The two words that best seem to describe West Ashley over the past two decades are “Left Out”. While Peninsula Charleston has enjoyed constant, pro-active attention to every detail of what makes it a livable and attractive community, no one has spent much time applying those same livability and attraction concepts to West Ashley.
On the peninsula, documenting the community and architectural history of that part of the city is almost second nature. Great concern is shown daily for preserving the harmony of neighborhood uses and for preserving the architectural appearance, scale and proportion of buildings within the neighborhoods. Nothing changes much at the street level without the input of neighborhood association representatives and the public. There is a delicate balance that is maintained at all cost between the rights of residents and the wishes of commercial interest in downtown Charleston; but when you cross the river into West Ashley, all that goes right out the window!
On the west side of the river the public policy focus almost immediately shifts to the all-important commercial corridors and their commercial uses…and the more intense the uses, the better. It is the rare occasion when West Ashley residents will take a stand against the City’s top-down policy of announcing to residents what the City is going to do to our neighborhoods, rather than allowing West Ashley residents to have meaningful input into what is best for West Ashley. The Turky’s Towing case was a prime example of this. The silver lining of that case was that West Ashley woke up and finally said no!
Now that people are beginning to pay attention to West Ashley, it’s time to look more closely at how we got to where we are and how we can hopefully get to a better place. West Ashley’s symptoms must be dealt with holistically if we are to reverse the suburban decay of our community. We must re-assert our own identity and begin dealing simultaneously with our zoning issues, community image, stalled neighborhood revitalization efforts, lack of affordable housing, transportation challenges, public facilities development, and the improvement of our public lands and their interconnectivity.
One of the first things that we must do for our community is to document and make available to our residents the wonderful history of this place that we call home. For the most part, residents of West Ashley are completely ignorant of its history. The fundamental problem with that fact is that people do not tend to take pride in things that mean nothing to them. Knowing our history will help us to do things like developing appropriate design guidelines for new construction that reflect who we are as a people and where we have come from as a community. Late Victorian and early 20th century wood frame farm buildings and railroad structures comprised much of our older built environment West of the Ashley. We should draw from those historic forms as we build up our community. It’s our identity and we need to reclaim it. Without our history being easily accessible to our people, the land between the Ashley and the Stono will never be fully appreciated and we will have no community identity.
During the last Historic Resources Survey of Charleston County, the decision was made to leave West Ashley out of the project. Twenty years later when historic structures began to be threatened with demolition, the demolitions were granted because the structures didn’t “show up on any historic inventories”. This is not a case of the buildings not being historic; it’s a case of them not being documented; it’s a case of nobody caring enough to record the history. This must be corrected.
There are literally thousands and thousands of pages of historic documents in the State Archives that record the history of West Ashley, or St. Andrews as the area has been historically known since the eighteenth century. The problem is that only a tiny handful of these documents have ever been scanned into the system where the public can obtain easy access via the internet.
We don’t know our history because our history is in a vault in Columbia and we have to drive 120 miles to see it. We should find a way to get these documents scanned and made available and we should be intentional about familiarizing people with what we find in our research. West Ashley’s full participation in the County’s Historic Resources Survey during 2015 and 2016 is a must.
The two jurisdictions that control land use in the West Ashley area, the City of Charleston and Charleston County, have never been able to finalize and adopt common community standards for the appropriate level of intensity of commercial uses along the West Ashley commercial corridors. The City and the County must adopt mutually agreed upon and jointly approved zoning overlay districts for all commercial corridors to prevent the further degradation of our adjoining neighborhoods. This is how we will prevent another massive storage facility like the one on St. Andrews Blvd. and how we will stop the proliferation of automobile dealerships on Savannah Highway.
We have frequently missed the opportunity to attract and retain affordable housing and neighborhood-focused commercial uses in these corridors like the drug stores, grocery stores, restaurants, department stores and other neighborhood supportive businesses that were once here, but which have now been supplanted by automobile dealerships that do little to serve the daily needs of West Ashley residents.
Code enforcement must be intensified. The best way to protect our tax base and keep our tax rates low is to have a strong code enforcement program in both the City and the County. A proactive property maintenance program is essential for private properties as well as public rights of way. There are sidewalks in the West Ashley area that are impassable because obstructions as large as palm trees have grown up in the cracks between the slabs. Buildings like the Kerr Drug building at Wappoo Rd. have not been cleaned or maintained in more than a decade. Large properties like Church Creek Shopping Center and Charleston Hardware continue to go vacant and threaten their adjoining neighborhoods with all the problems that come with vacant commercial buildings. We need more muscle and we don’t yet have it.
Less affluent neighborhoods with “good bones” like Ardmore have the ability to provide significant affordable housing in an area that desperately needs it. The problem is that people are scared to invest in areas where the only City Department with any visibility in the neighborhood is the Police Department.
That’s just not good enough. We need to press a little shoe leather to the pavement, define the problem properties in these areas that drive residents away and use all of our resources to clean these neighborhoods up and keep them that way. A thorough vacant land survey of these areas would be helpful. Low interest loans for new infill construction in these areas would be a great collaborative project with the Community Loan Fund.. Development of public land in these areas and others for affordable housing could give struggling families a leg up at a time when there has been little relief for the middle class.
Public transportation may seem limited to buses for now, but might we consider using small rubber tire trolleys, somewhat like elongated golf carts, on the old ACL and SAL rights of way that could shuttle residents from South Windermere all the way to the Clemson Extension with the historic crossing at DuPont, where passengers could change “trolleys” for Maryville. These vehicles would be more like elongated golf carts and would not interfere with the pedestrian and bicycle traffic. This would also help get bus traffic off Savannah Highway and other major corridors.
There will be almost a million people living in the tri-county area by 2030. We will need higher density housing and West Ashley is one of the logical places for it to go. Higher density residential and office development could easily be built at Croghan and Citadel Mall that would provide both ridership and commercial destinations for the trolleys at opposite ends of the Greenway.
New public facilities have been built West of the Ashley in recent years, but predominantly in conjunction with new construction on the periphery of the city. This is fine for attracting people to the new neighborhoods in the farthest reaches of the suburbs, but it does nothing for the older West Ashley neighborhoods which have never had these advantages. We need to go back and right some planning wrongs that have occurred here in the past fifty years.
We have parks, playgrounds, The Bike Path, and the Greenway in the older areas, but how much better would they be if these facilities were interconnected? The city has a perfect opportunity to create synergy from these assets at the Firefighter’s Memorial and the soon to be purchased 1901 Savannah Highway property.
The Firefighter’s Memorial in its present condition is an embarrassment. The families of the firefighters and the public deserve better and we should not be afraid to explore how to make that property something worthy of the lives it memorializes. Allowing this property to become a publicly sponsored West Ashley eyesore is unacceptable.
It appears that the city will be building a new fire station on the 1901 Savannah Highway property and that the rear of that property might become a neighborhood park. Why not make a portion of the entire Savannah Highway property a passive destination for those who use the Greenway and the Bike Path? There are people who now park their cars on the shoulders of our neighborhood streets to use the Greenway. Having a totally unused city-owned parking lot at the memorial property and not encouraging people to use it is a missed opportunity. Why not incorporate restrooms and a water fountain for the people who use the Greenway and the Bike Path into the design of the new fire station?
An improved crosswalk and landscaped median at Wappoo Road similar to the one just completed in Avondale, would make this dangerous intersection safe for the school children who cross there as well as for the people who might want to connect from the Bike Path to the Greenway.
One public facility that the residents of West Ashley have been asking for is a farmer’s market. Somewhere in the DuPont area, where all of these properties come together, is the logical place for a new farmer’s market to happen. Combining the farmer’s market with neighborhood meeting space and a small performance/exhibit space would keep the property occupied and functioning as a vibrant center of neighborhood activity. Music and arts programs could easily be run from such a facility. Perhaps when Stono Park School is replaced, the auditorium and classrooms could be repurposed for some of these neighborhood activities. It is a small manageable property.
West Ashley’s problems did not come about overnight and cannot be resolved in any piecemeal way. We have taken a long time to reach this “Critical Mess” and it’s time for us to decide who and what we want to be in West Ashley and how we are going to make it happen. What a great opportunity for all of us!
If You Were Mayor knows that cities benefit enormously from the energy, liveliness, and enthusiasm that come to neighborhoods when children are present. Kids in cities are always amazed, and amazing. Their curiosity is at its peak, and it does not take much encouragement for them to perceive the city as its own kind of amusement park. Don’t forget that Walt Disney started with the idea of Main Street in his vision of Disneyland.
While large municipal parks, such as Charleston’s Marion Square or Hampton Park, London’s Hyde Park, or New York’s Central Park, often define the physical character of a urban landscape, it is the neighborhood playground, as a shared living/play room, that forms an important social anchor for families in neighborhoods. Families and their friends meet in these outdoor spaces to play, socialize, and share in a unique, personal civic experience.
The history of the playground can be traced in some cities to a concern for the safety of children playing in the streets. A 1901 study in New York found that more than 500 children were either killed or seriously injured by moving vehicles prompting the city to build its first publicly commissioned playground, Seward Park, in 1903. This New Yorker article refers to the absolute mayhem that cut short the park’s auspicious dedication ceremony when 20,000 kids stormed past more than 200 police officers to get to the seesaws, swings, and sandboxes. These early playgrounds focused on physical activity rather than fantasy, perhaps sacrificing imagination for exercise, and always featuring the “four S’s” – swings, seesaw, sandbox, and slide.
More recent playgrounds in the US have gone beyond just exercise and the installation of the more expected equipment (the “S’s”) with spaces that invite more imaginative play. One approach has been through an arrangement of elements in the larger landscape that can be interpreted in a variety of ways, such as an expanse of sand, some water, a few climbing ropes, and a structure or tower. In some parks, these fixed places are then supplemented by an array of “loose parts,” such as oversized blocks, that can be assembled in an infinite manner to create forts or rooms or castles or ships.
Charleston was not far behind in the early 20th century movement to create outdoor recreation parks for children and their families, and opened its first public playground in 1910 at 145 Fishburne Street. It was (and is) known as Mitchell Playground, named after the nearby elementary school, and featured swings, monkey bars, and joggling boards. During the era of segregation, this park exclusively served the African-American community while Hampton Park was reserved for whites. Today, it has had a few updates along the way, but the turf is spotty where the soil is hard-packed. Its 2-acres suggest that there is probably room for a “playground of the imagination.”
If your neighborhood needs a park or playground, or your neighborhood playground could use a facelift, please post it to our Ideas page and share with your neighbors and friends to give your idea a boost.
Ever consider how culture can shape a neighborhood or give it identity through community-based arts? Our second interview, in a series featuring some of Charleston’s civic-minded organizations, is with Kate Nevin, Founder of Enough Pie, a non-profit working to do just that (some examples of their work can be seen on our Projects page). A year ago we did not know Kate well but we did share a view from neighboring offices on Upper King Street. Rumor had it that she had loads of ideas, so we reached out and soon discovered an ally and booster of our IYWM concept.
Tell us about Enough Pie’s mission and how that segues with the question of livability in Charleston? Our mission is to build and support a sense of community in Charleston’s Upper Peninsula using a tool set developed as part of the creative placemaking movement in use around the world. EP’s initiatives promote art and cultural activities as a central part of an inclusive and inspiring community. We are a relatively new organization and our earliest efforts in this area focused on developing a homegrown sense of the possibilities in this community – a placesaving strategy where everyone could feel that they had a part to play.
In the intervening two years we’ve been cultivating an arts and cultural framework for this neighborhood, using creative placemaking to catalyze ideas and make things happen. We’ve also found that partnerships – public/private, business/resident, citizen/artist – allow us to leverage more effectively the area’s creative energy into projects that are community-oriented and collectively transformational. These have included pop-ups, art installations, and creative collaborations with a broad range of organizations, such as Meeting Street Academy, Charleston Promise Neighborhood, Historic Charleston Foundation, and many local arts groups. All of these have been free and open to the public.
Our community feels empowered through these efforts to make our neighborhood better. We believe that we can retain the value of its accessibility, affordability, and diversity, and, simultaneously, welcome more like-minded businesses, organizations, and residents. We must continually foster the belief that there is truly “enough pie” for everyone when we think creatively, act deliberately, and practice inclusivity.
And, what if you were Mayor? I would choose an artist as one of my lead advisors. No political science, urban planning or policy experience needed. As to qualifications, I would look for a working artist with an impressive portfolio of community-minded, socially-progressive artwork and installations. Artists have an incredible way of opening us up to different possibilities and alternative ways of seeing. Ultimately artists provide us with better tools for connecting with each other. I would call this position Chief of Community Connectivity. The COCC’s main responsibility would be to take the hairy, messy, complicated issues that vex our City and use the language and perspective of art to find creative and executable solutions.
If you would like to be part of how a community’s sense of place can be enhanced through art and culture, then check out Enough Pie by starting with the projects EP has shared with If You Were Mayor.
You may have heard that we have a special contest for ideas! That rumor is fact! And, there is a $50 gift certificate to a local restaurant waiting to go to the Idea that generates the most comments, likes, and shares (Facebook, Twitter). For this inaugural contest, any idea posted qualifies, including those that have been up since our kickoff. The contest runs until February 20th.
Posting an idea is easy. If you haven’t already, sign up. Then, log in and write out your pitch. Note that we have some rules and terms that apply to content (like being positive, constructive, etc.); and, we will remove anything that we deem doesn’t meet these conditions. This is an effort to build community.
Your idea also needs to get categorized. That helps people find it in the future and points it out to others who have a particular area of interest or focus. Pick the category you think it fits into best – Transportation (the scooter icon), Education (lightbulb), Economic Opportunity (the graph), Arts & Culture (trumpet), or Neighborhoods, Parks, & Housing (bird on a branch). Without this click, the post can’t go up.
Finally, take a little initiative and promote your idea to your friends and family using email and social media. We’ve tried to think of everything to make it easier, including giving you links to Facebook and Twitter.
So use your imagination and dream of something for the future of Charleston that would make you smile.
Food is a big topic in Charleston. There is a very successful Farmers’ Market; and, several organizations and groups cultivate gardens on public school grounds and offer the bounty to the students. You can get involved through the links below. Several of the city’s restaurants routinely land on lists featuring the nation’s best. The food scene is a big hook for tourists and one of the cultural draws that attracts new residents. Many locals, in fact, have come to anxiously await Restaurant Week, a seasonal promotion of the Greater Charleston Restaurant Association, when a chance to try one of the area’s more popular spots is within the realm of possibility, both economically and without a reservation.
I routinely seize the opportunity to share an early dinner with my teenaged daughter Olive at one of our favorites on upper King Street. We enjoy the time to talk about the local specialties that we would not attempt at home (especially fish), and what people elsewhere must be missing. One plum of parenting has been introducing a variety of interesting and nutritional local food into her life experience so that she has a broader appreciation of this place she will always call home.
Over the past few years teaching young children about food (and nutrition) has gained cultural and historical significance. NPR’s Eleanor Beardsley once had a memorable story on her child’s culinary education in a French day care facility (here). And the New York Times recently ran a story (here) in the Times Magazine featuring a group of public school second graders who were treated to a meal at the acclaimed New York restaurant Daniel. The accompanying video will bring to mind one’s own childhood reaction to an inscrutable dish.
Two of the Charleston region’s non-profits that have gone to the garden for inspiration include The Charleston Area Children’s Garden Project and The Green Heart Project. These “farm”-to-table approaches in public schools help children recognize “where food comes from” and its healthy benefits, as well as reinforcing an overall sense of community. Coupled with the ability for many families to use SNAP in local farmers markets, the push toward healthier, locally-sourced meals is even more possible for everyone.
Bottom line: Food is a significant marker of the health, vitality, and quality of life in our community.