Pillsbury

My CD player is broken in my work computer so I'm stuck listening to 99X online out of Atlanta--though they're playing some REM right now...

That's interesting. My brother, whose girlriend just graduated from Southern told me that the Walmart in Statesboro sucked because it was so crowded......

^ I agree, all of these people are so convinced that if they just move their store to Evans they'll suddenly have people lined up at their doors. A lot of times, however, even with a place like Luigi's that's known by pretty much everyone in town, is that they'll move to the Evans, own the Italian food market for a little while, but then in a couple of years when Macaroni or Carrabas opens up people out there will forget that Luigi's ever existed. Mr. Ballas has a strong customer base down here and he needs to stay down here. Who knows, maybe he was just trying to get the attention of the morons who run this city.

^ well sort of, the Chronicle did a story recently and he mentioned how tired he was of operating downtown. Then he said that he and his family had thought about moving the business to Evans. But his restaurant is still open and there is still a good crowd down there I believe. Hopefully it continues because I think he's had enough of our inept government. Edited to include link to the story: Luigi's

I would love to see it happen. What I would really see happen (and I don't mean to be harsh) is to see the lower end of Broad Street bulldozed and/or renovated, and the strip clubs and pawn shops forced to leave. That area of Broad is scary between Old Town and 7th Street. As far as I'm concerned, the only redeeming quality of that end of Broad Street is Luigi's and since he's currently thinking of moving to Evans, I say it's a done deal. If these condos on the river work out, maybe businesses (and maybe even more condos) will move in over on Broad Street. Just a bit of wishful thinking.

^Hope so, it looks like a cool place... Here is badly written article from the Chronicle about the James Brown statue on Broad. Chronicle

^ I should have known it would be over there near Sage Valley. Not many people are aware that it is one of the most exclusive golf clubs in the South......

Here is kind of funny article about the new Blue Horse music venue opening up in the old Federal Building at Broad and 8th Street. It seems that Peter Knox, the former owner of DTIMM'S had a blue horse on his balcony and thought that it was copyright infringement for the new club to call itself the Blue Horse. Anyway, here is the article in the Augusta Chronicle

That's good news for that part of Aiken County.

I'm sorry, I have to vent: we're really overdue for all this stuff. For the life of me, I've never understood how all the other cities in Georgia seem to have these fantistic roads while Augusta always got the shaft. If Augusta were any other city in Georgia, I-20 would have been widened 20 years ago to 6 lanes, Bobby Jones would be at least 6 lanes all the way around it, etc and Fury's Ferry wouldn't have taken longer to complete than the Brooklyn Bridge.

I've always loved that jail. I thought they were converting that thing to lofts or something.

^ Now that's cool. And people say this town's boring!

^sounds good to me. I never went to Fat Tuesday because I was too young and when I finally starting getting old enough they closed it.

You're right, both ways seem to have their advantages. I like coming in from the south on 85 because, like you say, the skyline just hits you.

Everywhere you go in Statesboro there seems to be new apartment complexes going up---most of it seems to center around the university which is located outside of downtown. As far as the bypass, they need to bump the speed limit up on that thing.

^ I've always like that funky 60s style building in the center of that picture. Isn't that building on like Marietta Street, maybe??? Not sure.

Here is the link for the Metro Spirit article: Condo Debate

Just being a little facetious on the Motel 6. I certianly believe that they should try to make the most money off of the land, be it a hotel or condos. One thing I didn't get, in the article in the Metro Spirit they mentioned something about Port Royal being almost empty. Is that true? I thought all of the units had been sold.

Small update in regard to the new condos on Reynolds. It seems that some on the city council (Marion Williams) are upset that Mayor Deke is in favor of selling the subject land to the Savannah developer. Mr. Williams wants that site allocated for a possible hotel. It was reported that at one point in the meeting, Mr. Williams asked Mayor Deke, who, besides Deke's family, could afford $400,000 condos in the heart of downtown Augusta. Mayor Deke responded that Mr. Williams was missing the big picture. (Sorry, I looked online but couldn't find the link.) I too think that the price of the condos may be a little steep for downtown at this time, but Marion Williams is corrupt and that's why he is opposing this project. You know, a couple of years ago when they bought this land they did a study and were told that land was best suited for a mixed-use development. Instead of listening to the advice of experts, our leaders want to put a Motel 6 there. And then you have the historic preservationists who apparently want to keep this giant dirt lot intact because it is historical. Apparently some in this town feel a certain family (don't know who) has rights to it. Well, if anyone has a right to the land it's St. Paul's, which has been in this town for 250+ years and they're not interested. Sorry to be long winded.

I thought this was a pretty good article in the Metro Spirit about people moving back downtown: Here

Seems like my girlfriend told me it was going to be a carwash or something. I haven't been out that way in a few weeks.

What's really bad is that I believe the same company responsible for the Furys Ferry widening has also been awarded the I-20 project. Also, I believe they are the same company responsible for the Bobby Jones Exp/Mike Padgett Highway interchange project. So I guess the I-20 project should be completed in about 20 years.

Socaguy, those are great pictures of the downtown area. If you don't mind my asking, was the shot taken from the Lamar Building taken from the 15th Floor balcony?