Mayor Benjamin outlines ambitious goals in State of Columbia speech

Mayor Steve Benjamin touched on dozens of topics Tuesday night in his annual state of the city address, but he was at his most eloquent when he recalled how the people of Columbia and Richland County rallied after the great floods last October.

“A disaster like that can bring out the worst in a people,” said Benjamin, who spoke in the crowded city council chambers at City Hall to a crowd of about 100 with dozens more watching in overflow rooms.

As 11 trillion gallons of water fell, people “found the strength to pull their feet back under themselves and not only stand but march forward,” Benjamin said.

Police officers, firefighters, Girl Scouts, Nation Guard members, students, utility and hospital workers, religious and neighborhood groups – all pitched in, with restaurants providing free food, Benjamin said.

“I saw a world-class city become a city of heroes,” he said.

Speaking for some 25 minutes, Benjamin was at times wonkish, as when he ticked off building statistics and employment data, boosterish in talking about some $1.3 billion in new downtown investment and community minded, as when he talked about hiring 54 new police officers and buying 300 new body cameras. It was also a wish list, as when he mentioned wiring the city with “high-speed gigabit fiber and focused neighborhood Wi-Fi.”

Benjamin referred obliquely to the Civil War twice, once quoting Union General William T. Sherman discussing how great tragedy can change a person, and once referring – without mentioning it by name – to the removal of the Confederate flag from its place of honor at the State House.

“One symbol of division and hate pulled down and put away for now and for all time,” Benjamin said of the flag, for years beloved by those who asserted its value as a symbol of heritage but also a rallying symbol for white heritage groups and white supremacists.

Benjamin touched on other topics:

▪ The progress of his Bull Street project, where “dozens of retailers” – while still unnamed – have committed to build stores and every historic property will be “preserved and adaptively reused.” The new city baseball team, the Fireflies, is expected to play its first game April 14 in a “first class multipurpose venue” in the Bull Street complex.

▪ Putting 10,000 books in 100 barbershops across Columbia through a partnership that includes Richland Library, CIGNA and Cocky’s Reading Express.

▪ Reclaiming the Gills Creek watershed, a heavily damaged network of artificial lakes, dams and streams that flow from upper Two Notch Road to the Congaree River and restoring much of it as a natural buffer to prevent future flooding.

▪ Upgrading all city neighborhoods, not just those damaged by the floods, by demolishing dilapidated buildings, clearing overgrown lots “and replacing them with inviting neighborhood pocket parks where our children can play.”

▪ Making roads more walkable and bicycle friendly, beautifying city gateways and investing in “overlooked corridors like Two Notch, Farrow Road and Beltline, matching the commitment that we are delivering on North Main Street.”

▪ Launching a “flotilla of small watercraft on a fact-finding mission” from Riverbanks Zoo to Charleston to encourage nature-based tourism and raise money for the Congaree Riverkeeper.

▪ Providing the city’s hundreds of homeless veterans with quality low-cost housing and “make veteran homelessness a thing of the past in 2016.”

▪ Making Columbia a solar city.

▪ Putting more police on the streets and making Columbia a “No Kill” city.

Councilmen Sam Davis, the city’s longest serving, called it a “well-rounded speech with visionary flair.”

Benjamin showed “the vision is there, a commitment is there and the promise is there for people who are here and those folks who are still coming to the city and opportunities they are finding,” Davis said.

Davis said he was heartened by the mayor’s pledge to improve major city corridors and their contiguous neighborhoods “so they can all benefit as the central city has.”

Councilwoman Tameika Isaac-Devine was glad Benjamin mentioned affordable housing and called the address a “great speech. ... There are a lot of things that are very doable this year, and some that are going to take longer-range planning and getting a coalition of council on the same page, but I’m very optimistic. We can do it, but we have to sit back and have a plan, and of course, with the plan comes money.”

New councilman Howard Duvall also called it a great speech. “I liked to see at the end of his speech, he talked about being fiscally responsible, because I, too, want to be fiscally responsible. I certainly want to support him in every way that we can.”

Duvall said he had no immediate comment on the speech’s details. “He had so many figures in his speech that I want to see them written down. I’d like to do a little bit of studying.”

Council member Moe Baddourah, a sometime critic of Benjamin’s proposals, said he liked Benjamin’s optimism and that the mayor spoke of council members working together.

But, said Baddourah, “It was interesting how he made a comment about all the economic impact coming in from all the new buildings, but he forgot to mention the fact that we gave all of those tax incentives for development to come in. We have over $100 million still to come up with for the Bull Street development. I’m optimistic about the future, but where is all the money coming from?”

City police chief Skip Holbrook, asked after the speech when the body cameras Benjamin referred to might arrive, said, “We literally expect delivery of them any day.”

Also speaking was city poet laureate Ed Madden, who recited one of his poems, the last line of which seemed to fit, more or less, the occasion: “The rough voices still singing.”

This story was originally published January 26, 2016 at 9:56 PM with the headline "Mayor Benjamin outlines ambitious goals in State of Columbia speech."