OK .. so this is Atlanta.  But it’s a lesson for so many other places in the country on wasteful government spending on favored political projects.  In California it’s that high-speed rail line from Los Angeles to San Francisco that will cost billions of dollars and never turn a penny of profit … if it’s finished at all.  In Florida it’s the idea of a high-speed line from Orlando to Tampa that Governor Rick Scott has thankfully killed.  In Atlanta it’s not a high-speed rail line, it’s a trolley, or street car if you will, from Centennial Olympic Park to the Martin Luther King Center. 

Ringing the “I told you so” bell --- I’ve been warning Atlanta residents ever since this trolly was announced that it would cost far more than the politicians are telling us.  Just last week the projected costs were increased by $20 million. 

Why is this trolley being pushed?  One reason would be jobs.  If you can’t create a business and tax climate where the private sector will willingly create jobs, then just take taxpayer money and do it on your own.  Secondly … there’s the King Center.  Visits to the King Center have not matched earlier projections, and if Atlanta is going to be known as the cradle of the civil rights movement, then more people simply have to visit the King Center.  The political class believes that building the trolley from Centennial Olympic Park, which receives millions of visitors a year, to the King Center will boost King Center visitors. 

Well here’s an idea I floated that didn’t get anywhere … which was no real surprise to me or anyone else.  Put a booth in the middle of Centennial Park with a sign that says “Directions.”  Staff that booth with a literate and pleasant-smelling urban outdoorsman capable of counting – and ask that person to count how many times a tourist comes to the booth in the space of one month asking for directions to the King Center.  You will soon have your proof that the trolley is simply not needed and will be nothing but a waste of taxpayer funds and a continuing drain on the Atlanta budget. 

Right now there are city busses that run the exact same route.  Why the trolley?  After the initial curiosity dies down that trolley will service the transportation needs of only the same people who are riding the busses right now.  Someone needs to step forward right now and put an end to this waste of money.  Nobody will, however … because there’s a racial component to this project.  One of the true designs is to boost visitorship to the King Center.  As anyone could tell you … that would be raaaaaaaaacist!