In the wake of the disturbing Memorial Day shooting following an out-of-control house party on Charleston’s East Side, it was hardly surprising that some residents’ frustrations boiled over. One property owner told a Post and Courier reporter that the neighborhood’s problems go deeper than just unauthorized parties and said residents often feel as if city officials have forgotten them, adding, “Unless you’re in the high-tax bracket part of the city, the city doesn’t care.”
It’s a serious claim, particularly at a time when Charleston, like many places, is examining racial biases in law enforcement and other services. The East Side is a neighborhood in transition but still is thought of by many as one of the city’s largest and most vibrant African American neighborhoods. So we decided to look into the complaint.
Unfortunately, it’s difficult to compare the amount of attention various neighborhoods receive, because their needs are so different: One needs more police while another needs better zoning; one needs more affordable housing while another needs better roads. That means any comparison is subjective — judged largely by the eye of the beholder.
What we can say is that the city began paying special attention to the East Side neighborhood in the fall of 2019, after a high-profile crime there. As part of addressing residents’ concerns, it began compiling a lengthy, itemized list of all the services it provides there. It’s a list unlike anything the city has compiled for any other neighborhood.
Here are some items on the list: Police Chief Luther Reynolds has lunch one Thursday a month with East Side residents at Spot 47, and Mayor John Tecklenburg has held “Coffee with the Mayor” events there, while at least one officer attends East Side neighborhood meetings. The department has its command post deployed to Mall Park for outdoor roll calls. The department also has provided overtime patrols from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. daily to supplement its regular Team 1. If East Side residents ask for an officer’s cell number, they get it, and since January 2021, police have made 28 arrests for unlawfully carrying a firearm within the East Side patrol beats and undertaken 241 narcotics investigations.
The city’s Livability Department manages a rental landlord notification system, and its officers are monitoring 37 vacant properties, have written four citations for homes violating the city’s short-term rental rules and have trimmed overgrowth and removed litter at seven locations this year, many on Drake Street. They also have cited several property owners for failing to properly put out trash or keep their property clean.
Meanwhile, the city’s Parks Department has renovated the St. Julian Devine Community Center, including a new playground and a bathroom for bridge users. With the help of others, the department also renovated the Mary Watson park, the Martin-MLK pool and the quadrant of Hampstead Square with Philip Simmons’ statue. It replaced the playground equipment on Mall Park, the Hampstead quadrant just north of Simmons’ statue.
The city’s Recreation Department runs several programs in the neighborhood, and the mayor’s office is working on a health care grant from the Duke Endowment. The city’s Office of Children, Youth and Families holds a Summer Youth Employment Program and a Summer Service Learning Institute, has supported about 20 mentoring programs and has brought in partners such as Bridges of Hope, a nonprofit providing grief support for children and families, to the St. Julian Devine center. All these efforts are open to residents across the city but are geared mostly toward helping lower-income families.
The Traffic and Transportation Department has expanded the East Side’s residential parking district north of Cooper Street, expanded a street sweeping program and installed a speed table on Jackson Street.
The city held a business workshop for minorities and women on the East Side last fall, an Entrepreneurial Resource Center will open next year in the James Lewis Jr. Eastside Apartments, and a neighborhood-wide cleanup is set for Oct. 1. The East Side also has benefited from newly installed check valves to prevent so-called sunny day flooding in lower-lying drainage basins.
When East Side residents objected to the demolition of two tall smokestacks, City Council listened and changed course, much as one would have expected it to do with a planned demolition in any other neighborhood. And the vacant land where the old Cooper River bridges once stood is gradually being built upon according to a plan supported by the neighborhood. The city even held its first-ever Piccolo Spoleto event on the East Side this year.
It’s only human nature to suspect that our state isn’t getting its fair share of federal dollars or that our city isn’t getting its fair share of state dollars or that our neighborhood isn’t getting its fair share of city spending. It’s also human nature for residents and voters to push for larger shares to try to improve their state or city or neighborhood. Tracking all this spending and analyzing it for equity can be a daunting task.
In the end, the goal shouldn’t be absolute parity. Some places justifiably deserve more governmental attention (and spending) than others, and in Charleston, the East Side, with its crime problems and transitional challenges, is one such place. Voters ultimately elect city officials based at least in part on how well their neighborhood is doing, and in the case of the East Side, the city appears to be doing a lot.