Charleston, South Carolina Will Break Your Heart
By Mark A. Leon
Last weekend, a friend, referencing to the social scene of Charleston, made a rather poignant remark, “there are no festivals in Charleston, just drinking events disguised as festivals.” That comment spoke volumes as I more deeply examined the culture of the Lowcountry. Several months ago, I wrote a piece referring that Charleston lacks soul and backbone. The underlying theme of the piece is our indifference or lack of passion around social, economic and life issues.
We flock to the bottle and the gridiron. Life, for many is surrounded by food, beer, wine, alcohol and football. It is a lifestyle for many, but one that can suck you in and leave scars.
More importantly, there are selected moral flaws embedded into the lifestyle of the Lowcountry. Some uncover them early, while others need to truly spend time to be awaked.
Here are some conversation worthy observations that outline why Charleston will ultimately break your heart
- The Lowcountry is very opportunistic. Don’t get me wrong, competition and business savviness is a good thing. Ask Gordon Gekko. With the Lowcounty saturated with small business owners, the need to shake your hand if you shake mine attitude has dampened the mindset of selfless generosity. It is difficult to partner without the need to provide something in exchange.
- Entitlement – One should never feel entitled to anything. It creates greed, apathy and a lack of compassion. Charleston’s bragging over the annual or semi-annual accolade of one singular publication has created this ugly face of bragging about how great this city is. That look is not attractive on anyone. Especially in a city with issues around education reform, economic development, infrastructure, flooding and cost of living hitting critical mass.
- Charleston is bad for singles. Spend time in a bar, Meetup Group or a book club and discuss the challenges of single life in Charleston. It is an eye-opening topic.
- We are a tourism first destination and locals are no longer the priority of our elected officials. The amount of hotel development, increased push on the cruise traffic, skyrocketing cost of living, tax increases and natural land being destroyed for urban expansion has been in our faces for over half a decade and that is showing no signs of slowing down. Since 2015, The Dewberry, The Spectator, Grand Bohemian, Hyatt Place, Holiday Inn Express are among the structures that are becoming the new Charleston. The corner of King Street and Calhoun, is now a major brand eye sore with Walgreens, Chipotle, Starbucks, Panera Bread, 5 Guys Burgers, Moe’s Mexican and Carolina Ale House. The authentic natural historic small down appear of Charleston is a thing of the past now.
- Cost of Living – The last US economic report shows that the state of South Carolina cost of living is 20% lower than the national average, but Charleston, SC is 31% above. That makes Charleston, 51% higher than the rest of the state. These are not economically sound figures. A recent Realtor.com Report indicated Charleston as the most gentrifying city in the United States.
- Morning rush hour, evening rush hour, festival traffic, weekend traffic, downtown traffic, Summerville traffic, 526, 26, 61, 17: It is an endless game of stop and go. With an infrastructure of islands and peninsulas not built to handle the capacity of growth the only solution is increased mass transit or a Light Rail solution.
- Locals don’t want to co-exist with transplants. Talk to a transplant and ask them how many Charleston born friends they have. I will bet a silver dollar, you can count them on one hand. There is a reason for that.
Charleston is a special place. It has been the backdrop of great cinema, a well sought after wedding destination, one of the most beautiful spots on the East Coast for sunrises and sunsets, incredible, yet uniform, dining options and it is outwardly cordial and friendly. It also has an underbelly that can suck you in and spit you out.
Knowledge is power and having the right conversations will keep you educated to ensure you have selected the life you want and the place.
Charleston Daily
Charleston Daily is a concept in community. Its mission is to promote, assist, and celebrate in everything Charleston, South Carolina. By partnering with businesses, community leaders, volunteers and events, we are spreading the love that is Charleston. As this city continues to grow and prosper, we want to help spread the message to all about how wonderful this community is. Charleston is about the people, community, water, land, history, heritage and the true southern warmth it brings with each and every day.
A rapid tranist system is in planning, but it will take sustained pressure to keep it on track. Voters approved most of the funding in 2016, but the risk that the funds will be raided to build sprawl-inducing roads on the edge of town is a great threat to the plan. It’s a bus rapid transit line from Summerville to Charleston.
Charleston is my favorite city but I hear from visitors,and residents alike that it is being ruined by overdevelopment and by a huge increase on population. Please don’t allow you beautiful city to be destroyed as it seems to be doing presently. We come annually to stay downtown and enjoy our favorite places. This year the crowds of people and the huge increase in prices of lodging prohibited our stay. Really sad because we have visited there for many years. It has always been a welcoming place. We have felt like home there from our very first visit.
You are “right on” with this comment. I have lived here since 1980 and as soon as I retire, I plan on finding a new place to live. Too crowded, congested, and way too expensive.
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Wow, Mark. You just said what I’ve been trying to put into words for a long time. This speaks to me profoundly. There is nothing more valuable to a society than a journalist who has the fortitude and connection with consciousness to dig down, tap into the zeitgeist, and then have the brass to write about it. Thanks, friend.
Best,
Dylan
Thank you Dylan. There is tremendous kindness in your words. So much appreciated. Mark
Mark, as only you and I know, during are many weekend walks, we have discussed not understanding the minimal amount of money placed into education here but also the resistance to modernizing the transportation infrastructure. I was raised in West Virginia where WVU has a monorail system; Wheeling, West Virginia with it’s oldest bridge having a walkway; and Follansbee, WV where I grew up, the bridge with its’ walkway to Steubenville Ohio is still in service. In Pittsburgh, where I lived for 7 years, there are tunnels, a small subway, 2 inclines, over 700 Bridges with the main ones crossing the big rivers being built with walkways years ago and road lanes that only buses are permitted to drive. Look at the New River Gore Bridge in Southeast West Virginia! It’s fabulous and has improved the flow of traffic tremendously. One can even drive down the 2 way traffic, one lane road to walk across the old bridge (I have done so and the the mountains are still as beautiful despite the new bridge) in order for watersports to continue on the river.
All I am trying to say is this, improvements in transportation infrastructure (not just new roads or one new bridge), do NOT have to take away from the natural beauty of Charleston. Yes it is below sea level, on a earthquake fault, has hurricanes, etc. but there are some really intelligent civil engineers out there that could help Charleston with alternate transportation ideas. Let’s spend more time enjoying Charleston’s beauty and less time in traffic. It will be sooooo worth it.
Here is a link to a video about Rapid Transit Systems like the one planned for Charleston, N. Charleston & Summerville. https://youtu.be/sHeUk4Ns5ss
Thank you for having the courage to write a piece about Charleston that isn’t yet another gushing love letter about this “charming” southern town. As a full-time resident of nearly ten years in the prime of my career in the tech sector, I concur it is not an easy place to call home, and certainly not the thriving “Silicon Harbor” economy local pundits portray it as. These are important conversations to have if the region is to thrive in a sustainable way for its residents.
It’s great that you are getting thoughts from this piece of writing as well as from our argument made here.
Good piece and definitely accurate. However what I’ve realized after living here for a while is that most people’s opinion of the city is so highly influenced by the super inflated rhetoric surrounding the city, that I don’t think people go experience the city for themselves and judge the city for what it is. If you seriously believe everything you hear about Charleston being the end-all-be-all best city/paradise in the world, then yes it will disappoint you.
Charleston, after all, is a city and has the same affordability and transportation problems most other cities in the US are experiencing. Desirable places to live are often well above the national average for affordability and the influx of people back into cities has raised transportation concerns in many places.
Is the tech industry Silicon Valley? No, but it is an exciting scene with a lot of ambitious people behind it that has been growing in a very sustainable fashion here for years. It continues to provide a growing, desirable market for employees as well as other types of businesses to be part of the growing community.
The real problem that is unique to Charleston is our fervent dedication to tourism above all else. How many times have you been somewhere and someone asks where you’re from and you say ‘here’. It’s awkward and even tourists don’t like constantly being asked where they’re from. The ironic thing is that while tourists need hotels and restaurants, what they come to experience is the cultural fabric of the city. If we choose to continue to create a great destination rather than a great city, we will cease to be an authentic and desirable destination.
Ultimately Charleston isnt special despite what we’re told. What it is however is a very cool and unique city with a great (albeit somewhat self-serving) community behind it.
However with all the hype surrounding the city, we need to really think about what it means to live here. Anyone can go to on Eater and go to whatever restaraunts are hot this quarter, but that’s not living in Charleston; that’s being a tourist and to be fair, as much as residents complain about the unbalanced focus on tourism there’s a ton of locals who are content being tourists in their own town and being told where to go and what to eat and drink.
So I think we need to be honest with ourselves as residents and figure out if we’re really experiencing Charleston for ourselves or if we’re really just getting bored of thinking about and experiencing Charleston the way we’ve been told to.