SOA Opens as Construction Site

A drive around the new Center for Arts and Academics last weekend made two facts obvious: the school buildings were not finished, despite the January 4th opening of the School of the Arts, and the entrance to the school campus should have been on Montague Avenue.

Academic Magnet students should be glad that more of the campus (dare we say all?) will be complete by next fall. Meanwhile, SOA students have much to contend with, as shown in Monday's article in the P&C, Inspiring Place:

"The vast majority of the school will be ready for students to use today, with the exception of the theater, costume design and musical theater classrooms. About 100 students will be shuttled to the school's former campus for those classes until construction is complete, which should be no later than March. Students will be able to eat in the cafeteria, but the kitchen won't be operational for another couple of weeks. Hot meals will be brought over from the school's former building." My favorite part is the "extra" gym, caused by poor planning regarding the addition of the Academic Magnet. And SOA doesn't even have any athletic teams.

At least the shuttle won't be going very far! Of more concern is the narrowness of the street that will now be inundated with buses and cars. Furthermore, CCSD has planned for major traffic jams next fall by putting two schools on the same campus.

Still, it's nice to see that these SOA students will have the performance spaces they deserve.

Can We Find It on a Map?

What makes the P & C shy away from using maps? Does it cost more? As I read about the extension of the Glenn McConnell Parkway in West Ashley in Friday's edition [ Council OKs Glenn McConnell Extension], I couldn't visualize where the road would end. I'm in that area fairly frequently. How about those who rarely travel there?

Bees Ferry Circle? Long Savannah and Village Green?

Wouldn't it be informative to readers to show all the impacted areas on a MAP? Maybe if more readers had maps to reference, they might even understand possible impacts of the new extensions.

Then again, maybe that's why there is no map!

Bill "Tear-em-Down" Lewis Continues CCSD Rampage

My prediction is that, when Bill Lewis gets through with CCSD, there won't be a building left standing that wasn't built on his watch.

The latest controversy is over tearing down the Jennie Moore Elementary building in Mt. Pleasant. See [Group fights to save school .] Funny thing, those most affected are objecting. Today's P & C neatly encapsulates Lewis's philosophy of razing. According to the article,

Bill Lewis is executive director of the school district's building program.

• which qualifies him to tear down every ante-Lewis school in the County.
  

The preservation group [Gullah Heritage Foundation] has been invited to participate in the planning process for the new schools to ensure the Gullah heritage is incorporated in the new campus. . .

• a plaque? a picture?
  

but the school district isn't in the position to give a building to them because the Jennie Moore land is needed for new schools, [Lewis] said.

• because of the way he's planning to utilize the property
  

The school district has been able to buy the land adjacent to Jennie Moore, which is an ideal spot for the new Laing

• which brings up another school that shouldn't be moved, but when Bill Lewis talks, CCSD listens--or is it the other way around?
  

and creates a similar synergy to the schools in Park West, Lewis said.

• "Synergy" is a 50-cent word for "traffic jam"
  

Jennie Moore will be expanded from 500 to 800 students,

• so that it will lose its small-school atmosphere and become another "government learning center" to warehouse students
  

and the cost to renovate, expand and ensure that it meets current codes would cost almost the same as a new building, he said.

• well, then don't expand. Anyway, after what's happened with Lewis's figures on renovating the old Rivers High Building, does anyone trust his calculations?
  

Laing Middle also will be expanded,

• so that it, too, will become another government learning center to warehouse students
  

and its current site is too small to hold a new school with the desired capacity.

• let's see--who's desiring this capacity? Lewis or the parents of students now slated to attend Laing?
  

The district plans to sell the Laing site and use the proceeds to help fund its new building.

• Sell? No kidding. I wonder which developer with ties to CCSD and Joe Riley will be buying.
  

All schools are built to be community centers, Lewis said.

• Well, now that's clear!

CCSD's Interesting Summer

Taking shape in the "lazy, hazy days of summer" are developments in the Charleston County School District.

1. After a stint of 10 years, respected and effective Burke High School teacher Andrew HaLevi joins the district office as a disciplinary hearings officer. No comment in today's P & C from HaLevi, founder of the Charleston Teacher Alliance and Charleston Futures, who just returned from a year's sabbatical in Israel. Soul-searching led him away from the classroom? The district chose to keep last year's replacement in place? He thinks he can make more of a difference in the new position? Or was this move involuntary?
2. Clearly voluntary is Michael Tolley's joining Maria Goodloe-Johnson in the position of director of instruction in Seattle. Tolley was principal at Burke prior to becoming principal of Academic Magnet three years ago. G-J appointed Tolley as interim associate superintendent for more than one constituent district prior to appointing him principal of AMHS. According to the P & C, the school will have an interim for only "two or three months."
3. Three school board members--Hillery Douglas, Gregg Meyers, and Toya Hampton-Green--show where their true interests lie by skipping the CCSD meeting of July 23rd in order to see and be seen at the Democratic debate. In a roundabout way their absence leads to postponement of a decision on the size of the new Stall High School building project, which hardly seems likely to be finished in time for its proposed opening at this rate. And they say politics has nothing to do with education!
4. Unhappy neighbors of St. Andrews Magnet for Math & Science are placated somewhat by McGinley's semi-promise to remove two mobile classrooms of the three that suddenly appeared next to the school last year. The land, owned by the district, had been used as a park for 50 years, and the surrounding neighbors woke up one morning to trailers. Inexplicable is how the school's carefully controlled population could burgeon about 75 students over the limit while no one noticed. Hmm. No one seems to know why or even how many out-of-the-neighborhood students attend, but parents' cars are a serious traffic problem. Will the promised address-check of all magnets resolve this mystery?

The Port of Charleston: A Bedtime Story

"Port Takes Big Tumble" should have been the screaming headline on the FRONT page of the Newsless Courier today instead of the Business section. Not that the headlines that were on the front page were unimportant, but locals (especially those who have moved here from other regions) need to wake up to the importance of the port's success to Charleston.

Imagine. Little pipsqueak Savannah outranks Charleston for the first time--that's the first time EVER since the two cities were settled. See
http://www.charleston.net/assets/webPages/departmental/news/Stories.aspx?section=business&tableId=128733&pubDate=1/31/2007

How did this happen? Here's a bedtime story.

Once upon a time the SPA decided to build a new container port on Daniel Island for its wonderful access to I-526. As the state dawdled, wealthy locals and Northern transplants built their houses on same, despite the knowledge that a port would be built on one end of their island paradise. Fast forward. . .

Oh, no! these wealthy citizens cried! We can't allow the port to be built on Daniel Island. We must pressure our state legislature, the state port authority, and anyone else in power to build it somewhere else, anywhere else, but preferably in a place where wealthy people don't live! So they did.

And their governmental representatives responded as they were pressured to do. And building of the new port was delayed, and delayed, and DE-layed as new sites were considered and vetted.

Meanwhile, the wealthy homeowners on Daniel Island rejoiced and their homes' values skyrocketed, probably even faster than in the rest of the Lowcountry, because now no imminent threat of (horrors) a port's being built on their island paradise threatened their value.

And everyone on the island paradise lived happily ever after, knowing that no noise or traffic from a port would ever invade their peace. THE END. . . .

Except,

The State of Georgia didn't have such myopic influential citizens, apparently, and now SAVANNAH rules!

Will Charleston ever regain its standing, second only to NY-NJ, as a port on the East Coast?

Not at this rate. Not until its citizens take the port seriously again.

They Will Build, Road or Not

The Newsless Courier's lead article today on extending I-526 was timely. No one is more in tune than I to the build up of traffic east-bound to Mount Pleasant; however, no one is more sure that extending I-526 to Johns Island is the only viable option.

Read this description from a local real estate agency:

John's Island lies due west of the Charleston peninsula, serving as a "gateway" island for its more famous neighbors, Kiawah and Seabrook. Technically an island because it is surrounded by the Intracoastal Waterway, the Stono River, the Kiawah River and Bohicket Creek, John’s is protected from the ocean by the islands surrounding it.
A patchwork of natural waterways separated by farmland, residential property and commercial development, John's Island has always served as the agricultural heart of the area. In fact, much of the produce that distinguishes the unique flavors of Lowcountry Cuisine is grown on John's Island. Spinach, sweet corn, broccoli, collards, okra, melons, pumpkins, cucumbers, strawberries, Brussels sprouts, zucchini, asparagus, blueberries and a variety of different lettuces, all make their way to the stove pots in homes and restaurants across the area.
John's Island is the largest tomato producer in the country, with a wide variety of different types of tomatoes suited to the area. Everything from the tried and true old faithful and heirloom varieties to the hot new designer varieties grow well in this Lowcountry climate. And Wadmalaw Sweet Onions, which are also grown on John’s Island, are said to rival Vidalia Onions for their sweetness and distinctive flavor.
In recent years, John's Island has not gone unnoticed by developers. With its diverse natural scenery and long stretches of ancient oaks, the island offers a quiet, country lifestyle in close proximity to the city of Charleston.

Not unnoticed by developers, tourists visiting Kiawah & Seabrook, and, in fact, natives of the Low Country.

I actually can remember Johns Island in the fifties because my mother taught home economics at the high school for a brief time. I remember the disgusting taste of the artesian-well water produced by its water fountains. As part of the curriculum, my mother visited the homes of the girls she taught. They were POOR; learning canning was a way to eat better, not an experiment in living close to nature. Later, when Charleston had too much rain and the tomatoes couldn't be shipped out, we had baskets of fantastic-tasting tomatoes sold by the side of the roads for practically nothing.

That world is gone and has been for a good, long time now. It's not coming back [and many people would say, thank goodness!]. The one that is coming will include very few farms so close to the coast and/or Charleston. Hey--there were pig farms in the New Jersey Meadowlands not sooo long ago--you could practically smell them from Manhattan. They're gone. New Jersey produced vegetables for New York City and Philadelphia. After all, why do you think it's called the Garden State? Now it's one of the most densely populated states in America. Not too many farms left, either.

Those who don't want to have I-526 extended--what is your alternative? There must be one, unless, of course, you look forward to sitting in gridlocked traffic as there is now on I-26 and Ashley Phosphate.

Not building roads is NOT an option; it's merely wishful thinking.

The Don Halt Redux

Vacation's over. We need only experience the Don Halt Bridge at 7:35 am to know. Today's complete "halt on the Holt" was the result of a stalled car in the left eastbound lane and a disabled car just over the bridge in the right-hand lane.

I repeat myself: I-526 has reached capacity. The slightest anomaly sends it into gridlock, east or west-bound. We know this. We know growth continues. Are we going to wait until it mirrors Ashley Frustrate and I-26 before we even DISCUSS widening or building another highway to take the pressure off?

Yes, I know the picture is of a California traffic jam. That's what the Don Halt will look like next year.

Traffic Report: Mark Clark "Speed" Zone

Today--no halt on the Don Holt at 7:35 am, but the causeway was bopping along at 35 miles per hour--that's in a 65 mph zone. Don't expect to see the Mt. Pleasant police complaining about speeding there!

Same reason--HEAVY TRAFFIC, no accidents or rubber-necking delays. Surely someone besides yours truly thinks 526 has hit the saturation point.

I suppose it will (sigh) take the pols another 20 years to notice. Meanwhile, they build another interstate (I-73) to Myrtle Beach through the hinterlands.

Traffic Report--Don Halt Bridge

On a sunny day, no accidents, at 7:35 a.m., headed east towards Mt. Pleasant--today we stopped again at the top of the Don Holt Bridge. No reason. EXCEPT HEAVY TRAFFIC. It should be called the Don Halt Bridge.

When will the local pols & media get wise to the idea that another highway is needed? Or are they still lamenting the opening of the last one?

Gridlock in 2013: Navy Base Port or Not!

Which do YOU think is more important to Charleston and the Lowcountry: that the old Myrtle Beach Pavilion is going to close down or that "even if a cargo terminal isn't built at the former Navy base in North Charleston" in 2013 (that's seven years from now) "sections of I26 will come to a standstill during peak traffic."
http://charleston.net/assets/webPages/departmental/news/Stories.aspx?section=business&tableId=108943&pubDate=9/20/2006
This a dozen years sooner than the previous estimate, yet the news is buried in the largely-ignored (for good reasons) Business section of today's paper (that's 9B) while a large picture and headlines concerning the Myrtle Beach Pavilion were splashed all over the front page of Sunday's paper.

DOES the paper have a responsibility to educate and inform the public?

It won't happen this way.