Are We Being Put on the Back Burner?

It had been close to six weeks since City Hall revisited its plan to revitalize Citadel Mall and the Sam Rittenberg commercial corridor, and some are getting itchy to find out what’s next.
Earlier this year, Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. tasked his planning and economic development offices to come up with a plan as to how the city could help the mall bounce back. That plan soon morphed and expanded to include the corridor, as well address connectivity, entrances to this part of town, and a host of other issues.
Members of City Council representing this part of town were pleased, the thinking being that finally West Ashley was getting some of the ol’ Riley magic that’s been lavished on the peninsula for the last three decades.
And in June, Riley, flanked by Tim Keane, Director of Planning, Preservation and Sustainability at the city, unveiled the work that had already been done – hiring of consultants, tours, and deep-thinking sessions with council-members and stakeholders.
Keane told a public hearing held in West Ashley in mid-June to expect a plan to be unveiled in “early fall.”
Well, it’s August, still technically over a month away from the first day of Autumn. But with pre-season football on TV and outside temperature in the 60s last week, some are arguing that it is already “early” fall.
City Councilman Bill Moody, who represents parts of West Ashley, called the mayor last week to find out what was going on.
“My curiosity got the better of me,” said Moody. “We’d gotten together several times, hired a consultant, did a study. And then it was as if the theater had gone dark.”
He wasn’t the only one worrying.
City Councilman Aubry Alexander worried that since an “awful lot of issues fall under the planning department,” that Keane and his workers would be overwhelmed with other projects competing for time.
Unspoken by both council-members, but present, was the concern that the brouhaha over proposed downtown midnight bar closings and a new bar moratorium on the peninsula might move West Ashley’s revitalization efforts to the back burner.
Adding pressure to the situation was the ticking away of Riley’s final 16 months in office, and no promise that his replacement would be as skilled or in agreement with the need for improvements this side of the Ashley River.
Add to that the perception held by some that in his final years that Riley’s administration is only able to tackle one big project at a time.
Last week, the city held another public forum for yet another project to revitalize the Upper Peninsula, called The Neck in some quarters.
Caught between meetings on Thursday, Riley said he understood some of the concerns and preached calm as he was sure the citizens of Charleston would surely elect a hardworking replacement. “Who knows, they may do a better job than I do,” said Riley.
“A city like Charleston is a big, energetic bustling entity where there’s a requirement, a need to attend to several important issues at the same time,” said Riley. “West Ashley is at the top of our agenda, even if it’s not as controversial or garners as many headlines as the bar issue.”
Riley would not give a hard date or timeline for unveiling the plan. And he added that there’s a need for working away from the limelight on parts of the plan, as they involve very-competitive economic development issues.
He added that he and his staffers had been in constant meetings and contact with developers. One of those developers, Faison, recently completed not only a paint-heavy sprucing up of Ashley Landing at the corner of Old Towne Road and Sam Rittenberg Boulevard, but also purchased the former Piggly Wiggly that abuts the strip mall.
“I just want to keep making sure that we are alive and kicking, and following up on our target date,” said Alexander.
Riley, elected by the entire city and not just West Ashley, takes a more holistic approach. “We’re working on what we should be working on: initiatives to move the whole city forward,” said the mayor. “And don’t forget that West Ashley redevelopment will be an ongoing process. It’s not like when I leave office everything will shut down.
“The next mayor, naturally, will want to keep moving forward. In West Ashley. On the Upper Peninsula, or Neck. Or Keep things going on Johns Island, and James Island, and Daniel Island,” said Riley.