Talk:Pooler, Georgia

Suburb of Savannah
As a person who has lived in Pooler for over 10 years, Pooler was never considered a suburb of Savannah. It has been a distinct entity for nearly 100 years. Savannah isn't a city like Atlanta that has suburbs surrounding it. And unlike Atlanta, Savannah is not necessarily the center of life in the Chatham county area. To put it shorty, Pooler is not an outgrowth of "unincorporated" Savannah, which is the way "suburb" is often used today. It would help if it were removed. --68.51.146.97 1 July 2005 00:29 (UTC)

Dear 68.51.146.97. Why so defensive? Sorry, Pooler is indeed a suburb of Savannah. It meets all the criteria of the US Census. The large city generates commerce, jobs, and economic activity and drives the growth of suburbs, whether they are incorporated like Pooler or unincorporated like Georgetown. Without Savannah, Pooler would not be the fast-growing town it is.Mason.Jones 18:52, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
 * User:68.51.146.97 is indeed correct. I live in Pooler. Pooler is not, nor ever was in any way, a suburb of Savannah. West Chatham county holds the majority of Chatham County's industry. There are no criteria for 'suburb' because it's a very fluid definition, as per the wiki definition. Georgetown is nothing more than a set of neighborhoods WITHIN Savannah. Pooler is a seperate city with separate industry. Many, if not most, of the people in Pooler work in industry or the service sector in West Chatham County, not Savannah.
 * The growth of Pooler was not driven by Savannah, but rather the move of industry to West Chatham County due largely to the efforts of Pooler (i.e. Pooler Parkway industry) and the low

property value. The future site of a large industrial complex will be built on the Pooler/Bloomingdale border, not in Savannah.
 * As it stands right now, the wording in Pooler will remain the way it is. Your effort is very Savannah-centric and POV and lacks a lot of understanding about the area. This is not similar to the Atlanta metro area. Savannah is not the center of economic activity in Chatham County. Most industry lies outside of the city. There is no nucleus of economic activity outside of the Georgia Ports Authority and west chatham industry. Savannah isn't even a large city. --BWD(talk) 20:12, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, BWD. I totally disagree. I have expertise in urban studies and statistics, and all of West Chatham is a suburb of Savannah. Pooler is no longer the isolated cow town it was back in the 1960s. It's part of a large urbanized area running from Garden City all the way to Rincon; all three qualify as suburbs of the much, much larger Savannah. I realize there's much animosity toward Savannah in your area of Chatham County, but your arguments are unconvincing. That said, I won't get into an editing war with you. There are more important things to worry about in the Savannah area! (Your contributions about crime were dead-on.) Finally, Georgetown is actually outside the city limits of Savannah, like Skidaway and Wilmington Island neighborhoods, so these are suburbs of Savannah, not Savannah proper. Regards, Mason.Jones 21:22, 24 February 2006 (UTC)


 * All of west chatham isn't a suburb. And there's no animosity. We just pride ourselves in having low crime rates, relatively good schools, and competently run government. Savannah lacks all three of those. Savannah has the worst (public) schools in Georgia, some of the highest violent crime rates in the state, and a poorly managed government. The police merger cost a lot more money than expected and nobody is happy with it, especially the officers.
 * The difference between Georgetown and and Pooler is that people from Georgetown work in Savannah. They commute there. People in Pooler largely work in Pooler or at the ports, located in Garden City and Port Wentworth. Just because there has been a lot of development since the 80's between Pooler and Savannah doesn't a

utomatically make Pooler a suburb. This isn't Atlanta and Marieta or Dallas and Arlington we're talking about here. Savannah just isn't the nucleus of economic activity in Chatham County, other

than it's immediate tourism industry. Most people here simply wouldn't agree with your assessment.
 * And calling Rincon a suburb of Savannah is quite a stretch. All I ask for is to keep this article Pooler-centric and leave Savannah out of it. --BWD (talk)

22:10, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Cities with more than 100,000 (Savannah, Augusta, Macon) have suburbs, BWD. And Pooler depends on Savannah for many things. The Ga. Ports Authority and the Savannah-Hilton Head Int'l Airport exist because of Savannah. Pooler's kids often attend Savannah-Chatham public schools, which are managed downtown. And as someone who has lived in many places, I wouldn't call Pooler's public schools "good." Pooler Elementary is decent but the middle school and Groves High are mediocre at best (both are abysmal compared to public schools in New England and elsewhere). See? We disagree on lots of things, but that's Wikipedia. I do think that the current Pooler article is POV. Pooler is still a small town with one-thirteenth the population of Savannah (less than 1/13 if you throw in Georgetown and Island neighborhoods). Yes, Pooler is less corrupt and much better managed than Savannah (no one would disagree with that).Mason.Jones 20:19, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

Assessment
If you would like to know why I assessed the article the way I have, please use my talk page. Ethan (talk) 00:06, 27 July 2009 (UTC)