Crush — Will It Pass?

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Good morning! We start today with the aftermath of annual Orange Crush activities on Tybee Island and uncertainty clouding the event’s future. We then look at some imminent moonlighting by Savannah Mayor Van Johnson and then round up some of the political news affecting Coastal Georgia. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me, Craig Nelson, at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com.

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NEWS

Will it survive?

The police checkpoints and traffic cones on Tybee have come down, and while it may take a bit longer to clean up the beach and the island’s back streets, the weekend that has become a bane to many local officials — Orange Crush — is now history.

Local, state, and federal officials were on alert for any trouble stemming from the long-running rite of spring for students and alumni of historically Black colleges and universities. However, initial reports indicate that the weekend on Tybee passed largely peacefully. 

Due to the unusual number of law enforcement agencies involved in the event, the tally of arrests made on Tybee over the weekend, as well as citations issued, was still being compiled on Monday, Tybee Island Mayor Brian West told The Current.

But absent any startling numbers, what is most likely to endure is the political symbolism that the event represents, after the successful legislative maneuvering by municipal officials and state lawmakers this year, The Current’s Craig Nelson reports.

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NEWS

Savannah mayor to stump for Biden

Savannah Mayor Van Johnson said Saturday he has been asked by Biden campaign officials to campaign for the president’s reelection and has agreed to do so. When and where he will stump for the president remains to be determined, he said.

Biden is “the best choice to lead our country,” Johnson noted, adding that Savannah has benefited from the relationships he has forged with administration officials, as well as U.S. Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.

Johnson described as “unprecedented” the federal investment Savannah has received during his tenure in office. He said he regularly talks with Ossoff and Warnock and is contact with their aides weekly.

The mayor’s comments, at Savannah Regional Central Labor Council’s 24^th annual fish fry, follow reports that the Biden campaign is opening a campaign office in Savannah, along with six offices in metro Atlanta and one in Augusta.  

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NOTES

8 things for your radar

• Foreign aid: The U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote today on a $95 billion foreign aid package, including about $17 billion in offensive and defensive weapons for Israel, some $9 billion for humanitarian relief for people in Gaza, $61 billion for Ukraine, and about $8 billion for Taiwan. U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock cut short a trip to Rome, where he had an audience with Pope Francis, and returned to Washington to cast a vote.
• 1^st District U.S. Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter voted Saturday in favor of the package, though he had frequently said he wouldn’t approve aid for Ukraine unless it was tied to policy changes at the U.S.-Mexico border. A bill for such changes, which Carter supported, failed to get the necessary votes. The Chatham County GOP wasn’t happy with Carter and the “yeas.”
• They’ll discuss management: Democratic candidates for district attorney of the Eastern Judicial Circuit, incumbent Shalena Cook Jones and challenger Jennifer Parker, are scheduled to participate in a candidate forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Coastal Georgia on Monday, April 29, starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Coastal Georgia Center.
• Race to watch: The real fireworks at last week’s candidate forum in Richmond Hill sponsored by the Bryan County Republican Committee weren’t between incumbent Sen. Ben Watson and challenger Beth “Big Fire” Majeroni but between Bryan County Commission Chairman Carter Infinger and challenger Buck Holly. At issue: managing economic growth and the county’s relationship with Hyundai, and long-running tensions between north and south Bryan.
• Barrow returns: Running mainly on a platform of what he describes as reproductive rights for women, Georgia Supreme Court justice candidate John Barrow and incumbent Andrew Pinson will square off Sunday in the Loudermilk-Young Debate Series, sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club. The debate will be livestreamed and taped at 4:45 p.m. It will be rebroadcast on GPB-TV and WABE and be available on demand on the APC website. For more details, click here. A Democrat, Barrow is a longtime former U.S. congressman who represented eastern and southeastern Georgia.
• Report Card: State Rep. Anne Allen Westbrook (D-Savannah) will provide a legislative update at a meeting of Women’s Voices of Glynn County on April 28, 2024, at 3 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Coastal Georgia, 1710 Gloucester Ave., Brunswick.
• Health care: The Health Equity Committee of the Bulloch County Branch of the NAACP will host a community “lunch and learn” about health conditions disproportionately impacting minorities and all residents of rural Georgia – particularly heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes – this Saturday, April 27, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.  in the community building at Luetta Moore Park.
• Listening tour: Rep. Carl Gilliard (D-Savannah), chairman of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, tells The Current that representatives of his caucus, the Hispanic Caucus, and the Asian Americans Pacific Islanders Legislative Caucus – all bipartisan – will embark on their previously announced 14-city listening tour of Georgia immediately after the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which runs from August 19 until August 22.
• Be informed: For all you need to know about this year’s elections in Georgia consult — from voter registration to campaign financing to where to meet the candidates — click here for The Current’s voter’s guide.

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ICYMI

• Riverfront property: As expected, the Chatham County Board of Assessors on Thursday approved a tax exemption for the Savannah School of Art and Design’s new 17-story, riverfront dormitory, valued at $26.7 million. A SCAD-owned property next to the dorm, valued at $2.9 million, also received a tax exemption. According to an analysis by The Current,  SCAD paid about  $171,000 in total taxes to Savannah, Chatham County, and its schools in 2023 on a few small commercial properties in a mostly property tax-exempt portfolio worth $458 million.
• 1st District GOP: Under the gavel of chair and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Kandiss Taylor, the 1^st District Republican Committee held its convention in Jesup on Saturday. Wrote Taylor on Facebook after the gathering: “Now, it is time to get our President @realdonaldtrump elected in GA. That starts with securing voting. Poll workers and watchers are needed in every GA county!”
• “Neither snow, rain or sleet . . . ” (Not): U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff told the head of the U.S. Postal Service last week that he’s “failing abysmally” at his “core mission” in Georgia: delivering the mail.
• Call him Dr. Carter: Young Harris College in northern Towns County announced that it will award 1^st District Rep. Buddy Carter an honorary doctorate of humane letters, as well as the school’s YHC Medallion, at its commencement ceremonies on May 4.
• The Port of Brunswick had its busiest month ever in March.
• The Board of Trustees of the University System of Georgia has approved a 2.5% hike in tuition for in-state students.

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