CAROLINA STATION STATUS
We are ONE VOTE away from stopping Carolina Station at 3rd reading July 1!

TAXPAYER ADVOCACY IS ALIVE AND WELL!

SUMMARY: Although the Horry County Council approved the 2nd of 3 readings on the Carolina Station development Tuesday night (June 17), IT WAS A CLOSE VOTE…6-4! (See Voting Specifics at end of email to see why we only need one more vote.)

For the 40 or so of you who went to Conway, we want you to know you made a difference. Your presence, clapping, and cheering made a huge impression on Council members and developer representatives. According to our records, at least one Council member was still undecided as to how to vote Tuesday night. Your presence, your energy, and your enthusiasm helped him or her (can’t tell you who) decide to vote NO!

For those of you who were not there, your friends made you proud. HCP leaders Pam Creech and Jim Paullin and Growth Impact Action Committee leader George Edwards presented EXCELLENT statements outlining specific, logical, economic, and business reasons for opposing approval of the Development Agreement with Carolina Station until they are paying their fair share and it is a GOOD DEAL FOR TAXPAYERS. We say excellent because that’s the feedback we’re getting from Council members and the public.

Pam told Council members “No business person would sign the International Paper Development Agreement because they would go BANKRUPT, and the only reason you would sign such an agreement is because you can raise taxes. If you vote yes, you will be making it possible for the developer to make hundreds of millions of dollars AND you will be consigning taxpayers to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to build and maintain the infrastructure needed. A business person would not sign this contract. I would not sign this contract, and I am asking you to not sign this contract for me as a taxpayer.”

The bottom line now is that our combined efforts to date have been SUFFICIENT TO GET US VERY CLOSE to our objective of delaying approval of Carolina Station until staff negotiations are completed and we are satisfied it is a good deal for taxpayers! This is getting really exciting and we are on the verge of making history in Horry County! Here’s what you need to do next.

CAROLINA STATION ACTION ALERT!

For the 3rd and final reading July 1, we need to keep the votes we have and change ONE MORE VOTE to stop development of Carolina Station and send a STRONG MESSAGE to both Council members and developers that we are not going to put up with business as usual any more. You may be sure that the developer and his representatives are really nervous and will be going ALL OUT to hold onto their Council votes. We need to go ALL OUT also.

WE HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE HISTORY IN HORRY COUNTY JULY 1!
Big developers have been running this County since the beginning of home rule in 1977. They have made billions—at taxpayers’ expense. How have big developers gotten away with this for so long? Because taxpayers complain to each other, but they have never organized and objected together OUT LOUD to Council members in front of TVs and press, and…they have never withheld their votes in an organized effort from Council members who assisted big development at the expense of taxpayers.

IF WE CHANGE OUR BEHAVIOR, WE CAN CHANGE THEIR BEHAVIOR…AND EVERYONE WILL BENEFIT!
WE NEED HUNDREDS OF TAXPAYERS TO WRITE, CALL, AND ATTEND THE JULY 1 COUNTY COUNCIL MEETING!

The 3rd reading for Carolina Station is scheduled for the County Council meeting, Tuesday, July 1, at 6 PM in Conway. Put this date on your schedule and make your plans to be there. Never mind it’s right before the 4th of July. We have family coming in also and WE’LL BE THERE. Keep in mind the developers are hoping you won’t show up because of the holiday.

BEFORE July 1…

ACTION #1
Email or call your Council member, copy all the other Council members and Horry County P.R.I.D.E. Below are some suggestions to say if you need them:

To: Hartleyp@horrycounty.org
cc: Horrycountypride@sc.rr.com

Please provide each Council member a copy of the message below.

Dear Mr/Ms _________:

I have been following the Carolina Station project and …
I attended the last Council meeting, and…

I am opposed to approval of the Carolina Station Development Agreement at this time because…
Horry County should be run like a business, and no businessman would approve a project without a specific plan to pay for its costs.

THANK Liz Gillland, Harold Worley, Carl Schwartzkopf, and Howard Barnard for voting NO June 17. Request them to also vote NO to the 3rd reading July 1.

TELL Marion Foxworth, Kevin Hardee, Paul Prince, James Frazier, Bob Grabowski, and Al Allen you are disappointed in their vote and request that they do what’s right for the taxpayer and vote NO to the 3rd reading July 1.

Your Name
District #
Address

ACTION #2
Write or call your school board member and copy Horry County P.R.I.D.E.

Carolina Station will require at least three new schools which the school board will then tax us to build and maintain. Not a single member of the School Board spoke Tuesday night regarding this important issue, and we did not identify a single member of the School Board even present Tuesday night.

Write or call your school board representative:
1) Ask them were they present at the County Council meeting Tuesday night when schools for Carolina Station were discussed?
2) If so, why did they not stand up and give their opinion on what the developer is donating?
3) What are the public schools are getting from the developer?
4) How much is it going to cost the taxpayers for development and operations?
5) Are you working with the Council to insure the developers pay their fair share?
6) Although I support education, I will NOT vote for a 1% sales tax increase to cover the schools for Carolina Station unless I’m satisfied the developer is paying his fair share.

SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS

WILL GARLAND
Board Chairman
398 Jordanville Road
Aynor, SC 29511
Phone: 843-358-8002
Fax: 843-399-1397
wgarland@sccoast.net
wgarland@horrycountyschools.net

HARVEY EISNER
1113 Swan Lake Dr.
N. Myrtle Beach, SC 29582
Phone: 843-281-8222
District #1
johasc@verizon.net
heisner@horrycountyschools.net

MARYELLEN GREENE
8803 Kings Road
Myrtle Beach, SC 29572
Phone: 843-449-7266
Fax: 843-449-7266
District #2
greenemaryellen@hotmail.com
mgreene@horrycountyschools.net

JOE DEFEO
817 Silvercrest Dr.
Myrtle Beach, SC 29579
Phone: 843-222-5912
Fax: 843-238-9100
District #3
beachaircraft@aol.com
jdefeo@horrycountyschools.net

KAY LOFTUS
1551 Deer Park Lane
Surfside Beach, SC 29575
843-650-1715
Fax: 843-650-1107
District #4
kilokitten@aol.com
kloftus@horrycountyschools.net

PAUL PETERSON
Vice Chair
402 Lumber River Road
Surfside Beach, SC 29588
843-650-1787
Fax: 843-349-2943
District #5
Peterson@coastal.edu
ppeterson@horrycountyschools.net

PAM TIMMS
4448 Peachtree Road
Myrtle Beach, SC 29588
Phone: 843-236-1629
Fax: 843-236-0584
District #6
ptimms@sccoast.net
ppeterson@horrycountyschools.net

PAUL HUDSON
2408 St. Andrews Lane
Conway, SC 29526
Phone: 843-365-7961
Fax: 843-365-7962 (h)
Fax: 843-365-1063 (w)
District #7
Schoolman0010@aol.com
phudson@horrycountyschools.net

BILL GRAHAM
111 Hawthorne Lane
Conway, SC 29526
Phone: 843-365-0261
District #8
bgraham@cityofconway.com
bgraham@horrycountyschools.net

RONALD BESSANT
3860-B Circle Road
Longs, SC 29568
Phone: 843-399-1397
Fax: 843-399-1397
District #9
rbessant@sccoast.net
rbessant@horrycountyschools.net

CHRIS SHANNON
1730 Cane Branch Road
Loris, SC 29569
Phone: 843-756-9645
Phone: 843-756-2686
District #10
Lcs9645@yahoo.com
cshannon@horrycountyschools.net

CHARLES HUCKS
130 Sparkman Road
Aynor, SC 29511
Phone: 843-365-7889
Fax: 843-913-5956
District #11
Charles.hucks@burroughs-chapin.com
chucks@horrycountyschools.net

REMEMBER…
Elected officials need two things to get elected and stay elected. MONEY and VOTES.
Ultimately, the most important of these is VOTES…and that’s what we have that developers don’t!

What we want is to be treated fairly. And at this point, we are NOT…but we’re getting there. Keep up the good work. Please copy us on your emails. Let us know if you can be with us July 1 in Conway and how many people you are bringing.

As always, there is great appreciation for you here.

HORRY COUNTY P.R.I.D.E. LEADERSHIP
www.horrycountypride.org

Julie Harbin, horrycountypride@sc.rr.com

Pam Creech, fouroaksgeneral@yahoo.com

Jim Paullin, peaceoftherock81@cs.com

Stu Schnur, sschnur@sc.rr.com

“Rehabilitating American democracy requires much more than reforming the government. It means that citizens at large must also reinvent themselves.” (William Greider in Who Will Tell the People?)

PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ALONG TO OTHER INTERESTED HORRY COUNTY RESIDENTS.

If you would like to be REMOVED from this email list, please return this message with REMOVE in the Subject line.
____________________________________________________

Voting Specifics on Carolina Station Development Agreement

On June 17 the vote was 6-4 FOR the Development Agreement.
On July 1, Mike Ryan will return and will be a NO vote. This will make the vote 6-5.
TO MAKE HISTORY, we need to change the vote of ONE member who voted FOR the Development Agreement. Therefore…

EVERYONE in Allen’s, Foxworth’s, Frazier’s, Grabowski’s, Hardee’s, and Prince’s district WRITE THEM, CALL THEM, ASK THEM TO CHANGE THEIR VOTE, AND TELL THEM YOU WILL BE THERE TUESDAY NIGHT.

FOR the Development Agreement
Allen, Foxworth, Frazier, Grabowski, Hardee, and Prince

AGAINST the Development Agreement
Barnard, Gilland, Schwartzkopf, and Worley

Not Voting
Ryan - absent
Schultz - recused (he works for the Carolina Station engineering firm)

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 22nd, 2008 at 1:26 pm and is filed under Communications, Action Alerts.