LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Post and Courier, May 20, 2012. 

Stay home, Joe

On May 10 Mayor Joe Riley was in Savannah touting the benefits of cruise ships. In his remarks to the Downtown Business Association he said that having a year-round home port for a cruise ship has “worked out very well” and “for a port city to have a cruise ship port is a natural.”

The question is for whom?

Has it worked out well for the residents of downtown who have been forced to sue just to establish reasonable limits and ground rules for these behemoths?

Is it natural for 2,500 people to be spit out onto the streets “with time and money in their pockets”?

Does that somehow improve livability for residents?

Who is tracking how much and where that money is spent? Who is measuring the impacts?

As Savannah considers courting the cruise ship in­dustry, I hope we give it more scrutiny than did Charleston.

A May 12 editorial in the Savannah Morning News rec­ognized that Tybee Island, our quirky and charming beach town, is suffering from “too much love.”

Agreed.

When something special is loved to death by squeezing every last penny out of it until it’s exhausted, then we’ve done wrong by making selfish and short-sighted decisions.

Charleston can still fix its mistakes with cruise ships, and Savannah can avoid them altogether.

In the meantime, Joe, please peddle your opinions else­where.

DANIEL G. CAREY President and CEO Historic Savannah Foundation E. York Street Savannah, Ga.