Featured Tybee Information
Miley Cyrus!
The fun exciting news at Tybee this Summer was the local filming of the new Miley Cyrus movie, "The Last Song" which brought the popular talented celebrity and her family to the Island and the Savannah area.
One of the first nights at Tybee after their arrival, Miley and her mom went out for Pizza at local Tybee hangout, Huckapoos, where Miley used Twitter to communicate news with her fans. Several other times Miley was spotted enjoying herself at various locations across the Island, including singing a few songs for her fans at a local nightspot.
The SavannahCityDirectory team caught a shot of the pretty actress and her crew while filming the movie's carnival scene on the south end of the beach. Miley took a moment to reflect before shooting as she strolled along the Tybee Pier and Pavillion area. Now, we are all anxiously awaiting the release of the movie!
Critz Tybee Run
Annual Half Marathon and 5 Mile2009 Event was held in February
Next year's race is scheduled for February 6, 2010
For more Info,
Visit: www.CritzTybeeRun.com
New Owner for The Tybee News Publication
Savannah area newspaper publisher, Louise D. Phelps, recently signed a letter of intent to purchase The Tybee News, the island newspaper previously owned by Dr. Lynn M. Hamilton. Hamilton has been Editor and Chief of the publication since 1998.Ms. Phelps will serve as President and Editor. Ms. Hamilton will remain with the newspaper as Senior Contributing Writer and columnist. Joel Worth, Mr. Hamilton's husband, who writes the newspaper's popular "Barefoot Gourmet" restaurant review, will also remain.
The monthly newspaper was originally founded by a group of Tybee women in 1979. From 1995 to 1998, the paper was owned by J.R. Roseberry, current Tybee Island resident and a former editor at The Washington Post.
Lou Phelps is the president of Coastal Empire News, founded in Savannah in 1998, and president of Phelps, Cutler & Associates, the national media consulting firm, founded in 1991.
Coastal Empire News is the publisher of Savannah's free virtual daily news site, "Savannah Daily News, launched in 2007, at www.savdailynews.com, one of the first virtual daily newspapers in the U.S.-- now a growing trend in the news industry.
Ms. Phelps also publishes the region's business newspaper, The Business Report & Journal, launched May 1998, and Coastal Family Magazine, the region's only complete parenting magazine, in publication since 1995.
Tybee's New Pay-and-Display Parking Services in Operation
(TYBEE ISLAND, GA) The City of Tybee Island has installed Pay-and-Display parking meters as part of the recent facelift of the South End Business District.
The old, gated parking lots resulted in traffic snarl-ups at several points, including at the entry to each lot as drivers awaited ticket stubs, at the exits as departing drivers paid their fees, and in the streets as people waited for an opportunity to get in when the lots were full. Traffic can now flow unencumbered by parking gates throughout the South End Business District.
The new system allows City resources to be used more efficiently, since Parking Services staff are no longer needed to sit in booths at lot exits. With many transactions taking place on credit or debit cards, and change machines producing bills instead of coins, there are fewer coins used in the new meters, and some of these are used to restock the change machines.
As the City pays by the pound to move coins to the bank, there is a further cost reduction. Fewer coins mean less lifting - at about 23 pounds per bag, coin handling can be hard on employees. Bills and credit transactions also lead to less handling of money for the staff, which simplifies auditing the funds.
The Pay-and-Display arrangement is familiar to more and more people around the country, but some have still never run into it before. The DPW has put up many signs indicating "Pay to Park" and a pointer to the nearest Pay-and-Display kiosk to help the uninitiated find their way. Parking costs $1.50 per hour.
The Pay-and-Display dispensers accept coins and credit cards. Use of the system is straightforward: select the amount of time you wish to park; input your money or credit card (with a $3 minimum for two hours); push a button to print your receipt; and place the receipt so it is visible on the dashboard of your car.
Visitors can park all day without having to return to their car to feed the meter. The convenience of using a credit card in the system makes it easier for people to make sure they pay for their entire parking stay without leaving time on the meter when they depart. If they decide to move to a different spot or to run an errand elsewhere on the island, the ticket is valid anywhere on the island, even if you park in a spot that still has an old-style parking meter. Overnight visitors can purchase up to three day's worth of parking at one time, making it unnecessary to deal with meters or payment for multiple visits to the beach.
Experience has shown that dollar bills, particularly in damp and sandy environs like the beach area, have a tendency to clog the bill readers, rendering a dispenser inoperable. To help alleviate this potential problem, only the change machines handle bills, giving change as requested. So even if a change machine is out of order, the parking situation doesn't escalate out of control as it would if a dispenser kiosk were not working.
Despite the convenience of using credit or debit cards, it quickly became clear that merchants near the ticket dispensers were being overwhelmed with requests for change, so the City installed change machines. Now, merchant reaction ranges from the less enthusiastic, "We still make a lot of change, but the new system has made it more convenient for most people," to the pleasant surprise of "Gee! I can't remember the last time I was asked to make change!" Most note that Parking Services staff are very responsive to trouble reports, and City policies are changing to allow more change to be held in the change machines so that each will run out less often.
Some of the merchants are concerned that there are fewer parking spaces in the new configuration. While the overall count of well over 400 spaces in the area is down slightly, some of the spaces have been distributed differently due to the area remodeling project. It is not completely intuitive to many that the old diagonal parking actually was a less efficient use of space than the new, straight-in parking arrangement. While some spaces have been lost on Tybrisa and the Strand, additional spaces have been added in the 14th Street lot and other areas in the district. . The City is also experimenting with two hour and thirty minute limited parking in some of the shopping areas to help the local establishments make sure their customers have a place to park.
Ticket stubs can sometimes blow away or get inadvertently covered, and the proverbial problem of getting a ticket while you go get change or a parking receipt, are all problems easily handled under the Pay and Display system. Parking Services staff can compare the time of a violation to the time of a parking receipt, and if they are a close match, it is a simple matter to void the violation. Simply bring the ticket and stub to City Hall on Butler Avenue.
Parking enforcement is a 365 day a year effort, with parking fees enforced from 8AM until 8PM every day of the week. Parking fines can be paid in-person at City Hall, with a credit card via the telephone, or on-line using a credit card or PayPal account. Annual parking stickers can be obtained at the Tybee Island City Hall, which is free for local residents and a $100 fee for non-residents. The parking sticker provides free parking at any time anywhere on the island. The only real restriction on stickered cars is that loading zone or short term parking time limits will still be enforced.
Visitors or residents finding a problem with a meter, a Pay-and-Display machine or a change dispenser can call City Hall's Parking Services at (912) 786-4573, x121, to make a report.
Fort Pulaski
Fort Pulaski National Monument was established October 15, 1924, by proclamation of President Calvin Coolidge. The area was turned over to the National Park Service on July 28, 1933, by order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.Please come join us as we work together to make our Nation and the National Park Service a better place for our children. As Theodore Roosevelt once said, "Nothing short of defending this country during wartime compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us."
Fort Pulaski National Monument is on U.S. Hwy 80, 15 miles east of Savannah.
An entrance fee of $3 per person is charged; ages 15 and under are free.
Click here to view the Fort Pulaski Website
Friends of the Tybee Theater (FoTT) Announces
Tybee Post Theater Facade Construction to Begin!
After years of boarded up windows, the Tybee Post Theater will at last have a brand new face. Thanks to a matching grant from the Historic Preservation Division (HPD), Georgia Department of Natural Resources, construction is due to commence this month on restoring/replacing the front windows and doors on the historic theater on Tybee Island.
JT Turner Construction has been awarded the contract to do the work. Estimated total construction costs are $30,000 and the project is expected to take less than 90 days. Turner Construction is a very well respected company that has a long history of working on historic properties. When asked the about the project, J.T. Turner, Jr. stated, "J.T. Turner Construction Co., Inc. is excited to be a part of the restoration of the historic Ft. Screven Post Theater. This project, will provide the citizens of Tybee Island with a beautiful facility for arts and theater as well as public and private events."
Project manager will be Cullen Chambers, executive director of The Tybee Island Historical Society (THIS). "Cullen, on loan for this project, from the Tybee Historical Society, is the perfect person to manage construction," said Pamela Lappin, President of FOTT. "This project is a historic restoration and must be conducted within strict guidelines from the US Secretary of Interior. Cullen is one of the most experienced restoration experts in the country and we know the project will be completed to these and the HPD’s standards. We greatly appreciate all of the support the THIS has given us on this project as well as every other project and event."
Cullen Chambers has been waiting for several years for this project to begin since he was instrumental in obtaining the state grant. According to Chambers the restoration of the Tybee Theater doors and windows is an exciting and significant next step in the rehabilitation of the entire theater. “I think people will really notice the difference from the exterior of the theater they have seen for decades and the one they will see in just a few weeks,” said Chambers. "Forty per cent of the funds for this project have been raised right here on Tybee Island," Lappin continued. E2This project will make a significant impact on the look of the theater for not only our neighbors for the entire community. FoTT is in the middle of a major $300,000 fundraising campaign to 'Burn the Mortgage' over the next year. Once we are able to pay down the mortgage we can start on interior work to get the theater up and running."
The facade project is Phase One of a Three-Phase plan to get the theater open quickly with the minimum amount of money. The remaining two phases are estimated to cost approximately $375,000. The $20,000 grant was made from the Georgia Heritage Grant License Plate Program. The Tybee Post Theater was one of 37 grant applications that applied for Georgia Heritage funding and was the only project funded, due to state budget constraints. The Tybee Post Theater received the award based on both the historic and economic impact of theater.
For more information visit: www.TybeePostTheater.org
Thanks to:
Cynthia Kinkel
Publisher & Editor
The Tybee Times & The Tybee Times Online
912-332-9082 (cell)
www.TheTybeeTimesOnline.com