Charleston Currents

FOCUS: Justify spending $1.1 billion on Interstate 526 widening

By Fred Palm, contributing editor | The S.C. Department of Transportation (SCDOT) proposes to widen Interstate 526 and redo the Interstate 26 intersection. This will be a massive redo of a major travel vector. The cost: at least $1.1 billion. The I-526 Corridor Analysis shows minor shifts in congestion or capacity improvement. The SCDOT website is open to the end of January for our comments.

SCDOT builds highways and wants us to focus on the four alternative highway routes. We are putting down our future regional investments and growth. Highway investment drives other future investments. Businesses use interstate distribution of their goods that grows our economy. Build it and they will come or follow. In a similar vein, railroad spines drove our country’s western development.

Transportation, flooding and economic factors drive the following decisions: Where homes get put; where business expands; and how long the commute follows. These are supporting, opposing, or conflicting factors.

* CLICK into the story to find how too take part in the SCDOT virtual public meeting and share your voice.

by Fred Palm · 01/06/2020 · 2 comments · Common Good, Focus, Views

FOCUS, Morris: Let’s work proactively to build a brighter Charleston future

By Kyra Morris, contributing editor | There are four key issues at the heart of every community. These are jobs, housing, education and infrastructure. Charleston is very fortunate to have a diverse foundation of businesses and a plethora of jobs. This is in large part due to many local business leaders, our local and state government, and the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, an association put together after we lost the Charleston Naval Shipyard in the early 1990s.

When the naval shipyard, our largest employer, closed, our community heard the need and came together at a critical point in time. Leadership from all parts of the Tri-county area worked tirelessly to solve the jobs problem. We wanted strong, sustainable employment for our citizens. This effort paid off over time. Charleston is now known all over the world, and people are coming by the thousands both as tourists and new residents. We have jobs.

The other three issues though are still in the “need” stage. We are struggling with the availability of affordable workforce housing. …

by Kyra Morris · 06/17/2019 · 2 comments · Focus, Good news

6/17: Building our future; Ghosts of past; New voting machines

IN THIS ISSUE:

FOCUS, Morris: Let’s work proactively to build a brighter Charleston future
COMMENTARY, Brack: Dealing with Southern ghosts of the past
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Magnolia Plantation and Gardens
ANOTHER VIEW, McCoy-Lawrence: Voters aren’t getting voting system they deserve
GOOD NEWS: Remembering a Revolutionary victory, more
FEEDBACK: On a liberal arts education
MYSTERY PHOTO: Mystery box building
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Slavery in South Carolina
CALENDAR: Charleston Carifest to start June 20

by Charleston Currents · 06/17/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Full issue

FOCUS: Wando Mount Pleasant Library is a library of the future

By David Burt, special to Charleston Currents | When Wando Mount Pleasant Library celebrates its ribbon cutting on June 10, it will mark a new era in our libraries and the ways in which we interact with them.

The area’s original branch library was built in the 1970s, when a library was primarily dedicated to books: storing, organizing and sharing them. Card catalogues and date stamps may loom large in our memories; however, evolving technologies have brought new opportunities and a new paradigm of the library experience.

The new 40,000-square-foot facility on the corner of Carolina Park Boulevard and Park Avenue brings the library into the modern era with connectivity driving the design. The design aligns active spaces with the roadways to activate the facades, showcasing the library’s lively programming to the community. The form is a direct response to the site’s linear shape and the adjacent wetland to the northeast.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 06/09/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news