De Swimp Mon Chronicles

De Crazy Crab

De Crazy Crab ben da Council “cum yeh” crony
Wit’ dat Yankee twang, she uh foul cuss’in’ phony.
Mos’ alltime she mout’ like da chamber pot,
But now all Chaa’stun kno’ she ben de Council sot.

Continue reading "Shrimp 'n Grits"

Posted by Warwick Jones at 11:06 PM | Comments (0)

De Swimp Mon Chronicles

De Fiddler Crab

Now dat Fiddler Crab be anudduh Swimp Mon crony
‘N de real sad trute be, she jus’ uh po’ two-trick pony.
She pluck on dat harp ‘n strok’ ‘n dat wa’ta,
But dun sel’ she’own sole tuh dat Mon fuh da quar’ta.

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Posted by Warwick Jones at 08:39 AM | Comments (0)

New restriction on parking near property entrances

Issues on zoning, and contract for Arthur Christopher Center

Warwick Jones

Council is now on its summer schedule of one meeting a month for the next 3 months. Normally there are two meetings a month and business is usually dispensed within a few hours. But the summer meetings are invariably longer with an agenda that is accumulated over a month rather than about 2 weeks.

Continue reading "City Council, June 16"

Posted by Warwick Jones at 12:50 PM | Comments (0)

De Swimp Mon Chronicles

De King Crab

De King Crab ben dat mos’ oldest fella
Tuh be in da Swimp Mon City Council celluh.
O’ all Council bubbuh dat kno’ dem sly tri’k,
De King Crab use all tuh git da mos’ ‘n ‘e tick.

Continue reading "Shrimp 'n Grits"

Posted by Warwick Jones at 11:03 PM | Comments (0)

De Swimp Mon Cronicles

De Fruit Mon

De Fruit Mon be dat Swimp Mon bes’ bugguh-man.
Tugedduh, dey do all de sly debblement dey can.
Dem alltwo, dey ben got’s dis wicketty bon’
Dat be real ‘special ‘culiar tuh mos’ udduh mon.

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Posted by Warwick Jones at 11:16 PM | Comments (0)

Budget for 2010 approved. Sheriff strongly critical

Staff to come up with waste disposal strategies

Council finally put the 2010 budget to bed, but not without a last minute change. Council member Summey moved that the $300,000 provided for a management study be scrapped and the funds applied to a number of other items. They included $125,000 to the Sheriff's Office to go toward the cost of the opening of the new jail, and $100,000 for the Solicitor’s Office.

Continue reading "County Council, June 26"

Posted by Warwick Jones at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)

Swimp Mon dreamin’

De national debt, it be in duh zillions,
But Swimp Mon, plan tuh spend mo’ millions.
‘E got no clue who be gwine tuh pay,
‘N still be dreamin’ o’ da long pas’ day.

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Posted by Warwick Jones at 05:15 PM | Comments (0)

Rare musical treat for Council goers

Preliminary plans for fire victims’ memorial

I never thought that covering City Council meetings would give me an opportunity to be a music critic. Last night’s meeting featured Council member Wilson and two other members of the Charleston Symphony, playing the second movement of Debussy’s Sonata for Harp, Viola and Flute. The performance was in celebration of this year’s Spoleto Festival.

Continue reading "City Council, May 26"

Posted by Warwick Jones at 11:46 AM | Comments (0)

Swimp Mon’s Clap-hat Spoleto

It soon ta be dat Spoleto time,
When fairies dance ‘n poets rhyme.
Downton’ be fu’l wid’ dem hambon’ folk,
Impressed by mirrors ‘n lots ‘o smoke.

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Posted by Warwick Jones at 07:43 PM | Comments (0)

No millage rate increase for 2010

But budget deliberations still incomplete

Warwick Jones

Deliberations over the 2010 budget were expected to be completed at last night’s Finance Committee meeting. But they weren’t and another special meeting is to be set for next Tuesday. Council decided that there would be no increase in the millage rates and set staff the task to make suggestions as to closing the small difference – about $700,000 - between projected spending and revenue.

Continue reading "County Council May 21"

Posted by Warwick Jones at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

Times be skimpy fo’ dat mon Swimpy

De hundred deys e’ com ‘n gwan
But dat mon Obama, e’ jus an’t shone
What Swimp Mon need fo’ ta’ fix da City
De funds jus’ an’t. dere ‘n dat’s de pity.

Continue reading "Shrimp 'n Grits"

Posted by Warwick Jones at 11:33 PM | Comments (0)

Budget outline defined for 2010

Exasperation over Chisolm Road properties. And Ms. Condon’s Birthday

Warwick Jones

Council has completed the broad strokes in painting the 2010 budget. The Finance Committee began the deliberations over the funds that make up the County’s budget about 2 weeks ago and yesterday completed its task, at leasat for the General Fund. Staff will now fill in the details. The first reading of the budget ordinance is scheduled for May 21.

Continue reading "County Council, May 14"

Posted by Warwick Jones at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)

Citizens criticize lack of facilities at parks, pedestrian safety, and firefighter pensions

And more grant applications

It ought to have been a short meeting. There were no public hearings and no “first readings” on the Council agenda. And the agenda for the Ways and Means Committee was largely Grant applications. But a lengthy and plodding presentation by Staff on “Bicycle Friendly Community” and an active Citizen Participation period extended the meeting to about 3 hours.

Continue reading "City Council, May 12"

Posted by Warwick Jones at 11:18 AM | Comments (0)

Promenade Intermodal Facility – a high-stakes deal-estate gamble

There’s an old Broad Street axiom in behind-the-scenes political shenanigans. It equates the amount of political capital and news print ink invested up-front in a land deal to the potential wealth to be reaped by the selected few holding the high cards and controlling the public purse strings – the greater the Palter and Chatter coverage, the more money, influence, and prestige there is to gain. Given the one-inch high, above-the-fold headline of Sunday’s Palter and Chatter, “Rail or no rail?” and the entire page 12A dedicated to Allyson Bird’s article, the possibility of a Promenade Intermodal Facility on Town Creek must rank right up there with Daniel Island, Long Savannah, and Poplar Grove.

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Posted by Warwick Jones at 08:19 AM | Comments (0)

Requests for $23.2 million but only $3.9 million awarded

$39 million available for further funding

Warwick Jones

The latest round of applications for rural greenbelt funds brought eight submissions. The total amount sought was $23.2 million and if approved, would have dug deeply into the balance of funds available. However, only 4 projects were approved and the grants awarded totaled $3.9 million. Total funds available before the approvals of yesterday were $42.9 million. Partly reflecting the concerns of depletion, the Greenbelt Bank rejected one application and deferred decisions on the others, telling one applicant to seek a lower purchase price and another to provide more information.

Continue reading "Greenbelt Bank, May 7"

Posted by Warwick Jones at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)

Higher taxes likely for next year

Deliberations to continue

Warwick Jones

After yesterday’s special Finance Committee meeting, it’s probably odds-on that property owners will be facing higher property taxes next year. It won’t be because of an increase in millage rates or assessed values. It will just be the need to make up the shortfall expected next year from the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST). In the past, the sales tax has been used to pay part of the annual tax liability of property owners. But County staff estimate that in Fiscal 2010, the County’s entitlement to the LOST will be down $10.5 million from the previous year.

Continue reading "County Council, May 5"

Posted by Warwick Jones at 12:10 PM | Comments (1)

Promenade’s demise signals tough times for Riley’s Neck Area TIF

Lee Walton

Tough times and storm clouds seem to be gathering over the lower Charleston Neck as Bobby Ginn, one of Charleston’s more recent and much touted deal-estate developers, quietly threw in the towel on his major 200-acre mixed-use redevelopment project proposed at the site of two former County land fills along the Town Creek waterfront. David Slade’s article, “Hotels out, rail yard in,” in last Saturday’s Palter and Chatter was as informative for what it didn’t say as for what it did. The Ginn Company’s proposed Promenade Project, conveniently located within the lower limits of the City’s 2004, $117 million Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District, had been the subject of much spirited community debate, praise from the usual sycophants, and gleefully anticipated by Charleston’s world-class visionary leader, Mayor J. Pericles Riley.

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Posted by Warwick Jones at 07:58 AM | Comments (0)

A tax increase in 2010 or not?

Long deliberations over other minor matters

Warwick Jones

The Finance Committee's agenda suggested a long session. Deliberations over some minor issues ensured that it was. So when it came to the most important item, an overview of the 2010 Budget, most members were showing signs of fatigue - levity and irritation. An indication as to whether County residents will face a higher tax payout in 2010 will be given at the Council meeting on Tuesday

Continue reading "County Council April 30"

Posted by Warwick Jones at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)

Charleston – the most mannerly City, again!

Resolutions, bond rollover, grants

Continue reading "City Council, April 28"

Posted by Warwick Jones at 06:30 PM | Comments (0)

Sales Tax Chickens have come home to roost!

Following a national trend in public tax policy that has continued to evolve for several decades, Charleston County, the City of Charleston, and other larger municipalities throughout the Lowcountry slowly, but ever so purposely, transitioned their revenue dependency from a system based principally upon local property tax to today’s hybrid tax policy heavily dependant upon regressive consumption-based tax revenues and user fees. Given the Lowcountry’s expanding population and increasing wealth relative to that of other inland areas of the state, the local economy seemed, to many in business, finance, real-estate, and governance, insulated from the adverse impacts of past post-war (WW II) national economic cycles – the Lowcountry has historically entered downturns later, bottomed-out at higher levels of activity, and recovered quicker than the majority of the nation.

Continue reading "Shrimp 'n Grits"

Posted by Warwick Jones at 11:07 PM | Comments (0)