The Creative Coast’s blogspot is Savannah’s sounding board for local thinkers, innovators, wanderers and wonderers. Guest bloggers share their thoughts, opinions and creative noodling from all over the map. This week’s blog is from Patrick Shay, a fanatical (but low profile) community supporter, consumate activitivist, esteemed architect and seasoned County Commissioner.  Read on for Patrick’s pondering of Savannah at the crossroads….

Since its inception, Savannah has been a dynamic dance between these two ingredients of a city’s success. Founded as a refuge for unemployed workers, and as a place where merit and hard work were to replace birthright and privilege, Georgia’s first city began as a bold experiment. Her form was also unique, with an amount of public land that exceeded that of private property, organized around public squares and community gardens. The best urban land was reserved for civic purposes, so that people would always understand that civility was more important than private wealth.

Over the years, the competition for resources with other American cities changed Savannah, and she became devoted to the commerce of cotton, sea trade, slavery, forestry, kaolin, and other mercantile commodities. Her form changed and evolved into a bustling seaport and railroad hub, with shanty towns for the workers, and mansions for the barons of industry. Most of what we now think of as our historical city survives from this era, and it is a legacy of commercial success.

The Creative Coast’s blogspot is Savannah’s sounding board for local thinkers, innovators, wanderers and wonderers. Guest bloggers share their thoughts, opinions and creative noodling from all over the map. This week’s blog is from Radford (Rad) Harrell,  CEO of TalentSoup, a business writer, community activist and all round good guy.  Read on for the real dirt on Savannah….

Noted on a tucked away page of every American city’s history are details and stories about the farmers that fed the growing population springing up around them.

Savannah’s rich and well-documented history is no different, with chronicled examples of not just the agricultural trade that fed our city’s revenue growth but also the local farmers that fed the people, shop keepers, laborers and tradesmen that made that industry work. Local farming had been an integral part of every city and town’s daily life from day one. But that has changed over the last 60 years or so for a number of reasons. Now, almost all of the food at your local supermarket is non-local and a great deal of it is even non-U.S.A. food!

The Creative Coast’s blogspot is Savannah’s sounding board for local thinkers, innovators, wanderers and wonderers. Guest bloggers share their thoughts, opinions and creative noodling from all over the map. This week’s blog is from Jamie Wolf, author, consultant for the entrepreneurial-minded, NC State grad and Solutions Director for the Savannah Ocean Exchange.   Read on for Jamie’s thoughts on re-starting, re-booting and re-invigorating your world…

Did you know that 400 million new jobs are needed by 2020 to keep pace with the working age population? Did you know that youth unemployment is 3 times higher than adult unemployment? I bet you heard the world population is now 7 billion and counting. That sounds like competition for jobs and resources to me. So what can you do to control your own destiny?

My solution is to read and learn. (I personally keep the economy going by buying books, not shoes!) If you hate your job and are ready to quit, have been laid off and can’t find work, recently graduated and are still underemployed, or if you are transitioning to civilian life, then you are facing starting over.

The Creative Coast’s blogspot is Savannah’s sounding board for local thinkers, innovators, wanderers and wonderers. Guest bloggers share their thoughts, opinions and creative noodling from all over the map. This week’s guest blogger is Brynn Grant, Vice President of Competitive Positioning at Savannah Economic Development Authority (SEDA). A conversation with Brynn always leaves one thinking bigger and further outside the sandbox….

This summer, after a six month process, the Savannah Economic Development Authority (SEDA)  completed a Competitive Positioning Analysis and Target Industry Study for Savannah. A key part of SEDA’s five-year strategic plan adopted by the Board of Directors in March, this study and the subsequent recommendations made by our consultants at SRI International will direct our proactive efforts to create, grow and attract jobs here for many years to come. The results were exciting, especially for those of us who have worked hard to achieve consensus on the best strategies for our job creation efforts.

The two existing target industries named were no surprise though one proposed a more expanded approach. They are Advanced Manufacturing to include aviation and aerospace, materials and resins, industrial machinery and food processing as well as Transportation and Logistics, only now including an emphasis on the higher value side of logistics and the related support activities, perhaps linking regional higher education assets in a more robust way.