Tag: Liz Gilland

Challenger Hyman and Incumbent White Stand Out in Conway City Election

Conway voters will go to the polls Tuesday to elect three members to city council.

Two incumbents, Larry White and Tom Anderson, are on the ballot with the third seat currently vacant guaranteeing at least one new council member.

Five challengers, Alex Hyman, Justin Jordan, Liz Gilland, Barb Eisenhardt and Randy Alford are seeking election.

Flooding will be on the minds of many voters thanks to the major storm events of recent years and memories going back to 1999 and Hurricane Floyd. What to do about new development in order to limit its effects on current homeowners is part of that discussion.

Two candidates stand out on the dual issues of flooding and development. Incumbent Larry White told local media recently he would seek better infrastructure for the city as well as working with developers about where and how much to build and limiting the effects of runoff from new developments onto existing properties.

Candidate Alex Hyman said smart development helps everyone. As a member of Conway’s Zoning Board of Appeals and Planning Commission over the last eight years, Hyman has first-hand experience on issues of development around the city. He understands development is going to continue but it must be planned to complement what is already in place around the city.

Hyman has exhibited considerable knowledge and thought about the watershed in which Conway is located and some of the challenges and possible solutions to how flooding of recent years can be better managed.

Two things are certain, development is not going to be stopped, as candidate Barb Eisenhardt appears to be advocating, and riding on the backs of the Horry County Stormwater Department (Gilland), the Army Corps of Engineers and/or the South Carolina Department of Transportation (Anderson and Alford) to find flooding solutions are not the answer. Jordan advocates finding another way across the Waccamaw River as a solution to the traffic congestion experienced in last year’s flooding.

On a separate issue, Hyman advocates a two tier approach to improving the business opportunities in the city. He said the city should go to existing businesses with the question ‘what can council do to help you.’ For new businesses looking to relocate, Hyman would ask ‘what will you add to our business community.’

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Hyperbole Marks the Lazarus Campaign

Reading the Mark Lazarus campaign mailers immediately brought to my mind Ronald Reagan telling Jimmy Carter “There you go again” during the 1980 presidential campaign.

The phrase has become part of the political lexicon to mean a candidate has entered the realm of hyperbole in his or her campaign statements.

The Lazarus campaign claiming $1 billion in infrastructure improvements in the county is certainly hyperbole, at least.

Most of that money comes from Ride projects and the new airport terminal.

County council has very little say in Ride projects. The process begins with an advisory committee which establishes a list of needed projects. That list goes to a sales tax advisory commission who establishes a final list that goes to county council.

Council may vote the list up or down, but it can’t make any changes to what the commission proposed. If council approves the list, it then goes to the voters in a binding referendum question asking whether an additional one percent sales tax should be levied on purchases in the county to pay for Ride projects.

The citizens are asked to approve additional taxes on themselves because a succession of councils and our state legislative delegation have allowed development to far outpace infrastructure improvements in the county.

If I have this correct, the citizens vote to levy extra taxes on themselves so Lazarus can claim he is responsible for infrastructure improvements.

Eddie Dyer, who served as chairman of both the advisory committee and sales tax commission, made the following statement about road conditions in Horry County when presenting council with $592 million in projects for Ride III:

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Anti-Incumbent Fever Rages in Horry County Primaries

Anti-incumbent fever raged through Horry County primaries Tuesday as five of six incumbents running in contested primaries lost.

One of the causes for the upsets, if you can call them that, was the pitiful, approximately 13%, voter turnout countywide.

The only survivor was S.C. House District 56 representative Mike Ryhal who won in a rematch against challenger Dennis DiSabato who Ryhal defeated two years ago to win the new house district seat.

The two biggest surprises of the night were the losses by incumbent S.C. House District 104 representative Tracy Edge and by Horry County District Three council member Brent Schulz.

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Mike Roberts for Horry County Council District 7

The Republican Primary for Horry County Council District 7 gives voters a distinct choice between candidates Mike Roberts and Liz Gilland.

Roberts is a relative unknown on the political scene while Gilland served on county council for District 8 from 1995-2003 and as council chairman from 2003-10.

Most politicians claim to want to serve the people or give back to the people. Mike Roberts is one of the people!

He is not tied to special interests and will vote according to what he believes is good for the majority of citizens not the few who are trying to take much more from the county than they will ever give.

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Airport Express Video on Adult Entertainment Issue

It is and has always been the position and vision of Airport Express Video that “if” this adult entertainment ordinance passes we want to do everything within our power to be a proper corporate citizen, including relocation of our business, if that is what Planning Director Janet Carter, and the County’s Top Gun legal counsel Scott Bergthold would like to see happen.

In that regard they have left us with only one viable option and this is the 501 Corridor area of Carolina Forest. We have never said, suggested or indicated that we planned to relocate “inside” of Carolina Forest proper, due solely to the fact that the development agreement prohibits that until 2017.

Of course once that agreement expires then presumably it would open up several more developable locations for the clubs and stores which sell adult related merchandise. Having been a part of this community for many years, we truly feel that all property from Highway 31 West to the Carolina Forest Wal Mart is truly Carolina Forest, regardless of what specific roadway you are physically on.

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Special Election Primary – Who Cares?

We are at the weekend before the special election primary for Horry County Council chairman and there is very little buzz “on the street” about the race.

Is it that voters are electioned out or that the five candidates have failed to generate any real excitement about themselves?

I suspect both of the above are part of the problem.

Two things I am hearing on the street from average citizens are no matter who becomes the next chairman, there is little support for giving government money to private businesses in the name of economic development and there is little support for building I-73.

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Little Difference in Special Election Candidates

If I learned anything from Tuesday night’s televised forum of candidates in the special election for the vacant Horry County Council chairman seat, it’s that very little separates these candidates on issues.

Mark Lazarus, Liz Gilland, Al Allen, Debbie Harwell and Fonzie Lewis are not going to raise taxes except in cases of extreme emergency. Yet, all are going to push hard for I-73, the Southern Evacuation Lifeline and other major road projects in the county.

More major road projects with no tax increases.

Things like hospitality fees, road maintenance fees and local option sales taxes, all of which have been added or increased through the years, don’t count as taxes in this thought process.

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Garbage, Good Ole Boys and Gilland

Last week former county council chairman and current candidate Liz Gilland used the flow control monopoly Horry County Solid Waste Authority as an example of how she fights the good ole boys.

However, in choosing to use the authority, Gilland forgot much of her history with the flow control agency.

Gilland spoke of how she worked hard to clean up the SWA in her first eight years on council, including introducing an ordinance to disband the authority.

Her friend, then county administrator Linda Angus, had learned the Authority was hoarding millions of taxpayer dollars, using it in a high-handed manor.

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Debbie Harwell Entering Chairman Race

Several sources have told Grand Strand Daily that local businesswoman Debbie Harwell will announce her candidacy for the vacant Horry County Council Chairman seat within the next 48 hours.

Harwell, owner of Adobe Palm Communications and former morning talk radio personality on WRNN radio, will bring the number of candidates announced for the race to four.

Former council chair Liz Gilland, former council member Mark Lazarus and current District 11 county council representative Al Allen are the other announced candidates.

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Horry County Council Chair Special Election

The Horry County Council Chair special election race to succeed Tom Rice is heating up even though Rice has yet to resign his position, something he will have to do prior to being sworn in as the new representative for the S.C. 7th Congressional District.

Even before Rice won his election to the U.S. House of Representatives, former council member Mark Lazarus and former county council chairman Liz Gilland announced they would be candidates in the special election that will fill the remaining two years of Rice’s unexpired term. Gilland bested Lazarus in the 2006 Republican primary election for county council chair.

Tomorrow, current District 11 county council member Al Allen will announce his candidacy for the chairman’s seat.

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