If you were mayor of N. Chuck

[jr7777]

I know a lot of you on this board are passionate about the city of Charleston, and equaly as passionate about hating North Charleston, which I could understand. So if Summey were thrown out of office and you became mayor of North Charleston, what would you do to improve it? What would you do about sprawl? Crime? How would you make it a more attractive city? Would you try to improve Rivers Ave? How would you improve walkability? Would you merge with Charleston?

[DigitalSky]

merge! lol

[Donny James]

I say merge. But it'll never happen.

[MikesLogic]

Merge of course! The city is a wreck as far as urban development goes though, there is no 'center' to the city its all over the place. It needs some serious work.

[Spartan]

I don't think merging would be the best idea at this point. I don't want to see Charleston taken down a notch b/c of that. However, Mayor Riley could probably do wonders with the place.

[krazeeboi]

^I was thinking the same thing. I would think that a new N. Charleston mayor would want to first focus on improving that area, THEN work out the logistics of a merge.

[Spartan]

Some how I don't see either side as being in favor of it. It would most likely take an outside entity to convince both cities that its a good idea. Not sure how they could do that extactly....

[jr7777]

but how could improve an area such as rivers ave?

[Spartan]

Lol, that may be a lost cause

For one thing, if they insist on having a median, it should have those nice looking washington palms... or date palms... i forget what they are called. You see them all over Florida. It may be too cold in Chas for them to survive though. Any landscaping would improve the look of the area. The 5 lane sections could be transformed with median landscaping in areas where a turn signal is unnecessary.

I think alot of N Charleston's problem is it looks like crap. If they could in prove the look and reputation, it might help the area overall. I'd also like to see how the Noisette project turns out (if they ever start it).

[jr7777]

Lol, that may be a lost cause 

That along w/ Ashley Phosphate

I think alot of N Charleston's problem is it looks like crap. If they could in prove the look and reputation, it might help the area overall.

It seems impossible at this point, everything is just too spread out. Places like Trident Technical College and The Coliseum are in bad locations IMO. If places like this were closer together it might be easier to improve on the look.

Question: Why was N. Charleston allowed to be built like this anyway? Don't they have city planners to avoid this kind of thing?

[Charleston native]

Hmmm...well, if running for mayor would actually help the merging of the north city into Charleston, I'd probably do it! Here's the caveat: once you merge the north city into Charleston, you're no longer mayor, are you?

Actually, as mayor of the "soon-to-be-non-existent" north city, I would improve a number of things before the merger. This would help ease Charleston's citizens' worries of inheriting a big urban problem. I don't think I could reduce crime before the merger, however. That will eventually come into fruition with the city of Charleston's police having jurisdiction in the north area. The other police department just doesn't have a higher priority in their budget.

The north area definitely needs more walkable streets. I would create a program to build sidewalks along all major roads and highways, except International Blvd. which runs to the airport (that's for security reasons). Beautification projects of these major streets would be one of the first things I would get done. Some good ideas come from what Spartan suggested earlier...I would definitely see about lining Rivers Avenue, Ashley Phosphate, and Dorchester Road with palmetto trees and bury all utility lines. Then, sufficient street lighting would added. I would also try to facilitate building of walkways and bikeways throughout the area, much like has been done West Ashley. As far as sprawl, better zoning would need to implemented in order to enhance and control new developments. Noisette and other projects are already helping to reduce to sprawl. Oh yeah, I would change the name of the frickin' coliseum and convention center!!! The old mayor needs to realize that his facility involves more than just his city...it involves the Charleston metro area. So it would be renamed "Charleston Metro Coliseum and Convention Center" or they could just name it after the city's first mayor: "Bourne Coliseum".

Lastly, I would be a huge proponent or merging the north city with the city of Charleston government. I would negotiate with Mayor Riley into how the services and departments would merge, how city council would be organized, and a mayoral election for the much bigger city of Charleston (I would run, of course!).

[Jerseyman4]

If i were held one responsibility (that would be transportation of course) for N Charleston, it would be to improve Rivers Ave. Providing longer turn lanes WITH ARROWS, no two way roads along the median, LED traffic signals using the black mast arms (new traffic signals that Chas. is using now), crosswalks, flourescent street lights, brick sidewalks, reflective guide signage and landscaping should improve Rivers Ave. By providing business tax breaks for the first 2 years if businesses fix up their establishments would be a great start to improving N Charleston look by attracting more traffic to shop/dine out/bank/etc and reputation for what it is currently.

[Infinite1]

...and all these would be done without raising taxes...right....LOL j/k

Alot of what you guys are mentioning is actually being planned. Montague Ave is supposed to be streetscaped over its entire length. Rivers Ave (from Montague to Mc Millan I believe) is also under consideration for streetscaping..

..as to what I would do....its quite a daunting task, but I think you guys hit all the critical ones....Revitalize and re-engergize the city center (Noisette is a big help here)....Improve zoning and land use planning and stick to it (N. Chuck zoning is not significantly different than the other municipalities, but rezoning and variances are given out more readily).....I would try to stimulate "Village Like" mini-centers to turn one its biggest negatives (spread out and disjointed) into a positve....to name