"Yes, we're proud that people love to visit our city. But now it's time to start putting our citizens' quality of life first."
From traffic to tourism to smart, thoughtful development that respects the character of our neighborhoods, I believe that Charleston's next mayor needs to make livability and quality of life Job One.
That's why I've built my plan around three major quality-of-life priorities -- a public safety strategy to make our citizens more secure, a livability agenda that puts our residents' quality of life first, and a blueprint for improving city services without raising taxes.
Public Safety - The First Job of Government
Keeping people safe is the first job of government, and the most solemn duty of any mayor. That's why I've made a point in recent weeks of sitting down with a broad cross-section of public and private officials – City Police Chief Greg Mullen, civic and community leaders, victims' advocates, rank-and-file police officers, and more – to get their views on where we are now, and to formulate a specific plan going forward.
The good news coming out of all this is that our current focus on neighborhood policing and accountability is paying dividends – we've seen double-digit declines in violent crime here in the City two years in a row, and property offenses have been falling faster than the national average.
That said, there's more that we can do and, as Mayor, I will work collaboratively with the City Police Department and members of the larger Charleston community to implement a comprehensive public safety plan that includes the following:
- Expansion of our current neighborhood policing and accountability efforts to ensure that we're getting the most out of what's already working;
- Creation of a public advisory group to strengthen ties between our citizens and their police;
- Implementation of strong new policies to protect against, and punish, the perpetrators of criminal domestic violence;
- Periodic reviews of our new body camera policy to ensure that it's being implemented properly and working as designed;
- The creation of SAFE (Secure Access for E-commerce) Zones to allow for the secure exchange of items purchased online;
- Regular auditing of our City compensation plans to verify that our police and other first responders are being paid properly for their efforts.
A Livability Agenda that Puts Our Citizens’ Quality of Life First
Charleston has become one of the top tourist destinations in the world in recent years, and that’s an achievement we can all be proud of. But we've now reached a point in our city's development where we need to strike a better, more sustainable balance between tourism and our citizens’ quality of life – a balance that makes livability our primary concern.
Charleston is a city of neighborhoods, which means that any livability agenda must be carefully designed to address the different needs of different areas of our city. That’s why my livability agenda has been designed from the ground up to be both geographically inclusive and area-specific, including the following:
- Neighborhood-appropriate development that’s sensitive to the needs of the area and the quality of life of the local residents;
- Revitalization of West Ashley with a strategic plan that addresses both economic redevelopment and traffic congestion, along the lines of the work we did on Upper King Street when I was the City’s Director of Economic Development under Mayor Riley;
- Full implementation of the recently-unveiled Tourism Management Committee proposals that call for better cruise ship regulation, a review of carriage and tour bus activities, improved coordination of special events, more and better signage, additional parking further up the peninsula, and more;
- Action on the plan to modify the Board of Architectural Review to provide emphasis on the most historic areas;
- A plan to ensure that the arts are accessible to all our citizens, no matter where they live or what school they attend;
- A commitment to conservation, including green space protection, the creation of attractive public transportation alternatives, shore power for cruise ships, and continued opposition to oil and natural gas drilling off the Charleston coast.
Improving City Services with Accountability and Technology
It’s time for Charleston city government to enter the 21st century, with accountability measures like performance audits and rigorous statistical assessments, and modern technologies like 311 and smartphone apps that make city services better -- a system we’re calling ACCESS Charleston.
With executive experience in both private, entrepreneurial businesses and as the Director of Economic Development for the City of Charleston under Mayor Joe Riley, I know that customer satisfaction is absolutely essential in any enterprise that means to succeed. As a result, I’ve developed a plan to ensure that Charleston city government provides first rate city services with the highest possible levels of customer service, which includes the following:
- A full performance audit of Charleston city government, so we know right from the start what’s working and what’s not;
- A 311 system to provide a single point of contact for citizens who are trying to reach city service providers;
- Smartphone apps to make it easy to report problems and get simple questions answered;
- A rigorous, metrics-based accountability system similar to CitiStat, allowing us to know with real precision on a daily basis where we’re succeeding for our citizens and where we need more work;
- The placement of a full-time citizen service representative in the West Ashley area, as a way to bring city government directly to the people of the West Ashley area, and to often save them an unnecessary trip downtown.
