Ga. look like? What are standout odors of downtown? (Beer, cigarettes, hamburgers, vomit... what else?) What's the smell profile of your neighborhood? Does UGA campus smell like anything in particular?

Image credit: Jason Logan, New York Times

Ben Emanuel Answers My Questions

By Dan Lorentz

For those of you who don’t take notice of bylines, Ben Emanuel writes about local government and politics for Flagpole Magazine.  He pens the City Dope column.

To help me better understand my new hometown, I asked Emanuel a few basic questions about the landscape of local politics here in Athens.

I’m glad I asked him my questions when I did. In September, Emanuel will mark his fourth—and, it turns out, final—year as city editor for the weekly paper. This fall he will be transitioning out of local journalism and into environmental advocacy and watershed protection.

Q. Every community seems to have a set of durable conflicts that shape local politics. What are the key conflicts in Athens? Who are the major players?

A. Certainly there's the longstanding issue of town-gown relations—both cooperation and conflict—in all its permutations. The multitude of permutations means that town-gown conflict can take shape through any number of issues, from homeowner-renter/student conflict. For example,  the single-family zoning issues and the rental registration ordinance, early in Heidi's [Athens-Clarke Co. Mayor Heidi Davison] first term), to conflict over the growth of the university (where did that new parking deck at the intramural fields come from?!).

In the end, of course, all the town-gown stuff basically boils down to economics—pretty paradoxical economics. The smallest county in the state has a lot of state-owned land that's off the tax rolls, although not all the UGA Real Estate Foundation's land is off the rolls, [UGA director of community relations] Pat Allen pointed out to me once.  But then again, would Athens even be here if not for UGA?

This economic angle leads straight into a more cultural dimension of the same thing: the resentment that many locals feel toward students, despite the obvious relationship that, for example, [Flagpole Magazine publisher] Pete McCommons hit on in a Pub Notes column at this time of year, two years ago: "This is where Athens gets really strange. It's why we're here, really, as much as the students. You may not personally brighten at the prospect of liquored-up red hordes, but you benefit from them. They bring you money, whether directly or indirectly, and their cash helps keep Athens weird and also reminds us why we want it so."

Another key conflict, while not nearly as old as that one, is growth. In terms of the sprawl angle, this conflict is maybe just a decade or two old, but it's still a defining one—in part because Athens has tried to take a different approach to the issue from the rest of north Georgia.

Of course, "growth" to some means general economic growth, not just land development, so then you get into economic development issues like NBAF [the proposed National Bio- and Agro- Defense Facility] or even the Enron (!) thing several years ago. [Enron thing=the controversy that erupted in 2001 about Athens-Clarke Co.'s efforts to encourage Enron to build and operate a 560 megawatt natural gas power plant in the county.]  The major players are: environmental/land use advocates, economic development/Chamber of Commerce folks, local government (on both sides of the equation).

There's also the not-really-all-that-often discussed matrix of race issues, with poverty issues intersecting heavily. There's Athens/Oconee Co. stuff, with so many upper-middle-class Clarke Co. workers living in Oconee.

Let's close for now with the intra-government conflict between Athens-Clarke Co. (ACC) elected officials (and their constituents) and ACC staff. Since, under the ACC charter, the manager's office holds a lot of power and the mayor is basically assigned the task of herding cats on the commission (okay, along with some other things), many people see this as an ongoing friction that's important. It is, but sometimes I think this friction is overstated.

Q. There will be a few major stories about the upcoming 2010 mayoral election in Athens. What will they be? Speculate. [Note: I asked this question just before Spencer Fyre, executive director of Habitat for Humanity in Athens, announced he was setting-up an exploratory committee to raise funds for a possible run for mayor.]

A. Well, it'll depend who's running, won't it?

It's fair to say that Charlie Maddox and Nancy Denson appear be trying to line up support very early, but I tend to think there will be at least another fairly serious candidate or two before it's all said and done. Sorry, but at present I don't see either of the college students who are running as serious candidates.

If we assume that there's an additional candidate (or candidates?) on the left end of things, then I think we've got a story along these contours: What's next for the whole general liberal-progressive agenda which has taken hold in Athens over the past decade? The commission has changed character almost completely in 10 years, and while there might be a few seats up for grabs in 2010, outside of District 7 [seat currently held by Commissioner Kathy Hoard] it's hard to see the general bent of the commission changing much.

But it has taken several years (a) for the mayor and commission to fully turn over, and (b) for the body then to find its footing and learn how to advance a progressive agenda in the most efficient ways.

So, I think it's already an open question about where we're headed as a sorta-working-on-progressive city, and it makes sense to me that that concern would be crystallized in the mayor's race. But I'll admit it's my own bias to see that as a big issue.

But there's also economic development. All candidates will have to be thinking about it. A relevant question: What have various folks learned from the NBAF thing?

Just one more issue: charter review. I don't know and can't say how it will come up in the election, but it's supposed to happen soon thereafter, if I understand correctly. Periodic review of the ACC charter is built into the document itself; open questions may well pertain to the form of government here. Could get interesting.

Q. A little history lesson, please. How has the commission changed almost completely in 10 years? What drove the change?

A. In a nutshell, it's just that the mayor and commission, as a body, has shifted toward a strong predominance of liberal-progressive political perspectives. You can see the contrast most starkly in seats like District 5, where David Lynn replaced the late Hugh Logan, and in the mayor's seat, where Heidi replaced Doc Eldridge. Even if most folks around here were called Democrats back then (and Doc was, in case you don't know), they were traditional centrist/conservative "Democrats" (or good old boys, as some would say). I don't want to overstate it—after all, Gwen O'Looney was mayor before Doc, and if Gwen wasn't a break with tradition...

Basically, you now have folks in elected office here who value environmental protection, neighborhood protection, who are socially liberal and who seem to be interested in promoting the kinds of things a progressive city promotes, from bike lanes to partner benefits to vigorous recycling and on down the line. I guess that's fairly obvious to a newcomer, but just remember that we are a smallish Southern town, so—like anywhere—things haven't always been this way!

What drove the change? I don't know—maybe the townies and the liberal profs and their kids all just finally built up enough critical mass to win elections? Maybe certain issues—like land use/ sprawl/ growth—catalyzed political change? I wasn't around back then (er, okay, I technically was around starting in the very late '90s, but I was in college, and NOT paying attention to this stuff), so I have to say I really wouldn't know.

There's probably a lot in what I've written above that long-timers here could and would correct or finesse!

Q. Who cares the most about the outcome of the 2010 mayoral election? Which people? Which constituencies or interest groups are hungriest to win?

A. I'm not sure I know yet. I've already made clear here, I think, that I tend to think from the liberal-progressive (and enviro) perspective, and I think that that whole crowd will be very interested in holding onto their gains of the last few election cycles while also laying a foundation to continue moving their agenda forward. So I think those folks are hungry to win for those reasons.

Is the Chamber of Commerce/ Republican crowd hungry to win back City Hall? Maybe, but we're not really seeing it yet. And if they are, they might need to find a stronger candidate than what they've got. Who knows: maybe they will find someone else.

Meanwhile, for some people there's probably a very real question of how much the mayor's race matters, on account of our form of government. It will matter, though, to enough people, at least as much as past unified government mayoral elections have: after all, you could say that change is still underway here, and has only begun but is not fully accomplished. And you need a mayor to direct that change, most likely.

So personally, I see the race in those terms: the folks who want to see a truly progressive city here probably feel the need to keep working hard and lay the groundwork for continued progressive change. This may be a narrow perspective on my part, but hey: it's early yet. It may well be that a lot of people will express their preference for a moderate political position (or conservative, for some), but I don't see them as "hungriest." That's just me!

Q. Local government officials have recognized and are dealing with a host of challenges facing the community. Are they missing anything? What challenges aren’t getting the attention they should?

A. I tend to give our local officials a lot of credit on this front. I'd be tempted to say that air quality doesn't get quite the depth of attention it really needs, but then again it was a topic at this month's Mayor & Commission work session (see John Huie's story in Flagpole), and apparently ACC Environmental Coordinator Dick Field made the argument there that we've done a lot to improve the situation already.

To take another example from last week's Flagpole, homelessness is a growing problem, which everyone's aware of, but I think it's fair to say that the problem is outstripping the "solution infrastructure" at present.

That's not really the kind of thing you're asking for, I realize, but I'd guess (purely a guess) that you could say the same about a lot of social-service issues right now. For instance, it seems like out-of-school opportunities for middle- and high-schoolers are light here compared to bigger cities, but I've heard folks recently talking about getting those kids into work readiness stuff and other programs.

That's the thing about Athens: most stuff is probably on the radar, but a whole lot of stuff probably also needs attention in more depth. But I'm probably missing something!
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This interview was conducted via email. The text published here is an ever so slightly condensed and edited version of the actual exchange, and has been reviewed by the interview subject.