This is the City Talk column by Bill Dawers, a longtime contributor to the Savannah Morning News.
A few months ago, I was standing on a sidewalk in the downtown area while looking closely at one of the city’s newer apartment buildings.
A man stopped his car next to me and engaged in a brief rant. I could only hear part of what he said, but he seemed upset about how “they” are ruining Savannah.
That exchange echoed many other conversations about large-scale construction projects during the past several years. Sometimes “they” refers specifically to developers, but it can also refer to local government officials, the various boards at the Metropolitan Planning Commission or even to the future tenants who are willing to pay rents that seem astronomical to many people.
More City Talk: High costs, inadequate supply demand more aggressive housing policy
In their objections to the scale of new construction, many folks draw little distinction between apartment complexes and hotels even though they play markedly different roles in the urban landscape.