February 9, 2016 – Returning to the Historic Rotary Club of Charleston, Mayor, and Past President of our club, John Tecklenburg joined us for our February 9 Meeting. John opened our meeting, as he often did when president, with his talents on the piano.
John emphasized that he was blessed to be elected Mayor and the support he has received has been uplifting. He also has a terrific staff in city government. “Why are you running for mayor” was a question often asked of him during the campaign. His reason, he indicated, was somewhat driven by his service as club president and the Rotary motto of service above self. He also was searching for how he could contribute to the community given his experience. He did quip that his joke’s have gotten funnier since he was elected and he hasn’t met a single person who didn’t vote for him!
When children ask him what it is like to be mayor of Charleston, he says it is kind of like drinking from a fire hose but it is fun.
The number one job of city government, he continued is public safety and half of city budget is for police and fire departments. He recently participated in a mock emergency to test the City’s Emergency Management System and was impressed at how well prepared the city is for an emergency.
He went on to talk about the Illumination project which is a yearlong project to better connect the police to the neighborhoods they serve. Although it started before his term, it is an important project to keep working on.
The next big goal he spoke about is West Ashley revitalization. The City will have a West Ashley revitalization commission to address potential TIF district from Citadel Mall along Sam Rittenburg Boulevard and will have announcements this spring on some new businesses coming. As West Ashley lies partially in City and partially in Charleston County, one major goal is to have cooperation between City and County for consistent zoning regulations.
Additional plans include working on gateways to West Ashley, 2 new parks and finishing improvements to the greenway and bikeway.
Other City initiatives include:
Linear parks planned for Norfolk southern line adjacent to 26 tying together the revitalization of Upper Peninsula, negotiations on Sargent Jasper site and well as revisions to the Gathering place development zoning ordinance.
Additional Recreation opportunities, school improvements and senior centers are also goals for the City.
He was surprised at how much of his time in office was spent on development concerns but there are pressing human issues as well. The major concern at the moment is the homeless situation that has been brought to the forefront with the tent city that had recently formed.
He started meeting early with homeless advocacy groups and created a 10 point plan to address situation and help them find housing.
He elaborated that It is very difficult to get your life together once homeless providing housing can be a solution to the problem. It is 3 times more expensive to pay for someone on the street than to pay for an apartment and you can provide the necessary services once they are housed.
Working on removing tent city and finding housing for those residents is a priority but it is clear they will not have enough housing, existing shelters such as One80 place are full and additional temporary housing is needed. The problem was larger than was previously known or observed but the tent city made it clear.
The City has created a fund to help so please consider contributing.
In response to a question on the status of a bike lane across the Ashley, he indicated that the City was testing to see if the lane will be detrimental to traffic flow and will make a decision from there.
— Don Baus, Keyway Committee Chair