We are pleased to announce an upcoming Savannah event to raise money for the Coastal Georgia Greenway.  The Savannah Jaycees have adopted CGG as a project and are raising money for our project this Wednesday, April 21 (apologies for the error in the post previously noting this event on Thursday), with a Savannah pub crawl — come on out and drink a toast to connectivity!

Savannah Jaycees are celebrating Earth Day by raising awareness and funds for this year’s honoree initiative, the Coastal Georgia Greenway. Join the Jaycees Wednesday, April 21 from 6-8 p.m. as they go green for Georgia with a fundraising Pub-crawl.  See the release below for full details!

The pub-crawl includes well-known downtown Savannah establishments One Eyed Lizzy’s, Fiddlers, Murphy’s Law and SEED Eco Lounge. The evening will kick off at 6 p.m. with a toast to Coastal Georgia Greenway and drink specials at One Eyed Lizzy’s, 417 East River St., and end with pizza and eco-conscious cheers at SEED Eco Lounge, 39 Montgomery St. All participants will receive a Jaycees reusable cup, the pub’s drink special of choice and will be able to purchase $1 draft beer. The pub-crawl is open to the public of legal drinking age. Please register via e-mail at info@savannahjaycees.com and bring $10 to be donated to Coastal Georgia Greenway. Also, $10 tickets are available prior to the event at SEED Eco Lounge. A ticket purchase automatically ensures registration and includes the Coastal Georgia Greenway donation.

The Savannah Jaycees is a civic organization of young professionals and entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 40, who have been taking an active part in the local community since the 1940s. For more information about the Savannah Jaycees, visit savannahjaycees.com or friend Savannah Jaycees on Facebook.

Our thanks to the all the Savannah Jaycees, and in particular Sara Lewis for championing our cause!

Posted on April 20th, 2010 by Drew Wade
Filed under: Chatham County, Get Involved, Latest News | No Comments »

Coastal Georgia Greenway Board member Terry Landreth’s business in St. Marys, Camden Bicycle Center, has been awarded Silver level Bicycle Friendly Business recognition from the League of American Bicyclists!  Terry is extremely active in advocacy for bicycling in coastal Georgia, and this recognition is well deserved!  Please join us in congratulating Terry on this honor!

From the press release:

Washington, DC – September 16, 2009 – The League of American Bicyclists is proud to announce CAMDEN BICYCLE CENTER is named as a SILVER Bicycle Friendly Business and is one of the 45 new BFB award winners. This is the third time BFB winners have been announced since the program’s inception in 2008 when the League announced the first 13 designees. “We’re delighted to highlight CAMDEN BICYCLE CENTER and the ways in which they are getting more people on bikes,” stated League President Andy Clark. “In today’s challenging economic climate, businesses with healthy, happy and productive employees are going to be the most competitive and the most sustainable – the Bicycle Friendly Business program recognizes some of the best examples of this in practice.”

Businesses that apply for the award designation inspire and encourage their peers. The CAMDEN BICYCLE CENTER serves as an example for best practices and innovations in bicycle friendliness at the workplace CAMDEN BICYCLE CENTER makes bicycling an easy option for transportation and provides amenities such as safe and secure parking areas and incentives such as discount employee purchases.

The BFB program recognizes socially responsible businesses that promote healthy, happy, and green workplaces and provides a road map to become even more bicycle-friendly in the years to come. “Businesses across the nation are rising to the challenge of reducing their carbon footprint and improving the health of their employees – we are excited to be able to provide a roadmap to help achieve both these goals, and to recognize those companies that are leading the way,” said Clark.

Bicycle Friendly Businesses are corporations, organizations, nonprofits and associations that weave bicycling into their business culture and give employees and customers the opportunity to be active stewards of their personal and environmental health through bicycling. When bicycling is infused in an office or company culture, great things happen: reduced health care costs; more productive employees; improved worker and customer; satisfaction; smaller carbon footprint; and increased corporate social responsibility. See attached or click here for all new 2009 Fall BFB award winners. Click here to view a list of all BFB winners.

Posted on October 5th, 2009 by Drew Wade
Filed under: Camden County, Latest News | No Comments »

A local meeting of the Chatham County Coastal Georgia Greenway supporters will be held tomorrow at Moon River Brewing Company at 21 West Bay Street in Savannah. We will meet in the basement room, immediately following the board meeting of the Savannah Bicycle Campaign.  We hope you can attend!

An outline of the agenda is below:
10 minutes: Overview of CGG, including new board structure for the statewide organization.
15 minutes: Review of SNF-WOW, a tour undertaken by coastal Georgia leaders through northeast Florida to learn about strategies for building coalitions for building trails, and organizing for a repeat next year.
15 minutes: Information and goal-setting for the national meeting of the East Coast Greenway Alliance happening here in Savannah November 7-8, 2009.
15 minutes for Savannah to Tybee: Where are we now, and what needs to be done to develop this corridor?
5 minutes: Set next meeting and follow up.

Some photos from January’s SNF-WOW:

Posted on April 20th, 2009 by Drew Wade
Filed under: Chatham County, Events | No Comments »

The Coastal Georgia Greenway Inc. elected its founding board of directors in early September. The eight member board has representatives from four of the six coastal counties that the organization serves.

The Coastal Georgia Greenway lobbies for trail development at the grass roots level. It has partnered with the Coastal Georgia Regional Development Center, city and county governments and related organizations, such as the East Coast Greenway Alliance, the Gullah Geechee National Heritage Corridor and The MillionMile Greenway (MMG). The organization’s mission is to protect and acquire public access to identified trail corridors, plan for trail construction and promote the use of existing and new trails along Coastal Georgia.

Jo Hickson has worked for the Coastal Georgia Greenway since 1993 and believes that the new board will be a boost for the organization. “We now have an organization that can work to develop private sector support for the extensive trail network in coastal Georgia, whereas before most funding was derived from the public sector.

“We know that community leaders and our elected officials see the benefits that trails bring to our historic cities and towns. They know that a safe trail system allows a community to address public health, quality of life, protection of green space, and build its heritage and eco-tourism,” Hickson said.

The following members will initially serve a one-year term on the board and assist the organization with filing for non-profit status:

Dr. Drew Wade: member at large; radiologist with SouthCoast Medical Group, Savannah
Terry Landreth: member at large; owner, Camden Bicycle, St. Marys
Harvey Gilbert: Chatham County Representative; owner, Gilbert Realty Company, Savannah
Rose M. deVries: Chatham County Representative; Vice President – Private Banking, Darby Bank, Savannah
Jamal Touré: Liberty County Representative; owner, Day Clean: the African Soul; Alternate Commissioner, NPS Gullah Geechee National Heritage Corridor Commission
Al Williams: Liberty County Representative; elected State Representative for House District 165
Eunice M. Moore: McIntosh County Representative; Councilwoman, City of Darien
Anne Orr: Camden County Representative; retired attorney, St. Marys

“Current outmoded transportation and land use models are already unsupportable, and projects like the Coastal Georgia Greenway are an excellent means of transforming communities and improving quality of life,” said Drew Wade.

He added, “We have also partnered with organizations including the East Coast Greenway Alliance and The MillionMile Greenway to form a consortium of sorts to further our efforts as a group. By linking together organizations from up and down the coast, and inland Georgia, our combined momentum can better facilitate change.”

Posted on September 17th, 2008 by Jo Hickson
Filed under: Bryan County, Camden County, Chatham County, Glynn County, Latest News, Liberty County, McIntosh County | 1 Comment »

As many of you are aware, we have been working for several months now to bring a group of leaders from Coastal Georgia together on a tour of the best and less than best of trails in Northeast Florida as a tutorial on trail building.  Registration is now open, and we are looking for up to 25 leaders to join us next January.  The registration form is available at this link, or registrants can place a deposit using Paypal (though an additional processing fee applies).

The Savannah-Northeast Florida Workshop on Wheels (SNF-WOW:  notice how the hyphen moves) will convene in St. Marys January 14 for four days of riding Northeast Florida trails and the best of accomodations, all the while developing useful tools with the people working to put those trails on the ground.  Events will conclude Sunday January 18, one day prior to the Martin Luther King holiday.

Organizers for this Coastal Georgia Greenway event include EverBank Jacksonville, Florida’s St. Johns River Alliance, the First Coast Trails Coalition, and the East Coast Greenway Alliance. All-inclusive cost for attendees has been kept at $450 thanks to significant underwriting by the host committee.

Press Release

Posted on September 10th, 2008 by Drew Wade
Filed under: Bryan County, Camden County, Chatham County, Florida News, Get Involved, Glynn County, Latest News, Liberty County, McIntosh County | No Comments »