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For those who don’t live in Atlanta, MARTA is the public transportation agency in Atlanta that runs the light rail and the buses in Dekalb and Fulton counties. MARTA is suffering from a budget shortfall of about $20 Million dollars this year. To help cover this, they had requested the state legislature change the rules regarding what MARTA could do with the proceeds from a local option sales tax. As it currently stands, they have to put back half of that money for capital improvements and it cannot be used for operating expenses.

The State Legislature, however, closed the current session without moving on this. This means MARTA was talking about cutting service, including closing down completely one day a week (with the threat being Friday to cause the biggest disruption). The head of MARTA requested the Governor call for a special session to address this, but it fell on deaf ears.

Enter the Atlanta Regional Commission. The ARC has access to stimulus funds and has offered $25 Million to MARTA to cover their budget short fall. For those of you doing the math at home, this puts them at a net amount of $5 Million beyond their shortfall. So this should mean all should be well, right?

So the question comes up why MARTA is still saying they may need to furlough workers and stop service at Midnight. One would think if you are being given the money to more than cover your budget shortfall, then you shouldn’t need to take those steps.

One person on an LJ community for Atlanta made the statement it’s apparently tied to bonuses, trying to tie this to an AIG scenario. Leaving off for a minute the complete lack of understanding of the AIG situation that comment entails, you do have to wonder why getting enough money to cover the budget shortfall results in still needing to lay off workers and cut service.

MARTA is already an embarrassment of a public transportation system for a major city. Compared to DC, Chicago, or Boston, our system is just laughable. It’s becoming more and more obvious now that part of the problem is the management and their fiscal skills (or lack thereof). Sure, there are other issues involved, but this one is just getting hi-lited at the moment.

stranger Atlanta, Government Outrage

You’ll notice this isn’t a usual ‘Here’s something neat about Atlanta’ post. In thinking about it, I’ve not been happy with the posts the last couple of weeks, and I’m reconsidering what I want to do with these. They’re just not coming out like I want, and I think they sound like lame ‘this is what I did last summer’ essays.

So likely this is going to go on hiatus until I figure out what I want to do. Monday and Friday topics should continue.

stranger Atlanta

As is no surprise to anyone that actually knows me, I’m a foodie. I enjoy trying new restaurants (though I do get into ruts with what I order–just ask my wife), and there are very few things I won’t try–though it took a long while for me to try sushi.

That being said, I’m a big fan of seafood. While my variety of seafood options is limited by both my wife’s allergies and the fact I now live about 4+ hours from the ocean, I still look for it when I can. A few months ago, my Dad convinced me to come have lunch with him and some of his coworkers, which introduced me to a new place that I swear by now.

Driving the 40 or so minutes (with traffic) to meet my Dad for lunch, I ended up downtown across from Oakland Cemetery at a converted supermarket turned into Six Feet Under.

I grew up in North Carolina, going to the coast on a regular basis. I learned the joy of Calabash style seafood and have had a love affair with it since. Six Feet Under has a combination of solid fried seafood combined with other items that don’t fall into that category, one of their signature dishes being shrimp and scallops baked in papyrus.

Over a few months, I’ve tried a number of their dishes, including the shrimp and scallops. My first visit saw me enjoying their BBQ Salmon (complete with cedar plank). I’ve yet to be disappointed with the quality of the food, the service, or price. There are two of their side dishes, however, that I feel deserve special mention.

First and foremost are the hush puppies. Like any Southerner, I’m a fan of hush puppies, whether it’s with my seafood or my BBQ. To quote a good friend of mine, the hush puppies at Six Feet Under taste as if Jesus himself came down and blessed them. They are fried to perfection without being overdone and contain chopped jalapenos in the corn meal. You can get these with many of the different entrees, as an appetizer, or as a specific side dish.

The other item that is a ‘must have’ for me when I go is their fried okra. I understand that for many people, okra is a divisive vegetable. As a general rule, you either love it or hate it (obviously I fall into the former category). For those who enjoy it, the okra at Six Feet Under is especially a treat. Instead of the normal round cuts of okra that are deep fried, the kitchen at Six Feet Under cuts their okra length-wise, leaving you with planks that are fried in a light batter that crumbles off of the okra as much as it sticks to it. It’s served with a spicy ranch dressing for dipping that compliments the vegetable delightfully.

This is one of the restaurants that I make a point of recommending to people. For those who aren’t into seafood, they do have other options, and there have been no cross-contamination allergy issues when I went with my wife (who gets a free trip to the ER with every taste of a crustacean).

If you want good seafood in Atlanta, go to Six Feet Under. It’s well worth it. I need to pay a visit to the original one since they’ve moved, although the one in Midtown is closer for me.

stranger Atlanta