3 takeaways from Charleston’s state of the city — and what Tecklenburg didn’t talk about

Mayor John Tecklenburg, the leader of South Carolina’s largest city, turned much of his attention toward the water on Tuesday when he outlined his vision for Charleston as it continues to confront chronic flooding, rising seas and more extreme weather events due to climate change.

In a nearly 16-minute “State of the City” address delivered from inside the city council chambers, the mayor urged action on three major policy areas: flooding, affordable housing and public safety.

But the mayor only characterized one issue as an existential threat to the city itself.

“The water is rising, the clock is ticking, and the future of our city is in the balance,” Tecklenburg said.

As Charleston officials plot the next chapter in the historic city’s future, here are the three big topics that dominated Tecklenburg’s address and two topics that were absent from his remarks.

The big ideas

Address flooding, build the seawall

Tecklenburg said water has been Charleston’s greatest asset and biggest challenge. But now, he said the city must take bold action to address the flooding that threatens to swallow this low-lying region.

He painted the options before the city in unflinching terms.

“Today, we face a stark choice: Either keep moving forward with our comprehensive plans to protect the city from flooding, or begin moving away to higher ground,” Tecklenburg said.

It’s why, the mayor said, the city is spending more than $100 million to advance flooding, mitigation and drainage plans. He also said the city will soon begin work on more than a dozen flood-protection projects in West Ashley, James Island and Johns Island.

The projects vary in size, like ditch cleaning, upgrading and installing new infrastructure and building parks that can retain stormwater.

He then encouraged city council to continue its work with the Army Corps of Engineers to design and engineer a seawall, saying the wall stands to “protect our citizens from devastating inundation, be it from storm surge, from tides or from sea level rise.”

Address affordable housing

Last year, a study conducted by the city laid bare a startling reality: Charleston is going to need a lot more affordable housing.

After city staff crunched the numbers, they discovered Charleston would need at least an additional 16,351 affordably priced homes and apartments by 2030 if it hoped to meet demand and population booms.

Tecklenburg pointed out in his speech the city’s $50 million investment in affordable housing funds to build units that teachers, firefighters, servers and retail workers can afford.

He said the city has implemented “tough new laws” that require every large development, including hotels in this tourist destination city, to either provide affordable housing or contribute an equivalent dollar amount to the city’s housing fund.

“As a result, there are already thousands of new affordable homes and apartments in the pipeline — with more being planned every day,” Tecklenburg said.

One of the housing projects he cited will soon get underway at 275 Huger St., where the mayor said 12 units of “old, rundown public housing” will be replaced with 72 modern apartments. Among the groundbreakings expected in 2022 is a new housing complex for people who are trying to transition out of homelessness.

But Tecklenburg also hinted at major overhauls and revamping of the city’s existing affordable housing units.

“Over the next decade, this work will continue at every public housing facility in the city, until every Housing Authority apartment is clean, modern and safe, and (until) 1,500 to 2,000 affordable homes have been added to the city’s inventory,” Tecklenburg said.

Address public safety, install more cameras

Tecklenburg almost shouted the words when he declared that the city has increased — not decreased — its police budget every year since he was elected to the mayor’s office.

He said the city’s police department has seen its budget increase by almost $10 million each year. Tecklenburg also said the city has made “significant investments” in recruitment and retention.

The mayor, who faced public criticism in 2020 after peaceful protests gave way to a violent night of civil unrest on the downtown Charleston peninsula, also presented a specific idea for a way to make the city safer: more cameras.

Tecklenburg said over the next few weeks he will be asking City Council to set aside $1 million of the city’s federal relief funds to fund a new police program that will “expand and improve camera coverage” throughout the city.

The idea came at the strong recommendation of Chief Luther Reynolds and his command staff, Tecklenburg said.

Along with more cameras, Tecklenburg announced he would be personally lobbying state lawmakers for a bail and sentencing reform bill.

Two issues unaddressed

Racial justice in Charleston

In his 2021 address, Tecklenburg declared that racial oppression and injustice had “torn at our city’s soul” since its founding more than 350 years ago.

But Tuesday, Tecklenburg didn’t give significant attention to racial justice, a weighty issue that still looms in the city that was once America’s slave trade capital.

Tecklenburg did not wade into two ongoing debates about the future of the city’s Commission on Equity, Diversity and Racial Conciliation and a request to display the John C. Calhoun statue in a Los Angeles art exhibit.

When Tecklenburg mentioned race on Tuesday night, it was in the context of improvements made in the city’s police department.

“We’ve worked in partnership with our officers to make enforcement more fair, more accountable, more effective for all our residents, regardless of race or walk of life,” he said. “And we’ve done all that while increasing police patrols and improving community relations in the areas of our city where our officers are needed the most.”

Charleston and the COVID-19 pandemic

As Tecklenburg spoke, masked attendees listened to him speak. The city had encouraged the public to watch Tuesday’s speech and meeting online, citing its own current COVID-19 protocols.

But Tecklenburg said nothing about the ongoing pandemic in his address, even as local hospitals report a steady climb in COVID-19 hospitalizations as the omicron variant spreads.