Newspaper Page Text
8 - The Savannah Tribune • Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Sustainable Fellwood
Completion
A kitchen almost complete in one of the Felwood homes
Sustainable Fellwood is
coming to life, nestled
amongst the graceful live
oaks. And by the end of April,
it will come to life even more
as the first residents move
into the bright, spacious
apartments in Savannah’s
environmentally friendly
affordable housing develop
ment.
The residents will find a
community with an adjoining
five-acre city park planned
and great amenities such as
an outdoor volleyball court,
community center and a com
munity garden coming online
through this year. The devel
opment partners are planning
an after-school program and
will equip a learning center
with computers.
While the solidly built
and well-designed apart
ments with beautiful views of
the oaks will bring in happy
residents, they may find the
sense of community even
more enjoyable in the long
run. Sustainable Fellwood
has been designed to create
and nurture a sense of com
munity.
“For a community to
have a neighborhood feel,
you have to have a central
place to meet neighbors,” said
Paula Brockman of The Lane
Company, which is accepting
leasing applications.
“You want to be able to
know your neighbors and be
able to look out for one anoth
er, and you always want a
friendly safe place for the
kids to pop into.”
And though the sense of
community will be big,
Sustainable Fellwood is also
about less: less construction
waste going into the landfills,
fewer unhealthy fumes from
construction, and the really
wonderful bonus of energy
efficiency, allowing lower
utility bills.
“Tenants will consume less
water and less electricity,
which should result in lower
bills if the cost of utilities
remain the same,” said Kevin
Nearing
Smith of Catamount
Constructors, Inc.
Those lower bills will
be thanks to low-flow plumb
ing fixtures, ENERGY STAR
appliances, compact fluores
cent lights, energy efficient
windows, good insulation,
and other features such as a
tight building “skin” to keep
heating and cooling bills
lower.
In addition to lower util
ity bills, there won’t be
unhealthy fumes in the apart
ments from the construction
process. Smith explained.
The paint, caulk, glues and
adhesives are Low-VOC.
VOC stands for Volatile
Organic Compounds, some
of which may have long- or
short-term adverse health
effects, including autism,
asthma, allergies and bron
chitis.
“It’ll be a healthier
environment,” said Smith,
who has a four-year-old son
with autism.
Many people experi
ence a real difference in
places that used Low-VOC
products, he explained,
including people with aller
gies and asthma.
“I think it’s great,”
Smith said. “The job site is
going to be contributing for
years to come” in better
health and lower utility bills
for the residents, and by
being better for the environ
ment. “I think that it’s extra
rewarding.”
“It sets us apart from
most of the job sites in the
Southeast,” Smith said.
He’s also excited to know
that many of the workers on-
See Fellwood, page 14
Jordan
....continued from page 1
education and a
struggle for equal
ity.
In the 1800s
Jordan’s maternal
grandfather
“played dead” and
escaped after com
ing to the country
on a slave ship.
Slavery was
abolished when
her grandfather
was 12, but the
runaway didn’t
know until a white
woman took him
in, later making
arrangements for
him to receive an
education.
Jordan never met her
grandfather, but said,
“Slavery is something I
heard about in my home
almost every day.”
Jordan’s mother, who
earned the equivalent of a
two-year degree, served as a
role model.
As a child, Jordan
(EdD ’ 80) accompanied her
mother to the Wilcox
County Courthouse. “She
knew they would not let her
vote but she went anyway.
They turned her away,
and as we left a white man
stuck his foot out. My moth
er had the presence of mind
to release my hand before
she fell all the way down
those marble steps. I was
terrified and thought my
mother was dead.”
The Ku Klux Klan
retaliated with a cross burn
ing in their yard, and the
family fled to Savannah.
Jordan was sent to a private
high school in Albany and
graduated from Albany State
University with a degree in
education.
group of black
tourists who
asked her why
there wasn’t a
monument to
blacks in the
city. She then
spearheaded a
committee and
petitioned the
city to erect a
memorial, set
ting off a decade
of wrangling and
debate — first
over location,
then appearance
and finally the
inscription.
“My willingness
to be confronta
tional has been a problem all
my life,” Jordan said. “I’ll
go to great lengths. I don’t
enjoy fighting and arguing
for what is right, but if I
have to, I will.”
In July 2002, the statue was
erected at Savannah’s his
toric riverfront, the port of
entry for most slaves arriv
ing in Georgia. The seven-
foot bronze statue —
designed by Dorothy
Spradley (MFA ’76) —
depicts a contemporary fam
ily in broken shackles.
Today, Jordan continues
seeking funds to cover the
remaining cost of the monu
ment and is writing a docu
mentary about the project.
“My mother would be proud
of me ... even though what I
went through was nothing
compared to what she
endured,” Jordan said. “We
have so much ground to
cover. We have to do so
much more than any other
race to prove ourselves.
That’s why I keep fighting.”
African American Monument
She earned a master’s
in education at Atlanta
University, and after marry
ing and having a child of her
own, returned to Savannah
and worked for a federally
funded education program
on reading at Savannah State
University.
It was her work with
reading programs that led
her to visit a class at UGA.
When a UGA professor
challenged Jordan to pursue
a doctorate, she accepted. “I
wanted him to know I was
qualified,” she said.
She commuted most
days from Savannah to
Athens and said fellow stu
dents tried to prevent her
from parking on campus.
When she complained to
UGA President Fred
Davison, he gave up his
parking space for Jordan.
After graduating in
1980 Jordan continued her
work at Savannah State and
became a writer for the
Savannah Morning News.
In 1991 Jordan was chal
lenged again, this time by a
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