The Citistates Report

A Lowcountry Valentine (And the glass half-empty)

We've focused for the past four Sundays on an array of hard Charleston-area challenges - growth and its dilemmas, transportation, development of the 'New Neck,' the imperative of more unified regional leadership. Read More

Is housing for all a possibility?

The ferocious housing inflation of recent years has made Charleston-area homeownership, or even an affordable apartment, hard for even average wage-earners to achieve. On top of that, the heavy pressures of gentrification are forcing people of less means out of their Charleston neighborhoods, often northward out of the city entirely. Read More

Schools for the whole community

Could 21st-century schools start to reknit our communities while providing critical basic education? Read More

The price of having it all

Planning for the region people want

Growth is good, people told us. But traffic is bad. A resilient, expansive economy is what we want, you said. But also the tourist magnet of historic land and homes. Those are values colliding with each other. A bigger one's coming — possibly a momentous collision. ... Read More

Democratizing development gets citizens involved

Process leads to more compromise and fewer 'NIMBY' fights

Should development "just happen"? Or should residents of specific neighborhoods or geographic areas be invited to envision just how they'd like to see nearby development proceed over time? As an alternative to developers calling the tune solo, or city and county officials making sudden "top... Read More

Warming to the times

Like it or not, overwhelming evidence says global warming will impact the planet, and without question, the Charlotte region. South Carolina anglers and hunters are already noticing such changes as earlier springs and hotter summers. Even without ocean rise, veteran South Carolina game warden Ben... Read More

New cities north of 526?

Where and how will the region grow in the years ahead? There are promising ideas to concentrate more population close to today's jobs, in the Charleston-North Charleston Neck Area. But North of Interstate 526, there's potential for intense development too. Logical locations are in the area... Read More

Road Rage and the future of transit across the Lowcountry

Nick Salvucci is a young man with a family and a good job in the Charleston region. But nearly every day, he has to do battle with the transportation trap that the Charleston region has become. Salvucci works for an advertising firm in West Ashley, and up until last spring he worked at the... Read More

Summerville to Charleston: Making rail a reality

OK. You've studied it — twice. Now it's time to write checks and try it out. The track exists, with the owner, Norfolk Southern, open to a track-sharing arrangement. Sure, there are issues. Some track upgrading and better signaling at cross streets are needed, and at the downtown Cha... Read More

Solving the transportation puzzle that the port presents

It should be the Charleston region's worst transportation nightmare — the Port of Charleston completes its new Navy Base terminal, the special connector road to Interstate 95 is constructed and the trucks start to roar through — 7,000 daily, one every six seconds du... Read More

A Promising New Economy

All by itself, the dramatic change in the residential landscape bursting on the New Neck would put it at center stage in the region's growth. But there are even more reasons for optimism. ... Read More

New Neighborhoods: Breakthroughs where least expected

Today there's no place in the three counties more alive with interesting development and redevelopment experiments - some of cutting-edge quality - than the Neck and the North Area. ... Read More

The New Neck

Sliver of land the size of Manhattan yields widening opportunity, new perils

— North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey couldn't be more right about the importance of the Neck, and that's partly because, as a zone of opportunity, it's getting bigger. Longtimers think of the Neck as that narrow territory starting at Mount Pleasant... Read More

The Port and the Environment:

Collision course or not?

The grand new expansion of the Port of Charleston is said to have dazzling economic pluses. But what about the environment and public health? Charleston-area business and political leaders have embraced the mega-port operation, adding three major new berths for freight-bearing ships and mor... Read More

Push to preserve is alive and well

Some places have a lot more value than the cash they'd fetch. ... Read More