Okay, I recognize that this is a small thing. I understand that in the great expanse of our vast universe this is a historically small thing but still… it bugged me and I will address it.
“Approved a financial plan to sell or refinance about $78 million in municipal bonds. About $35 million would pay for road improvements around Savannah River Landing and for major water and sewer projects.”
Ms. Conn is writing about the “other action” at City Council this week and as is typical buries the biggest, most expensive and most far reaching news at the very bottom. But that is not what is bugging me.
No, what bugs me in this is the characterization of the newly funded projects as being “around Savannah River Landing”.
First, there is no Savannah River Landing. There is nothing there. There is not likely to be anything there by the time these improvements are finished.
No one is likely to say “oh take that road out by Savannah River Landing” or “I got stuck in traffic at Savannah River Landing” because there is no Savannah River Landing.
City Council is spending our bond money on road improvements along President Street and General McIntosh. The only role Savannah River Landing has in that would be to pay for it with an increase in tax revenue if they ever built anything which seems highly unlikely in the near term.
Ms. Conn seemed far more fascinated with the request for an alcohol license by Mr. Seaborne Tompkins. Actually Mr. Tompkins did not make the request at Council he brought a mouthpiece in the form of Chatham County Commissioner Dean Kicklighter.
Looking at my list of people I want speaking on my behalf here…. Yeah Kicklighter is way down there, after that guy who walks around town with the “abortion is murder ask me how” sign and a poo flinging capuchin monkey.
Kicklighter made a classic mistake when trying to win the good graces of City Council. He kept going on about what the rules would let them get away. In this case, he was convinced that the rules would let them get away with having only 7 parking spaces for a business hoping to attract up to 300 people at a time.
That is not what this council wants to hear.
This council wants to hear about how you plan to provide 10 times the number of spaces required and how you will personally pick up every piece of trash in a 4 block radius and the one hundred and one other ways you will go above and beyond to make sure that your establishment will be a model business, beloved by the neighbors and forgotten by police because hey, nothing ever happens out there.
As much fun as it was to watch Diminutive Dean prance about, it is kind of sad that Mr. Seaborne has sunk his inheritance into a space that doesn’t meet zoning requirements for what he wants to do and is in an area that has caused nothing but trouble for the other bar trying to make a go of it there. It seems to me if he had looked at the rules in advance and done a bit of research into earlier council rulings instead of just trying to figure out what he could get away with, he would be in much better shape right now.
Sooooooo, Savannah River Landing, what’s up with that?
As they promised Ant Hill Estates launched their new website and it is very pretty… but… well I hesitate to say anything, but … the site seems to be suffering some kind of delusional disorder.
“Finally! Enjoy historic Savannah from a newly-contstructed apartment home! There's no better spot than the famous waterfront where you're never more than a few steps from your favorite downtown attractions. We offer 1, 2, and 3-bedroom options. Each beautiful unit comes with competitive lease rates that include parking.”
Are they pitching tents out there? 1, 2, and 3-bedroom tents? I know they have the parking, that’s pretty much all they have is parking.
“Metropolitan convenience with all the comforts of a hand-crafted home. Open floor plans include two-story lofts, chic city flats, and rooftop garden penthouses. The well-appointed building features a grilling patio, media room and a terrace pool deck. Each residence comes with its own parking, laundry, storage, balcony and stunning view!”
Ummm and we’re looking, we’re looking and no I can’t find it. What “well-appointed building” would that be?
“Come and sidewalk shop in breezy coastal splendor. Finally a kid-friendly downtown where finding a parking spot is nothing short of simple. Once here you'll choose from classic brands or Savannah's variety of chic boutiques. Grab a cappuccino and a park bench for the complete European experience.”
Again, no trouble finding parking but I don’t know where they are hiding those “chic boutiques”. Maybe they’re under the sand?
The City of Savannah seems to be going along with the delusion that there is something out there other than dirt. Leaders are being asked to issue $20 million dollars in bonds backed by the taxes generated by Savannah River Landing. Officially it will be backed by all development in the President Street Corridor Tax Allocation District.
Of course you don’t get much tax revenue off an ant hill so if nothing gets built there we the taxpayers will be on the hook for the bonds. That being said, the improvements the money will pay for will be nice, President Street will be wider, General McIntosh will drain better and the whole area will be prettier so it’s not for naught.
Question: Should folks that are asking the City Council for a liquor license insult the city on their myspace page?
This caught my eye for several reasons, mostly because of the name of the company:
“Seaborne Tompkins for Saule Goode, LLC d/b/a The Iguana Room "Live Entertainment Hall", requesting a liquor, beer, and wine (drink) license at 103-105 N. Fahm Street, which is located between River and Indian Streets in District 1.”
Get it? “Saule Goode LLC” or “It’s All Good LLC”. Yeah we gots ourselves a brain trust here folks.
The other thing that grabbed me is that this appears to be the Tompkins Dynasty attempting to start another enterprise.
The family that brought you Malones, Deja Groove and Sorry
Charlies seems to be attempting to resurrect the Iguana Room.
The Lizard Lounge, as I used to call it, was above Malone’s in City Market now they want to set up shop at Jarrells Gym on Fahm St.
A quick google search turned up Mr. Tomkins’ myspace page on which he posted the following:
“city sucks
you know i really think we just need to take over this state. just do it an be done with it. i can really say with out a doubt that this place sucks the city will take everything they can from u an when u say anything about it the blacklist u from every doing anything again. ive live here for forty years an i have never seen it this bad”
All I can say is good luck with that.
I am all over the map today. Hang on.
Media as Tools
The Savannah Morning News ran a love letter to itself and other newspapers today.
Walter C. Jones attempts to make the case that it was good old fashioned, hardnosed, Woodward and Bernstein type journalism that got to the bottom of the Mark Sanford Mystery Tour.
“Mark Sanford might have finished out his tenure in office and mounted a stellar campaign for the White House without anyone learning of his extramarital affair, separation from his wife and lies to his staff and colleagues - if only tenacious newspaper reporters had not been on the job.”
Well thank GOD! I mean, really, we might have had a philanderer in the White House! The horror!
Beyond the dubious assumption that Sanford could have contended for national office, what Jones describes has nothing to do with Journalists doing their jobs. It is more about Journalists being used as tools for the political gain of Sanford’s rivals.
“The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., had been probing into his behavior after receiving copies of romantic e-mails…”
“The paper's break came when alerted by Sanford's political enemies…”
“That story most likely generated the tip from an unknown individual that Sanford was returning to Atlanta on a flight from Argentina…”
So basically, what you’re saying is, the paper was led around by the nose and handed the story complete with email evidence to back it up? Where is the reporting in that? They simply went where the Governor’s enemies sent them and reported what they saw. There was no investigation.
There is no evidence that laws were broken, there is no evidence that the Governor lied to the public. So why is this news exactly?
He did lie to his employees but when did that become a crime? What Mark Sanford did is a sin but, then again, so is misplaced pride in oneself so perhaps SMN needs to say a few Hail Mary right along with the Governor.
Miley Gets a Break
I’m sure Miley Cyrus did not wish any harm on Michael Jackson but his death has resulted in a cessation of the STALK MILEY campaigns promoted by two local media outlets.
All news of the tween dropped from the local headlines on Friday and was replaced by “I once held the door open for Michael Jackson’s best friend’s playcousin” remembrances of the King of Pop.
These “We Miss Michael” stories are also not real news, but the Savannah Morning News and others apparently feel they need to report something and there isn’t much actual news coming out about his death so they fill up the space with the pabulum.
And because nature abhors a vacuum some in the industry have found a way to combine the Miley/Michael stories into twisted rumors.
Media General’s worm has turned once again.
When last we reported on WSAV’s Deadbeat Dad, things were looking up. Back in January the stock reached the peak of $3.45 a share it then dipped to a buck 25 in March but managed to climb back to near its 09 peak again in May then the bottom fell out again this month with a drop back down to a buck 88 in suspiciously high volume on Friday.
Of course all this looks like a midget jumping in the bottom of the ravine compared to the stocks highs of yesteryear. Oh to return to the good old days before Marshal “Morty” Morton pushed the company off the cliff of $60 a share with his winning strategy of “Everything BUT What We’re Good At!”.
Now we get word out of Tampa that the company is so strapped
for cash its Florida Flagship put a Gay
Bashing infomercial on in early prime. I think it is clear that they were
simply not in a position to say no to the money. I guess we've moved on from the days when MG could refuse to run an ad simply because it included the sponsorship of a competitor. or when they could nitpick the ads of candidates and refuse what they see as attacks. Next they'll be advertising hard liquor and sex lines... oops.
Larry Peterson’s math has me a might confused.
This is probably good news but I guess we’ll have to wait till City Staff gives a report on it to truly understand cause the county folk seem to be trying to muddle the puddle. Of course it could just be Mr. Peterson’s math I can’t follow.
“Assessed home values in Chatham County fell nearly 4 percent last year, according to preliminary figures announced Thursday.”
So that is HOME VALUES down 3 point something?
“The decline of about $336 million in assessed values for homes was part of a report to Chatham commissioners Thursday.”
So that is ASSESSED HOME VALUES down $335 million and change?
“Although exact figures were not available late Thursday, the number of homes increased last year…”
So there were MORE HOMES in Chatham County in this assessment than in the last?
“That means average assessed value dropped by more than 4 percent, Monahan said.”
So… wait. So that is HOME VALUES down 4 point something?
“Overall, the total value assigned to all properties in the county climbed by 1.64 percent to $11.333 billion.”
So when you factor in ALL PROPERTY, values are up 1.64%?
What I take away from this story is about what I expected. Things will stay pretty much exactly the same as they were last year.
Average home sale prices in 2008 were right about where they were in 2005. While they seem to be down further in 2009, the sample is waaaaay smaller so an “apples to apples” comparison is not possible.
Besides, Homeowners won’t notice much of any change in what they pay in taxes on their homes thanks to Stephens/Day despite Mr. Peterson’s wrongheaded description:
“Another offsetting factor was the declining impact of the Stevens-Day exemption, which provides less tax relief when home values plummet.”
How exactly is that possible? How can it offer less relief?
Stephens-Day hasn’t changed, it offers the exact same relief today, tomorrow and next week.
It freezes the taxable value until you sell your home, it isn’t a variable freeze, it isn’t a freeze then a thaw then another freeze.
It’s frozen, meaning that if you paid too much for your home, you’re stupid and you’re screwed.
I was wrong.
Truth be told, I never even considered such an anti-democratic thing was possible but it doesn’t change the fact.
I was wrong.
It seems that even those who do not live in Unincorporated Chatham County can sign that silly little recycling petition and if they get enough signatures, even those who do not live in Unincorporated Chatham County will be allowed to vote in a recycling referendum. Of course if that referendum is successful ONLY those who live in Unincorporated Chatham County will pay for recycling.
In other words: Pay as I say, not as I do.
So, I was wrong.
This plan is wrong too.
It is wrong to promote a plan that takes the power to tax away from duly electeds and away from the citizens that will ultimately pay the tax.
It is anti-democratic.
I have never truly believed that the Green Movement is simply the Red Movement with a new coat of paint. I am rethinking that now.
What follows is an exchange between myself and one of the County's better known former politicians.
John McMasters wrote:
You are incorrect about city registered voters being able to sign the petition. According to the state constitution, and confirmed by experts in state government, all registered voters residing in the county are to be considered and able to participate in citizens initiatives. Get your facts straight please, since you claim to love the facts so much.
We project having enough signatures to cause a referendum by April 2010, maybe earlier.
Oh by the way, all registered voters will decide the issue even though it will only effect unincorporated CC. I find that odd myself, but hey, that's how the law was written so we are following it. If you don't like it, change it as we are doing to the county charter. Some people do things, others don't.
ESTÚPIDO SAVANNAH wrote:
John are you suggesting that City of Savannah voters could impose their will on the unincorporated areas of the county even though the City taxpayers will not be paying for the program in question?
That is indeed a different interpretation of the law than I understand currently.
If that is the case then you and your petition just went from laughable to frightening.
Are you really willing to impose higher taxes without support from a majority of the people asked to pay those taxes? That is anti-democratic in the extreme.
I will do my due diligence but if what you say is true, you should be ashamed of yourself for supporting this.
ESTÚPIDO SAVANNAH wrote:
Yeah the way I read the law you can't do it. It's a moot point anyway cause you will never get enough signatures but still here are three good reasons why you can't do it.
O.C.G.A.§36-70-24 Special Service District rules
(3)(A) The strategy shall ensure that the cost of any service which a county provides primarily for the benefit of the unincorporated area of the county shall be borne by the unincorporated area residents, individuals, and property owners who receive the service. Further, when the county and one or more municipalities jointly fund a county-wide service, the county share of such funding shall be borne by the unincorporated residents, individuals, and property owners that receive the service.
Ga. Const. Art. VII, § I, Para. III Taxes must be uniform
(a) All taxes shall be levied and collected under general laws and for public purposes only. Except as otherwise provided in subparagraphs (b), (c), (d), and (e), all taxation shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax.
Ga. Const. Art. IX, § II, Para. I - No amendment hereunder shall be valid if inconsistent with any provision of this Constitution or if provision has been made therefore by general law.
John McMasters wrote:
You have made a brilliant argument for city/county consolidation. I couldn't have said it better. Thank you.
John McMasters wrote:
Let's get a few facts on the table. Government does not create any wealth. Government has and will continue to operate itself using only tax payer funding, there's no other funding source. So, if it's our money, and we want a very small portion of it spent on this or that, we have the implicit right to have simple services we desire and let's not forget - fund.
Now as to cost, libraries are not revenue neutral. Health department services are not either, police and fire same thing. Now our government spends our money on lots of stuff: luxury yacht basin/slips at Hutchinson Island, $80,000 DC lobbyist, $200 million new sports arena, $54 million elevating Presidents Street around Savannah River Landing, etc.
None of these expenses are revenue neutral are they? And who benefits? Developers.
So please don't begrudge those who want a simple service as 2x a month curbside recycling program in the unincorporated area. It's reasonable, we are doing constitutionally using our rights, so put it in perspective and quit whining.
ESTÚPIDO SAVANNAH wrote:
John I begrudge nothing.
What you are suggesting is perfectly fine, IF the people affected, those who would receive and pay for the services, decide they want it and are willing to pay for it.
What you and your friends are suggesting is the same as having voters in the State of South Carolina decide that people in Georgia use too much water.
The voters in South Carolina could vote and decide that a higher water fee should be imposed only on Georgia homeowners. That is not how the system works for a very good reason.
It is taxation without representation.
More supposed recycling “facts”
Both the Savannah Morning News and the Confused Savannah… what? Oh. Sorry, Connect Savannah. Anyway both of them have recycling stories in this week’s editions.
Is it earthday again and nobody told me?
Despite the headline in the SMN theirs is not a Recycling IQ test. It is just more propaganda and questionable claims:
“But nearly six months into the city's curbside recycling program - which has achieved a 50 percent participation rate - chances are also good that some items still confound you, even if you're a dedicated recycler.”
Notice it doesn’t say “fifty percent of households recycle regularly” which would be impressive. No they claim that at some point in the last 6 months they hit fifty percent.
I would like to see HARD numbers on that. Someone please give me a simple, Total Households /Recycling Households equation. It would look like this TH – RH = X, simple.
I think if we were actually getting anywhere close to 50% on a regular basis they would have a parade.
No the city (and Connect Savannah) would rather talk about the total amount of material that is being recycled and compare it to the total amount being recycled before we all had trucks coming to each of our houses to pick it up for us. That is disingenuous and says absolutely nothing about whether we are getting our money’s worth out of the program for which we pay.
Connect also fell into printing questionable facts such as:
“Recycling one aluminum can is the equivalent energy savings to run a computer for three hours."
Here are those HARD facts I love so much.
Desktop with 17’ LCD monitor run for 6 hours = 1 KWh
1 KWh = 3413 British thermal units (Btu)
1 Recycled Aluminum Can = 350 Btu
Energy Saved by Recycling Aluminum Can = 6650 Btu
So actually one aluminum can is the equivalent energy savings to run a desktop computer for at least 10 hours. With the same aluminum can you could run a laptop for two days.
Oh and that: “Currently only about 45 percent of Georgians are committed recyclers”
How is that even possible when less than 45 percent of people in the state have a curbside program and those without one hardly if ever recycle? According to the numbers provided by our city, Savannah recycled 60 times less stuff before the program came into play.
One explanation for the seeming exaggeration is that the “45%” number comes from a survey where people were asked how much they recycle. Oh yes! We should definitely quote that as absolute gospel because we know people always tell the truth on surveys, right?
Why not actually do a survey of municipal systems to see how many households actually are recycling? Oops! There I go again asking for HARD facts.
I did like that the Connect story was a bit more market driven. I find that far more interesting than the touchy feely “Do it for the Planet” BS. If we were truly interested in saving the planet then we wouldn’t be so lazy and we wouldn’t need to have city taxpayers subsidize the program that allows us to continue to consume at unsustainable levels while feeling like we do no harm.
Speaking of market forces, I would like to see how much money Pratt has paid the city so far for the tons of crap we have delivered to them. Again I would like hard numbers, an audit of the program if you will.
SMN also went with some soft numbers on the effort to impose a costly recycling program on the unincorporated area of Chatham County.
“…an effort to get more local residents pondering curbside recycling with a petition for the service countywide. It's garnered more than 5,400 signatures online and on paper at about 60 area businesses since April.”
First, this ain’t a petition to get county-wide recycling it is only “In unincorporated portions of the county, waste services shall include single-stream curbside recycling of glass, plastic, aluminum, newspapers and magazines.”
Second, did the reporter count these signatures? Online they
have collected just more than 1600
signatures and not all of those are
eligible to sign since they don’t live in the unincorporated portions of the
county.
Just on the first page, out of 50 addresses, I recognized at
least 10 that are inside Savannah. If that percentage of bad signatures stays consistent
over the entire petition they got bupkis chance of getting the 16 thousand they
need.
See John McMasters comments. Apparently the way they are trying to get the recycling issue on the ballot is to do an end run around the people who will actually have to pay for it.
He and his cronies intend to let the majority impose taxes just on the minority who live in the unincorporated areas.
Everybody votes but only those who live in the unincorporated area will pay.
That is certainly easier than asking for support from those who must actually pay the higher price.
Shameful!
A couple of updates based on information that some readers have been searching for on the site over the past few weeks.
It seems last week’s “What up Savannah River Landing?” piece just happened to coincide with plans for the company to completely revamp their website.
No really it was a total coincidence.
Seriously it had nothing at all to do with the fact that I pointed out all the outdated information and unfulfilled promises still present on their current site.
According to Ms Conn:
“Savannah River Landing continues to operate from trailers on the site. On Monday, the project plans to unveil a new Web site, said Kate Freeman, the company's marketing and community relations manager.
Sales efforts continue on the residential, commercial and retail front, but she said she could not disclose any information about whether any new commercial or retail clients had been signed up.”
As to why they haven’t built anything, according to someone I respect a great deal, Asst. City Manager Chris Morrill:
"Savannah River Landing cannot really have any economic development until we deal with President Street,"
Funny, I don’t think I remember hearing a single thing about
that being a Quid Pro Quo or an “if you build it
they will come” thing.
In fact the SRL folks specifically quoted “construction start” dates in 2007, 2008, 2009 and most recently “next year, as company officials have stated.” Is that next year or when we get to next year will it still be starting “next year”?
None of Savannah River Landings published materials said anything about the road needing to come first.
I think Mr. Morrill misspoke. Let me put it this way, I hope he misspoke because if this is a Quid PQ deal that is ethically questionable.
Anywho they say they still plan to build it… someday.
We’ve had a number of folks searching for Horncastle on the site.
Horncastle is the lovely little historic village in the UK where Savannah College of Art and Design owned a lovely little historic house that was reportedly falling apart due to a lovely little bit of neglect. It made headlines there but was completely ignored by the media in SCAD’s hometown which only seems to report the positive side of SCAD’s endeavors overseas.
It was first brought to my attention in Spring of ’08.
It was hit by a car in June and then failed to sell at auction in Fall of ‘08
UPDATE: While it has not made the news there or here, Queen Paula managed to sell the house early this year. Meanwhile the Good Folk of Horncastle have apparently moved on and are now making a fuss over other endangered buildings.
Speaking of the Queen’s colonization efforts, we’ve heard precious little about SCAD KONG since the American Consulate got involved to silence critics of our little Crayon Academy in China.
The official SCAD site for this little venture doesn’t seem to have been updated since it was announced back in February. Little has shown up in the Chinese media since the government shut down the roar of complaints over giving an historic building to an American outfit over the Chinese Artists Assoc. But this popped up this month in the South China Morning Post.
“The renovation of the
former North Kowloon Magistracy building is expected to begin in the autumn and
will make as few changes as possible to the structure, says an expert with the
American arts college that was awarded tenancy of the historic building.
Savannah College of Art and Design's preservation specialist Bob Dickensheets,
who moved to Hong Kong two months ago, said the heritage impact assessment of
the building had begun and he expected it to be completed soon. The college
will open next year.”
The SCMP is a subscription based site so I’ve linked you to
another site that repeats much of the article.
The article sounds a bit like a press release but again, SCAD seems to have made it onto the “thou shalt not print dissent” list or whatever the Chinese Communists call the stuff they don’t allow.
People who own crap houses shouldn’t throw crap.
I kinda missed the whole property maintenance teapot tempest that blew up this week. I was more concerned with how embarrassing the whole STALK MILEY thing was becoming for those of us who really thought Savannah was cooler than that.
Anywho, I apparently missed a fine article by Ms. Conn on Sunday exposing Michael Brown’s ridiculous excuses for letting his properties simply fall apart.
BTW there are two Michael Brown’s of note in Savannah, our City Manager and someone generously described as a “developer”. Ms. Conn’s article was about the latter.
She had already left council chambers today when Mayor Otis Johnson and others on council praised her work. I too would like to applaud her thoroughness and tenacity in taking on a subject that everyone is aware of but no one has the babymakers to tackle.
For his part, NOT-city-manager Mr. Brown fired back with an editorial that was published on Thursday in which he voiced his shock at the size of the article about his transgressions:
“I am amazed that a front page article is seven and a half times the coverage of the critical election in Iran and seven times the coverage of North Korea's nuclear threat.”
Mr. Brown I say to you that our LOCAL media needs to concern itself with LOCAL threats and you certainly qualify as a local threat.
Then he tries to negate Ms. Conn’s piece by suggesting it exaggerated the situation:
“The three properties on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Anderson Street and others mentioned represent less than 10 percent (of property holdings), not "nearly half" as stated. The other 90 percent are restored and provide for successful businesses and residences.”
And here is where Ms. Conn did leave a breach in her defenses. She should have published all of the properties in which Mr. Brown is involved. She should have also included pictures over time to show just what he means by “restored”.
Hey! I’ve got an idea! Why don’t I do that right now?
Here are all the properties listed on SAGIS for the two companies Ms. Conn mentioned in her piece:
1. 0 W 32ND ST – Vacant Lot
2. 628 MARTIN LUTHER KING - Vacant Lot
3. 8 W VICTORY DR – Run Down Beauty Salon
4. 418 W ANDERSON ST – Shell of House
5. 414 W ANDERSON ST – Shell of House
6. 2705 BULL ST – Vacant Store
7. 2013 W BAY ST – Vacant Lot
8. 1907 W BAY ST Vacant Lot
9. 1316 MARTIN LUTHER KING – Shell of Business - pics in paper
10. 1312 MARTIN LUTHER KING – Restored
11. 112 W BROUGHTON ST – Clothing Store
12. 110 BARNARD ST 501 – Weird inaccessible top portion of high price condo building
13. 803 WHITAKER ST – As pretty as the Mansion if it was restored which it is not.
14. 109 MARTIN LUTHER KING – Former location of Café Metropol/CRAP condition for YEARS
15. 2017 W BAY ST – Vacant Lot
16. 17 W BROUGHTON ST – Restored Retail
17. 0 MARTIN LUTHER KING – Vacant Lot
18. 116 W CONGRESS ST – former location of Sorry Charlie’s/Structurally Unsafe
Now you can decide for yourself if Mr. Brown is truly in the business of restoration or simply sits on properties and allows them to decay.
Come to think of it, this type of article maybe once a month would be an excellent way for the city to inform the residents of just exactly who is responsible for the blight among us.
Just a quick minute between meetings to thank Ms. Conn for mentioning two of the things I suggested should be making news this week.
Unfortunately mention them is all she did. I now know just two things I didn't know before.
On the DeRenne thing: "The fifth phase - implementation - would be at least a few years away"
Oh the specificity! Amazing how they can predict with such accuracy. -Insert sarcastic incredulity here-
On the Ethics thing: "It also calls on the aldermen to use formal titles, such as "Mayor Johnson" or "Council-member Thomas" during all public meetings."
See now here is where Ms. Conn could have done a true service to readers by printing or at least linking the entire text of the new ethics regulations but alas we just have to deal with the tiny portion she hinted at which also happened to be the tiny portion that would illicit the most acerbic response from the electeds.
I guess they have room in their publication and on their website for three STALK MILEY stories with video and links but only a few paragraphs to tell us about our local government.
#SMNFAIL
Addendum: Wednesday, June 17, 2009 7:56:21 PM
Now it seems everybody is running the secretly taped Miley sings cell phone video. SMN posted it and WTOC did a full story on it.
Two things:
1. It's not news.
2. It is terrible video. It was shot with a cell phone, you can't understand the audio and really if you didn't know for sure who was in it you would never know it was Miley Cyrus.
You media guys look stupid running around squealing like 12 year old girls at the very mention of her name.
You tell me.
Is this stalking?
# Katie Bug "please tell me what restaurants miley will visit each night. I am a very huge fan of her.” 8:14 am 14/6/09 #
# Guest "anyone know if shes staying in a hotel, or where she it staying?" 9:24 pm 14/6/09 #
#Guest "i know where shes staying" 12:47 pm 15/6/09 #
# Guest "she is staying in my beach house! well the one i always rent!" 12:48 pm 15/6/09 #
# Guest "where is it?" 1:37 pm 15/6/09 #
#Guest "i saw her rehearsing at the adams cottage on friday afternoon" 9:10 pm 16/6/09 #
#Guest "is adams cottage on the very southern end of tybee?" 9:13 pm 16/6/09 #
All of these and more have been posted to the Savannah Morning News website over the past week at the behest of the newspaper itself.
While I applaud the SMN’s decision to remove their billboard encouraging stalking, they continue to solicit the behavior with subtle solicitations encouraging people to track down and photograph a 16 year old girl.
On the Web
Go to savannahnow.com/miley to:
-- Share your Miley pics. (Then check the newspaper - we might print yours as part of our coverage of the filming of "The Last Song.")
Again I say the promise of exposure is an encouragement to secretly photograph a 16 year old and as we have seen from the above posts, they are not above trying to track down where she lives to do it.
Meanwhile WJCL continues to solicit and reward stalking, running an entire story based around secretly recorded cell phone video.
Here we have two news organizations, one respected the other notsomuch, encouraging strangers to track down and photograph a minor child.
How is this tolerated?
