From the President:
The Board wishes everyone a Happy New Year!
As we begin 2024, the Board will stay focused on the changes that will bring about a better balance between residents’ quality of life and the tourist industry. This balance will include a reduction in the number of tours as well as the noise generated by their activity. We will continue to fight hard to ensure that residents are no longer secondary to tourists. The time for change is now. The city needs to stop expecting the industry to comply with the existing ordinances; it will not solve our problems. Enforcement of and revision of ordinances is desperately needed and will be stressed to the incoming City Council. As always, we will provide timely updates as our activities on these issues progress.
Our first meeting of 2024 is scheduled for Tuesday, January 16 at the Coastal Georgia Center, 305 Fahm St. As usual the social period will begin at 5:30 and the meeting will start around 6 pm. We hope to see everyone there. Our speaker this month is Chatham County Tax Commissioner, Sonja Jackson. This is our chance to ask about the property assessments process, assessments of nonprofits, and how the Tax Office operates.
To better understand the issues around tax assessment, we wanted to share this article from The Current about nonprofit organizations and payments in lieu of taxes. The article was well researched and written. I was quite surprised to see who the second largest nonprofit land owner is in Savannah. Savannah College of Art and Design is first, of course.
Again, Happy New Year and we are looking forward to seeing you on the 16th to discuss these issues in more detail.
David McDonald
President
Downtown Neighborhood Association Savannah, GA Inc.