As I type this, I am sitting at a corner table in Boba, a 24-hour internet café on the second floor of an old commercial building in Savannah's City Market, a double cappuchino next to my laptop, which is connected to the internet at high speed via a wireless connection (free for customers). Some folks are out on the balconies listening to live music downstairs in the market. Others are surfing the web, playing checkers, studying.
I'm in Savannah, Georgia, for a few days on business. It's one of my favorite cities to visit, and in the next few entries I'm going to try to convey what makes it such a wonderful place, and what lessons Tulsans can learn.
Tulsans have been talking about how to make our city more exciting, how to create a lively urban district, how to attract to tourists and new companies, how to make our young people want to stay here. I wish every Tulsan concerned about these issues would visit this city. Savannah is by no means a perfect city, but it has many of the qualities Tulsans want for our city, as well as most of the qualities we already enjoy (such as family-friendliness, a strong Christian community, a relatively low cost of living, not too big and not too small). Savannah has made its mistakes and has its problems, but Tulsa would do well to make it a role model.
Urban design experts talk about walkability and a pedestrian-friendly environment -- Savannah embodies those concepts, and you see people (normal people) out walking until the wee hours.
I'll be posting some observations from this and earlier visits over the next couple of days. In the meantime, here are some links that will give you an introduction to the city.
The Savannah Morning News: The daily paper
An aerial photo of the historic district
Savannah Convention and Visitors Bureau
A brief historical sketch from the Savannah CVB site.
Historic Savannah Foundation, the driving force behind the revival of downtown Savannah.
Savannah Development and Renewal Authority -- imagine, an urban renewal authority that looks for alternatives to demolition!
