Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Good morning! We start today with the future of annual Orange Crush activities after the passage of legislation backed by Coastal Georgia lawmakers that opens the way for lawsuits against organizers of non-permitted activities. We then look at application for a tax break by the Savannah College of Art and Design for its its new, 17-story student dormitory next to the Hostess City’s Talmadge Memorial Bridge. Finally, we look at what’s missing from a Coastal Georgia lawmaker’s efforts on behalf of the official state crustacean.
— Craig Nelson
Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com.
NEWS
Is the party over?
Will this weekend mark the beginning of the end of Orange Crush on Tybee Island?
If some local officials and lawmakers have their way, it seems so, thanks to a law passed by the state legislature on March 5 and signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp last week.
Local and state officials who were fed up with Orange Crush or never liked it in the first place couldn’t ban the annual rite of spring outright after last year’s traffic and management debacle. The island’s beach is public and therefore subject to laws guaranteeing access to all.
So, critics and opponents of the event, which brings thousands of students and alumni from historically Black colleges and universities, as well as other Black teens and 20-somethings to Tybee, settled on another route, The Current’s Craig Nelson and Jake Shore report.
NEWS
Board to vote on SCAD tax exemption
The Savannah College of Art and Design’s towering new student dormitory along the Savannah River is set for a finishing touch Thursday night: a vote that is anticipated to remove the 17-story building from public tax rolls.
The building, rising next to the Savannah River bridge and bearing a large, lighted SCAD at the top of the facade, is valued at $27 million, according to the Chatham County Board of Assessors, which is scheduled to vote on the property tax exemption Thursday evening, The Current’s Maggie Lee and Craig Nelson report.
Board members also will hear SCAD’s application for an exemption on the former Ghost Coast Distillery building, now a classroom and studio space valued at about $3 million. In 2023, the building’s previous owners paid about $48,000 in taxes.
According to an analysis by The Current, SCAD paid about $171,000 in 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.
NEWS
Official crustacean
In a recap of the recent legislative session in Atlanta, state Rep. Steve Sainz (R-St. Marys) touts, among other measures he successfully co-sponsored, a bill he says will make financing of the community developments like the Gilman Paper Mill Re-Development easier; a resolution supporting Gov. Brian Kemp’s assistance to safeguard the southern border and any efforts by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to safeguard the people of Texas; and a bill repealing the Camden Spaceport Authority.
He also trumpets his leadership on successfully winning passage of a far more novel measure: a bill designating the wild white shrimp as the state’s official crustacean.
Sainz was the lead sponsor of the bill, along with local co-sponsors Buddy DeLoach (R-Townsend), Rick Townsend (R-Brunswick) Jesse Petrea (R-Savannah) and Ron Stephens (R-Savannah). Ben Watson (R-Savannah) shepherded the resolution through the state Senate.
In his recap, Sainz says the resolution “highlights the benefits of a key coastal Georgia product while educating consumers on the harms of lower-quality farm-raised products coming from Asian markets.”
While the resolution describes the value of shrimping to Coastal Georgia’s economy, nowhere does it mention the harm caused by the flood of imported shrimp into the state and U.S. market. And nowhere in Sainz’s recap is mention of other legislative or non-legislative efforts to help beleaguered industry.
NOTES
5 things for your radar
- Squaring off: District 1 state Sen. Ben Watson and his opponent in the May 21 Republican primary, Beth Majeroni, meet in debate for the first time Thursday evening at a candidate forum in Richmond Hill sponsored by the Bryan County Republican Party. In an interview last week with conservative talk show host John Fredericks (“the blowtorch of free speech”), Mallory Staples, Georgia director of the State Freedom Caucus Network, framed the contest as one of five “Grassroots v. RINO” races in south Georgia.
- They’ll come back: Jenny Parker, who is running against incumbent Shalena Cook Jones in May for the right to represent the Democratic Party in the race for Chatham County district attorney in November, says there are at least 12 experienced attorneys who have committed to returning to work in the Chatham County District Attorney’s office if she is elected. Parker and Jones are scheduled to meet at a candidate debate sponsored by the Skidaway Island Democrats on Thursday.
- Bad counsel: “I think that’s poor advice,” 1st District U.S. Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter says after President Joe Biden reportedly tells Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he should “take the win” following the successful defense against an Iranian attack by Israel and its allies and not launch a counterattack on Iran.
- New faces (1): Liberty County Democrats elected and appointed a new slate of officers, with W. Renea Camper leading the group as chair.
- New faces (2): The Development Authority of Bryan County (DABC) on Friday appointed Sean Register as its interim chief executive officer.
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Tybee Island hopes new tools quiet Orange Crush weekend
The measure signed into law last week by Kemp allows municipalities to sue the promoters of unpermitted events to recover the costs of additional security, traffic control, and medical and sanitation services.
Chatham County board to vote on tax-exemption for riverside SCAD dorm
The building, rising next to the Savannah River bridge and bearing a lighted SCAD at the top of the facade, is valued at $27 million, according to the Chatham County Board of Assessors, which is scheduled to vote on the property tax exemption Thursday evening.
Skandalakis to take over investigation of Burt Jones in Trump election case
Jones allegedly was among a group of Republican “fake” electors who met at the state Capitol in December 2020 to cast their ballots for Trump.
Savannah’s Colonial Oil targeted by feds
The Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency are seeking $2.8 million in civil penalties from a major Savannah importer and producer of diesel and gasoline fuel.
Critics pan Georgia Power fossil fuel plans ahead of state PSC hearing
The utility intends to rapidly add several thousand megawatts of electricity to its 2023 resource plan in order to supply power to a growing number of large data centers and industrial facilities.
Savannah man needs one more day on the roster for an MLB pension. Can the Braves help?
The Savannah-native spent 42 days on the Atlanta Braves roster in 1980 — one day short of qualifying for an MLB pension.
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