Charleston Currents

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FOCUS: New local Livability PAC taps three for Charleston council

Staff reports | A new local political action committee focusing on livability in the Lowcountry has endorsed three candidates in three of the six races on the ballot for November’s council elections.

The new Lowcountry Livability PAC (LLPAC), a group founded by Charleston residents committed to advocating livability as a governing principle, said each of the endorsed candidates demonstrated a commitment to livability issues, protecting our community, and balancing the needs of a diverse community where people live, work and play.

Endorsed were incumbent Rodney Williams (District 2), and challengers Amy Brennan (District 6) and Carol Jackson (District 12).

by Charleston Currents · 10/16/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

FOCUS, Palm: Where to start to fix flooding in Charleston County

By Fred Palm, special to Charleston Currents | The driver of future flooding or its prevention lies in Charleston County’s comprehensive land use and the county’s zoning code that is now undergoing review.

Charleston County’s Comprehensive Plan does NOT have water height, e.g., FLOODING, in the plan. Imagine doing a county plan without having looked at an inundation map, let alone defining a land use plan that will accommodate future floods. To continue to muddle through is other than the top-tier governance that we need now.

The next meeting of the countywide planning commission is October 9, 2017, 2 p.m. There, Charleston County can take immediate action in addressing flooding by crafting the comprehensive plan land use and zoning code to address the water issues.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 10/09/2017 · 1 comment · Focus, Good news

Anyago Yarbo-Davenport will pay a tribute to opera sensation Leontyne Price. (Photos provided)

FOCUS: Colour of Music Festival’s 5th year to open Oct. 18 across Charleston

By Allison Savicz, special to Charleston Currents | Celebrating five years, the Colour of Music Festival offers a musical kaleidoscope showcasing the impact and historical significance of black classical composers and performers on American and world culture October 18-22, 2017 at various venues in historic Charleston, South Carolina.

The largest black-presenting classical organization in the world, the Colour of Music Festival brings leading black artists from France, Britain, Colombia, the Caribbean, and the United States performing orchestral and choral works, chamber, piano, organ, vocal recitals, and opportunities for community education with over 15 performances.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 10/02/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

TODAY’S FOCUS: 11th annual Defense Summit set for Dec. 5-8 in North Charleston

By Heather Walker, special to Charleston Currents | Cyber-attacks are on the rise. The most recent cyber-attack impacted 143 million American’s personal information. There is no better time for industry leaders to convene to discuss hot topics involving cyber security, cyber intelligence, and cyber warfare at the CDCA Defense Summit one of the largest in the Southeast.

Walker
Most people don’t know that aside from Charleston’s idyllic beaches and laid back lifestyle, there is a burgeoning, defense tech community. The 2017 economic report for South Carolina states that defense contributes more than $24.1 billion to the annual budget. The dramatic growth of this community involves some of the most innovative offerings surrounding the defense industry.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 09/25/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

TODAY’S FOCUS: Charleston’s bus evacuation system wasn’t ready for storm

By William J. Hamilton | Best Friends of Lowcountry Transit became aware that the Lowcountry’s Emergency Bus Evacuation System, another almost entirely separate transit system from Tri County Link and CARTA, wasn’t ready for a major hurricane on Sept. 5. We blogged the issue and informed local officials with a positively focused post on the Daily Kos, a national news site titled Power and Efficiency of Public Transit can save Low country lives before and after a Hurricane.

Hamilton
Neither CARTA bus drivers nor the public had any detailed knowledge of this alternative bus route system. Maps and schedules could have been handed out to transit riders, who often come from households without private cars and communities where cars are less available.

by Charleston Currents · 09/18/2017 · 3 comments · Focus, Good news

A satellite image of Hurricane Irma from Sept. 11, 2017. Photo from NOAA.gov.

TODAY’S FOCUS: Disaster recovery is a long-term commitment

By Kelly E. Cruise, special to Charleston Currents | When a disaster strikes, we witness the horror nature can inflict on us. The focus is often on the destroyed buildings, flooded streets or toppled trees. We see scared, displaced families, filling shelters and waiting in long lines for basic needs like water or food. It’s scary and we feel an urge to ‘do’ something. Thank God we do.

by Charleston Currents · 09/11/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

FOCUS: Preserve the Gullah showcases a past that’s under your nose

By Asia Batey, special to Charleston Currents | Preserve the Gullah has been a three-year effort which all started when three North Charleston locals were introduced to the Sol Legare area, and with the help of their mentor, discovered the wealth of knowledge and history within this small, hidden community.

In 2015 in the midst of statewide flooding and the subsequent damage to the cookie-cutter subdivisions and businesses throughout Charleston, Willie Heyward, Asia Batey and Milton Tyus witnessed homes built many decades ago — by hand, mind you — barely chip a single bit.

Within the first week of moving to the area, they met families who still gardened and ate from the land. They were taught how to dig up dandelion root and learned of its health benefits, and they discovered that lemon and lavender are perfectly functioning natural mosquito repellents.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 09/05/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

Roosevelt departing the USS Indianapolis in Charleston on Dec. 15, 1936 following a cruise to South America.

FOCUS: Roosevelt could see Charleston’s popularity coming 80 years ago

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | When Franklin Delano Roosevelt served as assistant secretary of the Navy from 1913 to 1920, he made several trips to Charleston to help “to build up, to some degree at least, this splendid Navy Yard in Charleston,” he recalled years later as president.

These days, the shuttered Navy Yard is a beehive of private and government activity as the North Charleston industrial area continues to redevelop. And the Navy’s presence continues to loom large with thousands of highly-trained specialists working at SPAWAR and in other facilities.

Back in 1935, Roosevelt landed in Charleston aboard the USS Houston after a fishing vacation in the Pacific and Caribbean.

by Andy Brack · 08/28/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

By Detroit Publishing Company [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

FOCUS: Charleston has common-sense approach to historical statues

By Robert S. Carr, special to Charleston Currents | George Santayana, a Spanish philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist, is probably best known for his often proclaimed and lampooned quote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” If that thought is accurate, what does it say about the future of those who tear down monuments to the past?

Mayor John Tecklenburg of Charleston has the right idea. Instead of tearing down monuments that may offend some, he is quoted as saying in The Post and Courier: “The whole story of our history needs to be told. I intend to be complete and truthful about our history and add context and add to the story instead of taking away.”

by Charleston Currents · 08/21/2017 · 1 comment · Focus, Good news

FOCUS: Let’s clean up our state and become litter-free

By Sarah Lyles and Mallory Biering, special to Statehouse Report | Litter is a passionate subject. Either one is vehemently against it or one is decidedly apathetic.

Whichever side you lean on, it can’t be denied. Litter affects all of us. While our Main Streets and interstates get cleaned regularly, our side streets and rural roads are continually treated as a travelers’ trash can. Whether litter is intentionally dumped or accidentally flies out of an unsecured or improperly covered load, it needs to be addressed in a number of ways. Ideally that timeline would involve enforcement of state or local litter laws, a citation to the guilty party, fine levied by the judge and finally pick up.

What seems to happen more often is nothing. Law enforcement is stretched thin or an agency does not consider litter a real crime.

by Charleston Currents · 08/14/2017 · 1 comment · Focus, Good news