Charleston Currents

An aerial view of Pacific Mills and Olympia Mill village in Columbia. Copyrighted image courtesy the Richland Library.

4/9, full issue: On I-526; Likely friendship; Not wasting time

IN THIS ISSUE

MYSTERY PHOTO: Gold top
FOCUS: Interstate 526 completion isn’t actionable plan, but smoky scheme
COMMENTARY, Brack: S.C. friendship touted in new book isn’t all that unlikely
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Magnolia Plantation and Gardens
CAREERS, Fanning: Video on how to stop wasting time
GOOD NEWS: New education report seeks to provoke education change
FEEDBACK: Send us a letter
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Mill villages in South Carolina
CALENDAR, April 9+: Beers with dogs and books, more

by Charleston Currents · 04/09/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Full issue

MY TURN, Palm: Let’s focus on the common good

By Fred Palm, contributing columnist | The recent eighth government shutdown since 1980 provides an opportunity to consider the “common good” in America and why we need to embrace it.

After our Revolutionary War the winners set about to invent a way to govern a nation that was not available. The founders gathered in Philadelphia to specify a model of governance to provide the people with the opportunity for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” that was expressed in Declaration of Independence in the prior decade.

The common good is central in the construction of our constitutional institutions. The executive, legislative and judicial powers expressed in the Constitution of the United States are divided at the federal level and similarly divided among the three elements in the states in a federalism structure. For good measure, the “bill of rights” amendments are carved out to specify what was out of reach of governance and belonged to the people, as opposed to those holding authority.

by Charleston Currents · 02/19/2018 · 1 comment · Common Good, Views

September flooding in Sea Pines on Hilton Head Island. (Photo by SCDOT)

COMMON GOOD: Flood risk assessment to force major change in local, state borrowing

By Fred Palm, special to Charleston Currents | A major transition just began in public finance now that two bond rating agencies, Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s, the say they will add the risk of flooding to flood risk to financial risk when they evaluate the total risk. The addition is expected to have a major impact on associated bond interest rates that state and local governments will pay to borrow up front for their major building programs.

Why the change? The rating agencies are concerned lenders can lose all their investments should flooding impacts become extreme. To date, only financial risk was measured. This new metric can be expected to impact the state and local public finance decisions of lenders and borrowers.

When capital investment decision-makers start assessing longer-term risk, the risk inherent in the overall flood adaption plans themselves becomes a consideration of how effective a flood plan will be in addressing the potential flooding conditions — not just the risk of failing to make the coupon payment associated with a project or general obligation bond.

by Charleston Currents · 12/18/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Common Good

MY TURN: Let’s evacuate better next time by adding rail

By Fred Palm, special to Charleston Currents | Every emergency is different and each one gives rise to the opportunity to study and improve our responses in the next one. Try this for a moment.

Can South Carolina use the existing rail system to evacuate people, especially Charleston? Read more.

by Charleston Currents · 10/30/2017 · Comments are Disabled · My Turn, Views

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

PALM: Time to take sea-level rise, I-526 planning more seriously

By Fred Palm, special to Charleston Currents | The Union of Concerned Scientists study headlined in in the July 12, 2017, edition of The Post and Courier points to a need to act on factoring sea level rise into the county’s long-range capital plan and beyond its present horizon.

Palm
The foundation of Charleston’s present and future economy and the elements identified in the Charleston County Comprehensive Plan rests on water as many of the county’s other challenges — traffic, housing affordability, balancing a thriving tourism industry with a high quality of life, economic development etc. — is directly and indirectly affected by flooding, storm surge and in our future, varying estimates of sea level rise.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 07/17/2017 · 2 comments · My Turn, Views

LETTERS: On Haley and leadership; old photos

Fred Palm: “South Carolinians will know that Gov. [Nikki] Haley is all grown up when she brings the uninsured into the medical universe of the treated with adequate medical care and when she brings in the uninsured by exercising her option of enrolling S.C. into the Medicare option of the Affordable Care Act.”

Cheryl Smithem: “I love browsing these images from all across S.C. history. :

by Andy Brack · 01/18/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Feedback