West Ashley’s power trio on City Council is prodding Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. to keep this part of town’s interest near the top of his agenda.
During a City Council meeting last week, Councilmen Aubry Alexander, Bill Moody, and Keith Waring presented Riley with a letter with an initial request for help with lining up county, state, and federal money for West Ashley roadway projects.
By doing so during the meeting, the letter was entered into city records, a bit of a power move. Added to that was the signatures of the other four councilmembers who represent at least a portion of West Ashley: Marvin Wagner, James Lewis, Rodney Williams, and Dean Reigl.
Kathleen Wilson, who represents James Island on council, signed the letter, too, for added oomph.
The letter asks the mayor, who is in his 40th and final year in office, to have staff create a “conceptual” infrastructure plan for West Ashley’s major roads, including state highways 7, 17, and 61.
The request comes with a laundry list of very “real world” improvements, from bus stop pullovers to installing conduit for future fiber optic cable installation.
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Alexander said now is the time for action, because of all the interest in West Ashley, brought on in part by City Hall’s redevelopment efforts beginning at the moribund Citadel Mall, and spreading out down the Sam Rittenberg Boulevard commercial corridor, and on to area parks and gateways
Usually, West Ashley councilmembers making requests for public projects have looked somewhat jealously at improvements on the peninsula, wondering why similar efforts didn’t take root on this side of the Ashley River.
This time, though, their eyes crossed the Cooper River, and looked enviously at what Mount Pleasant has been able to do improving its roadways over the past decade.
The “West Ashley 7,” who make up a majority of the 13-person council, want to have a slice of that same money pie for improvements here.
Alexander and Moody had much praise for the work the late Harry Hallman did as mayor of that town, in regards to garnering matching funding for projects that received big chunks of the county’s half-cent sales tax.
Moody said the city has to make the request for matching funding from the county and state and beyond. But to do that, there has to be a plan in place.
“When that money first became available, Mayor Hallman was ready to go, with a shovel-ready plan,” said Alexander, referring to the mast arm traffic signals and other elements that have since come to help define Mount Pleasant’s visual landscape.
Does that mean Hallman was a better mayor than Riley?
Moody laughed. “When Hallman was getting the improvements in line, Riley was getting Daniel Island. I think they were both good mayors.”
RIley was unreachable by telephone late last week.
Moody said another key to getting funding for any infrastructure improvements would be the creation of a “TIF” zone in West Ashley. Tax increment financing is a public financing method used by governments to designate taxes collected in an area for use in that area for specific purposes, like infrastructure.
Long utilized on the peninsula, the trio of Alexander, Waring, and Moody lead the push for creation of a TIF zone on this side of the Ashley River for the betterment of West Ashley.
Moody said a TIF zone should be completed for West Ashley by the end of this calendar year, at about the same time Riley will step down from office.
Moody downplayed the presentation of the letter in council as a “power move,” as he said the mayor had been consulted on many of the issues covered in the letter, and had already said to send the request to him.
But by keeping the requests in the papers and in council, Moody said it would help keep West Ashley’s best interests on the front burner at City Hall.
