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OpEd a* * liiL i JfjT / ww \ mnst 'rVk I ora h y \ iwuawEp* I Js\V/X y <. wdnHß\ *■( \3k~. --- Letter policy The Forsyth County News wel- , comes your opinions on issues _, of public concern. Letters must be signed and include f ■A\ 71 full address and a daytime j*7 I and evening phone number H £ 1 zi I for verification. Names and rL| /jfi / hometowns of letter writers | vtjKl mW / will be included for publi- / cation without exception. Telephone numbers will not »' be published. \\ Letters should be limited to 350 ' ' words and may be edited or con- 7 \ densed. The same writer or group may /> only submit one letter per month for consideration. \ Letters must be submitted by *| | H noon Wednesday for Sunday pub- i ’. H lication. We do not publish poetry ft ill Hy or blanket letters and gener ally do not publish letters concerning consumer com plaints. Unsigned or incorrectly identified letters will be withheld. Mail letters to the Forsyth County News, P.O. Box 210, Cumming, GA 30028, hand deliver to 302 Veterans Memorial Blvd., fax to (770) 889-6017 or email to editor@forsythnews.com. Democratic candidates get support from Clarke WASHINGTON Former counterterrorism aide Richard Clarke called himself a regis tered Republican in criticizing President Bush, but his only listed political contributions during the two most recent election cycles have gone to former colleagues running as Democrats for Congress. In 2002, Clarke contributed $2,000 to Steven Andreasen, who headed arms control policy in the Clinton administration's National Security Council (NSC) and was running for Congress in Minnesota. Andreasen was defeat ed by Republican Rep. Gil Gutknecht. This year, Clarke has given SI,OOO to Jamie Metzl, another Clinton-era NSC staffer. Metzl is running for the House seat from Missouri left vacant by the retirement of Democratic Rep. Karen McCarthy and so far has raised far more money than any other candidate. Conferring with Clarke Prior to his testimony Wednesday before the independent 9/11 commission, Richard Clarke conferred privately with one of its Democratic members, according to commission sources. These sources say Clarke huddled with Tim Roemer, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana. Roemer’s subsequent questioning of Clarke contained a few barbs but consisted largely of open-ended questions giving the witness a chance to criticize President Bush. Roemer confirmed he had met “a couple of times with” Clarke, as he said he had with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and CIA Director George Tenet. “Nobody coaches Dick Clarke," Roemer added. One reason why House Speaker Dennis Hastert unsuccessfully tried to curtail the com mission’s activities on schedule was the pres ence of Roemer, his former congressional col league. Hastert regards Roemer as a partisan who attempts to project a bipartisan image. Kerry’s dividends Sen. John Kerry’s campaign Web site has wiped out past information about his record, including a 2002 speech opposing the income tax on dividends. He changed his position after President Bush in January 2003 proposed repeal of the dividends tax. In a speech prepared for delivery to the City Club of Cleveland on Dec. 3, 2002, Kerry said: “We should attempt to end the double taxation Robert * Novak yr ending double taxation of dividends.” However, Kerry never has actually voted to end double taxation of dividends. Last May 23, he voted against partial repeal of the dividends tax pushed by Bush. Newt’s warning Called on for advice by a group of conser vative Republican House members, former Speaker Newt Gingrich suggested a coming political disaster on Medicare unless the GOP launches “an entirely new dialogue.” Gingrich’s one-page summary to his former colleagues warned that the increased estimates of Medicare costs caused by President Bush’s recently enacted legislation “are going to cause an explosion among fiscal conservatives and give the Kerry campaign new ammunition.” To counter this threat, Gingrich called for a “transformation” of heath care that would cut by SSOO billion the estimated $5 trillion to be spent by the federal government over the next decade. He advocated “preventive care, early detection and best outcomes-based practices.” Big money weekend Big money fund-raisers for the Bush- Cheney campaign have been invited to a luxury resort in Georgia owned by George W. Bush’s national finance chairman, to golf and to dine with the president and vice president on succes sive evenings, April 1 and 2. It will take place at the Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation, in Greensboro, Ga., an hour and a quarter driving time east of the Atlanta airport. Co-owner of the property is Mercer Reynolds, the former Bush business partner who resigned as ambassador to Switzerland to head the Bush-Cheney cam paign's fund raising. Invited, along with their spouses, are Rangers (who have collected at least $200,000 for the campaign), Pioneers ($100,000) and Mavericks ($50,000 raised by people under age 40). That amounts to about 500 people dining with Vice President Dick Cheney April 1 and with President Bush April 2. Robert Novak is a nationally syndicated columnist. ! / Numbers don’t justify state railway By Benita M. Dodd Georgia Public Policy Foundation There are three ways to spend a lot of money, goes the saying: high living, gambling and maintaining a railroad. The first is the most fun; the second is the most exciting; the third is the most sure. The current headstrong rush to romance rail in Georgia is evidence that the expression isn’t familiar to transit propo nents, transportation leaders and community leaders who continue to insist that commuter rail between Lovejoy and Atlanta, and eventually on to Macon, is a ticket to cost-effec tive congestion relief. Gung-ho mayors have pledged that their constituents will cover any shortfall in the proposed service's operating and maintenance costs; the Georgia Department of Transportation has estimated a $4 million to $5 million annual operating shortfall. An enthusi astic House Transportation Committee member recently told the DOT board’s inter modal committee, ”The only problem we have is we don’t think you’re moving fast enough." This month, a DOT board resolution ordered the department to begin negotia tions with the rail corridor owner, Norfolk Southern, which also is willing to discuss operating the service. State leaders need to put the brakes on this project and insist that transportation officials take the necessary time to re-evalu ate the questionable expecta tions of the proposed service, including cost estimates; rider ship assumptions; time efficien cy and congestion relief. Such questions are not unique to this commuter rail proposal: Costs are underesti mated in nine out of 10 trans portation infrastructure projects, according to a 2002 study reported in the Journal of the American Planning Association. For rail projects, of dividends.” That position by the prospective Democratic presidential nominee goes back to 1990 during his first Senate re-election campaign in Massachusetts, when he claimed pro-business creden tials by saying: “I supported actual costs are on average 45 percent higher than estimated costs. "The key policy implication for this consequential and high ly expensive field of public pol icy is that those legislators, administrators, bankers, media representatives and members of the public who value honest numbers should not trust the cost estimates presented by infrastructure promoters and forecasters,” the authors warn. In the case of the Lovejoy- Atlanta line, the assumption is that by the anticipated startup in September 2006, rail propo nents will have persuaded motorists within a five-mile radius of the Lovejoy, Jonesboro. Morrow, Forest Park, East Point and Atlanta sta tions to give up driving and ride instead in used coaches pow ered by used locomotives on an upgraded freight line shared with Norfolk Southern. The one-way fare for the 26-mile, 46-minute trip from Lovejoy to Atlanta will be $5.60 or a round-trip cost of $9 per day with a monthly pass —a high price for metro Atlanta com muters. It’s an attractive proposition, according to the DOT's Georgia Rail Passenger Program (GRPP), because by 2005 the auto trip between Lovejoy and Atlanta is expected to take 58 minutes in peak-hour travel time, while the train ride would take 46 minutes. And by 2030, GRPP says, the auto trip will take 81 min utes. Nothing is said about trav el time to and from stations. Timeliness should be a con cern to prospective commuter rail passengers, who will be competing with Norfolk Southern’s profitable industrial freight customers for track time. Norfolk Southern states in its 2003 annual report: “Overall on-time train performance improved to 84.3 percent in 2003.” In other words, about 16 percent of its freight trains were late. Chicago’s Metra runs 700 I 11C; | Section in A P r *l’ The Forsyth County News will publish it's Spring Home improvement Special Section. I ’ .. . x ■< ■ Tlie special section will feature I fresh ideas and practical tips for "jump starting" spring spruce-ups for the g home and garden, including down to earth, easy ways to enhance home I decor and sensible, easy to follow • * advice for adding a new flair of spring to a tired looking winter landscape. * ' i . Tentative topics include: S • Gardening ’ | ‘ '** • "Quicker Fixer Uppers" - How To's and Repair Tips • Spring Maintenance • Decorating Details , K ? Household Organization Tips I r fMU Mb F - r 1 ' Deadlines: I .1 !•. S T ' -i'r i i ■’ 1 I *. ■- Space Reservations: » i Friday April 2 4 Materials: Tuesday, April 6 Publishing Sunday April 11 WF • News Call your advertising representative at — ■ - FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS - Wdn—ctey, March 31,2004 -1 passenger trains and reported 96 percent on-time performance in 2002. That year, Amtrak blamed one-third of delays on freight trains, even though Amtrak passenger trains have priority over freight trains. Cost considerations are another concern: Negotiations with Norfolk Southern have only just been authorized and estimated costs are sure to change, yet already GRPP excludes any rent payments to Norfolk Southern, “in consider ation of investment in track structure.” GRPP has also inex plicably reduced its 2009 daily ridership projections by 15 per cent, to 3,080 passengers daily. Mayors who graciously offered to cover the estimated shortfall should be aware that the loss of those projected pas sengers may just have raised the ante another half-million dollars a year. Not only is the ridership projection changing, the assumption that the farebox will cover 45 percent of operating costs by 2011 is far higher than all new start commuter lines except Virginia’s. GRPP also estimates that the 770.000 annual rail trips will result in 21 million fewer vehicle miles driven by 2009, which suggests that every rail passenger would otherwise have been driving a single-occupancy vehicle. But the Regional On-Board Transit Survey by the Atlanta Regional Commission found that 65 percent of metro area transit users don't even have a vehicle available for use; in Gw innett and Clayton counties, that figure is 51 percent. Traditionally, new train rid ers are former bus riders, negat ing much gain in transit users. Part of the problem, espe cially in Atlanta, was pointed out by Denise Starling, execu tive director of BUC, the 3- month-old free Buckhead shut tle: “Everybody wants a stop, and everybody wants an express route,” Starling told the DOT intermodal committee this month. Adding a sense of urgency to the commuter rail project is the warning that unless Georgia picks up the pace, it will lose SB7 million in federal funds earmarked for the 26-mile line, for which GRPP says start-up costs are $lO6 million. Os course, there is no real urgency. The federal government is unlikely to take back these obli gated fiinds; Congress would face a political upheaval if ear marked money is withdrawn from states without giving them the opportunity to negotiate and justify retaining the funds. Georgia’s commuters deserve to know that their tax dollars federal, state or local are being used wisely, cost effectively and efficiently. Macon's express bus service died from lack of support; rail service is hardly the solution. The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority is planning express bus service from Lovejoy; it’s a prime opportunity to gauge potential rail ridership for the line. Critics argue that bus service is not proxy for rail ridership because buses are subject to the same traffic jams as cars. An attrac tive option is to place buses in dedicated HOV or HOT lanes. Commuter rail may well be in a growing Georgia’s future, but first, there's another expres sion that state leaders need to share with commuter rail pro ponents: Y’all come back now. With some real numbers. Benita M. Dodd is vice pres ident of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, an inde pendent think tank that propos es practical, market-oriented approaches to public policy to improve the lives of Georgians. Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily reflect ing the views of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before the U.S. Congress or the Georgia Legislature. PAGE 11A