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Crime

12.16.09

When is it socially acceptable to threaten the lives of innocent people? When they are riding bicycles Crime, Transportation | (10)
Savannah has a well-deserved national reputation for being mannerly, a distinction local convention and tourism officials have used in marketing the Hostess City of the South. But it's important to remember that not everyone in charming old Savannah is courteous, as a glimpse at the reader-supplied content on the Savannah Morning News' Web site will reveal. For instance, it appears at least one person in this "wonderfully hospitable and gracious city" feels comfortable boasting about his or her willingness to murder innocent people. From the Vox Populi section of the Savannah Morning News on Dec. 2: "Please tell all these wannabe Lance ...
05.14.09

Making bikes work by taking them there Advocacy, Business, Crime, Economics, Neighborhoods, Transportation | (1)
It happens every now and then. I'll be riding my bike to work and I'll pass another person, dressed business attire, getting into his or her car. Later, as I'm nearing my office, I'll see the same person exiting the car or cruising in search of a parking spot. It makes me wonder how many of my neighbors work downtown and could easily ride their bikes there. According to the 2004 City of Savannah Neighborhood Demographic Profiles report, there are 1,236 households in my neighborhood. How many of these contain at least one adult who is physically capable of a ...
03.31.09

Calling crashes “accidents,” even when they aren’t Crime, Transportation | (3)
"Accidents Will Happen" is the first song off Elvis Costello's 1979 LP "Armed Forces." It's also the attitude many journalists and law enforcement officers seem to take in regard to car vs. pedestrian or car vs. cyclist crashes. I first heard an objection to the word "accident" in describing these types of incidents several years ago. An epidemiologist was giving a summary of data on local crash car vs. pedestrian crashes. She used the word "accident" repeatedly until a physician stood up and objected. "Accident," he said, "describes an event that could not have been prevented." His point: Many of the ...
12.14.08

“Soured economy” offers another reason to rethink one-way streets Crime, Economics, Government, Neighborhoods, Planning, Public Space, Transportation | (5)
The front page of the Exchange section in today's Savannah Morning News offered a grim assessment of the local economy, which probably won't surprise many people. The headline: "A soured economy comes home to roost in 2008." While the nation's largest industries and colossal financial institutions are angling for government assistance, Mary Carr Mayle and Lauren Nardella's article reminds us that "small businesses aren't getting any bailouts" and that they will need to "get creative in order to survive." But there is something the local government could do to help some local businesses. Bill Dawers touched on it in his Dec. ...
11.10.08

Time for Savannah to chicken out? Community Gardens, Crime, Economics, Food, Neighborhoods | (3)
A story from today's Christian Science Monitor, "Whole lotta clucking going on in cities" suggests that more Americans raising chickens in their backyards. Keeping chickens is part of a larger urban homesteading movement and is popular with folks who like to "eat local" or who are concerned about factory farm conditions, according to the article. Angelina Shell of the Seattle Tilth Association, a group that offers sustainable-living classes, suggests that more people will be keeping chickens as the recession gets worse: "If our economy continues on the downward spiral," says Ms. Shell, a third-generation poultry hobbyist, "you're going to see a lot ...

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Transportation, land use, local farming and green building are all potential topics for Sustainable Savannah. The goal is to aggregate content about local events and projects, so there will be a central place to review everything that’s happening. The site is aimed at encouraging collaboration and information sharing between groups and individuals currently engaged in sustainability efforts. The site can also provide a snapshot of Savannah for green-minded people who are considering visiting or moving to to the area.

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- Bgrand2day: the government has no right to tell me what i can and cannot do. im can operate a car fine while texting, in fact people not texting arent always as good at driving, so i dont think the goverment can tell me not to. its violating my rights not to let me do what i want in my own car.
- Thomas: Seems as if nothing was taken from the previous incident of the terracotta lion that was destroyed by a driver speeding across the same street. I’m sure that statue was just as much of a criminal. I am curious though, as to what the driver would think about the comments on the...
- Zufechten: Every right and privilege comes with the attendant responsibility to exercise it with regard to the effects on others, whether it is dumping toxic materials, selling risky real estate derivatives, or operating a three ton truck while not paying attention. To rephrase an old saying,...
- Bryan Fordham: The logic doesn’t make perfect sense unless you begin from the assumption that the government should regulate anything potentially dangerous. I also never said it wasn’t dangerous to text and drive. But this type of hyperbolic posts don’t make the case well at all.
- Bryan Fordham: When I worked downtown, I always looked both ways before crossing one way streets. You don’t have to have too many close encounters before you wise up. But I don’t recall the police ever cracking down on that. Odd how pedestrians are the enemy, somehow.
- Carol Ellison: City of Savannah’s HOME BUYER PROGRAM “DREAM MAKER” “WHERE DREAMS CAN COME TRUE” City of Savannah 10 East Bay Street, Savannah, GA 31402 912-651-6926 Ext 1927 Carol Ellison, Loan Officer www.savannahga.gov Dream Maker Houses for Sale / More Information of the Dream Maker...
- Daniel: The logic of this post makes perfect sense. I don’t think the point is that anything that could possibly hurt someone should be outlawed, but that anything that has pretty good chance of hurting someone should. The evidence of the dangers of texting while driving are accepted by all...
- Bryan Fordham: So your point, then, is anything that could possibly hurt someone should be outlawed? We have laws about wild animals and swinging bats already. What about just walking down the street carrying a bat, though? I might swing it, and it might hit someone. We need a law for that, too,...
- One who knows: I believe that the police should check the vision of the driver. Assuming the driver is whom I have been lead to believe it is, he has extremely poor vision and should no longer be driving. He was also in an exhausted state which is not illegal, but may have contributed to reduced...
- Jeremy: www.recyclechatham.org