Savannah Sidewalks

The Minneapolis-based blog twin city sidewalks wrote a post focusing not just on Savannah’s sidewalks but also our legacy of economic development. The author highlights his positive and negative aspects of our community while discussing the “three phases of Savannah: the historical, and modernist, and what ever you call the present.” I pulled out some of these highlights for discussion.

“The Historical”
“Savannah is one of the most interesting, well-preserved cities in the country…buildings sit around a unique town plan that scatters little public squares at the center of every other intersection. There’s nothing like this anywhere in the world, as far as I know, and Savannah’s squares are fantastic examples of walkable public space. On top of the squares, there is the rich history of Savannah itself.”

I can’t argue with that, downtown Savannah is beautiful. The squares, the river and the architecture stand as a tribute to the region’s history. Well, maybe the river isn’t quite a tribute to the history but I had to throw that in because I love our downtown waterfront.

“The Modernist”

The reason why Savannah is home to the modern historical preservation movement is that Savannah, like most American cities, was being extensively modernized during the post-war years. And, of course, when I say ‘modernized’ I really mean ‘bulldozed’. Broughton Street forms the main drag of ‘downtown’ Savannah, and it definitely has the abandoned department store feel of many 50’s main streets (or parts of downtown Saint Paul). What’s interesting is that most of the space along Broughton is still, to this day, vacant and unused. You see boarded up windows, ‘for rent’ signs, and empty theater marquees for even emptier theaters. Like many downtowns, all the retail business in Savannah seems to have been sucked out to shopping malls and big box stores, and there’s very little left of the once-vital 50’s retail scene.

This post was written July 16th, 2007. I will admit there is a large amount of stores that are awaiting new owners, there is no question about that; perhaps I just choose to focus on the recent development instead. I also notice a bit of distaste for our local hotels. Just a bit…

Savannah’s other urban planning disasters are the giant hotel and convention complexes that dominate the city’s skyline at various points. Not only are there huge, thirty-story hotels that form little campuses – like the Westin and the Marriott – but there are two large convention centers that sit within the city, or on the island right across the river. But by far the worst of these is the Hyatt Regency Hotel, which sits right next to the city hall and forms a giant pink mountain of concrete that actually covers River Street, the main riverfront strolling spot. It blends into Savannah old historic building stock with all the grace of an earthquake at the Faberge museum. It sticks out like the Pope at a slot machine. It’s terrible, not only architecturally, but because it ends up dominating the landscape surrounding what should be the focal point of the city. Not only that, but I have it on good account that their beds are horribly uncomfortable.

Hm…..

“The Present”

Today, though, Savannah has seen something of a renaissance…an art school has spent the last few decades buying up historic properties throughout the city and turning them into classroom buildings, and the tourist industry is certainly booming. There are pirate tours, ghost tours, history tours, civil war tours, house tours, riverboat tours, and even tours featuring all the films have been shot in the city. But at the same time, it doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot else going on in the local economy, apart from some industrial jobs centering around Savannah’s status as a shipping port. So while there are parts of town where, if you squint, you can pretend you’re not surrounded by tourists (for example, I really liked hanging out in the ‘City Market’ area, over on the West side of downtown), at the same time it’s hard to see how a city like this could ever really become something other than a resort town. Its hard to imagine Savannah having a bustling diverse population filling its city streets with life, but that doesn’t change the fact that its an excellent place to go for a vacation.

The bolding was my doing; I found those passages key to what our mission is here at TCCi: making Savannah the best community in the country by building a diverse, innovative and higher-wage future that greatly improves quality of life by increasing economic opportunities for everyone.

What do you think; do you think the author is spot-on or that he missed something?