Friday, January 4, 2008

12/25 - Jekyll no longer would be worth trip

ajc.com > Opinion
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READERS WRITE: By Susan L. Dehoff
For the Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/25/07

Jekyll no longer would be worth trip

I appreciate Jim Langford's land developer's eye view of Jekyll Island ("More vacationers could enjoy park," @issue, Dec. 10). As a Georgia educator in the 1970s and '80s, I saw it differently. It was an affordable place to introduce my niece to the beach in a natural setting. I now live in Massachusetts and spend three days each August driving to Jekyll, along with a friend. Neither of us relishes the three-day drive; both of us forget that inconvenience when we see the ocean from Beachview Drive.

Last summer my niece, her husband and step-son rented a house on Jekyll the same week I did. They see Jekyll as an affordable place to introduce another generation to the beach in a natural setting. We return to Jekyll each year because it is a piece of Paradise. Thank you for your input, Mr. Langford, but the large development you propose on Beachview Drive would end our trips to Jekyll.

SUSAN L. DeHOFF, Shrewsbury, Mass.

12/17 - Major projects to hurt Jekyll

ajc.com > Opinion
READERS WRITE: By Brenda Deily Constan
For the Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/17/07

Major projects to hurt Jekyll

Jekyll Island remains one of Georgia's greatest treasures as a habitat for nesting sea turtles and migrating birds, as well as for its unique salt marshes, sand dunes and unrestricted beaches. As a resort, it is one of the few remaining coastal havens accessible to those of us who are not affluent. To allow Linger-Longer and Trammell Crowe to construct big-ticket, high-rise condominiums and high-end hotel rooms will benefit no one other than the developers and a handful of their wealthy clients, who seem to feel entitled to exclusive rights to Georgia's natural beauty.

Such development will discourage visitation by many ordinary Georgians for whom the island was intended when it became a state park. Most important, the suggested six-story buildings with their lights that will be visible from the beach, thereby affecting nesting sea turtles; the years of noise and debris from construction; and the proposed road reconstruction through a maritime forest will put excessive pressure on the island's wildlife and will be an ecological catastrophe from which the island will likely never recover.

BRENDA DEILY CONSTAN, Decatur

12/27 - Jekyll Island needs a change for the future

Date December 27, 2007
Section(s) Commentary

The exit of Bill Donohue, executive director of the Jekyll Island Authority, is a major loss to this community. Mr. Donohue, who has been an integral part of Brunswick and the Golden Isles since 1997, is leaving to assume his new role as director of the Lake Lanier Islands Development Authority in Northeast Georgia.

His departure leads all those who have been following the debate over Jekyll Island the past year to this question: What will become of state-owned Jekyll Island now and the controversial plan to return it to an ocean-side park that all Georgians can enjoy?

Mr. Donohue has been a level-headed and reasonable voice in what has blossomed into a statewide debate on the future of the only fully open and publicly accessible island and beach owned by the people of Georgia.

There are those who want it to remain as is, and there are those who want it to be more than it is. There are some who prefer something more in the middle of the two sides.

The fact of the matter is, the island cannot continue in its current condition. If it is to stay financially fit and strong, if it is to live up to the state mandate that it generate enough revenue on its own to meet its needs, then something is going to have to give.

Jekyll Island does not need another year where one of its main attractions has to remain out of service for an extended length of time simply because there is no money in the bank to effect repairs. Recall two summers ago when the wave pool, which gives the island water park its very name, remained closed for that very reason.

That might be OK for a small company with few assets, but it's not all right for a park that is owned and operated by the state of Georgia. Visitors and guests expect better than mediocre, especially if the state is truly interested in competing for tourist dollars.

The state, of course, has several options. It can do nothing and continue to allow the island to deteriorate to a point to where even fewer people want to visit it. Or it can continue on the track that it's on now with a plan to improve Jekyll Island's amenities with as many private dollars as can be obtained.

Taking a small part of the island and making it tourist-friendly does not, despite what critics say, put Jekyll Island on the same footing as Myrtle Beach, S.C. The two are worlds apart and will always be.