Dear Mayor Tecklenburg, we would like our city back
Dear Mayor Tecklenburg,
As we look back at 2017, we witnessed record tourism in the Lowcountry, rises in sales tax to 9%, restaurant tax at 10.5%, alcohol restaurant tax at 15%, rising cost of parking garages, increases in parking ticket fines, heavier traffic, road construction throughout the peninsula, continued pollution of the skyline with cranes and building development, family businesses continuing to close their doors and locals turning their heads wondering why we are letting this all happen so fast without any type of regulation or control.
The conclusion is that a select few real estate investors are making a fortune off this record setting growth while the local-residents continue to suffer. Why are we taking a backseat to tourism and opportunistic greed?
Maybe, if all this investment money was staying locally in the South, we may have some level of justification, but a tremendous amount is coming from Northern investors. There is irony there given the negative sentiment many have of Northerners moving in and infiltrating our Southern home.
For the last year, we have seen daily esthetic pollution with Lockwood continuing to be an eye sore by the Ashley Bridge, the intimate Joe Riley Stadium being overrun by a massive building development project, Upper King a continued push North with building development and gentrification and new condos/apartments all around the Cooper River Bridge. But, none of this is new to you and your administration as you have been the Mayor of record as the historic city of Charleston is being destroyed dissolving hundreds of years of simple 
Southern charm.
It is ok, you are not alone. Folly Beach, Mount Pleasant and West Ashley are following suit. With the new digital sign at the entrance of Folly Beach and a giant chair sponsored by Coca Cola on the pier, Whole Foods in West Ashley, Starbucks on James Island and office buildings, condos and hotels in Mount Pleasant and a parking garage at Shem Creek, it seems the end is nowhere in sight.
For those that have lived for many years in the Lowcountry with reasonable rent increases, new pressures are being felt. Older apartments and condos are starting to capitalize on this greedy focused economy, by renovating old units and raising rents to compete with the new developments and cost of living that is rising much faster than the national average.
What are we doing to solve the flooding issue that has plagued our city for generations? Any progress there or just ideas? Maybe we can get money from the Dewberry or Spectator that is getting $450 – $650 a night for a hotel room or the $250 price tag for New Year’s Eve. Maybe the parking garages that have more than doubled in prices in the last two years could provide financial assistance. Just a thought.
How do we explain the 2017 Charleston County budget? The total spent on Economic Development, Education and Health / Welfare is 26.6 Million. All three combined is 6.9 Million less than Culture and Recreational spending (26% more). We are hurting in our classrooms with academic rankings low and teacher to student ratios becoming unmanageable and yet only 6.6 Million of 480 Million is allocated for Education. Only 16.1 Million was set aside for Health and Welfare when Charleston County has the largest medical system in the state and we have an opioid epidemic that is alarming. It seems spending is not being properly utilized.
You must feel honored knowing in two short years you have already left such a memorable legacy as Mayor of Charleston. We have witnessed the most development since the post-Civil War reconstruction and bear witness to multi-generational family businesses being closed to make way for conglomerate Real Estate Trusts and Investment tycoons.
You are leading a city known for family and tradition into an era where Charleston is becoming a Southern amusement park of high end shopping, dining, hotels and corporate logos.
We hope next year yields some significant changes and the emphasis turns from tourism to the needs of those that live and reside here.
Regards,
Charleston Daily
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.
I live in Honolulu and it had been ruined by development. Please take action NOW to put the brakes on this development in Charleston…..or your city will also be ruined. Government won’t do it. Business won’t do it. It has to be the residents. You can do it.
Thank you, Kim!!!
Seems to be a really grim picture of Charleston. I am currently planning on moving to the Charleston area within the next year. It seems you have only higher costs to look forward to. I hope things will stabilize in the very near future !!! I love South Carolina and I am so looking forward to be a part of the community!!!
I would pick another city if you don’t want the hustle and bustle and dodging a ton of people constantly, horrible traffic and good luck trying to fight the traffic going to the beach. It’s not the same as it used to be! Just being honest.
I am originally from Charleston. The way things have gone my hope of moving back to Charleston is gone. Please don’t destroy my favorite city. I love Charleston.
Too late.
This article breaks my heart. The people of Charleston need to come first.The love for Charleston is because of the people who reside there. Everyone is so nice. I have visited every summer for two weeks for the last 14 years. I cry everytime I leave because there is no place in this world that makes me feel the way it does. As a tourist, it better not change. Tourist go there to relax and be engulfed in a better life. The residents should not have to suffer at a tourist expense. Residents desevere a peaceful place. It is thier home. Not an over developed city that only cares about money. My town was ruined by the same thing. Our kids will never know the beauty of what was.
pretty spot on. theres definitely a growing up that comes with time but developers treat the city like some drunk kid groping girls at prom. a lot of people say “get with the times, its inevitable!” but theres zero infrastructure to support the overwhelming influx. i havent really seen this guy do anything significant to help the city. the roads are still failing, schools and education are failing, homeless people are creating encampments under the bridges and then murdering each other and the citizens are having to step in and block more unregulated developments that wreak havoc for flooding.
Before you blast the tourism industry perhaps you need the REAL facts about just how strictly regulated the city has become regarding carriage and walking tours. For years NO more carriages have bee allowed (this is a 3rd generation of Charlestonian’s businesses, NOT Northerners ! This industry pays an astronomical amount of money in taxes, regulations and the city even pays for a commission to impose more and more strict regulations. This is my family business and it supports 100 employees (school teachers, students, senior citizens which all support our community. So when you criticize the “tourism industry”, Let’s nmake sure you know exactly what you’re talking about.
The fact that school teachers, who have college degrees, have to work on a horse and carriage for extra cash, shows that your county isn’t spending tourism dollars wisely.
Where are you originally from Louise Anderson?
I am a North Carolinian and considered moving to Charleston over the Summer. However, traffic was so horrible and congestion with commercial and residential development comingled that I decided against. I have been visiting Charleston on and off for 25 years. Charleston needs a master developmemt plan to encompass James Island, N.Charleston, N.Ashley, Summerville, and Mt Pleasant. Investment is pouring into the area but government needs to ensure it is orderly and compatible with Charleston’s historic charm. There is a high probability that Charleston will lose its and be unrecognizable to all who love this area unless its leaders take quick action. The people of Charleston can have it all but dont have it all on one block lest you destroy it.
Thanks, it is not the old Charleston I have grown up in. Believe it or not, when driving I have to stop to get my bearings on where I am. There is no beauty anymore, there is no Charleston any more.
Time to put the brakes on. Enough plundering and prostituting the area by Mayors, Councils, outside interests, and real estate pros. Someone for the residents, kids, students, atheletics, artists and entertainers stand up against profiteers. Give em new roads in Cane Bay-
I live in another Lowcountry town south of Charleston and I hate to say, this same boomtown effect is happening here too. I love my town/community, but the brakes need to be put on soon or else we’re headed in the same direction as Charleston. Perhaps all southerners should take heed. Remember what we learned about the revolutionary war? The British are coming, the British are coming! Today it’s more like: The Yankees are coming, the Yankees are coming and boy are they coming!
I grew up in the south and have lived in Charleston for 20 years. It must be pointed out that Joe Riley was Mayor of Charleston for 40 YEARS! When he became mayor Charleston had the same infrastructure problems we have now. It appears to me MayorTechlinburg has done more to move the ball forward in areas that were ignored for years including downtown infrastructure and West Ashley development. So I think he at least deserves a chance to finish his first term before being judged too harshly. FINISH I526!!!
This mayor is not a honorable man, he lied to us during the campaign, he promised he would look out for the people of Charleston and he has sold us out at every step , The city of Charleston is a epic failure at providing infrastructure yet they have approved high density developments that have caused gridlock traffic and flooding. The city of Charleston annexed on to Johns island, west Ashleyand James island and have taxed us for revenue and given nothing back, we deserve better. We have no police protection on John’s island and crime is off the charts……. We deserve better leadership from the mayors office,if the mayor really cared about Charleston, he would resign immediately and let a mayor with vision take office ,
Randall is spot on. I would just add that the city and county continue to forget the needs of the folks on Johns Island, other than they need our tax dollars!!
This mayor is not a honorable man, he lied to us during the campaign, he promised he would look out for the people of Charleston and he has sold us out at every step , The city of Charleston is a epic failure at providing infrastructure yet they have approved high density developments that have caused gridlock traffic and flooding. The city of Charleston annexed on to Johns island, west Ashley and James island and have taxed us for revenue and given nothing back, we deserve better. We have no police protection on John’s island and crime is off the charts……. We deserve better leadership from the mayors office,if the mayor really cared about Charleston, he would resign immediately and let a mayor with vision take office ,
If you had a business, any business, and your business was really famous for doing any one thing… say… making great muffins…. why would change the muffins that were the very basis of your business success (e.g., “New Coke”)? That is what is happening to Charleston. It is the atmosphere and character of the city that draws residents and tourists to the city. By turning Charleston into a “southern theme park”, the city will lose the incentives that draw people to it. Those development investors have to be in it for the short-term because they surely know that they are destroying the very things that will initially allow them to make a profit. Once those things are gone, the profits will leave with them. Do enough development and Charleston will go the way of Atlantic City, NJ.
I am a 63 year old male who was Born at St Francis Hospital and grew up on the corner of East Bay and Reid Street. I have lived all of my life but 2.5 years in Baltimore Maryland and 1 year in Atlanta/Savannah Ga and I can tell you that I have sen what growth will do to a city. I use to be able to go downtown charleston from West Ashley and it would only take 10 to 12 minitues but noe it takes 45 min to get from WA to downtown. We never had to worried about getting around the heart of Charleston and worried about be invole in any type of crime. As of today I work in downtown and I never dream that I would be assaulted in my home town but I was and I worried that with all this growth and curise ships coming in and we just added a new one to start servicing here that I crime is going to grow to portions like it is Baltimore or Atlanta as I see it happening now as it is everyday that someone has been shot and killed in the tri county area and this is due to growth. PLEASE DO NOT LET OUR CITY become another Baltimore,Atlanta, or NEW YORK put the BRAKES on and stop this growth as I want feel safe and be able to injoy my Home where I am borned and raise and a true Charleston native and give me a place to retire in and to be able to afford to live out the rest of my years here,
If tourism is growing then GIVE TRI-COUNTY RESIDENTS a break. Give us a Tri-County
Tax break – “Proof of Residence”. We are
NOT to be charged the High RESTAURANT
TAX, HOTEL/RESORT TAX, PARKING FEES
etc.etc. An average tax NOT the HOSPITALITY TAX added to our daily regimen of daily lifestyle while working and living here. Give the local taxpayer the courtesy to live here and enjoy our town, restaurants, staycations here in our own city and beaches so we can continue to live here & enjoy it!
ADD A HEAVY ONGOING DAILY TAX to the REALTORS, MAJOR CORPORATIONS, etc who are responsible for all the building and making money off the local residents. Also, have them provide more infrastructure (roadways).
I’M AFRAID CHARLESTON IS NO DIFFERENT FROM ANY OTHER POPULATED AREA IN THAT MONEY DRIVES EVERYTHING. GOOD IDEAS THAT WON’T MAKE MONEY DIE. BAD IDEAS THAT WILL THRIVE. FOLLOW THE MONEY.
Joe Riley spent 40 years destroying Charleston, and you want to dump all this at the feet of Mayor Tecklenburg? He’s been at the helm two years. Do you have any idea how many of these projects were approved when he walked into office? Virtually every complaint on this thread is a result of Joe Riley– traffic, flooding, city debt, hotels… it’s the fault of everyone who voted for Joe, not the current Mayor.
I don’t see how you can lay the current state of Charleston at Tecklenburg’s feet. Since the 1980’s the majority of investment has been for tourism. The “partners” of these investments have been corporations and developers from outside of Charleston. Many of the deals that were made failed to result is sustainable projects, but lined the pockets of those involved and kept others in power for decades. People forget how bad crime was in Charleston in the 1970’s. They forget the many buildings on King Street that had bricked up windows because owners and occupants couldn’t afford to repeatedly replace them. Families that had been there for generations and had seen their fortunes fall were eager for improvements. The eagerness of many of it’s citizens for quick increase in property values and immediate investment/employment opportunities are what has made Charleston what it is today. Now you are seeing the real cost. Instead of creating a balanced economy with growth at all socio-economic levels and verticals with investments in education and infrastructure that could’ve sustained opportunity for all, you and your forbearers opted for the quick buck. Now the infrastructure has to catch-up and it will be costly. Tecklenburg may be part of the problem, but the larger part of the problem is Joe Riley and those who profited with him long before Tecklenburg was in office.
I have lived on Johns Island my entire adult life. I would like to say it was Mayor Joe Riley that opened the floodgates to his developer cronies back in the mid 2000’s. That’s when the permitting and land buyups first took place in mass. The recession of 2008 put the brakes on the developers following through immediately with their plundering, but they had the zoning in place then. Joe Riley’s legacy, and I have told him so, is that of destroying Johns Island as the sanctuary it used to be. Shame on him!Tecklenburg inherited this mess, and has continued to let this happen. He continues to permit mega-developments on River Rd., Cane Slash, Brownswood, Maybank, etc. He is following Riley’s plundering and must delight in the profits his friends have made at our expense.