Construction Maison

It will take a supermajority of Charleston City Council votes tonight to approve a badly needed six- month moratorium on large new developments on James Island. Council members should not hesitate to lend their wholehearted support. The Town of James Island unanimously passed a moratorium in May. So did City Council, although the city Planning Commission rejected it in June. County Council inexplicably has remained largely silent on the issue. But no one should be under the illusion that a half-year ban on multi-family developments will somehow straighten out the island’s longstanding, growth-related woes in and of itself. Rather the moratorium is simply an opportunity to do what City Council should have been doing for decades — develop a workable strategy to preserve James Island ’s livability and unique character in the face of a booming population. That strategy must involve infrastructure upgrades , like pushing forward the stalled but crucial Rethink Folly Road plan in coo...

Ray Hensley Jr . Charleston police arrested on Tuesday night an East End man who allegedly spray painted “Black Lives Matter” on the Clay Center the previous night. Detectives arrested Ray Hensley Jr ., 36, for destruction of property, according to a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court . Hensley, who is white, also was charged with obstructing, two counts of shoplifting, and trespassing, according to a news release. Sgt. J.A. Hunt said, in a news release, that police expect to file more charges “once a more detailed examination” of other graffiti sites is completed. Police had said, in a news release earlier Tuesday , that they found graffiti on both the Clay Center, at 1 Clay Square, and Fox’s Pizza, on Ruffner Avenue, near Smith Street. The graffiti appeared to match in paint color and was similar in writing style, police had said. Police received a tip that Hensley had “Black Lives Matter” spray painted on a cardboard sign on the front porch of his Dixie ...