Understanding Savannah: Samples from today's news (Atlanta: crime, houses, college)

[Newsboy]

Throughout many discussion threads and forum topics related to Savannah, there's quite often an underlying negative tone that suggests ignorance, confusion or mere amazement about why the city is the way it is.

Pursuing Sunday's news sites (being the junkie that I am), I came across several articles related to Savannah and was struck by a number of points that are worth saving, and repeating.

Locally, in a Savannah Morning News column by Bill Dawers, explaining why the selection of Savannah's next City Manager is so important:
"Despite a relatively small population and serious problems like crime and poverty, Savannah occupies an important place in the national imagination."

And the lede paragraph from an Atlanta Journal-Constitution business story about the magic that is downtown Savannah:
"A city center that Atlanta and plenty of other cities dream about is the reality here. Downtown Savannah teems with tourists and college students stroll past coffeehouses and restaurants in an eminently walkable urban environment. Chocolate shops sit side-by-side with art galleries, bawdy bars and boutique stores, creating the type of seamless mixed-use environment that developers dream of manufacturing."

LOTS of flattering things about our city throughout that article, which can be read in entirety here:
Savannah

There are others, but my point is this: When you look at Savannah through the eyes of others, particularly other news media, you often get a much more accurate (and positive) picture of who we really are. I used to use Google Alerts to monitor daily news mentions of Savannah (and other topics) and the amount of media attention this little old city gets around the world is truly amazing. I suggest you look beyond our local boundaries and try it sometime. Reading visitor comments on tourism sites like Trip Advisor can be eye-popping, but reading what journalists in other places have to say even more so.