Rail planners desperate for community support

Facing some high-ranking skeptics and a tight budget, planners of a proposed Atlanta-Lovejoy commuter rail line find themselves forced to offer some creative funding sources to keep the project alive.

GDOT Intermodal Committee board chairman E.C. McClinton insists that political support, both within the Gold Dome and in the outlying communities along the rail line, must be broad.

"We're going to have to ask the cities and counties on the line to step up," McClinton said. "This thing has to have as much support as possible."

Under proposal are the formation of community improvement districts along the rail line. To set up a community improvement district, half of commercial property owners representing 75 percent of the tax digest value must consent, and legislative approval is required.

Selling naming rights of the stations, a la stadiums and arenas, was another possibility considered. Read more...

Source: Rail planners trying to keep project alive, MaconTelegraph.com

As a citizen/businessman of downtown Hampton, Georgia, I propose that we may be ideal for a Community Improvement District. I would venture to say that the commercial property owner tax digest value component could be met. Or, does anyone like the ring of "Speedway Station?" I'm sure that Atlanta Motor Speedway could find some value in naming rights to the Station.