One’s known for Coca-Cola and the Braves; the other for multiculturalism and the Leafs. Atlanta and Toronto have a great many differences, but they share a crippling problem of traffic gridlock that threatens their economic well-being.

Atlanta’s political leaders, businesses executives and public transit advocates set out to do something about it with a bold $7.2-billion transportation plan. Stressing that the alternative was soaring congestion and urban stagnation, they proposed funding it though a 10-year, 1 per cent sales tax.

When confronted with that stark choice, Atlanta-area residents breezily opted for congestion. In a referendum this past week, a crushing 63 per cent voted against the plan and its associated tax. When put to the test, voters lacked faith in change for the better.

That defeat reverberates beyond Georgia — even to the Greater Toronto Area — because here, too, urban advocates are pushing for massive transportation improvements that will somehow have to be paid for by the public. A clear lesson rings through: to make serious progress, it’s essential to win the public’s trust.

Fortunately, an effort is underway here to do just that. The Greater Toronto Civic Action Alliance has embarked on a campaign to promote a wide-ranging debate on easing gridlock. And finding the billions of dollars necessary for new transit projects is an essential part of that discussion.

As a first step, the group has put forward a list of prominent business, labour, academic and non-profit leaders who are to “champion” a region-wide conversation about what needs to be done. They include former Toronto mayor David Crombie, U of T president David Naylor and Rob MacIsaac, past mayor of Burlington and former head of Metrolinx. These leaders are to go out into their communities, stir up discussion and point to a sound way forward.

The centrepiece of any such debate must be “The Big Move,” a bold plan developed by Metrolinx, the province’s regional transportation authority. It would deliver more than 1,000 kilometres of new rapid transit lines, highway enhancements and a host of other improvements. But it would cost a staggering $50 billion.

The agency must produce a strategy before next June to pay for it all. And, given the price tag on The Big Move, it will almost certainly require a mix of road tolls, tax increases and other fees.

Some resistance is inevitable. Nobody relishes the prospect of paying more. That’s why it’s so important to have a level-headed conversation now about the consequences of doing nothing. In fact, there is no free ride. Failure to act against gridlock simply means we’ll pay for congestion another way — through lost jobs, stagnant productivity and more hours trapped in traffic.

That’s not the smart choice, but it’s what Atlanta voters favoured. We mustn’t make the same mistake. Better to follow the example of Los Angeles County. Voters there overwhelmingly approved “Measure R” in 2008, funding a sweeping array of rail and subway projects, highway expansions, bus improvements and street upgrades using a half-per cent sales tax that expires in 2039. It has been so successful that voters are to be asked this November to extend the tax for another 30 years. (The municipality borrows against that revenue and funds work now.)

That’s encouraging. If people in California — home of the original Proposition 13 “taxpayer revolt,” back in 1978 — can be convinced to pay to ease gridlock, there’s hope for Greater Toronto, too. Let the discussion begin.

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