BN_Dems get their say in on jail

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Volume 108, Number 176
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APRIL 3-4, 2010
How the MAIN STREET program
DAYBREAK
Your weekend in Brunswick
and the Golden Isles
The Weather
SAVED DOWNTOWN
Saturday
HIGH
Dems get
their say
in on jail
Memo explains reason
for opposing plan
79
LOW
57
Sunday
By NEVIN BATIWALLA
HIGH
The Brunswick News
82
LOW
57
Easter weekend
pleasantly warm
Temperatures Easter
weekend will be pretty close
to ideal. Highs both days will
be in the lower 80s inland and
on the coast will range from
the middle 70s Saturday to
the upper 70s Sunday. Patchy
fog is possible Saturday night.
Tides and five-day forecast,
16A
Worth doing
Nick Nichols/The Brunswick News
Ned Cash, in front of his Ned Cash Jewelers store at 1418 Newcastle St., downtown, has seen the worst of downtown and
also its renewal.
Jekyll, Hofwyl have
Easter egg hunts
The area will have at least
two opportunities Saturday
for children to hunt for Easter
eggs the Easter Bunny has left
behind. The Jekyll Island Easter Egg Stroll will be from 10
a.m. to 2 p.m. in the historic
district. It will be a “stroll,”
not a mass start, for children
10 and younger. The hunt at
Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation, 5556 U.S. 17 North,
Glynn County, will be from
1 to 3 p.m. It also will be for
children 10 and younger. Both
state parks will charge their
regular admissions.
Art Exhibit running
on St. Simons Island
The 23rd Annual Coastal
National Juried Exhibit is
just getting started at Glynn
Art Gallery, 319 Mallery St.,
St. Simons Island. It will run
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays during April – and that includes
this Saturday.
Revival supports new growth
By LINDSEY ADKISON, JOE GAINES
and SHANESSA FAKOUR
The Brunswick News
Twenty-four years ago, downtown
Brunswick looked really shabby, recalls
Ned Cash, owner of Ned Cash Jewelers
at 1418 Newcastle St., downtown
Anchored by a discount department
store – Kress – downtown’s heyday had
come and gone. It was not the place it
used to be, with stores like JC Penney
having moved out years before. Kress
stayed on longer, but even it closed shop
at the turn of the century.
Shopping malls didn’t help matters.
Following the destruction of the old
Brunswick Mall by fire just before the
mid-1980s – the site that today is Cypress
Mill Square – came the rapid development of Glynn Place Mall and a whole
new retail shopping district.
Everyone, it seemed, was moving out
of downtown, leaving empty buildings
behind. Consequently, the area began to
look its age.
Adding insult to injury, City Hall reduced downtown’s main street – Newcastle Street – to a two-traffic light town
from a three-traffic light town.
Resuscitating the old Ritz Theater – or
Brunswick Opera House as it had been
known – at 1530 Newcastle St. in the
early 1980s brought a few handfuls of
Volunteers donate
Rehabbing of
Public improvements valued at
Opening of
A gain of
hours of work
buildings
made
new businesses
jobs
5,381 26 $176,300 46 174
By LINDSEY ADKISON
The Brunswick News
Save up to
$302
Nick Nichols/The Brunswick News
Leslie Miller remembers receiving Easter baskets as a child and is continuing the tradition
with her 6-year-old daughter Livi Thompson.
Inside The News
2 sections /40 pages
Advice 2B
Billy Graham 6A
Business 15A
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Please see JAIL, 5A
Springtime and faith unite in traditions of candy and small gifts
Clip and save
■ Life B
It’s a bad idea to build a larger jail on the
Brunswick waterfront, the Glynn County Democratic Party says.
The political party released its reasons for opposing the Glynn County Commission’s plans
to expand the detention center downtown after
it was unable to address the seven elected officials Thursday at the regular meeting.
County policy barred the group from speaking at the commission meeting or during the
public comment period proceeding it because
the jail plan is now ensnared in a federal lawsuit.
“We wanted to share that with the commission before we went public, but since we were
not allowed to speak we decided to go ahead
and go public with the reasons,” said Democratic Party Chairman Vincent Joubert Jr.-Davis, who was not upset that the group was not
permitted to speak.
Expanding the existing facility at I and Reynolds streets downtown doesn’t fit with the city’s
master plan, according to the memo signed by
Davis.
“... Waterfront development of Brunswick
should be planned and executed to be attractive and economically stimulating to the city of
Brunswick so that it will promote tourism and
attract new businesses to the downtown area,”
the memo said.
Besides, continuing to proceed with a downtown expansion would be ignoring the recommendations of “two skilled architectural firms
hired at different times by the county,” according to the Democrats.
Glynn County has spent more than $610,000
with two architectural and consulting firms
with knowledge in designing and building jails.
Both Carter Goble Lee and IPG have strongly
recommended against expanding the jail downtown and supported constructing it at a new site
with room to meet the county’s current and future needs.
The county has ignored both.
Democrats said eminent domain to acquire
private property for a public use “should only
be used as a tool of last resort.”
They also note that there is overwhelming
public support for the jail to be moved outside
the city.
In addition, Democrats contend that “some
commissioners and at least one county employee have exercised poor judgment in not
Easter baskets full of memories
Summer brings out a lot of
beachgoers and, unfortunately, that means increased risks.
What more can be done to
ensure safety? Editorial, 6A
■ News A
■ Sports A
Please see DOWNTOWN, 5A
The Brunswick Downtown Development Authority says that during 2008 through this year downtown has seen:
Keeping beach fun
safe this summer
with coupons
inside today
people from the islands to downtown, but
did little good for businesses hungry for
customers. Shows or performances were
always scheduled for after merchants and
their employees had long gone home.
It was then-Mayor R.L. Holtzendorf’s
dream, and hundreds of thousands of
dollars of city investment, to breathe new
life in an old town. It didn’t happen.
“If you were walking down the sidewalk, you might step in a hole and break
your leg,” Cash said.
Cash, who has owned his business for
63 years, said downtown just bottomed
out.
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Leslie Miller loves putting together
an Easter basket for her daughter, Livi
Thompson. She gets really involved in it
and usually even has a theme.
“Last year, I did a gardening basket
with seed packets, a shovel, little gloves,
a gardening book and a net to catch butterflies. One year, I did a basket filled
with art supplies because she loves to
draw... all types of crayons, coloring
books, markers, stickers, glue sticks,”
she said. “I’m thinking this year I will
go with a beach/pool theme – new bath-
ing suit, pool toys, flip-flops, sunglass- it somewhere around the house and I
es.”
would have to ‘hunt’ for it. I do that with
Of course, Miller wants her 6-year-old Livi, as well,” she said.
daughter to recognize the significance
It seems that’s what many parents will
of the day, as well.
be doing this weekend. They’re stock“In every basket I always include some ing up on everything from essentials
type of religious symbol to remind her like candy to extras like video games.
of the true importance of Easter. On her
The shopping is expected to bring a
first Easter, it was her first Bible with welcome boost to merchants. According
her name engraved. One year, it was a to the National Retail Federation’s 2010
hand-painted, ceramic cross.”
Easter Consumer Intentions and Actions
But the actual basket adds a bit of ex- Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, holtra fun to the spring day. It’s also nostal- iday celebrants will spend slightly more
gic for Miller.
this year than the previous. It indicates
“I always got Easter baskets growing
up, and, usually, my parents would hide Please see BASKETS, 5A
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5A
The Brunswick News / Saturday, April 3, 2010 5A
Page One, Part 2
Downtown: Turnaround continues
Public Notice of
Area Water Outage
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
9:00 AM—5:00 PM
Continued from 1A
Efforts to turn it around by
a group of businessmen stalking support from the city looked
promising but stalled several
times.
Then came 1986 and the arrival of the Main Street program.
Finally, to those who had watched
downtown sink close to the status
of a ghost town, a new era had
dawned. A commercial district
that had hosted its share of crowds
was suddenly on the rebound.
On the local level, the national
program was possible through
a partnership between City Hall
and businesses.
Downtown hasn’t been the
same since.
“It turned the whole city
around,” Cash said. “Things are
at least 100 percent better.”
Numerous plans were discussed
for giving downtown a new face.
There was even some talk of trying to replicate the street design,
layout and popularity of the waterfront shopping area of Fernandina Beach, Fla.
Only parts of that plan were
acceptable to those directly involved.
Soon, landscaped medians replaced the pot holes in the street,
additional street lighting was installed and oaks trees were planted in the pocket parks.
Eventually, downtown would
become a three-traffic light town
again.
A movement led by the National
Trust to revitalize downtowns and
neighborhood business districts
across the United States had taken root in Brunswick. The Main
Street program offers advice and
funding for small business startups and facade improvements.
“It’s a matter of not just dollars, but a matter of pride,” Cash
said. “This is a place where we’ve
raised our children and we want
it to prosper and look good and
be proud of it. We’re reaching that
point.”
Lynn Warwick, owner of Main
Street Frame Shop at 1403 Newcastle St. said the program has
been nothing less than a godsend, even helping to improve the
buildings downtown.
That’s not all it has brought.
“It’s brought more people,” she
said. “You would be surprised at
the number of people who come
down here.”
Brunswick Mayor Bryan
Thompson says there’s no doubt
about it – downtown is different,
a lot different. There’s now life
after 3 p.m. in the city’s commercial heart.
Main Street is not the only reason for that, though, Thompson
said. A tweak here and changes
there were necessary to get the
district to where it is today.
Thompson remembers when
there was little if any traffic after 5 p.m. Even with Main Street,
many buildings remained empty
and the few restaurants doing
business in downtown closed after the lunch crowd left, he said.
Residents of the following SSI location will incur a
water outage for a fire hydrant replacement:
Shore Rush Drive, Palm Court & Palm Drive ONLY
in Sea Palms Subdivision
For more information, please contact the JWSC Customer Service at
912-261-7100 or United Water Services at 912-261-7160
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recycle or Trade Your old Jewelry
For something shiny & New
Free
ApprAisAl
Shops at Sea Island • 600 Sea Island Rd #16
St. Simons Island GA • 912-634-9060
Bobby Haven/The Brunswick News
Lynn Warwick, owner of Main Street Frame Shop at 1403 Newcastle St., downtown, says the Main
Street program has helped bring people downtown.
It was like a movie set, he said
– quiet and still.
“That’s when I suggested we
make the Downtown Development Authority the leading economic driver instead of Main
Street,” said Thompson, executive director of the authority at
the time.
Thompson, serving as its director from 1999 to 2003, said putting the DDA in front allowed for
a broader focus to improve downtown.
“We could cast a larger net,”
Thompson said.
The going was rough, but
Thompson said there were two
major landmarks in downtown’s
return.
One was an event that became
a popular national trend in the
1990s – hosting a First Night celebration in the city, a communitywide celebration at New Year’s
Eve. Brunswick’s First Night
event drew about 10,000 people
downtown for a family-oriented,
non-alcoholic New Year’s Eve
celebration.
The other turning point was the
opening of the fine dining restaurant Cargo Portside Grill at 1423
Newcastle St. Instead of choosing
the more bustling St. Simons for
her restaurant, then-owner Alix
Kenay, an Atlanta transplant,
bought an old, three-story building downtown for a little less than
$200,000.
“Many people couldn’t believe
someone would have the nerve
to do that,” Thompson said. “But
she showed you could bring a restaurant, a fine dining one at that,
and succeed downtown.”
Success by the first businesses
willing to take a chance on downtown inspired other restaurants
that offered lunch and evening
meals.
Downtown’s reputation as
place to avoid began to fade as
events like First Friday, at which
businesses stay open into the evening once a month during special
events, introduced it to a wider
audience.
In 1999, when Thompson spoke
to groups around town, he said he
would ask how many had been
downtown in the last month.
“In a group of about 50, I’d
have maybe four people raise
their hands,” he said. “Now I have
more than 40 raise their hands
out of 50.”
The Main Street district has
been expanded over the years. It
now includes the blocks adjacent
to Gloucester Street from the East
River to U.S. 17, as well as Norwich and Newcastle street corridors from Fifth Street to Monck
Street.
Events, promotions and a diversity of small business have helped
downtown Brunswick remain vibrant despite the economy. The
dent from the recession is a blemish compared to the wreckage
inflicted on downtowns in other
cities, said Mathew Hill, current
executive director of the Downtown Development Authority.
In 2008, 31 new businesses
opened in the Main Street area,
creating 64 jobs. That followed
building rehabilitations and
public improvements valued at
roughly $8.4 million.
Similar investments of nearly
$3 million brought 11 more businesses with 97 jobs in 2009.
So far this year, city records
show four new business and 13
jobs on $389,000 in new investment.
The Downtown Development
Authority has reported a total of
$11.7 million in public-private
investment dollars from 2008 to
date.
That’s not bad, especially when
considering the competition in
the still-growing retail districts
outside the city.
Challenges for the program
include getting more small businesses to apply for a $2,000 grant
to help open their doors. Fewer
than a handful have applied in the
past three years, said Hill, who
thinks it may be because of either
Stew Milne/AP
Theresa Arena rests against a door as she surveys flood damage
Friday in her grandmother-in-laws’ home in Cranston, R.I.
More flood aid sought
WARWICK, R.I. — U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano took a
helicopter tour Friday over flooded
Rhode Island, seeing waterlogged
shopping malls and homes with
people’s possessions laid out to
dry in their yards, as residents and
officials in the already economically troubled state pleaded for her
to secure more federal aid.
Napolitano called the flooding “significant” and pledged the
federal government’s help in the
months to come. State officials, including U.S. Reps. Jim Langevin
and Patrick Kennedy, pressed for
more than what’s already been
promised.
“We were already reeling from
a bad economy. This is the last
thing that Rhode Island could deal
with, and yet, here we are,” Langevin said.
paperwork or a requirement for a
bank-approved business plan.
Thompson said while success
has been slow, it has been steady.
Kim Carter, Georgia Main
Street program manager in the
Office of Downtown Development in Atlanta, said Brunswick
is an example of the kind of success the program can yield.
Focusing on aiding communities through economic development through revitalization, heritage preservation and restoring a
sense of place is what the Main
Street program is all about.
“The Georgia Main Street
program includes a small-cities
program called the Better Hometown Program, which focuses on
cities with a population less than
5,000 and the classic Main Street
Program, which focuses on cities
with a population between 5,000
and 50,000,” she said. “To date,
there are approximately 97 cities
involved.”
Once a city enters the program,
it receives technical assistance,
manager/board training, regional
networking sessions and resources.
Carter says all Main Street
communities have a success story
to share.
“Overall, Main Street communities in Georgia generate approximately 2,600 to 3,000 jobs every
year,” she said. “In the past 30
years, Georgia Main Street communities have created more than
47,070 net new jobs and 9,841 net
new businesses,” she said.
Athens and Waycross are original Main Street cities, followed
by Rome and Thomasville.
“Each of these cities has grown
incrementally over the years,
adding small businesses and major industry to their downtown,”
Carter said.
Carter said Brunswick may be
leading the region in economic
development downtown.
“The Brunswick Main Street
program is doing a great job,” she
said.
Baskets: Stores are busy
Continued from 1A
The Associated Press
that the average shopper will shell
out $118.60 this Easter. That is a
$2 increase from the $116.59 estimated the past year. Total spending is expected to reach $13.03
billion.
Target at Glynn Isles Market
in Brunswick has already seen
plenty of customers looking to fill
Easter baskets for children.
Store manager Trevis Spruill
says that moms and dads are
stocking up on eggs and dye, in
addition to candy.
“This week (of March 29) is
typically the busiest week for Easter shopping, of course. The hottest items are Easter eggs that you
dye and the color. Easter baskets
and little trinkets that range from
$1 or $2.50 are big,” he said.
Customers are scooping up
some items that are a little pricier.
“Easter dresses and are selling really well, too. They are sun
dresses, but they’re a little more
Basketfuls
The National Retail Federation’s 2010 Easter Consumer Intentions and Actions
Survey, conducted by BIGresearch shows projected
Easter spending that:
• The average person will
spend $17.29 on candy,
compared to $16.55 the
previous year.
• On average, consumers
will spend $18.16 on gifts,
up from $17.30 the previous Easter.
• Other average holiday
purchases include clothing
($19.03), food ($37.45),
flowers ($7.84), decorations
($6.34) and greeting cards
($6.30).
formal,” Spruill said. “We’re also
selling a lot of electronic items,
like video games.”
• Christians have message
that sets them apart, 1B
Jail: Democrats concerned that information was withheld
Continued from 1A
fully communicating all available
information” concerning the planning and execution of contracts to
citizens.
County Administrator Charley
Steward has acknowledged that
shop
loCAl!
CAsh or
TrAde
he gave a copy of the critical IPG
report to some commissioners this
past September but not to the three
commissioners who oppose the
downtown expansion.
With the jail plan now the target of a federal lawsuit designed to
stop it, Davis said the party sup-
ports the county’s decision to try
to work out a resolution through
court-supervised mediation.
“We believe and have determined that the effort to reach an
amicable reasonable solution of
the issue through mediation should
be given the time to work,” Demo-
crats said in the memo.
Litigants in the case have agreed
to continue mediation through
May 14 to try to resolve the issue
without taking it to trial. There
is also a possibility a blue-ribbon
panel of citizens could join the discussions.
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