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 Drew Wade,  a radiologist, avid bicyclist and proponent of all things which make Savannah a better place to live.  Pedal along with Drew as he lays out a roadmap to cooler, hipper, healthier community…. 

The Savanasphere has been swirling with talk of what might become of the old Backus Cadillac dealership at the corner of Victory Drive and Truman Parkway. Most of the comments are centered around the likelihood (and I believe for many reasons they are right) that Whole Foods is redeveloping the site for one of their stores. While I think many of us will find some solace in that arrival, relieving our inferiority complexes about Charleston, will a one-stop big box carrying a greater variety of organic and otherwise expensive groceries really change Savannah?

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 Sean Brandon, director of Mobility & Parking Services for the City of Savannah. Read on to find out how Sean thinks “creative growth” advocates can bolster their positioning….

In the discussion about “creative cities” and the policies that may create them, I’ve been struck by the arguments that have often been made that it is an elitist concept that doesn’t particularly benefit anyone except a relatively few people who can afford the comforts that come with being a “creative city”. I’d like to offer a small analogy that I hope will create more discussion.

I’m sure you have, at various points, seen someone biking through a busy street that seems was never meant for a bicycle, usually a four to six lane road where the actual speed is fifteen miles above the posted speed limit. As you struggle to keep pace with your fellow drivers you look over and see a person bicycling either in the travel lane or more likely on the narrow shoulder. “What is that crazy person doing?” is a somewhat natural response for most people. As it turns out, many bicyclists are either in poverty or close to it. Poverty doesn’t give you the comfort of finding a job within walking distance, and in many cases, even a robust mass transit system can often leave gaps for people trying to get to jobs that are at non-business hours.

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 Susan Isaacs, incoming Chairperson for The Creative Coast and Head Strategic Focus-izer with the Paragon Design Group. Read on to see what Susan and The Creative Coast Team are focusing on for 2012……

 I first came to Savannah in the fall of 1996 when the historic downtown was in many ways a scary place. Broughton Street was a hodgepodge of boarded-up windows, oddballs peddling suspect goods, and guys cat-calling as you walked past.

Then, during the course of my five years at SCAD, I watched as things changed. The scary began to disappear and I got the sense this town was resurrecting herself into something new and amazing. I was so taken by this that my plan to leave when I graduated was replaced by a strong desire to stay and become a part of the new Savannah. I was not alone in that hope; many of my college friends felt the same way.

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 yours truly, Jake Hodesh, chief goat herder for The Creative Coast.   Read on to see what I’ve been reading on…… 

I recently finished Walter Isaacson’s book on Steve Jobs.  For those of you who have slept through the last three-and-a-half decades, Steve Jobs co-founded one of the world’s most impressive corporations, Apple.

Apple is the amazing company that birthed the Macintosh computer, iPod, iPad, iPhone, iTunes and a host of other devices, programs, and accessories that have become the heartbeat of hip.

Walter Isaacson, no slouch himself, is a biographer, and the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute. He has explored the lives and written about several prominent individuals, including Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein.

Jobs became Isaacson’s most recent foil, and their relationship spawned a nearly 600-page tome that held my attention on countless flights and poolside afternoons during my winter holiday.

Isaacson conducted more than 40 interviews with Jobs over the course of two years. He was given unparalleled access into Steve Jobs’ world, interviewing more than 100 of Jobs’ friends, family members, cohorts, coworkers, enemies, and business partners.