Atlanta Groups to Hold Press Briefing on Transit Racism Complaint
Smart Growth Conference Provides Timely Platform

Atlanta, GA, December 5, 2000 - - Representatives from the two-year old Metropolitan Atlanta Transportation Equity Coalition (MATEC) will hold a press briefing on Wednesday December 6, 2000 at 10:30a.m. at the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel, 210 Peachtree Street, N.W., 8th Floor Atrium area. The briefing is held to explain the transit racism complaint eleven black Atlanta organizations filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation against the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA). On Thursday, November 30, the MATEC groups filed an administrative complaint with the U.S. DOT on behalf of their minority and disabled members. The groups charge MARTA with racial discrimination under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They also cite the MARTA for failing to comply with the federally mandated Americans with Disability Act (ADA). The complainants include a broad array of groups, including some well known civil rights organizations (SCLC, NAACP, and Rainbow/PUSH Coalition), neighborhood organizations (Rebel Forest Neighborhood Task Force, Campbellton Road Coalition, Second Chance Community Services, Inc.), a disabled persons advocacy group (Santa Fe Villas Tenant's Association), an environmental organization (Center for Environmental Public Awareness), a youth group (Youth Task Force), and a labor union that represents MARTA drivers (Amalgamated Transit Union Local 732).

The briefing is held at the 4th Annual Partners for Smart Growth Conference now meeting in Atlanta this week. The coalition insists that MARTA's general operations, expansion plans, and decision to raise fares run contrary to smart growth. "Smart growth means getting people out of their cars and into clean, accessible, and affordable transit. Not raising fares on the backs of poor, transit dependent, African American riders," said Clark Atlanta University professor Robert D. Bullard, who spoke today at the Smart Growth Conference. Bullard's new book, Sprawl City: Race, Politics and Planning in Atlanta, examines many of the transit racism issues raised in the MATEC complaint. The groups cite MARTA's failure to arrive at real budget alternatives to the fare hike, such as considering charging for parking, raising the parking fee at its overnight lots, increasing advertising, and seeking funds from the state.

The coalition also claims disabled riders have not been accommodated in a timely manner and are disadvantaged due to malfunctioning equipment. MARTA has allowed equipment with inoperable lifts to remain in service contrary to federal ADA regulations. "MARTA's failure to address repeated complaints by the disabled regarding these issues have resulted in physical injuries, humiliation, emotional distress, and other injuries," stated Santa Fe Villas Tenant's Association president Flora Tommie.

For more information, contact:

Sherrill Marcus, MATEC Project Coordinator, (404) 755-2294

Dr. Robert D. Bullard, Environmental Justice Resource Center, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta Transportation Equity Project (ATEP), (404) 880-6911, http://www.ejrc.cau.edu.