Mary Jean Davis called the station the day of Susan's interview and spoke about the development as if it were only for landscaping. In reading the posted RFQ from the city, it is asking for Landscaping and Archetectural design concepts. Did Mary Jean read this RFQ? I mean, she is chairperson for the committee, right?

It seems to me that City Counsel may not be on the ball. I welcome any other comments or arguments here.

Thank you for taking your time to respond to what you read on the R.F.Q., my feeling is that this R.F.Q. was written to be very vague. I would assume that the purpose of that is because they are not exactly sure just what to do with that area.

Most of the Waterfront Committee Members are Attorney's

I hope that you saw my concept design, it is something that I feel has taken just about every issue into consideration, that is why it was designed in the way that it was.

Unfortunatly, our local political powers feel that because I am not an Architect, Engineer or Designer that what I have concieved is of no importance, I'm just a common citizen . I took the time to do this because knowone else would, many people have talked about doing "something" with the Waterfront but knowone has taken the time to design something or put out all of the hard work to make it happen.

I set a goal with this web site, that goal was to reach 1,500 visitors, as of today that goal has been met. I am aggressivly moving forward to find a developer and or Investment firm.

Thank you again for your time in looking over the information and thank you for taking a citizen action.

I heard that radio show too. It seemed to me that Mary Jean Davis kept trying to make the point that Sasaki Associates was a "landscaping-only" firm. However, that isn't correct. Sasaki is a landscape architecture firm, but even their own web site (http://www.sasaki.com) shows that they also do architecture, civil engineering, planning and urban design, etc. Many of their past projects actually reflect a combination of these services.

It is obvious that the RFQ is pretty generic in terms of requirements, but that same RFQ specifically asks for landscape AND ARCHITECTURAL design services, along with other services. It also asks that the firms consider public input and past plan proposals, etc. Isn't that what Jerry Waters' show offered that day? - a public discussion of public input and past plans? If so, why would that encourage Ms. Davis to call the show and dismiss what Susan Johnson is promoting?

Frankly, I think at this stage our political leaders need to encourage public discussion on this issue, not try to suppress it. If there are clarifications to be made by City Council, then I'd certainly welcome Ms. Davis to post her responses on this web site for the entire city to see.

At the end of tonight's public meeting, Mary Jean Davis again made the claim that there is a lot of rumor going around. She repeated that Sasaki is a landscaping-only firm and that the city was not going to erect buildings or marinas. It was almost comical that these comments were shouted through the microphone as Ms. Davis tried to make this announcement above the noise of everyone filing out of the meeting room while talking, rustling papers, etc.

As I stated in my earlier post, Sasaki DOES do architectural (and other) services - see their web site. What seems obvious from such comments is that in spite of holding public meetings on the topic, City Council has hired Sasaki only for the purposes of landscaping design services - restraining the full talent of this international firm and restricting what can be done along the riverfront to benefit the City of Charleston.

Of course, we know the city won't erect buildings or marinas - they don't have any money. If such structures are to be built, private developers and investors will fund such construction, assuming they can obtain the necessary land and permits.

Amazing how City Council can openly say what they will and won't do prior to holding public meetings to determine what the city needs.