THINGS ARE HAPPENING
First, a very BIG thank you to all 7,000 of you who have given your support to this petition. Your voices have been heard and will continue to be heard!
Over the past few days, there have been important developments in the effort to convince the beach islands to stop discriminating against non-residents in parking for beach access. Over the same period several state senators and a handful of local leaders have reached out to me directly to explain what is going on behind the scenes and their efforts to force change. I want to praise particularly Elliot Summey, Chairman of Chas County Council, Will Haney, Mayor of Mt Pleasant, and Larry Grooms, SC State Senator, for their enthusiastic support. There has been support from other state and local officials as well and that support is growing!
Charleston County Council is taking this issue on and will continue to press for an end to the cynical use by beach communities of COVID 19 to exclude the public from beach access. Not that any of you need reminding, but the rentals on these islands are all open and guests from far off places are continuing to rotate weekly, while the local day users are funneled into the few blocks still allowing parking for non-residents (and this is mostly the county park areas). Larry Grooms, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, has created a team to immediately investigate the actions taken by these islands and they will address what can be done now and what future legislation can be put into place as a permanent fix to this ongoing problem.
All non-island political leaders I have spoken to strongly reject these actions as wrong and have vowed to stop them. There are various avenues to reverse the elimination of parking on these islands, but they will take time and some will even require changes in law at the state level. These are political matters and I want to ask all of you to understand that and be patient. One thing is clear after all the conversations I have had with our state politicians over the last week, change is coming. To put it the words of one of our political leaders, “They have kicked the hornet’s nest, and they can’t unkick it.”
NEXT STEPS:
1) The Governor needs to be shown that this is an important matter and he needs to use his authority to force these islands to stop preventing the people of SC from using the beaches that we all own. Contact his office now and demand that he remove any emergency order authority for these islands to limit parking for beach access and tell the Department of Transportation to force these islands to stop discriminating against non-residents parking along state highways.
2) The legislature has the power to forbid these actions with a state law that makes illegal any municipal ordinance that discriminates against non-residents in parking regulation that denies access to beaches through limiting parking on state highways or unreasonably high fines or other penalties. All though this is already in the works, it is important that our state senators hear from you and continue to hear from you!
Furthermore, when these island communities claim dishonestly that they are doing these things to control COVID 19, that affects all of our efforts to fight the virus. These restrictions benefit island populations that are over 95% white. The African American population of these islands is significantly less than 1%. Denial of parking to non-residents imposes a hugely disproportionate harm on African Americans and other minorities. Over 35% of Charleston County is African American. For white beach islands to exclude them from parking while allowing island residents to park is something all of us should condemn. Write your state senator and house members and demand that they push right now for COVID 19 legislation that forbids this discrimination against all of us who deserve access to our beaches.
3) The Facebook Group – Charleston Area Public Beach Access and Parking Group – has pursued legal action against the Isle of Palms specifically. Regardless of what the first judge’s ruling was, that action is far from over. I would encourage everyone to support them and their efforts. Join the group and donate.
More updates to come. For now, please call and email your state representatives (all of them!) and the Governor! SHARE THIS PETITION WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY IN THE STATE OF SC - Michael Barnett
“We never know how high we are
Till we are called to rise;
And then, if we are true to plan,
Our Statures touch the skies
The Heroism we recite
Would be a daily thing,
Did not ourselves the Cubits warp
For fear to be a King”
- Emily Dickinson