Today is a day to be a hermit. There's a Allman Brothers/Dave Matthews concert in the park this afternoon and we're about 2 hours from complete chaos in midtown Atlanta. The concert organizers are billing this as a 'green event' and trying to convince concert-goers to use MARTA. Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of MARTA knows that's a pipe dream. Public transit in Atlanta is a joke, and the punchline is 'Screw that, I'll drive.'

I'm continually baffled by public office holders who hold such a disdain for mass transit. Atlanta is way behind the curve for a metro area of its size. MARTA could actually be a very well run system with much of the team it has in place if it weren't placed in the lowest tier of priorities by the GDOT. Instead, we get stupid ideas like "let's add another lane to I-75 for a mile and a half -- THAT will solve EVERYTHING!"

I'm not saying that shifting the focus to mass transit will be the magic spell that solves everything, but it will be a step in the right direction. You could even leave the existing MARTA in tact and create a supplemental regional rail system using existing tracks and corridors and alleviate a lot of problems. Atlanta is burgeoning area right now -- but to continue an upward trend, it's time to stop paving so much and start laying the tracks.