April 2, 2024 • 53 mins
Mount Pleasant's Mayor, Will Haynie, steps into our studio to weave a narrative of a town that's as deeply rooted in tradition as it is invested in progress. His insights into the region's transformation reveal a delicate tapestry of economic growth, cultural preservation, and community spirit. Listeners will journey through the ways Mount Pleasant cherishes its Gullah Geechee heritage, and how it ingeniously folds history into the modern advancements of this All-America City. From the charm of sweetgrass basket stands to innovative solutions for attainable housing, Mayor Haynie's discussion is a masterclass in balancing the demands of a burgeoning population with the soul of a close-knit community.
Our conversation meanders through the tree-lined streets of challenges and strategies, where Mayor Haynie illuminates the town's approach to traffic management and land conservation. He shares tales of initiatives that are more than just policy; they are a reflection of the town's heart, from protecting the shrimping industry to ensuring green spaces enhance property values. His stories echo the sentiment that Mount Pleasant's identity is not just maintained, but lovingly polished with every decision made under his guidance.
As we wrap up our chat, we uncover Mount Pleasant's hidden gems, turning over the lesser-seen stones of historical landmarks and enchanting trails. Mayor Haynie muses over the idea of a crab mascot, adding a pinch of humor to the mix and showcasing his knack for engaging with the community on both serious and light-hearted levels. By the end of our episode, listeners will feel as though they've strolled through the streets of Mount Pleasant, met its dedicated mayor, and discovered the essence of what makes this town a true gem of the South.
Presenting Sponsor: Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce
Studio Sponsor: Charleston Media Solutions
Production Sponsor: RMBO.co
Design Sponsor: DK Design
Committee:
Kathleen Herrmann | Host | MPCC Immediate Past President | Mount Pleasant Towne Centre
Mike Compton | Co-host | Marketing Chair | RMBO.co
Rebecca Imholz | Co-host | MPCC Executive Director
Amanda Bunting Comen | Co-host | Social ABCs
Ben Nesvold | Co-host | In-coming President | Edward Jones
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hello and welcome to the Building Business Podcast
powered by the Mount PleasantChamber of Commerce.
We're recording in theCharleston Radio Group Studios.
Thank you to them for beingsuch a great partner and sponsor
for our podcast.
They are behind the camera andhuge supporters of the chamber.
I'm here, kathy Herman.
I'm the current president ofthe Mount Pleasant Chamber of
(00:30):
Commerce and I am joined withRebecca Imholtz, who was our
director of the Mount PleasantChamber of Commerce.
And do we have one for youtoday?
We have a very important personin the house today and no, no,
mayor, we will all admit you'rea very important person to
everyone who lives in this town,thank you.
So I am very, very excited towelcome the Mayor of Mount
(00:51):
Pleasant, mr Will Haney.
Thank you, appreciate beinghere, been looking forward to it
.
That's awesome and such a hugesupporter of the Chamber.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yes, I try to be.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Well, you know, I think actually we have a great
partnership with the town.
In general we do, which is whyI think we're all so successful.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Absolutely and that's something as director of the
chamber when I'm talking tomembers of our business
community and our communitycitizens how much we appreciate
the partnership we have with thetown of Mount Pleasant.
It is unique to the chamberworld.
Not all chambers have thatwonderful relationship.
So thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
And so, before we start talking about I know what
everyone wants to talk about isthis beautiful town that we live
and work in.
Share a little bit aboutyourself, mayor, for those who
might not know you.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Well, I appreciate it .
I'm a South Carolina native.
My ancestors are from theLowcountry and on one side of my
family and on the other sidethey're from the upstate.
So I was born in Greenville,moved to Mount Pleasant when I
was five years old the firsttime, and then, when my dad was
at the medical university andwhen he finished his residency
(01:55):
there, we moved to the Midlands.
So I grew up in the Midlandsand then I moved back to Mount
Pleasant after I graduated fromthe Citadel.
Then work and life took me awayand then I moved back again.
So when people talk about theproblem being all these people
that have moved to MountPleasant, I've done it three
times, so I'm a three-timeoffender.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Did they tell you to leave too?
Oh yeah, they told me to leavetwice.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
And this time I said well, I guess if I get elected
mayor they can't make me leave.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
But Mount Pleasant has always been in my blood and
I remember when we moved herefrom a small upstate town that
I'm a native of.
It's called Belton.
You may have heard of it.
It's the tennis capital ofSouth Carolina.
I remember my mom saying whenwe moved to Mount Pleasant
nobody knows us, nobody knowsour last name.
You just have to make friendsand you know, if you make one or
(02:45):
two friends, you'll feel athome.
And that's why I have alwaysfelt about Mount Pleasant the
way I do, because I have friends.
And it's funny because a lot ofthose friends that I was in
kindergarten with at MountPleasant Presbyterian are still
here and they're friends andsupporters and it just you know
we'll talk about this in aminute it will always be a town.
To me, it will always be a town.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
And so what made you want to run for mayor?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
When I came back, one of the things I had done up in
North Carolina is I had writtenfor newspapers.
I was a columnist, and so whenI came back here I wrote a
sailing column for the Post andCourier because they were full
of opinion columnists and soonce that ink gets in your blood
, once you're used to publishing, you want to write.
So I was sailing competitivelyand stuff at the time and there
(03:34):
was nobody covering it, so Istarted doing that and then,
after that kind of ran itscourse, about six years, sully
Witte was in at the Military.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
News Good friend of ours, I love Sully no-transcript
(04:11):
.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
At least not.
You can be in the newspaper butyou're not the one writing it.
So I was sitting there writingone about growth and stuff and
my wife Suzette, who many peoplein Mount Pleasant know from her
teaching days at Jenny Mooreshe have you ever thought about,
you know, stepping out from thekeyboard and just getting in
the arena, just get in there andrun.
(04:33):
So I ran for council that yearin 15, and then ran for mayor in
17.
And here I am.
What year is it?
2024?
already seven years in officeseven years as mayor and two as
a council.
That's almost a decade.
I can't believe it.
That's amazing, yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Absolutely.
I've lived in Mount Pleasantfor 28 years and, like you, I've
seen a lot of changes and I'mso glad that you refer to our
town as a town, because it is atown to me.
I've lived all over the UnitedStates because my dad had a
military career and I came fromVirginia Tech area before moving
here in Virginia and it's justbeen such a joy to me to have
(05:12):
three sons Last name of M HoltzEverybody knows who they are I'm
like mind your manners, they'regoing to know who you are.
But they have friends that theyare still friends with from
kindergarten and they're allgrown up college graduates now
but they're still friends withfrom kindergarten and they're
all grown-up college graduatesnow but they're still friends
with them and Mount Pleasant's awonderful place to come back
home and visit.
So they don't live here anymore, but they do come back and
(05:33):
visit and I really appreciateyour commitment to making our
town still feel like a town,such a beautiful place to live.
Obviously, everybody has foundus.
Remember when we used to haveCome On Over as our logo?
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yes, are we going to change that?
We have changed that.
It's not on the logo anymore.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Because you know they did it, they did it and that's
wonderful.
And you know, can I jump on oneof the things you asked me?
Speaker 1 (06:00):
I can.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Because I think it was very prescient that you put
this in there.
What one historical event inMount Pleasant's past would I
want to be present for?
And you know what changed EastCooper and Mount Pleasant
forever.
You know George Washingtonbeing here aside, revolutionary
War aside, because we all knowthe big battle on June 28, 1776.
(06:24):
What changed this area was whenthe Grace Bridge opened in the
1920s.
That's when people realized youcan live east of the Cooper and
work in Charleston, and then Iwas a kid when the Pierman
Bridge opened.
So you had the Grace Bridgeremember when they were the two
and then they went down in 2006and the Ravenel Bridge was built
(06:47):
and you can look at the numbersand most of our growth has
happened since the RavenelBridge opened in 2006.
So those bridges changed MountPleasant and all of the East
Cooper community.
Some would say for the worst.
But people know.
People say how do you feelabout all these people that move
here?
If you move here and you livein my town, you're my
(07:09):
constituent, I'm your mayor, Ilove you.
I really do, and I am seeing,in the nine years that I've been
in public office in MountPleasant, it has gone from.
What is Mount Pleasant.
Who are we going to be?
Are we going to be urban orwe're're gonna look like south
florida?
It has gone from that toeverybody that moves here now.
Sure, everybody wants a littlesomething like where they came
(07:30):
from, but most everybody sayslet's don't destroy this, let's
preserve this town.
I mean, you were telling usbefore you know, before we
started the podcast you haven'tlived here that many years but
you care for mount pleasant likeit is well, I mean I moved.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
I've been here eight years, but I was.
I was asked to come here.
I'm the marketing director atMount Pleasant Town Center and
the owner at the time found meon Long Island well and and it
took him a few months, but they,they really wanted me to come
here so I was blessed.
I'll be the first one to admitthat I didn't want to move.
I had no desire to move.
(08:07):
My husband's like let's just doit.
And so we picked up.
And I'd never been toCharleston before Isn't that
crazy?
Never.
And so I moved down here with apurpose.
They asked me to come, I moveddown here and A I'll never go
back.
I love visiting, but I'll neveras far as I'm concerned.
(08:27):
I'm not moving anywhere, butI've also, I've also put
immersed myself in the town.
So I again, I do all the eventsand advertising and marketing
for Town Center, which is theheart of the community as far as
I'm concerned, then of course Ijoined the chamber and now I'm
the president of the chamber.
So I love this town.
So I came down here and, I hope, made a huge impact on this
(08:48):
town and I will forever do thatbecause of what it means to me.
But speaking of towns, one morething.
When you spoke at the chamberluncheon in February, mary, you
mentioned I know it was 95,000people now and so many new
people don't understand whywe're a town and not a city.
Would, you explain that.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Well, you know, legally there's no, there's no
difference.
We are a municipality andthere's about 260 something
municipalities in South Carolina.
We are all basically allowed togovern under the state
constitution and the powersvested in us come from the state
legislature.
But we can call ourselves thetown of Mount Pleasant, and it's
(09:27):
odd because you look over theconnector.
Our neighbors Isle of Palms haswhat?
3,500 full-time residents.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
And they're a city.
They're the city of the Isle ofPalms.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Because we do not want to forget where we came
from.
We want to have that feel wewant to be.
We want you to move to MountPleasant and feel like it's a
town.
We want you to grow up herelike yours did and feel like I
grew up in a town, a town thatcares about me, a town where I'm
known and everything.
And one of the things thatreminded me the other day, one
of my proudest moments of MountPleasant, whether I'm mayor or
(09:58):
not, was when all those folksshowed up to help Eugene
Gillyard's sweetgrass stand berebuilt.
And I bet you Cheryl WoodsFlowers, former mayor, she
helped organize that and wasJohnny on the spot and
everything.
But I bet you three-fourths ofthe people helping do that are
(10:19):
not natives but they care aboutpeople, they care about our
history.
And when we went to denver lastyear and won our third all
america city award they onlygive 20 a year and this was our
third one and we were up againstnew york city, los angeles, san
antonio, a lot of big.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
They've got nothing on us.
I'm sorry, mayor, nothing on us.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
And and you know what ?
They gave us our award lastbecause they said we were such
the crowd favorite that once wegot our award all the others
would just sort of be also ran.
So we had to wait and wethought, oh no, there's only one
left and our theme was woventogether like a sweet grass
basket.
That was our whole thing, whichwas the theme of my state of
the town address back inFebruary that you were just
(11:01):
talking about.
And so to see our communityrally around.
And it's ironic because when wegot the award and we got ready
to leave, they asked me to makea little speech and I said the
chore for us is not just comeout here and market that and
give it lip services, to livethat out in Mount Pleasant every
day.
Live out those values.
Live out that we will neverforget our Gullah Geechee
(11:23):
culture.
We'll never forget oursettlement communities and part
of this was we'll never forgetthe disabled or differently
enabled in our communities,which the chamber has been big
on in embracing, just Be ourautism-friendly designation.
We've got to live those outwhen we get back, and we just
saw that in Mount Pleasant whenpeople helped rebuild a
(11:44):
sweetgrass stand Didn't have todo that.
A lot of people move here.
You know some Midwesternersmove here and think that's a
funny shape for snow fencesbecause the Denver airport they
have things that look likesweetgrass basket stands.
But it's to catch snow.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Well, that's the first thing that any family or
friends that have never beenhere before and they come and
they're driving down 17,.
They're like, what are those?
And of course, I launch intothis whole diatribe about how
important they are to ourculture, whole diatribe about
how important they are to ourculture.
And so whoever may be listeningthat does not know they are
Sweetgrass Baskin's Dance andthey are protected by law.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Protected by law.
And if you go online to theCollege of Charleston, there's a
whole study about them.
There's a map of theirlocations, the town has them,
they're all cataloged.
And if there was a development,the last one I can remember was
indigo square not, far fromfrom where you are at town
center.
They have to show the impact onthem and they have to deal with
(12:39):
if there's any displacement ofsweetgrass basket stands.
But that is holding on to yourroots and I think any town that
does that.
You know, if you heard me talklast year, the whole theme of my
state of the town but the wholetheme of the podcast I did too
was there's this thing that'scalled the placemaking dividend
and many people decide where tolive because they went on
(13:01):
vacation there.
You know that happens here allthe time.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I see that everywhere .
We were there on vacation lastyear when can I get a house now?
Speaker 2 (13:09):
But you know, for years and years, anything cool,
new, different economicdevelopment that happened.
It happened out in a businesspark, it happened out in some
new office complex.
The theme of this seminar Iwent to is Main Street is cool
again.
Everybody wants a Main Street,everybody wants a town,
everybody wants to belongsomewhere.
And that's our challengebecause, you know, at one time
(13:31):
we were the fastest growingmunicipality east of the
Mississippi and we werebeginning to lose the feel of
the town of Mount Pleasantthat's.
That's a long answer for whydid I run answer and as long as
I'm mayor.
That's what I'm gonna.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
That's what I'm gonna represent well, I appreciate
you um mentioning how importantit is to remember our roots.
And yet, as mayor, you've alsobeen so instrumental in bringing
to the forefront things likeembracing neurodiversity with
our citizens and our businesses,making them aware that they can
(14:11):
serve people who areneurodiverse and how to educate
them to do that through Just Be,our partnership with Just Be
and Layla Luna and the town andthe chamber.
It shows that you're willing tobe progressive as well, that,
yes, our roots are important.
However, times are a-changing,just like not having the Grace
Bridge anymore, which I'm verygrateful because I used to pray
before.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I would get on there with my three children strapped
in that it would get me over toCharleston.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
I was thrilled to have the Ravenel come around.
So thank you for doing that andI also want to touch on your
comment about Main Street ispopular again.
There's so many folks thatmoved to Mount Pleasant who had
another career, another businessand they've come here and they
understand the acceptance andhow much the town supports new
(14:54):
business.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
So it encourages them to start their own business,
something about the next bestphase of their life.
I hear that a lot about boomersnext best phase of our lives.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
And so tell me why that's important, as mayor, that
we do embrace and support thesenew businesses that come to
town.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Sure, one of the statistics that I, you know,
tried to load up in myshort-term memory is we have an
average household income inMount Pleasant of $164,000.
So we are a retailers and smallbusiness dream.
And you know, kathy, from beingwith Town Center, the, the
(15:32):
scale, the what's, where I wantto say not the scale of, but the
whole scenario of big-boxretail is changing.
It doesn't mean it's going away, but it's changing a lot and
what's the statistic?
I saw 80-something.
90% of businesses in Americaare small businesses.
But one of the things, rebecca,that you're talking about is we
(15:54):
can either be a whole vibrantcommunity with people opening
businesses, employing people,having family members come back
and work in the family businesswhich is something we will get
to about affordability or we canjust be a resort where people
are done, working, done,producing, done, innovating and
enjoying life, because there's alot of quality of life to enjoy
(16:17):
here.
But you know you, basically youknow you got your tea time and
when you're going out to eat.
But it's good, rebecca, thatpeople are coming here and
saying I'm not done, I'm goingto start a business or whatever.
So we've got a new economicdevelopment, strategic economic
development plan for the town ofMount Pleasant.
I'm on the one region roadmapcommission that did one for the
(16:41):
whole area.
We hired the same consultant tohelp us write the one for the
town, because you know we're notgoing to out-rec what the
charleston regional developmentalliance is able to do.
We're not able to travel totrade shows in france and
germany and asia and all thatthey do.
But we can do.
What we have just done is theharbor entrepreneur center.
(17:04):
We we got that to mountpleasant.
The town put up money to getthem to come here.
They are the lead agent for thesectors of the impact area of
our economy in this region IT,life sciences or bio,
architectural engineering,marketing and publishing and
finance.
We don't have rail in MountPleasant so we're not going to
(17:26):
get industry.
You know, boeing and Volvo andMercedes are in North Charleston
, in the North area.
But we'll get the things likelike Moondog, who just announced
they're investing more money,and I've and I've got it right
here.
They are going to Ben Davis,the CEO.
They're an animation immersiveexperience producer.
(17:49):
I don't know what an immersive.
I know what animation isbecause I love cartoons.
But they're at the HarborEntrepreneur Center and there's
proof that if we just gave thatin Mount Pleasant, if we fan
that flame of localentrepreneurship and tech
oriented, finance oriented,engineering oriented businesses,
we can do that in MountPleasant and I'm glad to see
(18:10):
it's happening.
You know it there.
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
So yeah, another, um, what I so much appreciate about
being a citizen of mountpleasant.
Um, I've known you and I'veknown previous mayors as well
through my volunteer wisdom andeducation and, even though the
town does not run the schooldistrict, we completely
understand that the town is sosupportive of educating our
children in this area and you'realways willing to listen and
(18:35):
figure out how you can supportthe schools.
And we have, as we know, someof the best schools in the state
right here and I think in part,in great part, it goes to the
support of the town of MountPleasant.
So thank you for doing that,thank you.
As well as looking at affordablehousing.
I sat on the first task forceon affordable housing under
Tomasina.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Oh, did you Stokes Marshall loved her, missed her
dearly.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
You could never say no to Tomasina.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
No.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
If she asked you to do something it's like all right
, I will make time in myschedule when you want to meet.
Yeah, and so thank you as wellfor the talent taking that and
moving forward and taking thatand moving forward, thanks.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Well, when you look at regional issues, I made a
list here.
This is right off of the oneregion roadmap.
I get tongue-tied there.
One region roadmapAffordability is number one,
because it doesn't do any goodto recruit businesses to our
area if they cannot find peopleto work.
You know who knows where it'sgoing from here, but in a recent
(19:35):
month the average home saleprice of the closures for that
month in Mount Pleasant this waswithin the last six months was
right around $900,000.
How many young people with afamily who are working a tech
job, no matter what level ofeducation, training or
experience they have, are goingto be able to afford that?
And then I saw you know I'm notgonna, you know I'm not calling
(19:59):
out one but there's an old, oldapartment complex that many of
us who cycle through our young,uh lives in this town might have
rented an apartment there.
so this is not the newest andthe best, but it's been
remodeled one bedroom, one bath,one thousand seven hundred and
seventy five dollars a month, soaffordability is huge.
(20:21):
We're working I'm on twoaffordable housing task forces
right now and in that Commissionyou were own has turned into
housing for all Mount Pleasant,which is a standalone nonprofit.
But we have got to addressaffordability and I said this at
the chamber back in Februaryand I'll say it again today.
The thing that I go to bed sadabout at night as mayor is that
(20:43):
when I see young people andpeople in college and people
graduating from high school, thechance of them being able to
afford to live in their ownhometown in the next 10 years
out of high school is very slimand that's heartbreaking.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
So how do you?
I mean, how do you, how do youfit?
You can't just take the townthat's got an average house of
900,000 and then go.
Okay, well, you know, we'reonly going to charge $500 for
that apartment.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
I mean, how does it?
Speaker 1 (21:08):
and I'm not, I'm just being naive, I guess.
I mean how does that?
How do you do it?
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Three prongs.
You look for ways to haveattainable housing, and
affordable is out now, andworkforce housing is out because
that has a bad, you know,connotation.
It's not subsidized, it isincome restricted to, based on a
percentage of the area medianincome of the AMI.
And so you get the privatesector and our.
(21:36):
Our first, you know, proof ofpoint was Gregory Ferry and Tony
Berry did that and and it fitsexactly what attainable housing
is supposed to do youngprofessionals, I mean almost
overnight, right.
And so the same people areworking on getting another one
approved.
That would be a hundred.
That was only 38.
So, gosh, 138, we have 42,000residences.
(21:59):
And what good does that do?
So, attainable housing and I'vealways said and I recently went
to a reception with JamieDiamond, who's the head of the
largest bank in the world, ofChase, jpmorgan Chase he came
and wanted to meet with localmayors and I said I've always
wanted to have a face-to-facewith a financial genius.
(22:19):
And here's one.
They are the largest bank inthe world and they move $10
trillion of money every day insome form or the other $10
trillion.
And I said, if you can help usunlock attainable housing
through, you know, if we havethe housing market that we have
if we can find ways that youngfamilies can afford to get it,
(22:44):
you can't change the price, butmaybe, maybe, like a housing
trust fund or something likethat, that loans, borrows,
people pay back all of that typestuff.
And the third prong is jobdevelopment Get the kind of jobs
where you can afford to live inthis town.
So those three things are whatwe're going to have to do.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Well, it sounds like with the Entrepreneurial Center
that's part of that number threeto get more IT in this area
which I'm so glad to see happen,because clearly that's what we
need.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
And the great thing about IT is that they can expand
.
I'll say tomorrow they don'thave to go buy land, build a
factory.
You know Berkeley County hasgot all these things coming in.
Somebody joked and said SouthCarolina has gone from being the
Bible Belt to the battery belt,because every new thing we get
you know the big one Scout up inColumbia, $1.4 billion, and the
(23:36):
one in Berkeley County, redwood, who has to do with car
batteries and stuff that's goingto be $3 billion of economic
investment.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
But we need those businesses too.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Yes, we need those, but we can't get those in Mount
Pleasant, but those take years.
But when a tech company expandswhatever, they can basically be
up and going very quickly, andso that's where we can benefit
from this, and you don't have tofind a site and get approvals
and do wetlands mitigation.
You just get more people doingtechnology.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
I'm going to change the subject for just one second
because something just popped inmy head.
Mayor, if you don't mind, Ijust read something about more.
There was more land that wewhat's the word Conservation.
That's it.
There was one that was justapproved, and then I heard you
say you want to do more.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Did I read that right ?
Oh yeah, okay, I used to runthe Low Country Land Trust.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
I was the executive director for almost a decade,
and that's just as important onmaintaining the town to be as
beautiful and welcoming as it is, is to make sure that we keep
certain parts of the landunderdeveloped correct.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yes, and we're working to try to get another
track right now underconservation easement.
That was a big one, I think theone you're talking to that was
announced like late January orearly February down down the
coast.
But when I worked at the landtrust and would go every year to
the National Land TrustConvention, there was no more
(25:01):
partnership better than what wehave in the low country, because
they don't compete.
You know ducks and limitednature conservancy, low country
land trust we used to have EastCooper but it is now part of Low
Country Land Trust.
And if you live in MountPleasant, here's another thing
Boone Hall is not in the townbut the Low Country it is not in
the town of Mount Pleasant butit's right in the middle.
If that had gotten developed,can you imagine the nightmare it
(25:23):
would have?
Speaker 1 (25:24):
been and you live next door to it and I live next
door to it and one of thereasons why I brought this up
and I found so important again.
I've been here only eight years, but one of the first things
that I said, oh my God.
I said, look at this.
And I went and visited it andit's actually one of my favorite
places in town to go.
I go numerous times a year andI said could you?
I said in New York everythingwould have been ripped down.
(25:47):
And it would have been a highrise you know, that's just you
know, and I'm like I wonder ifanything will ever happen here.
And then, shortly after, Iheard that it was not and I just
again, being a resident hereand loving this town, that means
a lot to me, Right?
Good.
You know not just because oftraffic, but because of the
history, like we were talkingabout before, we can't take
everything out of the town.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
No, you can't take everything out of the town.
No, and you didn't know that Ihad brought this with me.
But, um, there is a surveynationwide that green space in
the proximity of a residentialneighborhood increases values by
30 percent.
For just what you're saying,you want to always know and you
know the ace basin, which isbasically from the end of
charlest County down to Beaufortall of that is named one of the
(26:31):
50 last great places on earthbecause it's all been.
When I was at the land trustfrom 2003 to through 2009,.
That was the main thrust was toget all of that as much as we
could conserve, so it'll neverbe developed.
You won't see golf courses andstuff down there.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if wecould get that done from here to
(26:54):
Georgetown as well, on theother side of the Francis Marin
Forest?
That would be wonderful.
Wow, that's amazing, yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
And I'm so glad that the town has really taken an
active design approach to makingthis a more walkable, livable
community.
My husband's a big cyclist so Ijust cringe every time he
leaves and goes out.
So the more parks and greenspace we have, I mean, that's
(27:22):
just better for all of ourcitizens and we keep cars off
the road.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
We do, and not only that is the big word now
sustainability and resiliency.
If you live on the coast nowand this is just you were
talking earlier about how longI've been doing this when I came
on council nine years ago,there was some talk about
drainage and stuff.
But now, with the increasednumber of the high tides and the
flooding incidents and stuffthat we have, if you don't have
(27:47):
a resiliency plan, your bondrating as a municipality gets
docked.
And we just did that $50million bond issue as part of
the recreation referendum and wehad to show them our resiliency
plan, that we now have astanding flood resiliency
committee, which is a result ofthe Dutch dialogues in
(28:10):
Charleston that MayorTecklenburg invited me to
participate in and brought thatidea back from there.
And now we have that CitizensGreen Commission made up of
people credentialed people whodeal with resiliency plans.
We have somebody in MountPleasant that works all over the
country doing climateresilience plans and I had never
met her.
It's amazing.
(28:30):
And she works all over thecountry doing this and she's on
there.
Jim Westerhold from Boone Hallis on there, but not only is it
pleasant and all that, but greenspace is part of your
resiliency.
You need that.
You need the surface thatabsorbs water and slows water
down.
One acre of wetlands will hold1.5 million gallons of water.
(28:51):
Acre of wetlands will hold 1.5million gallons of water.
So whenever you see somethingabout filling in wetlands, and
yes, it's mitigated.
A lot of what's conserved aroundthe low country is a result of
Boeing, because it was built inwetlands but mitigation money
went into a bank and that moneywas used to preserve other
wetlands.
But one and a half milliongallons of water goes somewhere
for every acre of wetlands.
(29:11):
It's got.
A half million gallons of watergoes somewhere for every acre
of wetlands.
It's got to go somewhere.
So it's just something to thinkabout.
We had the head of the StateFlood Waters Commission who is a
big fan of Mount Pleasant.
Tom Mulliken is his name.
He's also the guy that doesSouth Carolina 7.
You'll see us doing the Mayor'sBridge Walk as part of that and
the excursion out to BullsIsland and everything.
(29:31):
Well, he's got a resiliencyconference at the Isle of Palms
in April and he asked MountPleasant to make a presentation
because he considers MountPleasant the leader in the state
for all things resiliency andgreen space and all that.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
That sounds like you'd be very proud of we're
very proud of that we really are.
And back to when you attendedour meeting back in February.
Another thing I was veryinterested in is when you
mentioned the two questions youget asked about most.
Yes, Traffic, Traffic anddevelopment.
And of course they're tied intogether.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
They are tied in together.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
So for those who weren't at that meeting, what?
Can you tell us about it.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
I have always maintained that nobody that
lives here would know how manynew people were moving in every
day or notice, if it weren't forthe traffic right, maybe the
schools, but that number iswatched closely and all that
Well, having to build anotherhigh school, having to build
another high school and all thecottages on campus with the new
school, the trailers, so younotice it there.
(30:32):
So it's not the fact that wegrow or people move in.
It's the effect of that andtraffic.
I live near the foot of theRavenel Bridge and some days I
just sit there and watch in themorning everybody leaving town
that's got the high paying jobsin other places and the people
coming in.
Everybody swaps positions andit's about the same amount of
(30:52):
traffic going in each directionand so there's we're not going
to pave our way out of this, andI saw a nationwide poll the
other day that 80 percent ofAmericans do not think paving
more roads is the answer.
Managing your traffic is theanswer, and so we did a study.
Stantec did it for us.
(31:13):
It's all digital.
It's fascinating.
You can go to our website andlook for it.
It's called this bothers mebecause it's called the Mobility
Action Plan, which I think.
That's like getting me out ofmy chair and doing more steps
today.
This is really about how we gettraffic in and out of Mount
Pleasant and move it and itshows where the flashpoints are.
(31:33):
It shows where traffic slowsdown.
Could you all guess?
Maybe you remember from my talk.
Could you guess how many cars aday use the Ravenel?
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Bridge.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Dadgummit I000 and then it shows where it splits
off and the traffic patternshave changed in the last five
years because now a whole bunchare getting off on the mathis
ferry but it shows us how manycontinue all the way up Johnny
Dodds or 17 North, and so we areworking on one having a fast
response team.
We're going to roll out two newvehicles and I am pushing to
have a naming contest to havethose vehicles named because we
(32:13):
could have fun with that.
And do you all remember whenthey did that in England for a
new marine rescue boat?
Yeah, Brian remembers it.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
You know what name was.
No, what was it?
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Boaty McBoatface.
Oh okay.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
We could do much better than that.
Here I was going to say thatone won.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
And since.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Mount.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Pleasant used to be known as Hungry Neck and we
still have.
You know, there's Hungry NeckSoccer and Hungry Neck Boulevard
and all that.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
I think hungry wreck something might be good for one
of them.
I can't.
That's mine.
Nobody does this with thecranes.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
So so that'll be something.
But what we, what we know, isthat the average response time
is a few minutes, but for everyone minute that traffic is
stalled, it takes six minutesfor it to get back to normal.
So if you've ever been comingin over the bridge and there's
just a fender bender and trafficis backed up for 20 minutes,
for 20 minutes do that times six.
(33:19):
That's how long it's going totake traffic to get back to
normal.
So these things, they'll havethose air jacks.
They can push the cars off.
They don't tow, because that'sa whole different legal realm,
but they get them off the road,they clean the road off.
They can do.
They can do things that aregular police car can't do.
One's going to be stationed atBowman Road and the other's
(33:41):
going to be stationed at Highway41, and it'll be ready every
day during rush hour.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
You need one at Highway 41.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
And so you know, and I want, I know, and I want to
have the name.
I don't care what we name it,but it just sounds better than
you know.
Mount Pleasant is timer traffic.
Incident management isemergency responses on the scene
.
No, we want to have, like youknow, freddie Bob is there, you
know, whatever it is, and thenyou can look at the map and
there'll be the little light.
(34:08):
Look who's?
You know we're here, we're hereto help and all that.
And the other is the signaling.
We know that the signaling ofour lights, those get out of
sync sometimes and our staffknows that and we're doing
everything from this study totry to keep that traffic flowing
.
But that's a quality of lifeissue.
The time that you're sitting intraffic, you're not home with
your family, you're not pickingup your child from practice or
(34:31):
lessons in time.
So we want to fix that.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
And what about development?
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Development.
Well, this goes back to myfirst term, back when I was a
freshman mayor.
We did a building permitallocation system and we just
renewed that it only sets themaximum limit because we know
what limit we can grow with.
You can't play around withthings like permitting without
(34:56):
there being a clearly stated andmeasurable objective.
Clearly stated and measurableobjective and ours was when we
studied Mount Pleasant if wegrow at more than 2%, we start
clogging up our schools, ourdrains, our recreation and our
roads.
So we will never grow more than2%.
So we've got that in place.
The other things we have doneis we've lowered densities,
we've lowered building heightsand we are.
(35:18):
We are always tweaking a littlebit our designs because I said
back in my first term, if I seeone more four-story flat roof
building go up in Mount Pleasant, we want an interesting skyline
in Mount Pleasant.
But you can.
You know, still there's onlytwo places.
You can do 80 feet.
80 feet is the height of thebuildings when you come in into
Mount Pleasant.
The parking garage that sticksover the bridge that was a
(35:40):
miscalculation feet is theheight of the buildings when you
come in into Mount Pleasant.
The parking garage that sticksover the bridge.
That was a miscalculation.
It was the height.
They were supposed to be belowthe bridge.
They did the right height.
I'm not saying they're inviolation, but the height was
wrong because they thought thebridge was going to be higher,
because it would be nice to lookacross Patriots Point and see
Charleston Harbor.
Now you see a parking garage.
Across Patriots Point and seeCharleston Harbor Now you see a
(36:00):
parking garage.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
You sure do, but I've got an idea on how we can work
together.
Can we spray paint the pool orsomething?
I think it would be a greatplace for a mural, it would be a
great place for a mural.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
If they are interested.
It's privately owned.
The town doesn't own it.
There is no paid parking run bythe town of Mount Pleasant.
All that Shem Creek parking.
We don't run that.
We don't own that.
The town has no parking revenueat all.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Well, he's at this town center, by the way.
That's why I think people loveone of the reasons why people
love we have adequate parkingand no, and we're going to have
the beach shuttle again.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
That was announced not too long ago and the town of
Mount Pleasant and the city ofthe Isle of Palms fund it free
and it's out of town center andthank you all for that.
That's a great service to ourtown.
We had a 90-something percentincrease in ridership last year.
I know.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
I mean I took it once .
I don't like traffic right.
Or I don't like driving intraffic, right.
If I'm sitting on a shuttle buswith my book, I'm fine, right,
and then not having to worryabout where to park.
How much am I going to pay forit?
Will my car be there when I getback?
And I just got to enjoy the dayat the beach and get on the
(37:09):
shuttle and come right back.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
And that having been said, we are in our third year
now of a very focusedpartnership between the county,
the town of Mount Pleasant, isleof Palms, sullivan's Island and
the city of Charleston andFolly Beach.
But they have a different beachissue but ours is if traffic
stalls getting onto the Isle ofPalms or Sullivan's Island, it
backs up into Mount Pleasant.
So we have this partnership now, we have a media partner and
(37:35):
all of that stuff.
We had 16 million hits on thepage over the last three or four
years.
But all of that is to keeptraffic moving on beach
Saturdays because, as ourpopulation in the Tri-County
region approaches a million,those beaches and the number of
parking are no bigger than theywere when I was a teenager here
(37:56):
and you didn't have to thinkabout when to go to the beach,
you just drove.
Now you've got to plan itbecause traffic backs up, and so
we have pre-positioned unitsthere.
Again, the town has a differentsequence of lights for beach
traffic that's than the normal,like if you go out and it's a
monday, the lights are going tobe different, because on
saturdays and sundays it's tomove traffic on and off the
(38:17):
beach and it's a greatpartnership.
We have this big luncheonmeeting once a year and and we
all go over it, we go over thenumbers and it's one of the best
partnerships I've ever been apart of and it makes life better
for our citizens.
That's what you got to do everyday in this job.
Wake up and say how can I makelife better today?
Speaker 3 (38:37):
and the partnership that the town has with Florida
is so important, because we'vetalked about having companies
here that are IT.
So, a lot of folks can workremotely in IT, but we have such
a strong food and beveragehospitality sector in the town.
As you know, every year we havea Dine when you Live campaign
(38:57):
and we can eat at some fabulousrestaurants, have wonderful
cuisine.
Never leave Mount Pleasant, butthe workers have to get over
here.
They don't all live over here.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
So I love the fact that we have Carta and talk
about your relationship withCarta, the fact we have town
council that serves on Carta, Iserve on Carta, you serve on
Carta, I do.
I don't know when you have timeto sleep, mr Mayor.
I serve on Cardass, I do.
I don't know when you have timeto sleep, mr Mayor, I serve on
it.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
And one council member?
I don't.
And did I tell you this ispart-time right?
This is a part-time job yes.
And I sit on the airport boardand I sit on the corridor board
and I sit on the CharlestonRegional Development Alliance
board and I sit on the PatriotsPoint board and Mount Pleasant
Water Works and the Medal ofHonor Leadership Center and try
to be mayor and try to do itpart time.
(39:43):
So I'm not saying I get it alldone, but I do it willingly and
it's it's the leadershipprivilege of my life to do this.
I love doing it but it is a lot.
But they asked me a few yearsago, especially with the bus
rapid transit coming up, if Iwould, instead of sending two
council members, they want somemayor presence on there.
(40:04):
So I have always had a councilmember that goes with me and I
usually get one of the newercouncil members to go because
it's great exposure to sort ofget your head out of just Mount
Pleasant and see what the regionand how we're a player in the
region and the region affects us.
But one of the hardest thingsat CARTA is that that route,
which is Route 41, has nothingto do with Highway 41, but the
(40:27):
bus route by Shem Creek, whereall those restaurants are, is
one of the least used ones inall of Carta and our per rider
cost is over $10.
Yeah, and you compare that tothe most ridden route, which is
down by the medical district,and the ridership cost is
extremely low.
(40:47):
Now, carta is not in thebusiness of making money.
It's there to be part of our,you know, transportation
infrastructure, but that's onethat we have always tried to
figure out.
We are trying to figure out howwe could have a collector come
from North Charleston, come toy'all, come to Town Center and
bring people, and then thesilver chalet in transit is the
(41:13):
last mile Y'all probably knowthis from where y'all have to
locate and all People might canget to Mount Pleasant, but can
they get that last mile to thedoor where they work?
And that's the hard part inmount pleasant right now?
Yeah, you can get to mountpleasant, but can you get to
where you need to be done to goto work?
Speaker 1 (41:30):
well, I know we have two.
We have two carter stops attown center yeah, we're very
lucky for that yeah, so I knowquite a few different routes.
Right, that stop there.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
Right, it's the 40 on the northern end of town and 41
on the lower side of town andwe have more ridership up on the
northern end of town than we dothe lower end of town.
Never been able to figure thatout.
But but another thing, that's abig.
That's a big problem and one wemight have a solution.
Not a solution, but at leastsomething that helps with is
(41:59):
everybody knows parking in theshim creek area.
You ever tried to park downthere on a on a saturday?
night or friday night localsdon't go to shim creek a lot on
fridays because it's just so.
We're trying to figure out ifwe could work with carta or
another system to have, like onfridays and saturdays, a little
transportation loop where youcould park somewhere like
(42:21):
waterfront where there's ampleparking, and catch on a nice bus
and go down there and not haveto worry about finding parking.
That'd be great.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
Wow.
Yes, I'm also always afraid I'mgoing to get towed because I
don't know, there's some freeparking and then there's some
paid parking and then it's onlypaid parking free at lunch, but
then you have to pay for dinnerand then I wonder if I park
somewhere I'm not supposed to be?
Are there binoculars outside?
The restaurant watching me goto, not their restaurant, and is
(42:51):
my car going to be there when Iget in?
Speaker 2 (42:53):
And it's sad we have that great boardwalk park.
That if I told anybody, if youwant to get the feel of Mount
Pleasant, go walk that, see theshrimp boat Shrimping
entertainment.
You know it's funny and it'snot funny, but years ago Chim
Creek was a shrimping creek witha drinking problem.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
Now it's a drinking creek with a shrimping problem.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
And that tussle between entertainment and
shrimping.
We're dedicated to keeping aworking waterfront there.
We bought the Wando dock.
We're getting ready to put amillion five in to upgrade it
and and just fix that dock isfalling apart.
But as long as the currentcouncil and I are in office, we
are going to keep a shrimpingfleet going.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
Well, after Boone Hall, shem Creek is my second
favorite place in town.
Good, I mean just, it doesn'tmatter what time of year winter,
summer, spring fall.
You're just going down therewatching the sunset, the
dolphins.
There's nothing like having adrink at.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
Soul Water.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Cowboys and looking over, and there are the dolphins
frolicking.
Where else do you get?
Speaker 3 (43:52):
that and I say I live here Local shrimp.
I went on a shrimp boat withWayne Magwood before.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
Did you?
Yes, I did.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
And I left at 4 o'clock in the morning got back
at four o'clock in the afternoon.
Wow, it was the most funmiserable day of my life because
I got quite seasick.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
Could you imagine working that every day?
Speaker 3 (44:11):
No, I left that experience and I went we really
should pay more for our shrimp,I know.
I really had no idea, and ittastes different.
I don't know why, but it's muchmore flavorful and has a
sweetness to it.
You don't need butter with it.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
It's amazing.
I love our local shrimp, that'sawesome.
Insist on local shrimp.
Speaker 1 (44:32):
Well now that we're talking about some fun stuff
like our shrimp cake we havesome fun questions for you,
mayor if you don't mind, yeahlet's go.
Okay, all right, it's nothingtoo bad.
It's not like waffles orpancakes or anything.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Oh man Okay.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
What's the answer to that question?
Speaker 2 (44:45):
Huh, waffles or pancakes, waffles, okay.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
Can you share your favorite secret hidden gem in
Mount Pleasant?
Speaker 2 (45:02):
I know you might not want to because then everyone's
going to go to it.
But you know how?
About your second favorite?
You?
Speaker 1 (45:05):
can keep your favorite to yourself.
And by hidden you mean reallyhidden?
Well, no, just like a placethat maybe not many people know
about that you love PalmettoFort, the trail and the
observation tower in thesix-mile area.
Oh, there it is.
Speaker 3 (45:15):
We've got a sign there.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
I'm going to write that down Palmetto Fort and
there's a neighborhood it'sright by Oyster Point but
there's a gravel parking lot andyou go there and then you climb
up in the tower and you lookout and you're looking at Isle
of Palms and Dewey's and Capersand Bull's Island and a lot of
people don't.
Everybody knows about PittStreet Bridge and Shem Creek and
(45:36):
Waterfront Park.
Very few people know how greatPalmetto Fort is.
Well, I had absolutely no ideathere was something called
Palmetto Fort.
Like I said earlier, I learnsomething from you every time I
speak to you.
Speaker 3 (45:49):
And if we had a town mascot, what would you like it
to be?
What are your thoughts on?
Speaker 2 (45:57):
that you know everything's sweetgrass, that
you know we are everything sweetgrass and so we we're sort of.
You know, even the colors inthe chambers of of town hall are
, of council chambers are tomatch sweet grass colors and if
you look you can, you can see it.
But, um, but that's not amascot.
You know you can't have abasket as your mascot and I
think years ago they gotsomebody in a crab costume to be
(46:21):
the crab, because it's seafoodand it's local, because a shrimp
costume would be a little bitfreaky.
But I think it would be amascot, would be something like
a crab and then we can have we'dhave a contest.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
I love the naming crab and remember we do have in
in.
Speaker 2 (46:38):
Council.
Member gm whitley was thebrains behind this.
We have those oyster shells arton the hash.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
We have two at town center.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
We love them those are wonderful and I and I love
that, and those aroundcommunities I know I used to
live in hendersonville up in themountains and theirs are bears
and we have oyster shells andother communities have other
things.
But I think if we had like atthe blessing of the fleet and
the christ parade, if we had the, the crab, I think it would be
wonderful.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
I think we need to do that.
Yeah, so if you could have anycelebrity, santa Claus, if you
could have any celebrity, serveas mayor for a day.
Who would you choose?
Whoa, and it doesn't have to bea local celebrity.
(47:23):
I guess anybody you would likegosh, that's.
Speaker 2 (47:28):
That is a tough one.
I would probably say ClintEastwood see Clint.
You know I'm trying to do this,clint, can't you see him?
Speaker 1 (47:41):
he wouldn't take any crap from anybody in this town.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
He was the mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea in California.
Speaker 1 (47:46):
That's right, I forgot about that.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
I would like for Clint to come and run Mount
Pleasant for a day.
Speaker 1 (47:51):
A day?
Yeah, I think that would becool.
You think it's day, huh, youthink else.
Speaker 2 (47:56):
you say I love this place, I love it here, I'm not
leaving.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
Oh, that's great, that's great.
Speaker 3 (48:07):
We've talked a little bit about the history of the
town and your experience, but ifyou could attend a historical
event, go back in town, okay,one time what would you do?
Speaker 2 (48:12):
The one I mentioned earlier would be when they
opened the Grace Bridge, becausethat's.
But there's another one.
That's the one for just theimpact that we're still still
feeling.
The historical moment to see isif you stood at hadrell's point,
where, during the battle ofsullivan's island and now
carolina day um, which was june28th before, july 4th of 1776,
(48:35):
one of the ships, I think it wasthe arcadia came over towards
mount pleasant and they got itwith with coastal artillery and
set it on fire and it burned andsank and that was right there
and I would think, wow, thatthat would be a moment to see
well, yeah, our side's winning.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
I don't want to see any other boats burn and sink.
No, but that's amazing thatwould be incredible.
Speaker 2 (48:56):
That would be incredible especially the
skyline, and how everythinglooked back in those days, just
yeah, just how amazing that was,because they came down this way
to try to fire, you know, fromthe side towards the fort,
because it was the fortress, wasfacing the harbor and they
thought, if they came and theyran aground and the tide went
out and people run aground thereall the time, now it's probably
right where Crab Bank is now.
(49:17):
Oh, wow, yeah, there was noCrab crab bank.
The crab bank is man-made, bythe way.
Speaker 3 (49:28):
The whole.
Thing.
Okay, yeah, never used to be abank there.
Speaker 1 (49:29):
The historical event.
Speaker 3 (49:29):
I attended was when the Hunley was oh wow, and I
took my boys with me.
We're on the Yorktown and itwas hot, you remember that day
or not.
Well, I didn't live here then,but I watched it on CNN, so my
mother watched it on CNN and shecould see everything and I
couldn't see anything.
Oh my gosh.
And my boys were like why arewe here?
I'm like because it's history.
It is history.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
And you can say that you were here.
Speaker 3 (49:47):
And I had a picture and they were there.
Speaker 1 (49:48):
Oh, that's great.
Well, my favorite story aboutthat and I hear, though my mom
always told me I got to see- theastronauts.
Speaker 2 (49:54):
I'm going to age myself.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
Astronauts landed on the moon.
Oh yeah, I was a baby, but Iwas put in my bassinet right in
front of the television.
Good for you.
So my mother could tell me thatI watched the first steps, wow.
Speaker 3 (50:07):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (50:08):
That's something I'll never forget.
I always say, I was there.
I remember when that happened.
That's amazing, but of course Iage backwards, so I'm not that
old anymore.
You're Benjamin Button's sister, we got one more for you, okay,
okay, the weirdest or mostinteresting piece of trivia
about our town that people don'tknow.
Speaker 2 (50:27):
Oh wow, that's one I didn't.
That's the last one on the list, I would say it's about our
town.
It didn't happen in our town.
But the mayor of Charleston,for whom the Grace Bridge, the
old two-lane bridge that you sawyour life pass before your eyes
said of Mount Pleasant that itis neither a mountain nor is it
(50:48):
pleasant.
Oh, that is fantastic, and younotice we tore down the Grace
Bridge, so that's kind of that'sa piece of trivia.
Yeah, he said it is neither amountain nor is it pleasant.
Speaker 1 (51:00):
Oh, that is fantastic .
Now, every time I think aboutit, I'm just going to laugh.
Yeah, oh, that's great.
Is there anything else you'dlike to share with our listeners
?
Mayor before we let you go.
We know you're a busy man.
Speaker 2 (51:11):
I would say we live in the best town in America.
I love it.
And somebody that was runningfor council said what's the most
important thing to remember?
I said if you love the peopleof Mount Pleasant, everything
else falls into place.
Speaker 1 (51:27):
So hold me to that, and I try to do that every day.
That's amazing, rebecca, do youhave anything else for the
mayor before we go?
Speaker 3 (51:29):
no, thank you so much for everything that you do to
make this such a wonderfulcommunity to live in and I never
want to leave.
Thank you so much well,everyone keeps.
Speaker 1 (51:38):
You know, I keep getting letters in my mailbox
every five minutes to sell myhouse.
Speaker 2 (51:43):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (51:43):
And my husband just looks at me.
I go no.
Speaker 2 (51:45):
I said I am never ever leaving Right and and I
thank you for a lot of that.
Speaker 1 (51:52):
Mayor, because I was here right before you became
mayor, Wow and that I've beenextremely pleased with the way
the town has grown and the wayit's been managed.
Because you know, I still wantto go out to really nice
restaurants, right.
Speaker 3 (52:07):
But live in a little small town, exactly.
So I think you're doing anamazing job.
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (52:11):
Especially with our local businesses, which are, of
course, the the basis of the ofthe chamber and its success.
So thank you for that.
Speaker 3 (52:20):
And thank you for spending your very busy
part-time schedule with us today.
We took up a lot of yourpart-time hours today, didn't we
?
Speaker 1 (52:27):
but we're worth it.
Yes, you are.
Yeah, we're worth it.
Thank you.
So, um, and before we leave,we're going to thank again our
sponsors, the charleston radiogroup amazing to work with brian
cleary's here with us at all ofour recordings a great.
If you want to be a sponsor ora guest on our podcast, please
reach out to Rebecca Imholz andbe sure to like and subscribe us
(52:47):
on all of our media channels.
We are on Spotify, itunes,youtube, instagram, facebook and
LinkedIn.
I'm going to make you a superstar, you see that on all those
channels Okay.
So thank you for being with ustoday.
Until next time, Mount Pletoday.
Until next time, Mount Pleasant, Until next time listeners.
Hello and welcome to the Building Business Podcast
powered by the Mount PleasantChamber of Commerce.
We're recording in theCharleston Radio Group Studios.
Thank you to them for beingsuch a great partner and sponsor
for our podcast.
They are behind the camera andhuge supporters of the chamber.
I'm here, kathy Herman.
I'm the current president ofthe Mount Pleasant Chamber of
(00:30):
Commerce and I am joined withRebecca Imholtz, who was our
director of the Mount PleasantChamber of Commerce.
And do we have one for youtoday?
We have a very important personin the house today and no, no,
mayor, we will all admit you'rea very important person to
everyone who lives in this town,thank you.
So I am very, very excited towelcome the Mayor of Mount
(00:51):
Pleasant, mr Will Haney.
Thank you, appreciate beinghere, been looking forward to it
.
That's awesome and such a hugesupporter of the Chamber.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yes, I try to be.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Well, you know, I think actually we have a great
partnership with the town.
In general we do, which is whyI think we're all so successful.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Absolutely and that's something as director of the
chamber when I'm talking tomembers of our business
community and our communitycitizens how much we appreciate
the partnership we have with thetown of Mount Pleasant.
It is unique to the chamberworld.
Not all chambers have thatwonderful relationship.
So thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
And so, before we start talking about I know what
everyone wants to talk about isthis beautiful town that we live
and work in.
Share a little bit aboutyourself, mayor, for those who
might not know you.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Well, I appreciate it .
I'm a South Carolina native.
My ancestors are from theLowcountry and on one side of my
family and on the other sidethey're from the upstate.
So I was born in Greenville,moved to Mount Pleasant when I
was five years old the firsttime, and then, when my dad was
at the medical university andwhen he finished his residency
(01:55):
there, we moved to the Midlands.
So I grew up in the Midlandsand then I moved back to Mount
Pleasant after I graduated fromthe Citadel.
Then work and life took me awayand then I moved back again.
So when people talk about theproblem being all these people
that have moved to MountPleasant, I've done it three
times, so I'm a three-timeoffender.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Did they tell you to leave too?
Oh yeah, they told me to leavetwice.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
And this time I said well, I guess if I get elected
mayor they can't make me leave.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
But Mount Pleasant has always been in my blood and
I remember when we moved herefrom a small upstate town that
I'm a native of.
It's called Belton.
You may have heard of it.
It's the tennis capital ofSouth Carolina.
I remember my mom saying whenwe moved to Mount Pleasant
nobody knows us, nobody knowsour last name.
You just have to make friendsand you know, if you make one or
(02:45):
two friends, you'll feel athome.
And that's why I have alwaysfelt about Mount Pleasant the
way I do, because I have friends.
And it's funny because a lot ofthose friends that I was in
kindergarten with at MountPleasant Presbyterian are still
here and they're friends andsupporters and it just you know
we'll talk about this in aminute it will always be a town.
To me, it will always be a town.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
And so what made you want to run for mayor?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
When I came back, one of the things I had done up in
North Carolina is I had writtenfor newspapers.
I was a columnist, and so whenI came back here I wrote a
sailing column for the Post andCourier because they were full
of opinion columnists and soonce that ink gets in your blood
, once you're used to publishing, you want to write.
So I was sailing competitivelyand stuff at the time and there
(03:34):
was nobody covering it, so Istarted doing that and then,
after that kind of ran itscourse, about six years, sully
Witte was in at the Military.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
News Good friend of ours, I love Sully no-transcript
(04:11):
.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
At least not.
You can be in the newspaper butyou're not the one writing it.
So I was sitting there writingone about growth and stuff and
my wife Suzette, who many peoplein Mount Pleasant know from her
teaching days at Jenny Mooreshe have you ever thought about,
you know, stepping out from thekeyboard and just getting in
the arena, just get in there andrun.
(04:33):
So I ran for council that yearin 15, and then ran for mayor in
17.
And here I am.
What year is it?
2024?
already seven years in officeseven years as mayor and two as
a council.
That's almost a decade.
I can't believe it.
That's amazing, yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Absolutely.
I've lived in Mount Pleasantfor 28 years and, like you, I've
seen a lot of changes and I'mso glad that you refer to our
town as a town, because it is atown to me.
I've lived all over the UnitedStates because my dad had a
military career and I came fromVirginia Tech area before moving
here in Virginia and it's justbeen such a joy to me to have
(05:12):
three sons Last name of M HoltzEverybody knows who they are I'm
like mind your manners, they'regoing to know who you are.
But they have friends that theyare still friends with from
kindergarten and they're allgrown up college graduates now
but they're still friends withfrom kindergarten and they're
all grown-up college graduatesnow but they're still friends
with them and Mount Pleasant's awonderful place to come back
home and visit.
So they don't live here anymore, but they do come back and
(05:33):
visit and I really appreciateyour commitment to making our
town still feel like a town,such a beautiful place to live.
Obviously, everybody has foundus.
Remember when we used to haveCome On Over as our logo?
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yes, are we going to change that?
We have changed that.
It's not on the logo anymore.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Because you know they did it, they did it and that's
wonderful.
And you know, can I jump on oneof the things you asked me?
Speaker 1 (06:00):
I can.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Because I think it was very prescient that you put
this in there.
What one historical event inMount Pleasant's past would I
want to be present for?
And you know what changed EastCooper and Mount Pleasant
forever.
You know George Washingtonbeing here aside, revolutionary
War aside, because we all knowthe big battle on June 28, 1776.
(06:24):
What changed this area was whenthe Grace Bridge opened in the
1920s.
That's when people realized youcan live east of the Cooper and
work in Charleston, and then Iwas a kid when the Pierman
Bridge opened.
So you had the Grace Bridgeremember when they were the two
and then they went down in 2006and the Ravenel Bridge was built
(06:47):
and you can look at the numbersand most of our growth has
happened since the RavenelBridge opened in 2006.
So those bridges changed MountPleasant and all of the East
Cooper community.
Some would say for the worst.
But people know.
People say how do you feelabout all these people that move
here?
If you move here and you livein my town, you're my
(07:09):
constituent, I'm your mayor, Ilove you.
I really do, and I am seeing,in the nine years that I've been
in public office in MountPleasant, it has gone from.
What is Mount Pleasant.
Who are we going to be?
Are we going to be urban orwe're're gonna look like south
florida?
It has gone from that toeverybody that moves here now.
Sure, everybody wants a littlesomething like where they came
(07:30):
from, but most everybody sayslet's don't destroy this, let's
preserve this town.
I mean, you were telling usbefore you know, before we
started the podcast you haven'tlived here that many years but
you care for mount pleasant likeit is well, I mean I moved.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
I've been here eight years, but I was.
I was asked to come here.
I'm the marketing director atMount Pleasant Town Center and
the owner at the time found meon Long Island well and and it
took him a few months, but they,they really wanted me to come
here so I was blessed.
I'll be the first one to admitthat I didn't want to move.
I had no desire to move.
(08:07):
My husband's like let's just doit.
And so we picked up.
And I'd never been toCharleston before Isn't that
crazy?
Never.
And so I moved down here with apurpose.
They asked me to come, I moveddown here and A I'll never go
back.
I love visiting, but I'll neveras far as I'm concerned.
(08:27):
I'm not moving anywhere, butI've also, I've also put
immersed myself in the town.
So I again, I do all the eventsand advertising and marketing
for Town Center, which is theheart of the community as far as
I'm concerned, then of course Ijoined the chamber and now I'm
the president of the chamber.
So I love this town.
So I came down here and, I hope, made a huge impact on this
(08:48):
town and I will forever do thatbecause of what it means to me.
But speaking of towns, one morething.
When you spoke at the chamberluncheon in February, mary, you
mentioned I know it was 95,000people now and so many new
people don't understand whywe're a town and not a city.
Would, you explain that.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Well, you know, legally there's no, there's no
difference.
We are a municipality andthere's about 260 something
municipalities in South Carolina.
We are all basically allowed togovern under the state
constitution and the powersvested in us come from the state
legislature.
But we can call ourselves thetown of Mount Pleasant, and it's
(09:27):
odd because you look over theconnector.
Our neighbors Isle of Palms haswhat?
3,500 full-time residents.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
And they're a city.
They're the city of the Isle ofPalms.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Because we do not want to forget where we came
from.
We want to have that feel wewant to be.
We want you to move to MountPleasant and feel like it's a
town.
We want you to grow up herelike yours did and feel like I
grew up in a town, a town thatcares about me, a town where I'm
known and everything.
And one of the things thatreminded me the other day, one
of my proudest moments of MountPleasant, whether I'm mayor or
(09:58):
not, was when all those folksshowed up to help Eugene
Gillyard's sweetgrass stand berebuilt.
And I bet you Cheryl WoodsFlowers, former mayor, she
helped organize that and wasJohnny on the spot and
everything.
But I bet you three-fourths ofthe people helping do that are
(10:19):
not natives but they care aboutpeople, they care about our
history.
And when we went to denver lastyear and won our third all
america city award they onlygive 20 a year and this was our
third one and we were up againstnew york city, los angeles, san
antonio, a lot of big.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
They've got nothing on us.
I'm sorry, mayor, nothing on us.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
And and you know what ?
They gave us our award lastbecause they said we were such
the crowd favorite that once wegot our award all the others
would just sort of be also ran.
So we had to wait and wethought, oh no, there's only one
left and our theme was woventogether like a sweet grass
basket.
That was our whole thing, whichwas the theme of my state of
the town address back inFebruary that you were just
(11:01):
talking about.
And so to see our communityrally around.
And it's ironic because when wegot the award and we got ready
to leave, they asked me to makea little speech and I said the
chore for us is not just comeout here and market that and
give it lip services, to livethat out in Mount Pleasant every
day.
Live out those values.
Live out that we will neverforget our Gullah Geechee
(11:23):
culture.
We'll never forget oursettlement communities and part
of this was we'll never forgetthe disabled or differently
enabled in our communities,which the chamber has been big
on in embracing, just Be ourautism-friendly designation.
We've got to live those outwhen we get back, and we just
saw that in Mount Pleasant whenpeople helped rebuild a
(11:44):
sweetgrass stand Didn't have todo that.
A lot of people move here.
You know some Midwesternersmove here and think that's a
funny shape for snow fencesbecause the Denver airport they
have things that look likesweetgrass basket stands.
But it's to catch snow.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Well, that's the first thing that any family or
friends that have never beenhere before and they come and
they're driving down 17,.
They're like, what are those?
And of course, I launch intothis whole diatribe about how
important they are to ourculture, whole diatribe about
how important they are to ourculture.
And so whoever may be listeningthat does not know they are
Sweetgrass Baskin's Dance andthey are protected by law.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Protected by law.
And if you go online to theCollege of Charleston, there's a
whole study about them.
There's a map of theirlocations, the town has them,
they're all cataloged.
And if there was a development,the last one I can remember was
indigo square not, far fromfrom where you are at town
center.
They have to show the impact onthem and they have to deal with
(12:39):
if there's any displacement ofsweetgrass basket stands.
But that is holding on to yourroots and I think any town that
does that.
You know, if you heard me talklast year, the whole theme of my
state of the town but the wholetheme of the podcast I did too
was there's this thing that'scalled the placemaking dividend
and many people decide where tolive because they went on
(13:01):
vacation there.
You know that happens here allthe time.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I see that everywhere .
We were there on vacation lastyear when can I get a house now?
Speaker 2 (13:09):
But you know, for years and years, anything cool,
new, different economicdevelopment that happened.
It happened out in a businesspark, it happened out in some
new office complex.
The theme of this seminar Iwent to is Main Street is cool
again.
Everybody wants a Main Street,everybody wants a town,
everybody wants to belongsomewhere.
And that's our challengebecause, you know, at one time
(13:31):
we were the fastest growingmunicipality east of the
Mississippi and we werebeginning to lose the feel of
the town of Mount Pleasantthat's.
That's a long answer for whydid I run answer and as long as
I'm mayor.
That's what I'm gonna.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
That's what I'm gonna represent well, I appreciate
you um mentioning how importantit is to remember our roots.
And yet, as mayor, you've alsobeen so instrumental in bringing
to the forefront things likeembracing neurodiversity with
our citizens and our businesses,making them aware that they can
(14:11):
serve people who areneurodiverse and how to educate
them to do that through Just Be,our partnership with Just Be
and Layla Luna and the town andthe chamber.
It shows that you're willing tobe progressive as well, that,
yes, our roots are important.
However, times are a-changing,just like not having the Grace
Bridge anymore, which I'm verygrateful because I used to pray
before.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I would get on there with my three children strapped
in that it would get me over toCharleston.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
I was thrilled to have the Ravenel come around.
So thank you for doing that andI also want to touch on your
comment about Main Street ispopular again.
There's so many folks thatmoved to Mount Pleasant who had
another career, another businessand they've come here and they
understand the acceptance andhow much the town supports new
(14:54):
business.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
So it encourages them to start their own business,
something about the next bestphase of their life.
I hear that a lot about boomersnext best phase of our lives.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
And so tell me why that's important, as mayor, that
we do embrace and support thesenew businesses that come to
town.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Sure, one of the statistics that I, you know,
tried to load up in myshort-term memory is we have an
average household income inMount Pleasant of $164,000.
So we are a retailers and smallbusiness dream.
And you know, kathy, from beingwith Town Center, the, the
(15:32):
scale, the what's, where I wantto say not the scale of, but the
whole scenario of big-boxretail is changing.
It doesn't mean it's going away, but it's changing a lot and
what's the statistic?
I saw 80-something.
90% of businesses in Americaare small businesses.
But one of the things, rebecca,that you're talking about is we
(15:54):
can either be a whole vibrantcommunity with people opening
businesses, employing people,having family members come back
and work in the family businesswhich is something we will get
to about affordability or we canjust be a resort where people
are done, working, done,producing, done, innovating and
enjoying life, because there's alot of quality of life to enjoy
(16:17):
here.
But you know you, basically youknow you got your tea time and
when you're going out to eat.
But it's good, rebecca, thatpeople are coming here and
saying I'm not done, I'm goingto start a business or whatever.
So we've got a new economicdevelopment, strategic economic
development plan for the town ofMount Pleasant.
I'm on the one region roadmapcommission that did one for the
(16:41):
whole area.
We hired the same consultant tohelp us write the one for the
town, because you know we're notgoing to out-rec what the
charleston regional developmentalliance is able to do.
We're not able to travel totrade shows in france and
germany and asia and all thatthey do.
But we can do.
What we have just done is theharbor entrepreneur center.
(17:04):
We we got that to mountpleasant.
The town put up money to getthem to come here.
They are the lead agent for thesectors of the impact area of
our economy in this region IT,life sciences or bio,
architectural engineering,marketing and publishing and
finance.
We don't have rail in MountPleasant so we're not going to
(17:26):
get industry.
You know, boeing and Volvo andMercedes are in North Charleston
, in the North area.
But we'll get the things likelike Moondog, who just announced
they're investing more money,and I've and I've got it right
here.
They are going to Ben Davis,the CEO.
They're an animation immersiveexperience producer.
(17:49):
I don't know what an immersive.
I know what animation isbecause I love cartoons.
But they're at the HarborEntrepreneur Center and there's
proof that if we just gave thatin Mount Pleasant, if we fan
that flame of localentrepreneurship and tech
oriented, finance oriented,engineering oriented businesses,
we can do that in MountPleasant and I'm glad to see
(18:10):
it's happening.
You know it there.
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
So yeah, another, um, what I so much appreciate about
being a citizen of mountpleasant.
Um, I've known you and I'veknown previous mayors as well
through my volunteer wisdom andeducation and, even though the
town does not run the schooldistrict, we completely
understand that the town is sosupportive of educating our
children in this area and you'realways willing to listen and
(18:35):
figure out how you can supportthe schools.
And we have, as we know, someof the best schools in the state
right here and I think in part,in great part, it goes to the
support of the town of MountPleasant.
So thank you for doing that,thank you.
As well as looking at affordablehousing.
I sat on the first task forceon affordable housing under
Tomasina.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Oh, did you Stokes Marshall loved her, missed her
dearly.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
You could never say no to Tomasina.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
No.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
If she asked you to do something it's like all right
, I will make time in myschedule when you want to meet.
Yeah, and so thank you as wellfor the talent taking that and
moving forward and taking thatand moving forward, thanks.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Well, when you look at regional issues, I made a
list here.
This is right off of the oneregion roadmap.
I get tongue-tied there.
One region roadmapAffordability is number one,
because it doesn't do any goodto recruit businesses to our
area if they cannot find peopleto work.
You know who knows where it'sgoing from here, but in a recent
(19:35):
month the average home saleprice of the closures for that
month in Mount Pleasant this waswithin the last six months was
right around $900,000.
How many young people with afamily who are working a tech
job, no matter what level ofeducation, training or
experience they have, are goingto be able to afford that?
And then I saw you know I'm notgonna, you know I'm not calling
(19:59):
out one but there's an old, oldapartment complex that many of
us who cycle through our young,uh lives in this town might have
rented an apartment there.
so this is not the newest andthe best, but it's been
remodeled one bedroom, one bath,one thousand seven hundred and
seventy five dollars a month, soaffordability is huge.
(20:21):
We're working I'm on twoaffordable housing task forces
right now and in that Commissionyou were own has turned into
housing for all Mount Pleasant,which is a standalone nonprofit.
But we have got to addressaffordability and I said this at
the chamber back in Februaryand I'll say it again today.
The thing that I go to bed sadabout at night as mayor is that
(20:43):
when I see young people andpeople in college and people
graduating from high school, thechance of them being able to
afford to live in their ownhometown in the next 10 years
out of high school is very slimand that's heartbreaking.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
So how do you?
I mean, how do you, how do youfit?
You can't just take the townthat's got an average house of
900,000 and then go.
Okay, well, you know, we'reonly going to charge $500 for
that apartment.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
I mean, how does it?
Speaker 1 (21:08):
and I'm not, I'm just being naive, I guess.
I mean how does that?
How do you do it?
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Three prongs.
You look for ways to haveattainable housing, and
affordable is out now, andworkforce housing is out because
that has a bad, you know,connotation.
It's not subsidized, it isincome restricted to, based on a
percentage of the area medianincome of the AMI.
And so you get the privatesector and our.
(21:36):
Our first, you know, proof ofpoint was Gregory Ferry and Tony
Berry did that and and it fitsexactly what attainable housing
is supposed to do youngprofessionals, I mean almost
overnight, right.
And so the same people areworking on getting another one
approved.
That would be a hundred.
That was only 38.
So, gosh, 138, we have 42,000residences.
(21:59):
And what good does that do?
So, attainable housing and I'vealways said and I recently went
to a reception with JamieDiamond, who's the head of the
largest bank in the world, ofChase, jpmorgan Chase he came
and wanted to meet with localmayors and I said I've always
wanted to have a face-to-facewith a financial genius.
(22:19):
And here's one.
They are the largest bank inthe world and they move $10
trillion of money every day insome form or the other $10
trillion.
And I said, if you can help usunlock attainable housing
through, you know, if we havethe housing market that we have
if we can find ways that youngfamilies can afford to get it,
(22:44):
you can't change the price, butmaybe, maybe, like a housing
trust fund or something likethat, that loans, borrows,
people pay back all of that typestuff.
And the third prong is jobdevelopment Get the kind of jobs
where you can afford to live inthis town.
So those three things are whatwe're going to have to do.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Well, it sounds like with the Entrepreneurial Center
that's part of that number threeto get more IT in this area
which I'm so glad to see happen,because clearly that's what we
need.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
And the great thing about IT is that they can expand
.
I'll say tomorrow they don'thave to go buy land, build a
factory.
You know Berkeley County hasgot all these things coming in.
Somebody joked and said SouthCarolina has gone from being the
Bible Belt to the battery belt,because every new thing we get
you know the big one Scout up inColumbia, $1.4 billion, and the
(23:36):
one in Berkeley County, redwood, who has to do with car
batteries and stuff that's goingto be $3 billion of economic
investment.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
But we need those businesses too.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Yes, we need those, but we can't get those in Mount
Pleasant, but those take years.
But when a tech company expandswhatever, they can basically be
up and going very quickly, andso that's where we can benefit
from this, and you don't have tofind a site and get approvals
and do wetlands mitigation.
You just get more people doingtechnology.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
I'm going to change the subject for just one second
because something just popped inmy head.
Mayor, if you don't mind, Ijust read something about more.
There was more land that wewhat's the word Conservation.
That's it.
There was one that was justapproved, and then I heard you
say you want to do more.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Did I read that right ?
Oh yeah, okay, I used to runthe Low Country Land Trust.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
I was the executive director for almost a decade,
and that's just as important onmaintaining the town to be as
beautiful and welcoming as it is, is to make sure that we keep
certain parts of the landunderdeveloped correct.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yes, and we're working to try to get another
track right now underconservation easement.
That was a big one, I think theone you're talking to that was
announced like late January orearly February down down the
coast.
But when I worked at the landtrust and would go every year to
the National Land TrustConvention, there was no more
(25:01):
partnership better than what wehave in the low country, because
they don't compete.
You know ducks and limitednature conservancy, low country
land trust we used to have EastCooper but it is now part of Low
Country Land Trust.
And if you live in MountPleasant, here's another thing
Boone Hall is not in the townbut the Low Country it is not in
the town of Mount Pleasant butit's right in the middle.
If that had gotten developed,can you imagine the nightmare it
(25:23):
would have?
Speaker 1 (25:24):
been and you live next door to it and I live next
door to it and one of thereasons why I brought this up
and I found so important again.
I've been here only eight years, but one of the first things
that I said, oh my God.
I said, look at this.
And I went and visited it andit's actually one of my favorite
places in town to go.
I go numerous times a year andI said could you?
I said in New York everythingwould have been ripped down.
(25:47):
And it would have been a highrise you know, that's just you
know, and I'm like I wonder ifanything will ever happen here.
And then, shortly after, Iheard that it was not and I just
again, being a resident hereand loving this town, that means
a lot to me, Right?
Good.
You know not just because oftraffic, but because of the
history, like we were talkingabout before, we can't take
everything out of the town.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
No, you can't take everything out of the town.
No, and you didn't know that Ihad brought this with me.
But, um, there is a surveynationwide that green space in
the proximity of a residentialneighborhood increases values by
30 percent.
For just what you're saying,you want to always know and you
know the ace basin, which isbasically from the end of
charlest County down to Beaufortall of that is named one of the
(26:31):
50 last great places on earthbecause it's all been.
When I was at the land trustfrom 2003 to through 2009,.
That was the main thrust was toget all of that as much as we
could conserve, so it'll neverbe developed.
You won't see golf courses andstuff down there.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if wecould get that done from here to
(26:54):
Georgetown as well, on theother side of the Francis Marin
Forest?
That would be wonderful.
Wow, that's amazing, yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
And I'm so glad that the town has really taken an
active design approach to makingthis a more walkable, livable
community.
My husband's a big cyclist so Ijust cringe every time he
leaves and goes out.
So the more parks and greenspace we have, I mean, that's
(27:22):
just better for all of ourcitizens and we keep cars off
the road.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
We do, and not only that is the big word now
sustainability and resiliency.
If you live on the coast nowand this is just you were
talking earlier about how longI've been doing this when I came
on council nine years ago,there was some talk about
drainage and stuff.
But now, with the increasednumber of the high tides and the
flooding incidents and stuffthat we have, if you don't have
(27:47):
a resiliency plan, your bondrating as a municipality gets
docked.
And we just did that $50million bond issue as part of
the recreation referendum and wehad to show them our resiliency
plan, that we now have astanding flood resiliency
committee, which is a result ofthe Dutch dialogues in
(28:10):
Charleston that MayorTecklenburg invited me to
participate in and brought thatidea back from there.
And now we have that CitizensGreen Commission made up of
people credentialed people whodeal with resiliency plans.
We have somebody in MountPleasant that works all over the
country doing climateresilience plans and I had never
met her.
It's amazing.
(28:30):
And she works all over thecountry doing this and she's on
there.
Jim Westerhold from Boone Hallis on there, but not only is it
pleasant and all that, but greenspace is part of your
resiliency.
You need that.
You need the surface thatabsorbs water and slows water
down.
One acre of wetlands will hold1.5 million gallons of water.
(28:51):
Acre of wetlands will hold 1.5million gallons of water.
So whenever you see somethingabout filling in wetlands, and
yes, it's mitigated.
A lot of what's conserved aroundthe low country is a result of
Boeing, because it was built inwetlands but mitigation money
went into a bank and that moneywas used to preserve other
wetlands.
But one and a half milliongallons of water goes somewhere
for every acre of wetlands.
(29:11):
It's got.
A half million gallons of watergoes somewhere for every acre
of wetlands.
It's got to go somewhere.
So it's just something to thinkabout.
We had the head of the StateFlood Waters Commission who is a
big fan of Mount Pleasant.
Tom Mulliken is his name.
He's also the guy that doesSouth Carolina 7.
You'll see us doing the Mayor'sBridge Walk as part of that and
the excursion out to BullsIsland and everything.
(29:31):
Well, he's got a resiliencyconference at the Isle of Palms
in April and he asked MountPleasant to make a presentation
because he considers MountPleasant the leader in the state
for all things resiliency andgreen space and all that.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
That sounds like you'd be very proud of we're
very proud of that we really are.
And back to when you attendedour meeting back in February.
Another thing I was veryinterested in is when you
mentioned the two questions youget asked about most.
Yes, Traffic, Traffic anddevelopment.
And of course they're tied intogether.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
They are tied in together.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
So for those who weren't at that meeting, what?
Can you tell us about it.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
I have always maintained that nobody that
lives here would know how manynew people were moving in every
day or notice, if it weren't forthe traffic right, maybe the
schools, but that number iswatched closely and all that
Well, having to build anotherhigh school, having to build
another high school and all thecottages on campus with the new
school, the trailers, so younotice it there.
(30:32):
So it's not the fact that wegrow or people move in.
It's the effect of that andtraffic.
I live near the foot of theRavenel Bridge and some days I
just sit there and watch in themorning everybody leaving town
that's got the high paying jobsin other places and the people
coming in.
Everybody swaps positions andit's about the same amount of
(30:52):
traffic going in each directionand so there's we're not going
to pave our way out of this, andI saw a nationwide poll the
other day that 80 percent ofAmericans do not think paving
more roads is the answer.
Managing your traffic is theanswer, and so we did a study.
Stantec did it for us.
(31:13):
It's all digital.
It's fascinating.
You can go to our website andlook for it.
It's called this bothers mebecause it's called the Mobility
Action Plan, which I think.
That's like getting me out ofmy chair and doing more steps
today.
This is really about how we gettraffic in and out of Mount
Pleasant and move it and itshows where the flashpoints are.
(31:33):
It shows where traffic slowsdown.
Could you all guess?
Maybe you remember from my talk.
Could you guess how many cars aday use the Ravenel?
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Bridge.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Dadgummit I000 and then it shows where it splits
off and the traffic patternshave changed in the last five
years because now a whole bunchare getting off on the mathis
ferry but it shows us how manycontinue all the way up Johnny
Dodds or 17 North, and so we areworking on one having a fast
response team.
We're going to roll out two newvehicles and I am pushing to
have a naming contest to havethose vehicles named because we
(32:13):
could have fun with that.
And do you all remember whenthey did that in England for a
new marine rescue boat?
Yeah, Brian remembers it.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
You know what name was.
No, what was it?
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Boaty McBoatface.
Oh okay.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
We could do much better than that.
Here I was going to say thatone won.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
And since.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Mount.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Pleasant used to be known as Hungry Neck and we
still have.
You know, there's Hungry NeckSoccer and Hungry Neck Boulevard
and all that.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
I think hungry wreck something might be good for one
of them.
I can't.
That's mine.
Nobody does this with thecranes.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
So so that'll be something.
But what we, what we know, isthat the average response time
is a few minutes, but for everyone minute that traffic is
stalled, it takes six minutesfor it to get back to normal.
So if you've ever been comingin over the bridge and there's
just a fender bender and trafficis backed up for 20 minutes,
for 20 minutes do that times six.
(33:19):
That's how long it's going totake traffic to get back to
normal.
So these things, they'll havethose air jacks.
They can push the cars off.
They don't tow, because that'sa whole different legal realm,
but they get them off the road,they clean the road off.
They can do.
They can do things that aregular police car can't do.
One's going to be stationed atBowman Road and the other's
(33:41):
going to be stationed at Highway41, and it'll be ready every
day during rush hour.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
You need one at Highway 41.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
And so you know, and I want, I know, and I want to
have the name.
I don't care what we name it,but it just sounds better than
you know.
Mount Pleasant is timer traffic.
Incident management isemergency responses on the scene
.
No, we want to have, like youknow, freddie Bob is there, you
know, whatever it is, and thenyou can look at the map and
there'll be the little light.
(34:08):
Look who's?
You know we're here, we're hereto help and all that.
And the other is the signaling.
We know that the signaling ofour lights, those get out of
sync sometimes and our staffknows that and we're doing
everything from this study totry to keep that traffic flowing
.
But that's a quality of lifeissue.
The time that you're sitting intraffic, you're not home with
your family, you're not pickingup your child from practice or
(34:31):
lessons in time.
So we want to fix that.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
And what about development?
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Development.
Well, this goes back to myfirst term, back when I was a
freshman mayor.
We did a building permitallocation system and we just
renewed that it only sets themaximum limit because we know
what limit we can grow with.
You can't play around withthings like permitting without
(34:56):
there being a clearly stated andmeasurable objective.
Clearly stated and measurableobjective and ours was when we
studied Mount Pleasant if wegrow at more than 2%, we start
clogging up our schools, ourdrains, our recreation and our
roads.
So we will never grow more than2%.
So we've got that in place.
The other things we have doneis we've lowered densities,
we've lowered building heightsand we are.
(35:18):
We are always tweaking a littlebit our designs because I said
back in my first term, if I seeone more four-story flat roof
building go up in Mount Pleasant, we want an interesting skyline
in Mount Pleasant.
But you can.
You know, still there's onlytwo places.
You can do 80 feet.
80 feet is the height of thebuildings when you come in into
Mount Pleasant.
The parking garage that sticksover the bridge that was a
(35:40):
miscalculation feet is theheight of the buildings when you
come in into Mount Pleasant.
The parking garage that sticksover the bridge.
That was a miscalculation.
It was the height.
They were supposed to be belowthe bridge.
They did the right height.
I'm not saying they're inviolation, but the height was
wrong because they thought thebridge was going to be higher,
because it would be nice to lookacross Patriots Point and see
Charleston Harbor.
Now you see a parking garage.
Across Patriots Point and seeCharleston Harbor Now you see a
(36:00):
parking garage.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
You sure do, but I've got an idea on how we can work
together.
Can we spray paint the pool orsomething?
I think it would be a greatplace for a mural, it would be a
great place for a mural.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
If they are interested.
It's privately owned.
The town doesn't own it.
There is no paid parking run bythe town of Mount Pleasant.
All that Shem Creek parking.
We don't run that.
We don't own that.
The town has no parking revenueat all.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Well, he's at this town center, by the way.
That's why I think people loveone of the reasons why people
love we have adequate parkingand no, and we're going to have
the beach shuttle again.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
That was announced not too long ago and the town of
Mount Pleasant and the city ofthe Isle of Palms fund it free
and it's out of town center andthank you all for that.
That's a great service to ourtown.
We had a 90-something percentincrease in ridership last year.
I know.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
I mean I took it once .
I don't like traffic right.
Or I don't like driving intraffic, right.
If I'm sitting on a shuttle buswith my book, I'm fine, right,
and then not having to worryabout where to park.
How much am I going to pay forit?
Will my car be there when I getback?
And I just got to enjoy the dayat the beach and get on the
(37:09):
shuttle and come right back.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
And that having been said, we are in our third year
now of a very focusedpartnership between the county,
the town of Mount Pleasant, isleof Palms, sullivan's Island and
the city of Charleston andFolly Beach.
But they have a different beachissue but ours is if traffic
stalls getting onto the Isle ofPalms or Sullivan's Island, it
backs up into Mount Pleasant.
So we have this partnership now, we have a media partner and
(37:35):
all of that stuff.
We had 16 million hits on thepage over the last three or four
years.
But all of that is to keeptraffic moving on beach
Saturdays because, as ourpopulation in the Tri-County
region approaches a million,those beaches and the number of
parking are no bigger than theywere when I was a teenager here
(37:56):
and you didn't have to thinkabout when to go to the beach,
you just drove.
Now you've got to plan itbecause traffic backs up, and so
we have pre-positioned unitsthere.
Again, the town has a differentsequence of lights for beach
traffic that's than the normal,like if you go out and it's a
monday, the lights are going tobe different, because on
saturdays and sundays it's tomove traffic on and off the
(38:17):
beach and it's a greatpartnership.
We have this big luncheonmeeting once a year and and we
all go over it, we go over thenumbers and it's one of the best
partnerships I've ever been apart of and it makes life better
for our citizens.
That's what you got to do everyday in this job.
Wake up and say how can I makelife better today?
Speaker 3 (38:37):
and the partnership that the town has with Florida
is so important, because we'vetalked about having companies
here that are IT.
So, a lot of folks can workremotely in IT, but we have such
a strong food and beveragehospitality sector in the town.
As you know, every year we havea Dine when you Live campaign
(38:57):
and we can eat at some fabulousrestaurants, have wonderful
cuisine.
Never leave Mount Pleasant, butthe workers have to get over
here.
They don't all live over here.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
So I love the fact that we have Carta and talk
about your relationship withCarta, the fact we have town
council that serves on Carta, Iserve on Carta, you serve on
Carta, I do.
I don't know when you have timeto sleep, mr Mayor.
I serve on Cardass, I do.
I don't know when you have timeto sleep, mr Mayor, I serve on
it.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
And one council member?
I don't.
And did I tell you this ispart-time right?
This is a part-time job yes.
And I sit on the airport boardand I sit on the corridor board
and I sit on the CharlestonRegional Development Alliance
board and I sit on the PatriotsPoint board and Mount Pleasant
Water Works and the Medal ofHonor Leadership Center and try
to be mayor and try to do itpart time.
(39:43):
So I'm not saying I get it alldone, but I do it willingly and
it's it's the leadershipprivilege of my life to do this.
I love doing it but it is a lot.
But they asked me a few yearsago, especially with the bus
rapid transit coming up, if Iwould, instead of sending two
council members, they want somemayor presence on there.
(40:04):
So I have always had a councilmember that goes with me and I
usually get one of the newercouncil members to go because
it's great exposure to sort ofget your head out of just Mount
Pleasant and see what the regionand how we're a player in the
region and the region affects us.
But one of the hardest thingsat CARTA is that that route,
which is Route 41, has nothingto do with Highway 41, but the
(40:27):
bus route by Shem Creek, whereall those restaurants are, is
one of the least used ones inall of Carta and our per rider
cost is over $10.
Yeah, and you compare that tothe most ridden route, which is
down by the medical district,and the ridership cost is
extremely low.
(40:47):
Now, carta is not in thebusiness of making money.
It's there to be part of our,you know, transportation
infrastructure, but that's onethat we have always tried to
figure out.
We are trying to figure out howwe could have a collector come
from North Charleston, come toy'all, come to Town Center and
bring people, and then thesilver chalet in transit is the
(41:13):
last mile Y'all probably knowthis from where y'all have to
locate and all People might canget to Mount Pleasant, but can
they get that last mile to thedoor where they work?
And that's the hard part inmount pleasant right now?
Yeah, you can get to mountpleasant, but can you get to
where you need to be done to goto work?
Speaker 1 (41:30):
well, I know we have two.
We have two carter stops attown center yeah, we're very
lucky for that yeah, so I knowquite a few different routes.
Right, that stop there.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
Right, it's the 40 on the northern end of town and 41
on the lower side of town andwe have more ridership up on the
northern end of town than we dothe lower end of town.
Never been able to figure thatout.
But but another thing, that's abig.
That's a big problem and one wemight have a solution.
Not a solution, but at leastsomething that helps with is
(41:59):
everybody knows parking in theshim creek area.
You ever tried to park downthere on a on a saturday?
night or friday night localsdon't go to shim creek a lot on
fridays because it's just so.
We're trying to figure out ifwe could work with carta or
another system to have, like onfridays and saturdays, a little
transportation loop where youcould park somewhere like
(42:21):
waterfront where there's ampleparking, and catch on a nice bus
and go down there and not haveto worry about finding parking.
That'd be great.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
Wow.
Yes, I'm also always afraid I'mgoing to get towed because I
don't know, there's some freeparking and then there's some
paid parking and then it's onlypaid parking free at lunch, but
then you have to pay for dinnerand then I wonder if I park
somewhere I'm not supposed to be?
Are there binoculars outside?
The restaurant watching me goto, not their restaurant, and is
(42:51):
my car going to be there when Iget in?
Speaker 2 (42:53):
And it's sad we have that great boardwalk park.
That if I told anybody, if youwant to get the feel of Mount
Pleasant, go walk that, see theshrimp boat Shrimping
entertainment.
You know it's funny and it'snot funny, but years ago Chim
Creek was a shrimping creek witha drinking problem.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
Now it's a drinking creek with a shrimping problem.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
And that tussle between entertainment and
shrimping.
We're dedicated to keeping aworking waterfront there.
We bought the Wando dock.
We're getting ready to put amillion five in to upgrade it
and and just fix that dock isfalling apart.
But as long as the currentcouncil and I are in office, we
are going to keep a shrimpingfleet going.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
Well, after Boone Hall, shem Creek is my second
favorite place in town.
Good, I mean just, it doesn'tmatter what time of year winter,
summer, spring fall.
You're just going down therewatching the sunset, the
dolphins.
There's nothing like having adrink at.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
Soul Water.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Cowboys and looking over, and there are the dolphins
frolicking.
Where else do you get?
Speaker 3 (43:52):
that and I say I live here Local shrimp.
I went on a shrimp boat withWayne Magwood before.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
Did you?
Yes, I did.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
And I left at 4 o'clock in the morning got back
at four o'clock in the afternoon.
Wow, it was the most funmiserable day of my life because
I got quite seasick.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
Could you imagine working that every day?
Speaker 3 (44:11):
No, I left that experience and I went we really
should pay more for our shrimp,I know.
I really had no idea, and ittastes different.
I don't know why, but it's muchmore flavorful and has a
sweetness to it.
You don't need butter with it.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
It's amazing.
I love our local shrimp, that'sawesome.
Insist on local shrimp.
Speaker 1 (44:32):
Well now that we're talking about some fun stuff
like our shrimp cake we havesome fun questions for you,
mayor if you don't mind, yeahlet's go.
Okay, all right, it's nothingtoo bad.
It's not like waffles orpancakes or anything.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Oh man Okay.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
What's the answer to that question?
Speaker 2 (44:45):
Huh, waffles or pancakes, waffles, okay.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
Can you share your favorite secret hidden gem in
Mount Pleasant?
Speaker 2 (45:02):
I know you might not want to because then everyone's
going to go to it.
But you know how?
About your second favorite?
You?
Speaker 1 (45:05):
can keep your favorite to yourself.
And by hidden you mean reallyhidden?
Well, no, just like a placethat maybe not many people know
about that you love PalmettoFort, the trail and the
observation tower in thesix-mile area.
Oh, there it is.
Speaker 3 (45:15):
We've got a sign there.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
I'm going to write that down Palmetto Fort and
there's a neighborhood it'sright by Oyster Point but
there's a gravel parking lot andyou go there and then you climb
up in the tower and you lookout and you're looking at Isle
of Palms and Dewey's and Capersand Bull's Island and a lot of
people don't.
Everybody knows about PittStreet Bridge and Shem Creek and
(45:36):
Waterfront Park.
Very few people know how greatPalmetto Fort is.
Well, I had absolutely no ideathere was something called
Palmetto Fort.
Like I said earlier, I learnsomething from you every time I
speak to you.
Speaker 3 (45:49):
And if we had a town mascot, what would you like it
to be?
What are your thoughts on?
Speaker 2 (45:57):
that you know everything's sweetgrass, that
you know we are everything sweetgrass and so we we're sort of.
You know, even the colors inthe chambers of of town hall are
, of council chambers are tomatch sweet grass colors and if
you look you can, you can see it.
But, um, but that's not amascot.
You know you can't have abasket as your mascot and I
think years ago they gotsomebody in a crab costume to be
(46:21):
the crab, because it's seafoodand it's local, because a shrimp
costume would be a little bitfreaky.
But I think it would be amascot, would be something like
a crab and then we can have we'dhave a contest.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
I love the naming crab and remember we do have in
in.
Speaker 2 (46:38):
Council.
Member gm whitley was thebrains behind this.
We have those oyster shells arton the hash.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
We have two at town center.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
We love them those are wonderful and I and I love
that, and those aroundcommunities I know I used to
live in hendersonville up in themountains and theirs are bears
and we have oyster shells andother communities have other
things.
But I think if we had like atthe blessing of the fleet and
the christ parade, if we had the, the crab, I think it would be
wonderful.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
I think we need to do that.
Yeah, so if you could have anycelebrity, santa Claus, if you
could have any celebrity, serveas mayor for a day.
Who would you choose?
Whoa, and it doesn't have to bea local celebrity.
(47:23):
I guess anybody you would likegosh, that's.
Speaker 2 (47:28):
That is a tough one.
I would probably say ClintEastwood see Clint.
You know I'm trying to do this,clint, can't you see him?
Speaker 1 (47:41):
he wouldn't take any crap from anybody in this town.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
He was the mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea in California.
Speaker 1 (47:46):
That's right, I forgot about that.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
I would like for Clint to come and run Mount
Pleasant for a day.
Speaker 1 (47:51):
A day?
Yeah, I think that would becool.
You think it's day, huh, youthink else.
Speaker 2 (47:56):
you say I love this place, I love it here, I'm not
leaving.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
Oh, that's great, that's great.
Speaker 3 (48:07):
We've talked a little bit about the history of the
town and your experience, but ifyou could attend a historical
event, go back in town, okay,one time what would you do?
Speaker 2 (48:12):
The one I mentioned earlier would be when they
opened the Grace Bridge, becausethat's.
But there's another one.
That's the one for just theimpact that we're still still
feeling.
The historical moment to see isif you stood at hadrell's point,
where, during the battle ofsullivan's island and now
carolina day um, which was june28th before, july 4th of 1776,
(48:35):
one of the ships, I think it wasthe arcadia came over towards
mount pleasant and they got itwith with coastal artillery and
set it on fire and it burned andsank and that was right there
and I would think, wow, thatthat would be a moment to see
well, yeah, our side's winning.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
I don't want to see any other boats burn and sink.
No, but that's amazing thatwould be incredible.
Speaker 2 (48:56):
That would be incredible especially the
skyline, and how everythinglooked back in those days, just
yeah, just how amazing that was,because they came down this way
to try to fire, you know, fromthe side towards the fort,
because it was the fortress, wasfacing the harbor and they
thought, if they came and theyran aground and the tide went
out and people run aground thereall the time, now it's probably
right where Crab Bank is now.
(49:17):
Oh, wow, yeah, there was noCrab crab bank.
The crab bank is man-made, bythe way.
Speaker 3 (49:28):
The whole.
Thing.
Okay, yeah, never used to be abank there.
Speaker 1 (49:29):
The historical event.
Speaker 3 (49:29):
I attended was when the Hunley was oh wow, and I
took my boys with me.
We're on the Yorktown and itwas hot, you remember that day
or not.
Well, I didn't live here then,but I watched it on CNN, so my
mother watched it on CNN and shecould see everything and I
couldn't see anything.
Oh my gosh.
And my boys were like why arewe here?
I'm like because it's history.
It is history.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
And you can say that you were here.
Speaker 3 (49:47):
And I had a picture and they were there.
Speaker 1 (49:48):
Oh, that's great.
Well, my favorite story aboutthat and I hear, though my mom
always told me I got to see- theastronauts.
Speaker 2 (49:54):
I'm going to age myself.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
Astronauts landed on the moon.
Oh yeah, I was a baby, but Iwas put in my bassinet right in
front of the television.
Good for you.
So my mother could tell me thatI watched the first steps, wow.
Speaker 3 (50:07):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (50:08):
That's something I'll never forget.
I always say, I was there.
I remember when that happened.
That's amazing, but of course Iage backwards, so I'm not that
old anymore.
You're Benjamin Button's sister, we got one more for you, okay,
okay, the weirdest or mostinteresting piece of trivia
about our town that people don'tknow.
Speaker 2 (50:27):
Oh wow, that's one I didn't.
That's the last one on the list, I would say it's about our
town.
It didn't happen in our town.
But the mayor of Charleston,for whom the Grace Bridge, the
old two-lane bridge that you sawyour life pass before your eyes
said of Mount Pleasant that itis neither a mountain nor is it
(50:48):
pleasant.
Oh, that is fantastic, and younotice we tore down the Grace
Bridge, so that's kind of that'sa piece of trivia.
Yeah, he said it is neither amountain nor is it pleasant.
Speaker 1 (51:00):
Oh, that is fantastic .
Now, every time I think aboutit, I'm just going to laugh.
Yeah, oh, that's great.
Is there anything else you'dlike to share with our listeners
?
Mayor before we let you go.
We know you're a busy man.
Speaker 2 (51:11):
I would say we live in the best town in America.
I love it.
And somebody that was runningfor council said what's the most
important thing to remember?
I said if you love the peopleof Mount Pleasant, everything
else falls into place.
Speaker 1 (51:27):
So hold me to that, and I try to do that every day.
That's amazing, rebecca, do youhave anything else for the
mayor before we go?
Speaker 3 (51:29):
no, thank you so much for everything that you do to
make this such a wonderfulcommunity to live in and I never
want to leave.
Thank you so much well,everyone keeps.
Speaker 1 (51:38):
You know, I keep getting letters in my mailbox
every five minutes to sell myhouse.
Speaker 2 (51:43):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (51:43):
And my husband just looks at me.
I go no.
Speaker 2 (51:45):
I said I am never ever leaving Right and and I
thank you for a lot of that.
Speaker 1 (51:52):
Mayor, because I was here right before you became
mayor, Wow and that I've beenextremely pleased with the way
the town has grown and the wayit's been managed.
Because you know, I still wantto go out to really nice
restaurants, right.
Speaker 3 (52:07):
But live in a little small town, exactly.
So I think you're doing anamazing job.
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (52:11):
Especially with our local businesses, which are, of
course, the the basis of the ofthe chamber and its success.
So thank you for that.
Speaker 3 (52:20):
And thank you for spending your very busy
part-time schedule with us today.
We took up a lot of yourpart-time hours today, didn't we
?
Speaker 1 (52:27):
but we're worth it.
Yes, you are.
Yeah, we're worth it.
Thank you.
So, um, and before we leave,we're going to thank again our
sponsors, the charleston radiogroup amazing to work with brian
cleary's here with us at all ofour recordings a great.
If you want to be a sponsor ora guest on our podcast, please
reach out to Rebecca Imholz andbe sure to like and subscribe us
(52:47):
on all of our media channels.
We are on Spotify, itunes,youtube, instagram, facebook and
LinkedIn.
I'm going to make you a superstar, you see that on all those
channels Okay.
So thank you for being with ustoday.
Until next time, Mount Pletoday.
Until next time, Mount Pleasant, Until next time listeners.
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