GOOD NEWS: Council vote on libraries to be June 16

Charleston County Council is expected to vote Tuesday evening on locations for new libraries for James Island and West Ashley. (Agenda)

The current James Island Public Library.

The location for the latter may be near West Ashley High School, although the Charleston County Library Board of Trustees recommended two nearby locations.

The James Island, location, is controversial. The recommended location, near the current library on Camp Road, would require six acres of land owned by the James Island Public Service District to be sold at appraised value — about $555,000. But the district’s commissioners haven’t yet authorized a sale, wanting as much as $5 million for the land (although it recently passed a motion to sell it for $1 million. That’s still a non-starter for the county, which says it can only buy land at appraised value.)

The second recommended location is on Folly Road near Camp Road. It calls for conversion of at least 20,000 square feet of space in an old Bi-Lo grocery store that has been gutted. Like the other property, it is centrally located and would serve an area dense with people.

Council, however, in its finance committee on June 2, chose to select property at the south end of the island on South Grimball Road near James Island Elementary School. Some neighbors desperately want it there; others do not. The population density of the location, far from the center of the island, is about half as much as the other two locations.

Two polls show a strong preference for a central location. An online poll of 302 people by activist Carol Tempel showed 92.4 percent of people preferred a central location (with the overwhelming number at the old Bi-Lo, in part because of the way the questionnaire was worded.) Only 6.1 percent preferred the Grimball Road property.

A poll by the James Island Messenger asked whether the community should create a “vibrant city center” that included a town hall and library, or whether it should work independently to choose separate locations for island projects. Some 90 percent of almost 200 respondents wanted the collaborative projects near the city center.

In other news:

Croghan’s wins Gibbes’ award. Hats off to Croghan’s Jewel Box for winning the 2015 James S. Gibbes Philanthropy Award for longtime support of the Gibbes Museum of Art. “Croghan’s philanthropy and support of the Gibbes has spanned generations and is alive and strong today,” said Executive Director Angela Mack.

Lysaght

Lysaght elected. Joe Lysaght, deputy director of Charleston County Veterans Affairs, was sworn in May 30 as commander of the American Legion Department of South Carolina, the organization’s top state office. Lysaght is a veteran of the U.s. Air Force and the S.C. State Guard who retired as a lieutenant colonel.

“My job at Charleston County is to do everything we can for veterans and we have never turned one away,” Lysaght said in a press release. “I fully expect to continue that mission with the American Legion with the goal of increasing our membership to 25,000 across South Carolina.”

Google’s milestone. A Google computer science education effort that started in the Lowcountry has spread to 50,000 students around the globe. Google’s CS First Curriculum, started in S.C. as a pilot program in 2013, uses video games, music, dancing and fashion to introduce students to coding basics and programming. More.

New home energy savings program. The Sustainability Institute, SCE&G and Boeing today announced a new pilot weatherization program, the Home Energy Savings Program, aimed at helping low to moderate income and fixed income customers in the Charleston area. The new program, which is also receiving support from Social Venture Partners and AmeriCorps, will provide participants with personalized energy savings, energy improvement, and energy education for their homes and will seek to weatherize a total of 80 homes in two years.