Suburban Atlantans State Sitting in Traffic is Worse than Black People

Gwinnett County is a suburban county located northeast of Atlanta.  It is also the poster-child for ugly sprawl.  This land of strip malls, massage parlors, million dollar homes, chain restaurants and other ubiquitous symbols of modern suburbia for years barred the door to Atlanta's mass transit provider, MARTA.  Well, the worm has turned, I guess.  The AJC is reporting that 2/3 of Gwinnetians are now in favor of MARTA accessing their county.

"I think the general perception in Gwinnett that voters would not want to have it in the area, that's obviously changed," said Chuck Warbington, a Dacula resident and director of the CID. The CID is proposing a local light rail line from Gwinnett Place through Indian Trail, Gwinnett Village and Norcross that would connect to MARTA's Doraville station. It might or might not be run by MARTA.

Warbington said he's lived in Gwinnett all his life and remembers the fears that went into the county's 1990 resounding vote to reject a MARTA extension, 70 percent to 30 percent. While the money was important, he said, "the biggest thing I remember, and I've had people tell me who lived in Gwinnett then, is MARTA's crime, and the urbanization of Gwinnett...I think that was the perception back then."

Well, this is good news.