A Conversation with Mayor Tecklenburg

Yesterday, I sat down with Mayor Tecklenburg in his office in downtown Charleston for an interview. We sat around a conference table near his desk and talked for about half an hour. This is what happened.

            My first question to him pertained to the solar eclipse and how many people were expected to be in Charleston on Monday. He responded by saying, �There�s a lot of speculation around the exact number. All of the 14,000 hotel rooms in the region have been booked for this weekend. With an average of two people per room that makes about 30,000 people. There are also many people who will be driving in� We are expecting between 75,000 and 100,000 visitors to be in the city on Monday.�

            When I asked about his recommendations to travelers coming to Charleston on Monday he said, �Wear those safety glasses.�

            From there we discussed the issue of rising sea levels and possible major effects that it will have on Charleston in the future. I asked him how much it would cost the city if the sea levels continued to rise and he said it would cost the city in productivity because of the inconveniences it would cause for commuters and businesses in the area. He also pointed out nuisance flooding (flooding caused by high tides) has increased drastically in the past century. For most of the 20^th century there were only, on average, 2 days where there was nuisance flooding. In 2013 that number was near 25. Last year there were 50 days of nuisance flooding in Charleston. �By 2050,� he said, �It is projected to be 181 days out of the year where there is nuisance flooding. Basically, every other day there will be flooding at high tide.�

            The next topic we discussed was politics, specifically Mayor Tecklenburg�s political views. I could tell he didn�t like the subject. When I asked him what party he aligned with the most he responded by saying, �There are things on both sides that I agree with and other things I do not like. It�s like a house. If someone�s house caught on fire it wouldn�t matter what their political beliefs are. The city of Charleston would put out that fire. A lot of the basic services the city provides does not involve politics.�

            I pushed a little further and asked, �Well beyond that, what do you think of our President? Do you approve of the job that he is doing?�

            He responded, �I wish he would stop tripping over himself� He has done good with infrastructure�A lot of what he has done has had very little impact on our city.�

            We then transitioned into the subject that I was most eager to talk about: confederate statues. If you picked up a copy of The Post and Courier yesterday, you would have already read about Tecklenburg�s opinion on the matter. When I asked him if he thought the 2 controversial statues in Charleston should come down he said, �I think we need to broaden the context of those statues� We need to find out what the intentions were of the people who originally put them up. Most of these confederate statues were not built directly after the Civil War. Most were put up during the era of Jim Crow which is important to realize. We need to understand what the builders of these statues were thinking when they decided to build them.�

            He continued, �We need to have a conversation and what better place to do it than here? Before our nation was founded, Charleston was the largest slave port in the colonies and then eventually the states. We were the first state to secede. Just two years ago a man with the intention of starting a race war came to our town and killed nine churchgoers� The original Calhoun statue in Marion Square was renovated in the 1890s and was put on a pedestal because people kept throwing things at it� We have to broaden the narrative behind these statues and tell the full story.�

I added, �Anybody in your position right now is between a rock and a hard place. If you support the taking down of the statues you anger one group and if want to leave them up you anger the other group. There�s no easy way out.�

            He laughed in response and said, �You know I�ve found that happens quite often in the job I�m in.�

            We then talked about development in Charleston and the drastic population growth within the Lowcountry and how Charleston is handling it. Tecklenburg said it was a balancing act because it puts stress on the city and the surrounding areas but it is also great for the economy.

            From there I thanked him for the interview and we made some small talk, took a picture, and I left his office.

            This article included the highlights from the interview. If you have questions feel free to send me an email or leave a comment below.