Business
On bicycles and employment
City of Savannah Mobility and Parking Director Sean Brandon has a guest post at the Creative Coast blog this morning, which makes important points about poverty, employment, planning and creative communities: “I have found repeatedly that the person that takes their bicycle on an inhospitable street is trying to do the very thing that many … Continue reading
Parking lots cause lots of problems, inspire lots of quotes and, once upon a time, started a movement
Bill Dawers has strong feelings about parking lots, which he shares in his City Talk column, “Another parking lot detracts from downtown’s vibrancy” in today’s Savannah Morning News: “They tend to rend the residential and retail fabric. They repel pedestrians. They generally generate far less economic activity than more intense uses. They create heat islands. … Continue reading
Kroger brags about not using plastic bags
Early adopters of reusable grocery bags probably remember the reactions of confounded cashiers and baggers, who weren’t sure what to make of shoppers who wanted neither paper nor plastic. But the practice has become so commonplace, shoppers rarely have to ask a bagger to stop shrouding their groceries in plastic before placing them in a … Continue reading
Sustainable agriculture conference to be held in Savannah, April 16 and 17
The Greening the Southeast Regional Summit is scheduled for April 16 and 17 at the Coastal Georgia Center in Savannah. According to event organizers, the summit will, “bring together regional and national experts and grassroots organizations to provide training/information and successful models that focus on renewable energy sources for agriculture and forestry, to discuss how does sustainable farming … Continue reading
Savannah Bicycle Campaign, B Street Salon forge partnership
What can a business do to become truly bicycle friendly? The first step might be to correct policies that discourage bicyclists from patronizing an establishment. Providing secure bicycle parking is another way to attract those who shop by bike. To truly make the leap from bike tolerant to bike friendly involves rewarding cycling customers and … Continue reading
Series of workshops to imagine MLK without the I-16 overpass
As reported by the Savannah Bicycle Campaign last week, The Savannah-Chatham County Metropolitan Planning Commission and the Savannah Development and Renewal Authority are holding a three-day public workshop and charrette “to examine feasibility of removal of the I-16 exit ramps at Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd and Montgomery Street, and to address redevelopment along the … Continue reading
Project DeRenne concept provides a vision of corridor’s future
From coverage of last night’s Project DeRenne concept unveiling last night provided by WSAV, WTOC and the Savannah Morning News, you might get the idea that the mood in room was particularly contentious. I didn’t get that impression. And I was sitting a couple chairs away from a local business owner, who rose during the … Continue reading
Focusing on a single goal will not mean success for Project DeRenne
A summary presentation for the recent Project DeRenne charrette is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. at 131 W. DeRenne Ave. The location, a former NAPA auto parts store, is fitting. The nearby intersection of DeRenne Avenue and Montgomery Street is—as one of the charrette facilitators from Kimley-Horne called it—one of the most … Continue reading
Charrette particpants asked to describe DeRenne Avenue now and in the future
As cars and trucks droned by outside, citizens streamed into a former auto parts store at the corner of DeRenne Avenue and Montgomery Street. The purpose of the gathering tonight was the launch of a week-long design charrette focused on the DeRenne Avenue corridor, arguably one of the most important yet troubled streets in the … Continue reading
Changing a road that divides the city into an amenity that unites it
When a street is designed to maximize the speed of motor vehicles, the results are as predictable as they are ugly. Yet we may not comprehend how desolate the built environment becomes when it is given over exclusively to cars. Cars and trucks become a distraction, drawing our attention away from the ways that they … Continue reading
