FOCUS: Will put residents’ quality of life first as mayor

By John Tecklenburg, candidate for mayor of Charleston

SEPT. 28, 2015 | My comprehensive plan for Charleston, Our Quality of Life First, is not what anyone would call a slickly-packaged public relations document.

In fact, if you head over to our website and take a quick look at it, the first thing you’ll probably notice is that it’s light on pretty pictures and heavy on specifics. But that’s not the only way it differs from some other plans you may have seen.

Tecklenburg

First, this plan is achievable. It is 16 pages of practical, bullet-point proposals to address some of the most fundamental challenges facing Charleston today — from managing growth and development, to making tourism work better for our citizens, to giving our residents and neighborhoods a greater say in their own future.

Second, it’s not a cut-and-paste, pie-in-the-sky wish list of programs that our city can neither implement nor afford.

Instead, it outlines a concrete series of steps that we can take together as a community to make Charleston not just the number one place in the world to visit, but also the number one place to live and work and raise a family.

As I said, this plan is different. And there’s a reason for that.

As many of you probably know, I’ve never run for political office. My experience is primarily in the area of making things work — as the founder of Southern Oil Company, as the president of civic organizations like Crisis Ministries and the SC Strong, and as the director of economic development for the city of Charleston.

The biggest lesson I’ve taken from those experiences is that a clearly-defined goal, like making Charleston number one in livability for our residents, is just the first step.

After that, you need a real way of getting there. My comprehensive plan offers five major components:

• Livability and Quality of Life, starting with a strong focus on public safety, greater citizen and neighborhood involvement in city planning, flooding relief, new cruise ship regulations, a pause in new hotel rooms in the city center, and a top-to-bottom zoning review to protect our neighborhoods from out-of-control growth and sprawl.
• Transportation and Public Transit, including completion of I-526, a rethink of major arteries like Folly Road, Savannah Highway and Sam Rittenberg Boulevard, a regional and practical solution to public transit, preferred parking for local residents, and making our city more walkable and bikeable with light infrastructure improvements, better signage and a major north-south bike corridor on the peninsula.
• Economy and Jobs, featuring a comprehensive approach to job creation and economic development — one that protects our quality of life, while focusing on knowledge-based jobs, education and training, affordable housing and strategic economic development in areas like West Ashley and the upper peninsula.
• Better City Services, requiring real accountability measures like performance audits and rigorous statistical assessments, modern technologies like 311 and smartphone apps, and the deployment of citizens service representatives to all five major areas of the city.
• Stronger Neighborhoods, including a number of specific initiatives to empower and improve every area and neighborhood in Charleston — West Ashley, Johns Island, James Island, Daniel Island and the peninsula.

For almost 40 years now, Joe Riley has charted a bold course for our city, one that has made us all proud, even if we occasionally differed on some of the details.

I believe the course that I’ve laid out in my plan, while different, is every bit as bold, and focuses on what a mayor can do with community support.

First, we consolidate the remarkable gains of the last four decades, recognizing that Charleston has now become a great American city for tourism, commerce and industry. And then, working together, we make sure that it’s also the best city in America to call home.

That’s the goal. And it would be the greatest honor of my life if you gave me the opportunity to work with you to make that goal become a reality for everyone in Charleston.

John Tecklenburg, a candidate for mayor of Charleston, is a businessman, civic leader and former city government executive. Learn more about his campaign here: tecklenburgformayor.com

EDITOR’S NOTE: Charleston Currents has offered this space to each of the Charleston mayoral candidates to share their views with readers. Today’s installment wraps up the series. Click the “2015 Election” tab at top to see pieces by William Dudley Gregorie, Maurice Washington, Toby Smith and Leon Stavrinakis, Ginny Deerin and John Tecklenburg.