Mayor Johnson was the speaker at the Savannah Dowtown Business Association monthly Luncheon meeting held on January 9th, 2008 at the Hyatt (They did a GREAT lunch by the way). I asked a question about Consolidation and got more than I bargained for. This is a modified (improved) version of the e-mail I sent the next day to the mayor through the City of Savannah web site. I thought I would wait one week, and then share it with the world:

Dear Doctor Johnson,

I really enjoyed seeing you yesterday at the downtown business luncheon at the Hyatt. I ALWAYS enjoy seeing you!

I am Ron Melander, the realtor with Cora Bett Thomas Realty who asked you about consolidation. I really appreciated your response. I also came up to you afterwards and spoke to you about neighborhood corner stores in the historic districts. I am also a good friend of your supporters Robert and James who live in your Baldwin Park neighborhood.

My reason for writing is that I woke up after having thought about your response (my grandfather always did his best thinking in his sleep) and I just wanted to say I totally understand your attitude. But I want you to know that what the consolidation issue is about as far as the business community is concerned is demographics. Now that is not to say that everyone in the business community is color blind. We know there are many overlapping circles out there. But we all need to move beyond that. The reason this is so important is because when International and National companies look at Savannah they do not look at race, they look at numbers, statistics, and they try to see what our future is going to be like in terms of the particular investment they are considering making. And let’s face it, for as wonderful as all the things are that are happening here right now, Savannah is at a critical turning point and we need even more new people coming in if the things already on the table are going to succeed. And with the world economy as wobbly as it is, doing everything we can to help Savannah continue to grow is so important. It is simple arithmetics, by merging governments, the numbers look better. These are not black and white numbers; they are numbers to do with income, jobs, education and crime amongst others. I agree with you totally that it should be a merge of all the local governments and the county and probably “Briangham” too! Jacksonville, Florida did it years ago. But let’s face it, when people think about our area they do not think of Chatham County, they think of Savannah. Maybe you should turn the table around and take the upper hand on this debate to make sure that whatever happens favors an outcome to your liking? Be proactive rather than reactive. After all you did say that consolidation was probably inevitable.

FYI the simple reason why the consolidation advocates only ask Savannah to do this is because that is all they need to do to get the numbers they want. It is much easier to just ask one entity rather than dealing with a whole variety of entities. I wish you and the city of Savannah the absolute best in 2008. We are so lucky because there is no better place and time to be in than Savannah right now and I am very glad you are at the helm here in our coastal paradise.

Kind Regards,

Ron Melander