Steve Brodie

• What environmental issues do you think most affect your district and why? (eg., water quality, air pollution, transit access, greenspace, etc?)  View Answer
   
• What environmental policy are you most proud of or what will be your environmental priorities if you are elected to office next year?  View Answer
   
• In order to be a world-class city, Atlanta needs a world-class transit system. Do you agree with this and if so, how will you work to ensure Atlanta moves towards this vision?  View Answer
   
• What is your position on the Beltline proposal and how will you take a leadership role in making the proposal a reality?  View Answer
   
• Will you support the TAD (Tax Allocation District) as a funding mechanism for the Beltline? If not, why?  View Answer
   
• The Beltline proposal consists of greenspace, transit, and economic development. How will you ensure each of these components is included in the final product, most notably, the transit component?  View Answer
   
• Do you support significantly increasing the City of Atlanta Parks budget for operation and maintenance over the next 2-3 years? How will you work to make this happen?  View Answer
   

Sierra Club:  What environmental issues do you think most affect your district and why? (eg., water quality, air pollution, transit access, greenspace, etc?)

Steve Brodie:   The environmental issue that most affects District 6 is the failure by the City Of Atlanta to have a comprehensive vision and plan for dealing with air, land, and water resources. The City has seen significant economic and population growth over the past decade or so, but has addressed environmental challenges only on ad hoc basis (or ignored them altogether). This short-sighted approach has contributed to poor air quality, tree canopy destruction, congested roadways, inadequate access to mass transit, damaged streams, and stormwater problems.

Sierra Club:  What environmental policy are you most proud of or what will be your environmental priorities if you are elected to office next year??

Steve Brodie:   My environmental priority will be to convene an environmental summit of local and regional business, governmental, and civic leaders to begin developing a comprehensive, progressive plan to address our most pressing environmental issues. Continued growth and prosperity in the Atlanta region is essential, but failing to address our environmental challenges will eventually hurt our quality of life and will cost more over the long run.

Sierra Club:  In order to be a world-class city, Atlanta needs a world-class transit system. Do you agree with this and if so, how will you work to ensure Atlanta moves towards this vision?

Steve Brodie:   A world-class transit system is absolutely critical to Atlanta's future. Without one, we will choke on polluted air, be perpetually stuck in traffic jams, spend too much of our resources on fuel, and waste too much of our precious time. The environmental summit that I propose would have transit as one of its top priorities, in order to lay out and begin implementing mass transit solutions as soon as possible.

Sierra Club:  What is your position on the Beltline proposal and how will you take a leadership role in making the proposal a reality?

Steve Brodie:   I support the concept of bringing transit, parks, and economic development to the 22-mile Beltline loop around the City. To optimize the promise of the Beltline, the plan must:

• Give equal importance to transit, parks, and economic development;
   
• Ensure that parks, transit, and economic development projects are contemporaneously initiated at points throughout the 22-mile loop;
• Ensure that communities which are not on the Beltline have reasonable connectivity with it;
   
• Be financially sound for both the Beltline and the City; and
   
• Allow full citizen participation, with decisions being made in an open, objective, thoughtful, and public environment.

Sierra Club:  Will you support the TAD (Tax Allocation District) as a funding mechanism for the Beltline? If not, why?

Steve Brodie:   I support financing the Belt Line in a way that:

• Ensures parks, transit, and economic development throughout the City;
   
• Does not financially burden the City; and
   
• Leaves future TAD financing capacity for other projects.

Sierra Club:  The Beltline proposal consists of greenspace, transit, and economic development. How will you ensure each of these components is included in the final product, most notably, the transit component?

Steve Brodie:   I support the Beltline based on its three promises of transit, parks, and development. The project will be a failure-and it would not be worth proceeding-if we do not have a reasonable expectation that the transit component will be achieved. Transit is one of Atlanta's most pressing challenges, and successfully implementing affordable, convenient, usable mass transit is key to the city's long-term success. I do not at this point have specific proposals on how to ensure that transit is given at least as high a priority as the other two Beltline elements, but it needs to be a binding legal commitment on a definite schedule. I suggest we study how other cities have handled similar issues and develop ideas that fit with Atlanta's character and systems.

Sierra Club:  Do you support significantly increasing the City of Atlanta Parks budget for operation and maintenance over the next 2-3 years? How will you work to make this happen?

Steve Brodie:   I support increased and improved parks and green space for Atlanta. More money and resources are clearly needed to accomplish this goal, but I am not certain at this point where the additional funds should come from. I am running for office because I believe that the citizens deserve better city services for the taxes and contributions they are making, and this includes better parks and greenspace. While increasing the Parks Department budget is one area that I want to closely evaluate, I also want to review the efficiency of the Parks Department, see how services can be more effectively delivered, determine whether savings can be accomplished with new approaches., and evaluate whether new sources of revenues exist based on the assets and resources of our Parks system.

I support Park Pride's nine-point plan for Atlanta's parks, which addresses many of these issues. I will approach the concept of an independent Parks District with extreme caution, supporting it only if appropriate mechanisms that preserve citizen control of public resources are in place and only if existing employees are guaranteed an opportunity to be part of a new district.