Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Mayor Riley gets pissy about Crosstown criticism

Posted by Chris Haire on Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 12:09 PM

I'm sure you've heard that state Sen. Lee Bright recently proposed that South Carolina begin printing its own currency in response to the federal government's mounting debt. And I'm sure you feel much the same way about it as I do: It's fucking genius.

Oh, wait. You don't?

You mean, you actually think it's stupid? Really?

Well, I'll tell you what's stupid. And that's the City of Charleston's plan to use $11.3 million dollars to beautify the Crosstown. I'm not going to go into detail about it here, but you can read my post from last week if you want to read what I have to say about that floating pile of horseshit drifting by you as you drive down Market Street after a heavy rain.

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, on the other hand, thinks the plan is a wonderful idea. And he can't quite see why everybody else doesn't either.

According to a post in The Post and Courier, Riley isn't taking the criticism all that well. In fact, he's getting downright pissy about the whole thing, especially when the beautification project's critics note that the mayor must fix flooding issues along the Crosstown before prettying it up. The P&C reports:

Councilman William Dudley Gregorie, who represents much of the West Side neighborhood impacted by the flooding, said his constituents are unlikely to be satisfied.

"After the next big rain, they're going to be under water again," said Gregorie, who ran for mayor against Riley in the last election and has been coy about whether he'll challenge Riley again this year.

"Nothing has been done (about the flooding) in my lifetime," said Gregorie, 62.

"You're still alive," Riley responded.

Yikes, Joe. A little touchy are we?

During that same meeting, Riley also called the Feb. 20 P&C article, "Will the city ever fix the Crosstown?", "negative, cynical, and misleading," according to the City Paper's Greg Hambrick.

I don't know about you, but that's not how I read that report. Nope. To me it seemed to make the point quite clearly that flooding along the Crosstown has gone on for way too long and that many residents believe that Mayor Riley has never made fixing it a true priority. It's really as simple as that.

Seriously, Joe, the people are sick and tired of wading through the waters just to get home at the end of the workday. For over 30 years you've promised to fix it and you haven't. Who's being misleading here?

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We should have got rid of that Democrat Riley 34 years ago!

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Posted by Memphis Rich on February 23, 2011 at 1:40 PM

I don't know how or even if it can be done, but Charleston needs to be reduced back to it's city limits of the early 1960s.......I grew up in Charleston when it was contained on just the peninsula area...Mount Pleasant St. and the Ashley and Cooper rivers were the city limits.....Then Joe Riley could tax MUSC, Roper hospitals, and the College of Charleston.

There isn't much else in peninsular Charleston, so why burden people that don't live there with paying for what they don't use or need.

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Posted by Jusme on February 23, 2011 at 2:53 PM

Wow. You just posted something...

and I don't necessarily disagree with it.

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Posted by mat catastrophe on February 23, 2011 at 3:18 PM

Mayor Riley is living in La La land!!! There is so much that needs to be repaired in the city and his thoughts are to beautify the crosstown!!

When you drive the crosstown, you are to busy dodging lane changers, speeders, and watching for the traffic lights to change, there is no way to sight see anyway!!

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Posted by jere73 on February 23, 2011 at 3:44 PM

Charleston is a community, not a commodity.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/David-Far…

www.farrowformayor.com

http://archives.postandcourier.com/archive…

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Posted by mingus2011 on February 23, 2011 at 4:14 PM

I agree. City of Charleston back to it's peninsular borders; Towns of James Island, Johns Island, West Ashley, and Daniel Island.
Local, accountable, responsive government for all.
And finish I 526 so those of us on James and Johns Islands can avoid the crosstown altogether.

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Posted by FCB on February 23, 2011 at 4:27 PM

You pointed it out plain and simple
Joe ran ,in his first election, on a platform which included the renovations of the crosstown as a main point. Now some 35 years later he is still mayor and the crosstown is still in need of major renovations. Something seems amiss?
No wonder hes pissy, he knows he let us down. For whatver reason, he knows its been tough going to get anything done and this is going to be the sore spot that leads to his mayorial downfall, much like it was the issue that helped him get elected. It really is time for someone new, i hope the people of the city show that in the next mayoral election.
He lost me long ago. In fact it was his stand for closing bars and nightclubs at the 2 am curfew which lead me to quetion so called liberal enlightened politicians. He actually said 2 am is time for all our residents to be home in bed. whattttt? who does he think he is? Some people work completely different schedules than others some people have different lives and here he thinks he knows better than grown free adults?That got me questioning just who wants to dictate to us what we do and how we live our lives.
It really is time for Joe to go.

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Posted by artrogue on February 23, 2011 at 5:57 PM

It's absurd to have a highway across town that is under water every time it rains. The whole thing should be elevated to the height of the Ashley River bridge. No more traffic lights, no more floods. But of course, no one will pay for that.

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Posted by obviousdusty on February 23, 2011 at 10:19 PM

The streets of Charleston are third world. Even without the flooding they suck.

Hell if they love cyclists so much why don't try patching some of potholes once in awhile. I have to swerve everywhere to keep my car's alignment from being destroyed by potholes, ledges, and huge cracks.

You can ruin a nice set of bike rims easily as well on these awful roads.

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Posted by RASPUTIY on February 24, 2011 at 8:24 PM

Don't go away mad, Joe.

Just, go away.......



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Posted by I P Yuengling on February 25, 2011 at 12:23 PM

I don't get all this vitriol. All the man wants is 4 more years...

"Riley vowed, however, that the project will be fully funded during his time as mayor, provided he wins re-election to another four-year term in November."

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Posted by Jaxx on February 25, 2011 at 12:57 PM
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