West Savannah residents worried about arena and canal district (Atlanta: low income, sales) - Georgia (GA) - City-Data Forum

Airforceguy · 05-08-2018, 09:37 AM

Good article by WTOC. I believe the city should listen to the concerns of the residents of these areas. Also the city needs to start on the arena asap if it wants residents to approve another SPLOST.

Quote:

One concern from the neighborhood presidents was the possibility of a hotel being built on the property.

“I often wonder since February, when did the city get into the hotel business?" Ellis said. "It seems like we were all on the same until February. Then, all of a sudden, something happened in February, and the neighborhood association is not pleased with what those changes were.”

Curtis V. Cooper Jr., president of Cloverdale Civic Improvement Organization, said his residents have basic needs he'd like fulfilled with this project.

"We live in a food desert," Cooper Jr. said. "I have to travel from Cloverdale to Montgomery Crossroads Walmart to get my prescriptions filled. I choose to get my groceries over there because if I drive that far, I need to do everything there. I have to travel across town for those resources, and we expect those resources to come to our community with this type of project. The motels and stuff like that, it’s OK, but we need what we need in our community. And this is our community. I think once the city officials and city manager recognize that, Savannah will be the place it needs to be.”

Shonka said he's heard those concerns in his meetings. While some of those decisions will be up to private developers, he said the city can carry residents' wants to them, and those residential needs can be addressed with the time comes.

WTOC Investigates: West Savannah residents worried about arena a - WTOC-TV: Savannah, Beaufort, SC, News, Weather & Sports

bellhead · 05-08-2018, 10:13 AM

I will not vote for another SPLOST after the fire tax, we need to throw some cold water on the folks down at city hall. I've seen my property taxes jump from $3800 to now around $5500, and they added a $300 a year fire fee. Add in we have a 7% sales tax in the county. Throw in the Deloach & Heap pastor scandal which is still festering.

The fire tax is a sore spot for a lot of people as Deloach rammed this through citing the budget being short by over $10 million, council voted for this & now there is suddenly an extra $10 million revenues. Deloach wants to spend some of this money for an after school program which would run per Tony Thomas @ $41k per student per year, Tony did the math & said we could send all of the kids to country day & still have money left over. Add in the mayor would have control over the program including hiring & firing.

GA Survivor · 05-08-2018, 05:23 PM

It's terrible that the City of Savannah is going to ruin SPLOST for the smaller cities that use the funds appropriately.

bellhead · 05-08-2018, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GA Survivor

It's terrible that the City of Savannah is going to ruin SPLOST for the smaller cities that use the funds appropriately.

The first couple of SPLOST's were used to fix alot of built of maintenance & big ticket projects the city needed. Where we are at now is all of the projects are built & politicians have their eye on a huge development the arena & the canal district. We could use all of that money for the arena & do literally 1,000's of projects city wide which would impact our quality of life a lot more or be fiscally responcibile & pay off the $70 million in outstanding bonds, the majority were issued in order to develop land downtown?

bellhead · 05-09-2018, 09:40 AM

Let me expand on what little projects would make a big quality of life difference.

Expand recreation services...

80 to 100 mile mostly closed loop walking/bike trail throughout Savannah. Bikes would need to use city streets to transition from one trail to another but for the most part the trail would be closed to traffic.

Refurbish parks with new equipment & recreation gear. This would cost less than a couple of million but would be really nice.

Fishing piers...We only have a couple in the entire county.

Beautification of medians... Parts of the city look very 3rd world.

Camps for kids... Summer comes & low income working parents need help.

These are just some small projects costing only a few million which would effect the quality of life much more than a $120 million arena.

Rawlter2 · 05-09-2018, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bellhead

Let me expand on what little projects would make a big quality of life difference.

Expand recreation services...

80 to 100 mile mostly closed loop walking/bike trail throughout Savannah. Bikes would need to use city streets to transition from one trail to another but for the most part the trail would be closed to traffic.

Refurbish parks with new equipment & recreation gear. This would cost less than a couple of million but would be really nice.

Fishing piers...We only have a couple in the entire county.

Beautification of medians... Parts of the city look very 3rd world.

Camps for kids... Summer comes & low income working parents need help.

These are just some small projects costing only a few million which would effect the quality of life much more than a $120 million arena.

Speaking of walking/bike trails, I found this from the county a while ago. Pretty interesting ideas in there. There are canals all over the city that would provide a good right of way for trails.

http://www.thempc.org/docs/lit/compp...r/greenway.pdf

bellhead · 05-09-2018, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rawlter2

Speaking of walking/bike trails, I found this from the county a while ago. Pretty interesting ideas in there. There are canals all over the city that would provide a good right of way for trails.

http://www.thempc.org/docs/lit/compp...r/greenway.pdf

I would love that & talk about a really nice tourist attraction, bike our canal trails & party downtown afterwards. Especially if you were to post a photo of family biking and seeing a heron in the marsh fishing & another showing them downtown.

SavannahLife · 05-16-2018, 12:00 PM

Completely agree bell, great posts. Instead of rails to trails we could have canals to trails. Always thought the canals could be utilized for recreational use.

bellhead · 05-16-2018, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SavannahLife

Completely agree bell, great posts. Instead of rails to trails we could have canals to trails. Always thought the canals could be utilized for recreational use.

Change the Rock n Roll marathon to one where the runners are running besides the marsh & canals. Also the closed course would allow us to host Ironmans. This would bring thousands more tourists to town just for the attraction of riding & running along the trails. Throw in a kayak/canoe/paddle board course & it would huge.

Airforceguy · 06-21-2018, 06:58 PM

Quote:

The $8,820,000 contract to Perkins + Will, an Atlanta-based company, includes the base building design, interior design, and construction administration for a new Savannah Arena. The Arena will be built on city-owned property near the intersection of Stiles Avenue and West Gwinnett Street.

New arena design project contract approved by Savannah City Council - WSAV