From the President:
I want to thank those of you who joined us in the 200th St. Patrick's Day parade last Saturday. I especially want to thank Denise Flojo for coordinating with the parade committee and float company and ensuring our entry was a success. Everyone enjoyed themselves and I have been asked by many people if the DNA will be doing the parade again next year. (That is a decision to be made in the future.) You can find photos of the parade on the DNA Facebook page as well as the DNA website. It was truly a wonderful day, lots of fun and allowed us to get our historic preservation message out to all parade attendees. I especially liked the opportunity to show that people actually live downtown.
Last week we asked you to send letters to our State Senators requesting that they not attach an amendment related to Short-Term Vacation Rentals (STVR) to a bill supporting the Soap Box Derby. The amendment would give less oversight of STVRs by local governments. Thank you to the many of you who submitted emails and responses to our local Senators. The Economic Development Committee removed the amendment and bill from its agenda before the hearing and did not consider the request to amend the bill.
However, it seems that the sponsors of this STVR amendment are serious about having it added to another bill in the Senate. Later in the week they attempted to have it added to a bill that would prohibit China from buying farmland. This attempt also failed. It is expected that the sponsors will continue to have the STVR language added to some bill they believe will pass. We are continuing to work with the city on monitoring the status of their attempts. We would also like to thank the city for staying aggressive in tracking and gathering input from neighborhood associations in order for letters to be sent to the various committees that have been attempting to add this amendment. The city appears to have an active and knowledgeable lobbyist working this issue for them. We thank them for that as we believe any STVR law or ordinance should be handled at the local level.
Reminder, that our monthly meeting is tomorrow (March 19, 2024) beginning with the social period at 5:30 pm. Savannah City Manager, Jay Melder, is our presenter for the meeting. As usual the meeting will be held at the Coastal Georgia Center, 305 Fahm St. Please RSVP if you haven't. Looking forward to seeing you there.
--
David McDonald
President
Downtown Neighborhood Association Savannah, GA Inc.