Arena series ‘frustrating’
Editor,
The five part analysis of the proposed Arena by Marcel R. Williams may have been interesting and possibly alarming for some readers.
But for me, former Chair of the Business Development sub-committee of the city’s Arena Taskforce, it was extremely frustrating.
The writer should answer two questions:
Where was he when City Manager Cutter asked for assistance in developing a proposal for the project?
Several citizens and local experts including the Directors of the Metropolitan Planning Commission, SDRA, and the International Trade Commission and a current Chatham County Commissioner worked almost two and a half years on our report. All the issues he raised were addressed.
Why did he not explain how the City’s delay in moving the project forward is a key cause of construction cost increases?
Our report was submitted the summer of 2016. The new City Manager, though rudely greeted by a hurricane upon his arrival, seemingly did nothing to move the project forward until the following year. Then he invited the sub-committee chairs to meet with a well known local architect to discuss it. Ten minutes into the session it was painfully clear that this new participant had not read (and possibly was not given) our report.
The City lost an opportunity to benefit from his expertise when the plan was being developed but we should not suffer further delay because he was late to the party.
Kenneth Zapp, PhD Professor Emeritus and Mentor for SCORE Savannah
This article appears in Aug 22-28, 2018.
Regardless of where anyone was, the fact is that this arena, after it is built with splost money,will have to be supported by taxes to cover maintenance, repairs, and a host of other things that splost will not cover. This is bread and circuses and another boondoogle for us taxpayers.
Arena? Maybe it was a possibly good idea when it was first dreamed up, but today Savannah has issues that the ARENA will in no way solve. I would question the validity of all previous studies regarding this project, guessing that all participants were tasked with proving it a good idea, not actually questioning whether it was what Savannah needed and could benefit the most from. From recent reports it seems the whole project is doomed and at risk to be declared not feasible, which is a reason, under SPLOST regulations, the ARENA PROJECT can be scrapped and replaced with other infrastructure much more directly beneficial to our citizenry.
Delay? If anything, I would guess most folks took one look and saw how ridiculous this venture was and figured there is no way anyone could possibly move forward on it. To our continued bewilderment, this money pit is still on the table. How can this be? I can only assume someone must see something to gain where most see disaster. I wonder who those folks are and what is it they will gain? Awful lot of contracts out there and an awful lot of land in question. The professional consultants queuing up to get paid….
JOEDYER is absolutely correct. We cannot even keep the sidewalks clean and all those lovely flower boxes are dried up and full of weeds and cigarette butts. How many times have we dug up Drayton St. for various infrastructure band-aids? It has not been that long since the last underground fire was put out! How many times this year alone have the new drainage measures failed to keep flooding in check? Crime, poorly rated schools, cutting funding for the arts, lack of manpower on every level of city maintenance…Come on, look around, is this the time or place for an arena? Is that what we want to do, pave over our true value as a city?
I think Marcel’s article was very well written and researched. Not only do I agree with all of the posters here that it could be used for far better purposes and projects (even if it must be for capital expense is is the restriction of SPLOST) but the city seemed hell bent on putting it there for political purposes not based on actual physical and planning constraints. I think it would better used for education, crime reduction, parks and drainage. I think they can make those fit in to SPLOST. PSA reminder–to vote everyone!… time for new people on council and county commission!