DI GOP Club holds first candidate forum

The newly formed Daniel Island GOP Club held its first ever candidate forum last Monday, October 21 at the Daniel Pointe Retirement Community. The Charleston mayoral and city council candidates offered their solutions to a number of issues facing the city.

Mayoral candidates who participated included Maurice Washington, Gary White, John Tecklenburg, Mike Seekings, and Renee Orth. Candidate Sheri Irwin planned to attend but called organizers to advise them she was ill that morning.

Both candidates for city council District 1, Mary Delcioppo and Angela Black Drake, participated.

The forum was moderated by Mark Smith. Perhaps in anticipation of the negative campaigning that has emerged in the last weeks before the election, Smith noted at the end of the forum how difficult it can be to put yourself and your families out there when you seek public office and that the candidates’ willingness to serve the community is appreciated.

The order for answering questions was based on choosing a number from a hat. Each candidate introduced themselves and then picked individual questions from a hat. They were each able to play a “wild card” to add an answer to another candidate’s question.

The responses to specific questions and wild card explanations are presented in the order of speakers.

MIKE SEEKINGS

Mayoral candidate Mike Seekings said that if given a $1 million dollar grant for the city, he would work toward progress on transportation and mobility, including connecting West Ashley to downtown with a separate stand-alone bridge.

Seekings noted that trash collection is an issue across the entire city, not just on Daniel Island, and that he supports more efficient collection, which means holding partners to their obligations and making sure they meet city requirements.

MARIE DELCIOPPO

Given the opportunity to implement a policy and eliminate a policy, Charleston City Council District 1 candidate Marie Delcioppo explained that she would implement more public safety measures involving police and fire, especially as new areas are developed, and that she would likely eliminate certain city departments by merging them.

Delcioppo suggested truck traffic issues on I-526 could be addressed by limiting truck traffic to certain times of the day, by having the truck lanes functioning, and by extending the truck lane from the bridge to the Longpoint Road exit, heading from Daniel Island toward Mount Pleasant.

GARY WHITE

Candidate for mayor Gary White was asked to identify his best qualities for mayor. He stressed his business and commercial background and his experience managing money and employees, as well as his 12 years of experience as a city councilman addressing municipal policies.

White used his wild card to address the cost of parking, an issue originally addressed by mayoral candidate Maurice Washington. White said that parking costs heavily impact the hospitality industry, residents, and downtown businesses. He serves on an ad hoc committee that is working to roll back parking fees and finding ways to offset the revenue loss.

When asked about keeping or removing Charleston’s Civil War Confederate monuments, White said that each side is not willing to find a middle ground so he supports a referendum to let the voters decide.

JOHN TECKLENBURG

Incumbent Mayor John Tecklenburg said that if he could change one thing in the zoning code, he would remove residential construction from areas zoned light and heavy industrial.

Tecklenburg also used his wild card to address the issue of homelessness that was originally answered by candidate Renee Orth. He said he was proud of how the city handled the “tent city” by working collaboratively to find homes, open a daytime center and help with medical care and job placement. He stressed that compassion leads to empowerment.

If re-elected, Tecklenburg said his top priority is to deal with water – flooding, sea water rise, hurricanes, and drainage — and he has a five-point strategy to address the problem that he sees as the number one issue affecting the future of the city.

RENEE ORTH

Candidate for mayor Renee Orth stressed that homelessness is a moral and ethical problem that needs to be addressed, and homeless people should not be treated as criminals but as individuals who need a hand up. She said that Charleston is a wealthy city and citizens should work together to solve the problem, not government. She supports auxiliary dwellings and tiny houses.

When asked about lowering taxes, Orth explained that you cannot realistically expect to lower taxes when the city is faced with rising sea levels, hurricanes and the costs associated with fixing these problems and with maintaining infrastructure over the long term. She said the city cannot keep growing its way out of problems.

ANGELA BLACK DRAKE

Candidate for City Council District 1 Angela Black Drake said she favored a balanced approach to new construction when asked if she favored building new or rehabilitating old buildings. Sometimes new construction is needed, she said, but rehabbing existing buildings in the downtown area retains the historic nature of the city. She stressed it is a balance of zoning, a balance of space and a balance of budgets.

Drake said the way to address traffic violations is to increase police presence on the roadway by hiring more officers. She noted there needs to be more money in the budget for police.

MAURICE WASHINGTON

Addressing the topic of flooding, candidate for mayor Maurice Washington said nature had provided wetlands as natural mitigators to flooding and that the city should immediately stop filling in wetlands or allowing construction on wetlands. He said planning and zoning should drive development, rather than development driving planning and zoning. He also said he would implement the recommendations that came out of the Dutch Dialogue.

He said that the cost of parking is a killer on downtown businesses and suggested cutting parking costs, while managing other debt more appropriately to cover the lost revenue.

Washington used his closing argument as a wild card to address the Confederate monument issue. He said he opposes destroying monuments and that we need to preserve history.

Yes/No questions

1. Would you support construction of a traffic circle at the corner of Seven Farms Drive and River Landing Drive? All candidates said yes in support of a traffic circle.

2. Would you step up enforcement of leash laws on Daniel Island? All candidates except Renee Orth said yes. During her closing comments, Orth said this is exactly the type of issue citizens should work out by talking with one another and not involving government.

3. Would you work to have a public boat landing on Daniel Island? All candidates said yes.

4. Should the City of Charleston have a building moratorium? Only candidate Maurice Washington said yes.