I have been told I am crazy for believing in the power of community and that art is essential for innovation. Please let me share more about my personal delusions.
As I stand at the light on Bay Street nearly barreled over by 18 wheelers, having to pause conversations for a block until we are back to pleasant city streets, my mind hears a peaceful hum and cheerful trot of horses leading carriages.
Rather than something resembling a vehicular Berlin Wall dividing the tourists from town, I envision trucks traveling under Bay Street through a tunnel or across a bridge to Hutchinson Island.
Nashville, Montreal and San Francisco once had highways disrupting the pedestrian and community flows of their cities, and my mind envisions a time in which Savannah makes similar right choices.
When I ferry from Hutchinson Island, I imagine offering my seat to a weary tech engineer who just pulled an all-nighter and commutes from the dozens of large technology startups that fill burgeoning tech parks on the island.
I imagine marquees hosting names like Pixar, Electronic Arts and Google. Other marquees boast names like SavannahSquared, SoundSouth or TrustTee. Regardless of the names, I always “see” not a vast concrete sea around the convention center but a bustling parking lot of scooters, cars and public transportation, all ignited with motivated young workers contributing to a thriving community.
As I drive to the “city” I don’t see abandoned supports from an old automobile bridge, I see the early foundations of a pedestrian and bike bridge leading to a draw in the center. I look forward to a Saturday ride with kids where we wait at the top for the container ship to pass.
Behind SCAD’s Graphic Design building I don’t see the strange metal contraption blocking the view; I see a huge grassy field like that below the St. Louis Arch, and I hear moms preparing picnics for children before they stroll along the river to play the “guess where this container ship is going” game.
When I drive to Pooler to visit my parents, I don’t hear a friend complaining of being “way out there.” Rather I imagine thousands of workers thanking God that they are lucky enough to have made the switch from Foster City and Pacific Heights to a simpler life in Pooler and Ardsley or Dixon Parks.
As I drive on I-95 I don’t see billboards advertising $39 rooms and $3 gas. I see medical device manufacturing plants.
Most important to me, when I am near Whitaker and 31st, I see an old Victorian that once housed my dad and his cousins as a child. I see myself walking to this home with my own grandchildren as we brainstorm ways to decrease poverty not from today’s 28.6 percent but from the 15 percent that I expect Savannah will achieve by the time I take that walk.
I am not thinking maybe, what if or I wonder. I actually believe them. I choose to. I have to. It is what energizes me to give my all each minute and be filled with the joy and enthusiasm needed to greet, support and grow a creative, innovative community.
Have you ever been cut off by a crazy, demanding driver? I have. I find in that moment I have two choices. One is to think that the driver is a jerk. That angers me.
The other choice is to imagine that the driver is a happily married expectant father who just received the phone call that his beautiful wife is in labor. I think of him racing to the hospital and wave, “I know you’ll make it!” Savannah, too, will “make it.” Our community and creativity are just that good.
Thank you for making Savannah the creative coast.
Bea Wray is the executive director of The Creative Coast, a not-for-profit organization that promotes the creative and entrepreneurial community within the region. Bea can be reached at 912-447-8457 or bea@thecreativecoast.org.