Tell us something we didn't know...

Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) brings in the big bucks for Atlanta!

I guess it took 2 studies by my fellow planning/economic development professionals on the academic side to affirm this to be true.  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on the University of Georgia Carl Vinson Institute of Government Study conducted a study from 2007 and this year and the findings confirmed this:

MARTA’s spending — its 2011 capital and operating budget was $617 million — supported between 20,000 and 37,000 jobs in Georgia between 2007 and 2011. The fluctuations were caused by differences in annual capital expenditures.

Nearly 150,000 workers in the Atlanta area, including car owners, use MARTA for their daily commute.

Of the 18 fastest growing industry sectors, 14 employ workers who rely heavily on MARTA.

Jobs supported by MARTA’s capital budget provide $500 million to $1 billion in personal income each year.

The economic activity of the nearly 100,000 MARTA-dependent workers support another 80,000 additional jobs.

It's quite amusing that 2 studies had to be published to reaffirm what most of us suspected although the majority of Metro Atlantans rejected the T-SPLOST on the 31st of July.  I guess you have to dress it up in a pretty bow and ribbon and then say "See it does work".  However, we are in the South were the car is king and the way things are developed and funded around it.  At the end of the day, Atlanta and Georgia politicos know that MARTA is the reason why so much of the city's prominent existence depends on this public transit system.

Yeah, another one of these situations...

When will the deranged and white males stop gunning down black male youths because they think they are a threat?  I honestly don't know but this incident in suburban Jacksonville will go down as another one of those situations.

Jordan Davis was gunned down last Friday (November 23rd) at a  gas station on Jacksonville's Southside while in a car with friends.  Apparently, the music in the vehicle was "too loud" for Michael Dunn's tastes.  In return, Dunn confronted the teens in the vehicle over the music which led to Dunn getting his gun and shooting into the vehicle hitting Davis.  Davis suffered multiple wounds from the gunfire and was pronounced dead on arrival to the Shands Hospital on Jacksonville's Southside.  *SIGH*

Dunn was arrested in Brevard County at his condominium and charged the following day.  While arraigned before a Brevard County justice as his reason for shooting up the vehicle was him feeling threatened by the black teens. (WTF?)  Dunn was extradiated back to Duval County (which is the City of Jacksonville) and had the audacity to say "the teens had a shotgun in their vehicle".  (WTF?) 

Jordan Davis will be buried in Marietta, Georgia in the Metro Atlanta area.

I knew something was up when actual study showed that anti-black animus was up.  This is just more prove that some white Americans have to slow their groove on anti-black & brown racial animus because this nation is becoming more and more racially diverse with time...

Links and photos courtesy of WJXX/WTLV.

So....

In the serious of personal blogs on this site.  Here it goes...

I just realized I am still in love with my ex from years ago.  He recently recently came back into my life.  I wasn't expecting him to come back into my life at all.  There are a numerous of things that goes through my head while thinking about him including good memories, mixed feelings, and even the bad memories.  My heart still feel something for him, but my head tells me to stay on the fence with him in a guarded mode.

About 18 months ago, I had a dream of a wedding and it ironically included myself and this very ex.  In the dream, we were standing at an alter and saying a vows to one another and to spend the rest of our lives together.  As strange as it was at the time, we weren't together anymore (for nearly 4 months) and were not speaking at all because I broke up and ended all forms of communication with him.  Also by that time there was some form of moving on and letting go from that stage of life.  As much as I thought that dream was random and improbable at the time, I realized there was unfinished business between us.

Now here we are now communicating and reconnecting to one another.  It also displays the unfinished business is apparent.  My feelings are still there and I don't know where to go with them.  Also I recently discovered he still has feelings for me as well, but his methods of holding them back is totally different than mine.  He displayed this to me when he chose to come to me in a time of true need.  I then realized he does still care about me and those feelings for me. This is something of hope but also worry.

Part of me wants us to reconnect, reunite, and work on us getting back to together again, but another portion of me is terrified.  I am taking this very slow, day-by-day, and displaying concern, care, and consideration of reality of our relationship.  We broke up for a reason in the past and we have both moved on, grown, and (for me) experienced other relationships.  However, I am also a believer that some people are meant to have something with one another and strangely enough I feel as God/Allah/the Creator is saying we ought to be back together again because our yin-yang dynamics that exists between us and draws us together in a way beyond just platonic friendship.

If he does happens to come across this blog entry then.  Will, I want you to know yes I still am in love with you.  I do hope and pray that we can work this out in the long run and find a comparable median where we can reconcile and one day grow together.  I have chosen to step back and just allow this to play themselves out on its own.  Nevertheless, I just want you to know that I do still love you.  Call me cliche, but I feel like we are like the Rihanna song "Diamonds".  

As they say, only time will tell me what and whom he is to me...

So amount of Americans possessing anti-black hate is up, so...

Guess what the US, you have more anti-black people now than you did 4 years ago!  Not really I'm not lying.

It's not really a surprise because there are some many people that hate on President Obama, the sitting president, like they hate on somebody whom is doing something with their lives.  Black people beware, we are all in for something fare against more anti-black malice...