Tybee Island's city council opts to keep sand on beach

TYBEE NEWS HOME

Council backs down on meter removal

An article in the Savannah Morning News was probably responsible for the high number of people packed into Tybee Island, Georgia's city hall to hear the city council¹s decision on removing parking meters on numbered streets just off the beach.

In an earlier meeting, council had voted, on a first reading, to remove meters on several numbered streets off the strand. The plan called for people who wanted to park on those streets to purchase parking decals for $75. Now the Corps of Engineers says the change to decal parking could jeopardize funds for beach renourishment.

Council headed off public criticism by withdrawing the measure. Councilman Jimmy Burke told assembled residents and visitors that the Corps of Engineers had hand delivered a letter just that afternoon that says the corps doesn¹t recommend the change from meters. Councilman Walter Crawford said that council had been waiting for the corps¹ statement for a full year and that, even now, the letter delivered is ³not even really a definitive statement.²

The proposal to remove meters in favor of decals came from a citizen¹s task force, composed partly of people who live on the streets that would be affected, who made the recommendation to council. This parking task force had said before council that speeding on the streets nearest the beach was a safety hazard.

³Parking is a problem on Tybee Island, but no one can agree what to do about it,² said Crawford. He said he does not want to completely abandon the decal parking plan without further study.

Councilman Richard Barrow agreed that parking is a serious problem on Tybee. Barrow called for a study to be conducted by consultants who can recommend a long-term fix. Barrow further suggested that the solution might be to privatize parking on the island. Council unanimously supported Barrow¹s suggestion.

Tybee Mayor Walter Parker had a further suggestion. If people on the streets nearest the strand want speed bumps installed on their blocks to deter speeding, they can ask for them and the city will install them, he said.

Hit and run litter bug finally busted

Tybee resident Earl Shaffer said he didn¹t think the island could afford to lose the $87,000 in revenue brought in by the parking meters formerly proposed for removal. Nor did Shaffer think that Tybee alone could front the cost of beach renourishment.

But Shaffer¹s main complaint was about litter on Tybee, especially right outside his door. He¹s reported littering to the police, he said, and given them the license plate number of the culprit, but the police told him they could do nothing because they hadn¹t witnessed it, Shaffer said.

³Maybe that¹s why we have an unsolved murder on Tybee‹the police didn¹t witness it,² he quipped.

Shaffer¹s tour de force, however, was a crumpled parking ticket which he presented to council, saying it had been yanked off the windshield of a litterbug¹s car and thrown on his property.

Did council think they could fine the violator with this kind of evidence, he asked.

³We¹ll git him,² said Tybee Mayor Walter Parker.

Tybee Islander Jim Kluttz also spoke to the litter problem on Tybee. He walks the beach regularly, he said, and only a small percentage of visitors litter. Those few people can do quite a bit of damage, though, he indicated. He urged council to enforce litter and speeding laws.

Power Boat Races

Captain Mike Scarbrough announced the return of the American Power Boat Races to Tybee the weekend of July Fourth.

³We turned this into a world-class event,² he said of last year¹s APBA race. Scarbrough said the importance of the event is not the revenue it brings to Tybee, but the prestige.

³The impact of this is the exposure Tybee got all over the world,² he said. The race was well-received by racers who immediately started talking about the next year¹s event, he said. The biggest problem associated with the event last year was parking. This year, the parking will not be so concentrated on north beach, he said. Scarbrough said he also wants to improve the event by having a line of vendors at the entrance.

Not quite everyone is in love with the boat race, however. Jeffrey Rosensweig, a professor of economics at Emory University, said, ³The economic sanity of this plan escapes me.² Rosensweig, who lives near north beach where the race occured last year, asked if a study had been conducted to examine the water pollution associated with the races. He cited litter and public urination near his home as a problem associated with the event last year. He expressed concern that the helicopters monitoring the event may pose a structural risk to the lighthouse.

Rosensweig said the city already makes plenty of money on the Fourth of July weekend. He asked council to imagine a family renting a house on north beach, not knowing about the boat races, and finding they couldn¹t really swim or use the beach that weekend.

Tybee resident Henry Levy, on the other hand, spoke in defense of the races.

³Mike Scarbrough is a hero to bring this event to Tybee,² he said.

High Speed Internet coming your way

If you live on Tybee, the information highway may sometimes seem more like a slow boat to China. High-speed internet providers, however, have been descending on city hall, proposing to change all that. At a recent meeting, John McKay, representing a data communications company out of Knoxville, got city council¹s go ahead to conduct a survey and determine if islanders want high-speed internet access.

If the study suggests people want the service, McKay will seek a long-term lease on the one of the city¹s water towers from which the service can operate.

‹L. Hamilton

Advertise here. Call 786-9319 for rates and terms.