Mayor Billy

Monday January 23, 2012

 

Dear Friend:

 

Last week I sent you an invitation to participate in a "Conversation about Collaborative Marketing."

 

Since I have thus far heard from only about half of the invitees and I am sure all have questions about what this is about, I am now writing to explain and encourage your participation or, if you are not available, someone from your organization.

 

Background

During my four years on City Council and the three that I have been Mayor most of my colleagues on Council felt that City and County Accommodation Taxes have not maximized the potential of taxpayer dollars invested in marketing our home town. It appears to us that there are four key issues:

 

We seem to be funding the same organizations year after year without any growing their independence, as a result of their efforts, thereby allowing funding that could go to other needy organizations; and

 

2.   We often grant much less than an organization has requested so we wonder if we are really helping or simply providing a poorly leveraged subsidy; and

 

3. While organizations fulfill their legal commitment to account for the dollars they spend, we are often in the dark as to what impact they are having on the big picture which is marketing a place and not just events that happen to take place in our city; and

 

4. There is a lack of appropriate collaboration on our collective message so that regardless of the organization investing the dollars we are falling short of communicating the place we are offering in deference to events and/or small parts of the whole.

 

As many realize, for years the Beaufort retail, lodging and real estate markets benefitted from the approximately $5 million a year invested in national marketing campaigns by Dataw, Fripp, Callawassie, Spring and Brays Island developers among others. But, as those communities neared completion and the developers pulled out, the marketing dollars dried up. Since then, we have been largely dependent upon our Designated Marketing Organization which has limited funds, modest ATAX allocations and marketing paid through independent efforts by the private sector and nonprofit organizations.

 

I am a firm believer that (a) we do not have a comprehensive vision of Beaufort as a place with all of its incremental parts which makes the whole lesser than the sum of its parts; (b) that by shared branding, collaborative marketing and advertising we can package the whole while promoting our respective interests; and (c) there are a lot of businesses and cultural and recreational entities which have never been invited to the table to become part of the whole both in branding and collaborative marketing.

 

Accordingly, after the completion of this year's ATAX granting process which we believe was as inadequate as years past, City Council agreed that we had to look for ways to do things differently.

 

For this reason, we are inviting you and others to the table to discuss how we might stretch dollars and expand message through even stronger collaboration.

 

As you likely know over the past three years, the City has looked for and found new ways of doing business more efficiently while accomplishing a higher level of service with fewer dollars.

 

We believe it is our obligation to explore ways of doing this with marketing dollars which, while designated to outside groups, are still the responsibility of the City.

 

The Goal of the Workshop

The roughly four hour session will begin with a presentation by the assistant manager of Greenville, SC. There is no doubt that the City of Greenville has achieved significant progress in redeveloping its core city and leveraging those improvements to create a sense of place and a dynamic job engine that is marketed collaboratively.

 

Following the presentation, we will break out into working groups where individuals will share challenges and opportunities from the lessons they learned. This will be conducted like a planning charrette through group discussion. Each of the groups will present to the entire group what they learned after which staff and volunteers will sift through what we learned and produce a paper which will be shared by all. Our focus will be a series of consensus-based goals that are supported by tangible, practical strategies and tactics that we can collectively begin implementing immediately.

 

In addition to those who normally sit at the table, we have invited the owners and or marketing directors from golf courses, private community Property Owners' Associations, real estate marketers, outdoor recreation providers including sports fishing, kayaking, cycling and others. We have of course invited some retailers, hotels and restaurateurs and many others.

 

I believe it will be a fun and enlightening experience that will open our minds to new ways, more collaboration and hopefully more direction for city and county ATAX committees as we look to the future. What we have been doing hasn't worked effectively so it's time to look for a model. Help be part of that solution.

 

But . . . the event will only be as good as the participants. So I urge you to come or send a representative that can and will speak for your organization.

 

I look forward to seeing you next Saturday at 9 am at City Hall. We will begin in City Council Chamber which is on the second floor.

 

Best wishes

 

Billy Keyserling

Mayor

Let's Honor Dr. King by

Recommitting to face the challenges of the day!

 

  

As we celebrate Dr.Martin Luther King's birthday, we should not only recognize him for his exceptional leadership that brought necessary change.

 

We should also recommit to the challenges that must be realized and embraced by our community.

 

There is no acceptable reason for young men and women to be brandishing firearms and in doing so threatening our community's safety.

 

Furthermore we should recommit to helping our students by giving them the support many of their parents, for whatever reason, are not able to provide.

 

By looking into the mirror and acknowledging that by working together we can roll up our sleeves and face challenges that remain.

 

I believe Dr. King would expect no less of all of us.

 

Happy Birthday Dr. King as I pause to think about the work ahead we should doing in honor of how far your leadership took us.

 

A Prayer for Beaufort

Upon Her 300th Birthday

 

The following invocation, created and presented by Bishop Alden Hathaway, at the City's 300th Birthday Party on January 17, 2011 and at Founders Night II which brought to an end our tricentennial year on December 31, 201, provides an incredible spiritual insight into our hometown.

 

Thankyou Bishop.We are fortunate to have you participating actively in our very special community.

 

Billy Keyserling

 

I am hoping to have the invocation printed and framed for City Hall as a reminder of the tricentennial and this one man's view of Beaufort' rich history and diverse background.

 

BEAUFORT BIRTHDAY PRAYER

January 17 and December 31, 2011

 

Now this birthday year 2011 almost spent, let us pray:

 

Father God, creator of heaven and earth,

Maker of sea and sky and river deep

Of islands fair and gold marsh creeks

We gather here because we love this land.

 

Sovereign Lord over all peoples and nations

Author of freedom and Prince of Peace,

Gathered we have been from far and near

From Spain and France and England

Africans in chains, original Yemassee

From north and south, east and west

Those who came early and those of us who came late

We are together here today because

We are Beaufort.

 

Oh God our help in ages past

The unfolding years, now 300 since

John (Tuscarora Jack) Barnwell

The charter of Beaufort town

Of wars and conquests, of gray and blue

Robert Smalls and Reconstruction

 

Of building and burning, of wealth and want

Rich harvests of indigo and cotton and rice

And crops of the field

Storms and blight, wind and flood

For Dr. King, his dream shaped at Penn

Brantley Harvey and Harriet Keyserling

All those through whom our current public and political life has been formed

 

And

 

Our skies streaked by freedom's sound

Drill instructor's sharp commands

Pat Conroy to tell the stories that describe our manners and our ways

For church towers and steeple bells

And synagogue Shabbat

The faith of our fathers living still.

 

Oh Lord of light and palm and moon

Bay Street and restaurant chatter

Gullah Grub and Foolish Frog

Boating, fishing, and water joys

Bicycle races around the streets

Ghost tours under mossy oaks

 

 

Parades to mark the great events of our common American life

Band concerts by river's edge and fireworks over pluff mud banks

And parking meters that cause us grief

(Thank you town - they are holiday free)

And lighted Christmas tree

To honor thee oh Lord of Life

It is our town, dear God - We love it so.

 

Gracious Lord, Good Shepherd, of abiding good care

Bless our mayor

And council and fire and police

Those who keep our accounts and haul our trash

Who make their business to satisfy our wants and service our needs

And sort out our issues and worldly disputes

By justice and by right

 

Who teach our kids and inspire our youth

Of physicians and surgeons and nurses --- Who care for the sick

Who comfort the lonely, the troubled, the weak

The dying

And who bury our dead.

 

And those who would tell of the city not made with hands

The City of God

In which by hope and by faith

Would make of us a people and a town

Of truly gracious welcome, love, and respect

For both neighbor and stranger, ever and always, good keepers shall we be.

 

And so Dear Lord, abide with us we pray

As together in joyful celebration we conclude

Our 300th birthday year.

 

That as you have been guiding and chiding and inspiring our past

So in thanksgiving and hope we may look to the future

Content and at peace that You will

Bless, preserve and keep Beaufort Town.

 

Oh God of our fathers by whose mighty hand

Continue to lead forth in beauty

All this blessed land.

 

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Books Sandwiched In

2012

 

Jan 9th: THE BIG SHORT by Michael Lewis presented by Kenneth Hirsch

 

Jan 23rd: THAT USED TO BE US by Thomas Friedman presented by

Dr. Valerie Truesdale

 

Jan 30th: THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson presented by Deanna Bowdish

 

Feb 6th: HIDDEN IN PLAIN VIEW by Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard presented by Charles D. Frost

 

Feb 13th: BLEAK HOUSE by Charles Dickens presented by Robert R. Googins

 

Feb 20th: UNBROKEN by Laura Hillenbrand presented by Gary Kubic

 

Feb 27th: FLYING: A NOVEL by Paula Helfrich and Rebecca Sprecher presented by Rebecca Sprecher

 

Location: USCB Beaufort Center for the Art Time: Noon to 1:00 PM

801 Carteret Street

Doors open at 11:30 AM

 

Bring your lunch or purchase it from Outtakes Cafe in the lobby of USCB

 

 

If you like receiving these newsletters, please forward it to friends and tell them to email me at billyk@islc.net if they would like to get on the mailing list. 

 

 

Mayor Billy Keyserling - Introduction from Billy Keyserling on Vimeo.

Every now and then, I receive an email or voice message likely encouraged by the sign on the entrance to Blackstone’s which tells people with parking issues to contact me.

If I responded as I would like, I would simply put a sign on the restaurant window indicating the owner will pay parking fees out of gratitude to his customers.

I cannot bring myself to do so. 

Instead, I would prefer to share one of the emails and my response thereby giving readers a little insight into what I hear and how I respond to visitors to our wonderful hometown. 

An Email I received on Monday morning November 1, 2011

Visited your city last Tuesday and received a parking ticket for an expired meter. My fault. I don’t understand how you can promote tourism for your downtown area and not provide free public parking. This is nothing but a money grab run by a private company for the city. Talking with some of the business owners they are not happy with the situation. I’ll never visit your city again and will spread the news. John D Cespedes

My Response on Monday Afternoon November 1, 2011

Dear John D Cespedes and Robin Recktenwalt (whose email address was used):

Thanks for your kind and thoughtful note.

I am glad you had an opportunity to visit beautiful Beaufort and am sorry our value proposition of fine shops, excellent restaurants, our world class waterfront park, the open vistas throughout our city, the ancient moss draped oaks and history whichever way you turn, is not worth giving up a little something. 


“Giving a Little Something” has nothing to do with City revenue, since parking revenues are invested — through Main Street Beaufort and our City Redevelopment Commission —  directly into downtown improvements for the people who live here and those who visit and for marketing our special downtown. Fees do not go into the City operations budget.

The reason Beaufort has had paid parking since the 1930’s is because the merchants asked for it. Unfortunately, it takes parking fees and fines to prevent all day parking by some downtown merchants and their employees who, up until we started the current system, were  dominating parking thereby making it nearly impossible for locals and visitors to find spaces. 

The good news, for the merchants, residents and visitors, is that we can now find spaces to park in the greater downtown area.

Ironically, in this sense, it appears that what bothered you actually made parking more available to you and others.

The City’s Civic Investment Plan calls for a parking deck, with perhaps lower or no fees. But, a $5 million plus investment out of a $14 million annual budget for a city of only 12,000 moderate to low income people, half of whom rent, is not likely in the foreseeable future when the private sector engages as a partner in this lofty ideal.

When I recently received a ticket for an expired meter and paid it knowing I too was wrong, I realized that it is not a bad thing because the reason for meters and fines creating better access to downtown stores and restaurants.  We have suggested to the merchants who have complained that they provide parking tokens to their customers and we agreed to work with them on a program to do so whereby they could purchase tokens at a discounted rate. As of yet, none have stepped to the plate.

And finally, you should know – notwithstanding the few who are not in the majority – the current system with modifications was developed and recommended by the downtown merchants.  And that using the outside vendor, as opposed to police officers managing parking, saves the City money, and even more importantly ensures police officers remain focused on the public’s greater safety.

Again, I am glad you came to Beaufort, sorry you got the ticket and hope that once you cool off you will reconsider.  Should that happen and you give me adequate notice, I will be happy to take you to lunch downtown and personally foot your parking tab.  The value is great.

Beaufort is a very special place and we do the best we can, as a small city, to make it even better. We market our city to tourists and those considering relocating to the area because we believe we have something of great value to share.  We are grateful that visitors shop, dine and often use overnight accommodations.  Some just sit in the park and watch the boats passing. And we are happy to be able to provide the hospitality.

By chance,  when you visited, were you able to see the fantastic Robert Smalls and Beaufort Infantry exhibits at Historic Beaufort Foundation’s Verdier House on Bay Street, attend the nationally acclaimed Garry Sinese Band’s Wounded Warrior Benefit Concert, attend the regionally renowned Shrimp Festival or visit some of the most unique art galleries in the region? Or stop by the Orvis Store, take one of its renowned guided fly fishing tours, see the Metropolitan Opera or Swan Lake at the USCB Arts Center, partake in the  Historic Beaufort Annual Tour of Homes, attend the some of the many activities at ARTworks, enjoy high tea at the Beaufort Inn or simply take time to sit on a swing and enjoy the southern breezes and vistas from the Bluff (no parking fees on the Bluff) or the serenity of the Henry Chambers Waterfront Park when you were here? Or did you visit some of our historic homes, churches and graveyards, some of which are centuries old.  Or take a class at USCB’s Osher Life Long Learning Center or The Technical College of the Lowcountry.  I hope you did not need the services of our exceptional Hospital which, through a partnership with Duke University, has the best heart and cancer care facilities and programs in the Southeast.

I certainly hope you had the time and interest to take in some of our exceptional offerings, meet some of our friendly and welcoming citizens and will, once you cool off, tell others as our community works hard to foster and promote these types of activities for those who live in and visit the best hometown in the world.

Thanks for taking the time to visit and to share your thoughts.

Best

billyk

The Power of One (Community)

Stepping Up To the Plate

Neighbors Working to Keep our Community Safe

After several incidents when minors were caught brandishing guns and taking shots at classmates and/or people who live in differing sections of the County, a few months ago I wrote a post praising our police officers and Sherriff’s deputies for very quick response and for catching those bringing risk to our community.

I also said that we must help law enforcement by investing our personal time and interest to keep our neighborhoods safe, our young people in school and to provide safe places for good kids so they are not led astray.

Last week I saw strong evidence that one neighborhood is taking action and want to share what I saw.

It’s Saturday Afternoon November 5, 2011

Instead of sitting idly beside the road — potentially getting bullied into making trouble and possibly injuring one another while threatening the safety of our hometown — boys and girls from Beaufort, Burton and St Helena Island were battling each other, not on the streets, but on a downtown basketball court under adult supervision.

The sun shines brightly but the day is cool which means those of us watching from the bleachers felt a chill in the air. However our hearts were warm because we saw what a handful of volunteers are doing to keep our city safer.

There were no uniforms, only home made arm bands to differentiate one team from the other.  (I have offered to get vests or T-shirts for the next tournament making it easier to differentiate one team from the other.

Adjacent to the Charles Linn Brown Center (aka Green Street Gym), the former downtown neighborhood community center – where the competition would have been more appropriate — is now locked down in the evenings and on weekends.  But that did not stop neighbors from trying to fill a gap left open by government austerity.

A volunteer was cooking hotdogs, serving beverages and popcorn to the participants.  There is a supervised play area for toddlers and are a few lawn chairs where some sat in the sun and watched from across the street.  Finally there is a sign up table for a free week of boxing lessons offered by Mr Singleton, who trained in Joe Frazier’s Gym and now has his own gym for training would be boxers.    

This was not the result of a government program. It is an example of people caring enough to invest their time and money to protect their community.

How did this happen and how can we help it grow and succeed in meeting an urgent need for safe places and activities for good kids who otherwise might go astray?

The principal organizer of the informal, but hard fought competition, is an unnamed young man who himself has had multiple convictions and spent too much of his life in prison.  It is supported by yet another young man, now an attorney and pastor, who himself spent a large part of his life behind bars.  They realize the bad choices they made and want to help those who are at risk from making bad choices and avoid going to the same jails and prisons and even more importantly threatening the safety of others in the community

The initiative began a few months ago when random shots were fired on young people playing basketball on the outside court.

The next day Anita Singleton Prather (aka, Aunt Perlie Sue), called a meeting in her living room. Fortunately, Anita keeps an eagle’s eye on what is happening on the street outside her home and knows many of the young people who were essentially put out on the street when the gym closed and while the Boys and Girls Club’s Teen Center was closed.  

Within weeks, the small group grew into what is now called the Circle of Hope Coalition, which sponsored the basketball event and others for younger people in recent weeks.

During our first and subsequent meetings we met with some of the young men who were victims of the drive by shooting. (A big pot of spaghetti likely helped Anita with recruiting) Among the adults were the two men I mentioned earlier, alongside a city police officer, a few members of the clergy, a former police officer and neighbors who are afraid of losing their historically diverse neighborhood.

Rather than asking the young me to tattle tale on the shooters, which could have incited retribution, the focus was on what we can do to avoid these kinds of incidents?

Over and over the young men, about six of them, said help us “find something to do.”  A summer job, knowing they are scarce; a place to play ball; a safe place to hang out and have fun with friends.

The organized basketball event was the first event, but others are planned as The Circle of Hope Coalition is on additional programs including before and after school programs for those whose parents leave for work early and return late.  Finally, the group has applied to Beaufort County Department of Parks and Leisure Services to let them use the largely under utilized public space for programs that create a safe place for young people.

This is a beginning but we have a long way to go.  I urge you to support this initiative, attend events, provide financial assistance for refreshments and encourage others to help you do so.

Notwithstanding government cutbacks, we must all work to preserve our neighborhoods and ensure the safety of all.  Providing activities and safe places for your people is one way to help them resist the pressure to “be cool” which often leads to getting into trouble and challenging the public safety and the futures for those who are led astray

Congratulations to the Circle of Hope Coalition and residents of the Northwest Quadrant for investing in the future of our young people and the safe of our neighborhoods.

During the summer of 1970, I was awarded a Fellowship from Brandeis University to work on Capital Hill in the office of Senator Fritz Hollings.While I have many lasting memories about what I learned, the strongest and most important impression of government working as I was taught it was to work was watching Senators in the beautiful Senate Chamber debating the issues of the day, not the least of which was the war in Vietnam.

 It was nothing like what we are reading about today as the Congress is in grid lock, with members angry at each other, calling each other names, posturing for fundraising, partisan bickering and using the Senate Chamber as a backdrop for news clips, reelection commercials and reeling in special interest money. (For a full contrast, read Senator Hollings book, Making Government Work.)

Once the morning committee work was completed, day after day and hour upon hour “gentlemen” like Senators Barry Goldwater, Jacob Javits, Chuck Percy, Hubert Humphrey, John Pastore, and Fritz Hollings among many others engaged in collegial, colorful, substantive and seemingly positive debate. They were mindful of their differences, but seemingly always searching for a common ground for the good of all Americans. (Senator Hollings shared with me stories about how at the end of the day many, while working out at the Senate gym, would talk more informally about the day’s debate as a means of establishing common ground.)

These memories, as vivid as they are, help me as Mayor and give me hope for the future as I know what elected officials can again be.

During the fall season, I am often invited to talk to school children about my job as Mayor. Simply put I tell them my principal job is to help start and foster a civil conversation about tomorrow. I often read The Pink Dolphin, a book I created with an eight year old student and an 83 year young artist who crafted this simple, but timely and telling book about people working together.

Furthermore, to ensure a more constructive dialogue with the public, City Council now has three work sessions a month where everyone with an interest in the topic under discussion is invited to the table to talk with us. While we take no votes at work sessions, we vet issues, hear from anyone who wants to be heard and end up with the information required to make both representative and consensus decisions if necessary at the next formal Council meeting.

And finally, I write these newsletters which inspire others to write their suggestions so those who cannot come to meetings can be heard.

In light of our approaches, I thought you might be interested in the following which I extracted from a blog. While it focuses on one community in Canada, I believe the message is universal and one to be considered by public officials and the public at large.

I hope you take the time to read it.


Mayor Billy

Extracted from blog/website called Rabble.ca which is Candadian group of writers who share ideas about progressive government. I happened upon it because I have google alerts to civic engagement and civic collaboration which brings interesting thoughts my way.

Collaborative dialogue sharpens civic decision-making

By Charles Dobson

September 30, 2011

We all know irritating people who always insist on taking over. But we rarely object if it is volunteer work we would otherwise have to do ourselves. In this third part on citizen engagement, I focus on how the role of citizens is eroded by politicians, experts and bureaucrats who think that they know best, and always insist on taking over. This is government that sees itself as a wise and powerful father charged with minding a great many children. Canadians are partly to blame for the paternalism. As Seymour Martin Lipset pointed out in Continental Divide, we believe in the government. We like to have Big Daddy watching over us. But does that mean we are stuck with weak democracy, where our role as citizens is limited to voting once every three or four years?

In reality, Big Daddy is poorly positioned to make every decision. Politicians, bureaucrats, and their expert advisors can be better equipped to make decisions based on knowledge about specific issues, but they are hardly equipped to make decisions based on values. Citizens must decide for themselves what they value. Do we build a park or a soccer field? The decision should be based on what residents value most.

Still, it is easier for most people to let government take over everything. Just pay your taxes and trust government will make the right decisions. After all, everyone has so much to do and so little time.

Nevertheless, there are opportunities for working together. They arise when local government on its own fails to address an issue. Local government is the best place to start because here citizens have the best chance of working directly with politicians and bureaucrats. The International City County Management Association, whose members are city managers and senior bureaucrats, has long advocated a barn-raising approach to solving local problems, where local government works in partnership with residents. City councils and some other forms of local government have been moving slowly in this direction.

But in Canada most local governments have yet to forge working relationships with citizens groups such as neighbourhood associations. Most rank the need for control and efficiency above the need for citizen involvement. Most undertake “hit-and-run” public participation as a way of avoiding blowback on serious problems and new initiatives. But few seem interested in an ongoing adult relationship with citizens.

But this can make life easier for both parties. Let me tell you the story of Tara who tried a different kind of relationship. As a first time councillor on Oak Bay’s municipal council on Vancouver Island, she had a lot of questions about how things were done. She wondered why certain practices were taken for granted when they produce such poor results. One particular problem bothered her. It was the way the municipality was handling a long-standing neighborhood dispute. For 22 years, local residents had argued about whether a boulevard at the edge of a popular playing field should be used as parking or green space. Staff had responded with various fixes, but none seemed to satisfy everyone. Recent littering and vandalism at the site had reignited the problem, prompting another flood of letters to Municipal Hall. Thus, one day, Tara found herself at a meeting where councillors were once again being asked to decide on a solution for the boulevard.

Council meetings are one of the few places where citizens can interact directly with elected representatives. But when meetings become public hearings (formal or informal) they can become so combative, time consuming, and so unproductive that many people swear after participating in one to never take part in another. It’s hard to think of a better device for driving genuine citizens back into private life than a public hearing.

Typically what happens is that staff makes a recommendation for solving the problem. Then residents divide themselves into two groups, one that approves the recommendation and another that opposes it. At the hearing councillors listen to vitriolic arguments that ramp up over the course of the meeting. They then vote on whether to approve or reject the recommendation. The process resembles a court battle, a process far distant from the dialogue and collaborative problem solving needed to resolve issues involving many different people. Whatever the outcome of a public hearing, some people always leave angry and disgusted.

So Tara decided to try something different. She asked council to put off the decision until she could work with local residents to find a solution through a process focused on collaborative dialogue. Having enrolled in Simon Fraser University’s Certificate Program in Dialogue and Civic Engagement, she wanted to see if she could apply the techniques taught in the program. With council’s skeptical assent she proceeded to organize a community event that would bring all the affected parties together. On a Saturday afternoon she sat down with residents and other stake-holders. Using a technique called World Café, they worked out a solution acceptable to everyone in the room. When the issue finally made its way back to council, there wasn’t the usual fight. It was simply a matter of council approving a solution that residents themselves had created.

Tara visited the area and talked to residents who had been trying to solve the problem for 22 years. One person said it was as if the problem had never happened. Even so, not everyone was happy. One resident who had declined to participate in the dialogue continued to campaign for his vision of what should be done. But he was an exception.

Canadians are used to government taking charge, but citizens are more than capable of figuring out how to solve a lot of local problems. So it makes good sense for government and citizens to work together, as Jeffrey Berry, Ken Thomson and Kent Portney argue in The Rebirth of Urban Democracy, a thorough examination of five U.S. cities with strong citizen participation programs. Sometimes professionals may have to step forward as conveners or facilitators, but they should step back whenever they can and avoid the temptation to take charge. If we want to build community and democracy, technocratic control should be a last resort, not the first.

If government can give up a little of its authority and begin seeing citizens as partners rather than children or clients, it will create a huge untapped resource. And that’s important, because in an age when public problems are complex, expensive, and difficult to resolve, Big Daddy needs help.

Tara Ney is a Councillor for Oak Bay, near Victoria on Vancouver Island. Charles Dobson is the author of The Citizen’s Handbook, all of which is online.

As many of us take off this holiday, please join me in giving thanks to the many who have given their lives to protect the freedoms we cherish and those currently in harm’s way defending our nation and the free world.

And let’s do our collective best to rally our resources to creatively think about how we can put to work the more than 250,000 veterans returned from Iraq and Afghanistan (significantly higher rate than others their age) who are not able to find gainful employment.

Celebrate Veterans Day . . . A time to reflect on the past, the present and make a better future for those who have served our Nation.

As you may recall, last spring I wrote in this column that to demonstrate support for USCB’s burgeoning Arts Program at the Beaufort College, we should rally the community to demonstrate broad community support.

With USCB having invested in excess of $2 Million in capital improvements to ready the campus, it dawned on me that a scholarship program to help USCB recruit students would be the best boost we could make.

Accordingly, I assembled a team to solicit individuals, businesses and families to contribute $1000 a year for four years to support a full time scholarship exclusively for students at the Beaufort College Campus.  Our initial goal was to get 25 commitments. 

Thanks in large part to Brantley Harvey and Colden Battey, who agreed to help chair a small band of fundraisers, we set out on the journey.

Yesterday USCB President Harris Pastides, USCB Chancellor Jane Upshaw and Beaufort Jasper Higher Education Commission Chairman Tim Pearce announced we had more than doubled our goal and raised 54 scholarships, the equivalent of $216,000. 

The even better news is that David Lott challenged us to raise an additional thirty scholarships and, if we meet his challenge, he will contribute $30,000 or $1,000 for each additional scholarship.

If we are able to achieve this goal, we will have raised in excess of $350,000 allowing the number of scholarship students to rise to up to 90 over time.

The challenge:  If you have not been asked and would like to help meet this challenge, please email me at billyk@islc.net.

I believe an expanded college presence in downtown Beaufort is critical to the future growth of our community and encourage you to consider helping if you are able.

If you are not able to contribute at this level any contribution is more than welcome and will be greatly appreciated.

Thank You Beaufort for your Support!

Dear Editor

As the leader of a team working tirelessly to achieve results, I would be remiss if I did not point to your editorial of August 12th, Program a short-term fix for a long-term problem, which is more like a blog than an editorial.

While I focus on transforming poor into better and viewing the glass half full instead of half empty, I am taken aback by the Gazette/Island Packet’s increasing negativity which mirrors the nation’s mood rather than providing positive insights and community leadership.

I understand the business necessity of sensational headlines that sell newspapers to generate advertising revenue, which keeps a news organization in business. But, the community deserves more from the opinion page.

Notwithstanding the nation’s financial woes, I am proud that our City Council — often in concert with the Town of Port Royal — has demonstrated the courage to move forward, to try new ways and, in most cases, raise the level of expectations while achieving measureable results.  (Yes, we have made some mistakes, but as quickly as we realized them, we adjusted course.)

When we are trying to save the only industrially zoned property in Northern Beaufort County to leverage the asset with opportunities coming with the Joint Strike Fighter, you object.

When we join in partnership with Jasper County toward economic development initiatives, because we have seen their recent successes, you suggest we are acting impulsively.   

And now when we partner with Port Royal and the Lowcountry Housing Trust, to address a long ignored challenge of affordable housing, you give us all the reasons the initiative will fail.

Having served on the Board of the SC Affordable Housing Coalition, I know the Trust produces huge results by leveraging public dollars, at a rate of up to ten to one, to solve housing challenges. No it is not a silver bullet.  But it might just help a few families which is a vast improvement over previous investments toward affordable housing.

The Beaufort City Council and Redevelopment Commission are working on all fronts to create a brighter tomorrow based on centuries of experience.

As a major business leader, it would be nice if you harnessed knowledge, wisdom and facts to make positive suggestions rather than slam those who are trying. 

Sincerely,

Billy Keyserling, Mayor of Beaufort

Gazette / Packet Editorial

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Program a short-term fix for a long-term problem
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Published Friday, August 12, 2011

Beaufort doesn’t have an affordable-housing problem; it has some residents who cannot afford to own or maintain a home at a certain level. These are different problems.

The affordable problem is being addressed by the market. The recession has sent property values spiraling downward. The other problem is almost never the result of the price of a single commodity, although that’s implied by such “solutions” as artificially low interest rates, lax lending standards and government subsidies.

These remedies mask the underlying problems.

So it is with noble but errant intentions that the city inches toward a partnership with a nonprofit housing finance agency that says it can help provide affordable housing for Beaufort’s workforce.

By unanimous vote Tuesday, the City Council approved on first reading an ordinance that would allow the city to work with the Charleston-based Lowcountry Housing Trust, which provides loans to nonprofit and for-profit developers and governments. The money finances new homes, rehabilitating old ones and converting commercial buildings to residential use.

To be clear, these projects almost certainly will result in cheaper housing for a few, profit for some and warm feelings for anyone who believes good intentions always yield good results.

But they will not bring lower prices across the market or even permanent solutions to targeted areas.

One council member touted sprucing up blighted areas as a benefit. That is desirable, but it could increase the value of surrounding properties and — barring more government assistance to more people — put housing in that area further out of reach of the workforce.

The quaint but crumbling houses of Beaufort’s Northwest Quadrant — some occupied, some abandoned by their longtime owners — illustrate the limits of such programs.

Regulations help protect the neighborhood’s historic assets, but as a result, many of the neighborhood’s working-class residents can’t afford to renovate or fix their homes in the way the rules require. So they let their property slide into disrepair.

It’s not unusual for such properties to go to relatives who live elsewhere because there is no work for them in Beaufort. Neither is it unusual for such properties to continue to deteriorate.

In the short term, the projects could provide some real benefits and impart some real value in such areas. But the program will not provide the job or financial resources an owner will need in 15 years to replace the roof or a worn-out air conditioner in his subsidized home.

Moreover, no one should expect these projects to make housing affordable for a large number of working-class people.

Housing becomes affordable to the workforce when jobs are plentiful and the workforce has the wherewithal and incentive to accumulate its own capital. That aim is better served by careful re-examination of spending and taxation, rules and regulations and impediments to job creation

Read more: http://www.islandpacket.com/2011/08/12/1755069/program-a-short-term-fix-for-a.html#ixzz1UxxauHqe

Corrections to Gazette/Packet “facts

Beaufort doesn’t have an affordable-housing problem; it has some residents who cannot afford to own or maintain a home at a certain level. These are different problems.

Affordable housing is not limited to homeownership. 

Beaufort has residents who cannot afford to rent or own a safe, decent place to call home.

A renter must earn $17.06 an hour or $35,480 annually to afford a two-bedroom apartment in Beaufort.

Affordable housing is needed for the workforce who earns less than $35,480 annually.  In Beaufort, the Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a two-bedroom apartment is $887. In order to afford this level of rent and utilities, without paying more than 30% of income on housing, a household must earn $2,957 monthly or $35,480 annually.  Assuming a 40-hour work week, 52 weeks per year, and this level of income translates into a Housing Wage of $17.06.

Affordable housing is needed for a minimum wage earner who cannot work 94 hours per week.

In Beaufort, a minimum wage worker earns an hourly wage of $7.25. In order to afford the FMR for a two-bedroom apartment, a minimum wage earner must work 94 hours per week, 52 weeks per year. Or, a household must include 2.4 minimum wage earner(s) working 40 hours per week year-round in order to make the two-bedroom FMR affordable.

Affordable housing is needed for seniors living on fixed social security payments of $674 monthly.

Monthly Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments for an individual are $674 in Beaufort. If SSI represents an individual’s sole source of income, $202 in monthly rent is affordable, while the FMR for a one-bedroom is $784.

Source:  http://www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2010/data.cfm?get=on&=7517&state=SC

The affordable housing problem is being addressed by the market.

The current median priced home is still unaffordable to most vital members of our community – teachers, firefighters, policemen, paramedics, and service industry workers.

The general rule of thumb is that a household should purchase a home that is no more than 3 times the annual household salary.

Beaufort’s average list price is $346,565. 

In order to afford this home, a household would have to earn approximately $115,521.67 per year.

Beaufort’s median sales price is $168,500. 

In order to afford this home, a household would have to earn approximately $56,166.67 per year.

Source:  http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Beaufort-South_Carolina/

Beaufort doesn’t have an affordable-housing problem; it has some residents who cannot afford to own or maintain a home at a certain level. These are different problems.

The area median income for Beaufort is $59,800 which means that almost 50% of Beaufort residents cannot afford the median priced home of $168,500.

“Area Median Income” (AMI) shall mean the income point at which one half of the incomes in a designated area fall below and one half falls above.  The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) uses the area median income to calculate household eligibility for a variety of housing programs. HUD estimates the median family income for metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas and adjusts that amount for different family sizes so that family incomes may be expressed as a percentage of the area median income.  For example, a family’s income may equal 80 percent of the area median income, a common maximum income level for participation in HUD programs.  HUD periodically updates the area median income estimates.

Housing becomes affordable to the workforce when jobs are plentiful and the workforce has the wherewithal and incentive to accumulate its own capital.

Housing is affordable when the workforce is not spending more than 30% of their monthly income on housing costs.

Therefore, housing becomes affordable when there is either an increase in wages or an increase in the production of housing that is affordable to the workforce.

Housing is affordable when there is not a gap between the income workers earn and the housing available for workers to buy.  No home is affordable to the unemployed.

In Beaufort County the unemployment rate went from 8.4 percent in May to 9.7 percent in June, a staggering 1.3% increase. While the county added some 100 jobs to payrolls it failed to keep pace with the workforce’s growth of 1,000 to hit 60,046 people.