Hodges, Brady, Waring, Tinkler for Charleston City Council – postandcourier.com

Editorial: Four for Charleston City Council

Charleston voters not only will select a mayor Nov. 7, but some of them also will fill one of four contested City Council seats (in the city’s odd-numbered districts), primarily in West Ashley and in a new district created on Johns Island.

The city’s challenges often are described as those that accompany success — rising land and housing prices, rapid growth and congestion — but they are no less serious to residents. And there is also what many consider the No. 1 challenge, the prospect of increased flooding caused by a changing climate and rising seas.

The outcome of these races and the mayoral race will go a long way toward shaping how the city responds to these critical matters. (Incumbents Boyd Gregg and Ross Appel are on the ballot but have no opposition in Districts 1 and 11.) Here are the candidates we believe can best move the city forward . . .

. . . In District, 7, which covers central West Ashley, incumbent Keith Waring has given us concern recently, proposing a citywide referendum on moving forward with the Army Corps of Engineers’ perimeter protection plan before the details are known. And we support the city’s Sumar Street redevelopment proposal in West Ashley that Mr. Waring fought and his opponent Owen Vogel would work to revive, if elected.

But Mr. Waring’s long tenure on council has made him among the most familiar with how the city works (or occasionally doesn’t), and we agree with his ideas about how the city can improve its zoning code (a process currently underway) and should push to market the wider region to tourists, not just downtown, and collaborating with the Charleston County School District to build affordable housing on some of its surplus property that already is off the tax books. He also vows to ensure the Police Department continues to implement recommendations from its racial bias audit.

And despite his unsuccessful call for a perimeter wall referendum, Mr. Waring tells us he is supportive of the city’s work with the Corps now that this work covers not only a storm surge barrier for the peninsula but also a citywide study to consider how best to address stormwater and tidal flooding.

Source: Hodges, Brady, Waring, Tinkler for Charleston City Council | Editorials | postandcourier.com