Last year, police made only 31 arrests during the St. Patrick’s Day festival, down from 190 in 2011. According to press reports, just 13 of last year’s arrests were in the City Market area.
So for this year’s celebration, do police really need to erect a hideous 30-foot surveillance tower with thermal imaging cameras and floodlights in Ellis Square?
Despite the fact there were so few problems last year, a coalition of organizations has added layers of bureaucracy by expanding the official festival zone and forcing partiers to buy $5 wristbands if they want to drink outside.
The city of Savannah will split the proceeds from wristband sales with the Savannah Waterfront, City Market and the Downtown Business associations.
But individual business owners in the expanded zone were not adequately consulted about the changes. Some are livid.
As noted in previous columns, I agree with those who think the changes will discourage locals from coming downtown, will grind home the point to visitors that this holiday is all about drinking and will hurt general retailers, some restaurants and a variety of other businesses that hope to attract at least a few sober customers.
The city’s public information office seems to have done a good job reaching out to citizens with details about road closures and parking, but at least one business owner on Bay Street was given contradictory details by another city office.
Meanwhile, the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade Committee denied the parade application for Our Nation’s Firefighters, a group that includes firefighters from New York City.
Predictably, the denial was widely reported, including by “Irish Central,” the CBS affiliate in New York City and the Wall Street Journal.
An accommodation was arranged to allow members of the group to participate, but only after endless online rants about the decision.
Ah, St. Patrick’s Day in Savannah.
Sure, it’s a big event, but does everything have to be so hard?
With so many organizations overseeing the disparate elements that comprise St. Patrick’s Day festivities in Savannah, some confusion is inevitable.
Still, when we find systems that work well, why can’t we stick with those for a while?
While I laud the sentiment behind having more outdoor stages and more bands, are the not-quite-mandatory wristbands the best way to pay for them? And how will the additional live music programming in public spaces impact the private businesses that booked their entertainment weeks ago?
And how many of these new policies will work over the next few years, when March 17 falls on weekdays?
At the end of the day, do we really want to lure more people downtown than we’re attracting already?
What do we really want this festival to be?
It would be nice to see some broader and deeper community conversation about those questions long before the 2014 St. Patrick’s Day. But I’m not holding my breath.
The changing month of March
Fortunately, March in Savannah is no longer defined by St. Patrick’s Day.
The A-Town Get Down offered a great day of music to kick off the month, and the 3-day Savannah Stopover wrapped up on Saturday night. I’ll share some reactions to the Stopover in my column on Thursday in the newly expanded Do.
The Savannah Music Festival, which has existed in its current form for only about a decade, begins on March 20.
As I write this, a number of music festival shows are sold out, and others are close. For example, there are just a few dozen seats remaining for the performance by Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell with Richard Thompson at the Johnny Mercer Theatre.
So if you’ve been putting off buying Savannah Music Festival tickets, now might be the time to act.
It’s remarkable to consider how Savannah’s cultural programming has evolved in the 21st century. The hard work of the sponsoring organizations, Visit Savannah and other groups has opened up all sorts of possibilities for the future.
Betty Bombers expands hours
Last year, I devoted a column to Betty Bombers, the retro diner inside the American Legion Post 135 on Bull Street just south of Forsyth Park.
Operated by the folks at Butterhead Greens, Betty Bombers was a fast hit with evening and late-night diners on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
I’m thrilled to report that Betty Bombers is now open from 11 a.m. to midnight on Tuesday and Wednesday and from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.
The inexpensive menu features a winning selection of appetizers, sandwiches, burgers and tacos. Betty Bombers, which bills itself as “an All-American Mess Hall,” also delivers.
There’s more info on the restaurant’s Facebook page.
City Talk appears every Tuesday and Sunday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net and http://www.billdawers.com. Send mail to 10 East 32nd St., Savannah, Ga. 31401.