On Feb. 28, the Isle of Palms Council voted 5-4 against any short-term rental caps. Isle of Palms now occupies a unique position as the only community in this area without STR caps. Folly Beach (through a referendum in February), Sullivan’s Island, James Island, Kiawah, Charleston, Mount Pleasant and Myrtle Beach all have outright bans or very restrictive caps.
As of 2022, the Isle of Palms has 1,772 STR licenses and 4,570 dwellings for a 39% STR ratio. Several members of Council have tried to manipulate this number by eliminating various categories from the numerator, but this is only done to mislead and cloud comparisons to other communities like Mount Pleasant, for example, which caps STRs at 1% of all dwellings.
Let me emphasize that we love our island businesses and will always give them priority over off-island businesses. Saying otherwise about any resident is another of many false narratives. However, the residents voted last time for candidates who promised to maintain a “residential feel,” which means finding a healthy balance. The STR vote adds to a series of anti resident 5-4 votes recently including, for example, doubling down on a bad Marina lease with worse amendments. ATAX is another example of bad governance, where Isle of Palms will pay the Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau almost $1.2 million this year with little oversight, which is more than Mount Pleasant, Sullivan’s Island, Folly Beach and Charleston County pay the CVB combined. It is time for the residents to rise up and say enough is enough. Enough of lying, enough of manipulating, enough of the blatant ethical conflicts and bad governance.
In November 2021, a record 45% of us came out and voted to take back our island. Residents were tired of the special interests, the conflicts of interest, weak leadership and governance that resulted in the connector re-striping, parking and traffic chaos and, of course, the overwhelming passage of S. 40 while our Council seemed paralyzed. All the candidates running for office promised to fight for residents’ rights. Alas, it turned out some of them lied to get into office.
Council members Bogosian, Pierce, Miars and Anderson have kept their word and have consistently voted for residents’ interests. Mayor Pounds has been the fifth vote against resident interests, and many residents are shocked at how openly hostile he is on resident issues. Blair Hahn, seriously conflicted by his involvement in the Palm Republic, has been swallowed by the swamp.
The swamp’s tactics are predictable but tiresome: Generate and spread a lot of bad or twisted information to make a false case against the residents’ interests. Witness the recent manipulation of the so-called 600-person plus “do nothing” petition against STR caps. As Brian Duffy pointed out to the Council, the smallest diligence showed over two thirds of the “signatures” were potentially fraudulent. Witness “Pinocchio math” with STRs that takes the only number we definitively know, which is the 39% STR ratio, which the mayor manipulates it to a 15% ratio, then attacks this paper for not publishing numbers that are verifiably wrong and intended to mislead. Tactic two of the swamp is to get a small group of people to intimidate and attack on social media anyone who challenges the narrative, with zero facts to support their false narrative. Tactic three is to threaten to do harm to those that hold you accountable.
Mayor Pounds will no longer write a column for this newspaper because we would not publish his fuzzy math. Hahn will no longer advertise because this column called out his conflict of interest. Several property management firms pulled their advertising because this column advocates for residents. So let me be clear. We will not be intimidated by the mob, and we will always support the right of people to have and express opinions freely. And we will always hold elected officials accountable.
I am very impressed by the initiative taken by a large group of residents to create the amazing new website preserveiop.org. Please check it out if you haven’t already. This website is a first step in taking our island back, and I am proud of all those who openly associate themselves with this effort without fear of intimidation. This November, we the people will take the final step started two years ago of cleaning the swamp. In the interim, let’s see if we can use the referendum process to begin taking our island back. It is time we show politicians who do not keep their word that we the people will always prevail.
God bless all of you who fight with integrity for what is right. I pray that we can come together as one community.
