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CAUTION Macon hires lawyer to fight road program
By Jennifer Plunkett
The Macon Telegraph
CAUTION Macon, the citizen advocacy group that has railed against the Macon-Bibb County Road Improvement Program, has hired an Atlanta attorney to represent it in its fight to demand public input in the $300 million program.
The attorney will be identified at a 5:30 p.m. rally today organized by the group. The attorney has been successful in delaying road programs in Gwinnett and Cobb counties and in swaying officials to listen to residents, said CAUTION Macon organizer Tom Scholl.
Group members have shelled out their own money to retain the lawyer.
"Hopefully we're not too late to have some genuine effect on the course of the road program because the channels of public input so far have been shams." - Michael Ryan, CAUTION Macon member | |
"We tried logic," said Scholl. "We tried reasonable conversation. We tried asking questions. We tried going through every door that we know to walk through. Everything has failed. They hold us in complete and utter disregard. If they will not listen to us by their own free will, then we may have to ... force them to listen."
The group, which stands for Citizens Against Unnecessary Thoroughfares in Our Neighborhoods, formed last year after residents found out the details of some projects. They contend the projects' scope are wider than what was approved in the 1994 sales-tax referendum.
The most contentious of the projects has been Houston Road, which initially was slated to be widened to three lanes. Several months after the referendum passed, plans were made public to widen the road to five lanes. The residents responded with a detailed alternative plan, but program officials voted to widen the road.
City and county officials recently announced an industrial development site of about 400 acres is planned for Interstate 75 between Hartley Bridge and Sardis Church roads. Officials deny widening Houston Road is a part of the industrial development deal.
"That's why the citizens of this community are somewhat belatedly coming together," said CAUTION Macon member Michael Ryan. "Hopefully we're not too late to have some genuine effect on the course of the road program because the channels of public input so far have been shams."
Last September, the group held its first rally to insist that all 61 road projects be placed on hold until road consultant Walter Kulash could review them. Kulash was hired by Moreland Altobelli, the company managing the roads program, to assist in developing more neighborhood-friendly road designs.
The group also met later in the year with federal and state officials in an effort to put pressure on the transportation officials who control more than half the money in the roads program.
Moreland Altobelli principal engineer Tom Moreland and the program's executive committee have agreed to allow Kulash to review several projects and have changed the format of public hearings and meetings to accommodate the residents.
Today's rally will be held at Tinsley Elementary School on Pierce Avenue. It will include updates on controversial projects as well as information on how to become a member of CAUTION Macon.
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