Running Things with Kimsey Hollifield
From Nostalgia to Action: A Mayoral Candidate's Plan to Revitalize His Hometown, Summerville SC
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to step back into your past, only this time, with a mission to reshape its future? Join us for an engaging chat with Dickie Myler, a small business owner and a mayoral candidate who is on this very journey in his hometown of Summerville. As we walk down memory lane with Dickie, we explore the town's simpler times and the nuances of how the seventh largest city in South Carolina has evolved since his high school days. We delve into the charm of the old town, with its Tasty Freeze and drive-ins, and Dickie’s quest to retain this quaint essence as the town expands.
Traffic woes, road construction, and a major project delay of 20 years - sounds familiar? Well, Dickie is not just nostalgic about Summerville, he's a man with a plan. From a new comprehensive traffic study to strategies for slowing down traffic in the historic district, he is all set to address these concerns. We also discuss the potential of repurposing existing structures while preserving the town's heritage, and the vision of a new restaurant and shopping district.
Finally, we take a moment to appreciate the heritage of Summerville, as seen through Dickie's family history. With his great-great-grandfather being the first mayor, and a family deeply rooted in real estate, Dickie has the combination of pedigree and passion to lead Summerville. As a small business owner, his perspective is grounded in practicalities and informed by experience - a key to achieving a balance between growth and tradition. Tune in, as he shares his plans and love for Summerville, in a conversation that promises to be both insightful and captivating.
Interested in learning more? Visit us at https://www.hollifieldfinancial.com/ or give us a call at (843) 400-3022.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to step back into your past, only this time, with a mission to reshape its future? Join us for an engaging chat with Dickie Myler, a small business owner and a mayoral candidate who is on this very journey in his hometown of Summerville. As we walk down memory lane with Dickie, we explore the town's simpler times and the nuances of how the seventh largest city in South Carolina has evolved since his high school days. We delve into the charm of the old town, with its Tasty Freeze and drive-ins, and Dickie’s quest to retain this quaint essence as the town expands.
Traffic woes, road construction, and a major project delay of 20 years - sounds familiar? Well, Dickie is not just nostalgic about Summerville, he's a man with a plan. From a new comprehensive traffic study to strategies for slowing down traffic in the historic district, he is all set to address these concerns. We also discuss the potential of repurposing existing structures while preserving the town's heritage, and the vision of a new restaurant and shopping district.
Finally, we take a moment to appreciate the heritage of Summerville, as seen through Dickie's family history. With his great-great-grandfather being the first mayor, and a family deeply rooted in real estate, Dickie has the combination of pedigree and passion to lead Summerville. As a small business owner, his perspective is grounded in practicalities and informed by experience - a key to achieving a balance between growth and tradition. Tune in, as he shares his plans and love for Summerville, in a conversation that promises to be both insightful and captivating.
Interested in learning more? Visit us at https://www.hollifieldfinancial.com/ or give us a call at (843) 400-3022.
Welcome to Running Things with Kimsey Hollifield. I'm here with Dickie Myler who is running to be the next mayor of Somerville, all right, well, thank you for coming, and you mentioned when you came in that you had not been in my house, for I guess it wasn't my house at the time, but for a long time. But you told a really cool story, so tell that story again. I really liked that.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, kimsey, was almost like going back in time when I was in high school. This property was owned by Dr James, who was one of the leading town physicians, and he had two children. But he had a beautiful daughter named Susan and I was going out with her at the time. So the last time I was in this house I was in that front foyer waiting for Susan to come down those same stairs to go out and Dr James was here and he was saying you kids have fun.
Speaker 2:And I always realized that that had some restrictions to it, but such a grand house. At that time this was all one piece of property, about two, and a half acres and it was just a beautiful piece of property as it is today, but I felt so warm coming back home.
Speaker 1:That's great. How old were you then?
Speaker 2:Senior in high school.
Speaker 1:So you, but you've lived here your whole life.
Speaker 2:That is correct. I was born and raised right here. My family is from here, kimsey. In fact, my great-great-grandfather was the first mayor of Somerville.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, I didn't know that. Yes, sir.
Speaker 2:So we have always been here. It always had a A Mission to serve. We love the town and I hope I continue to carry on that tradition.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think so you mentioned. He said you kids have fun. When you were a senior in high school what was fun in Somerville Like? What was the town like back then?
Speaker 2:Great question. It always start with the tasty freeze, which is a great place to get a hamburger or a coke, something like that, then usually a drive-in movie, yeah, or sometimes go to the bowling alley not the driving movie at the drive-in movie. Well, now it's called Weatherstone, which is a neighborhood, almost. Is that strange? Yeah, I mean, so we'd go there. And also there was a drive-in movie on Rivers Avenue. And also there's one in Walteboro.
Speaker 2:And so you know it was such a different time and everybody loved going to the movies. You know, downtown this the movie house which is now the the flower town players theater.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so those are things you would do, but normally you also go to a kid's house. You always go to a friend's house and play some, play some music. Sometimes you dance and just kind of this chill, did you play music? No, rats, I am such a fresh musician.
Speaker 2:I can't even sing chopsticks, but no, but one of my best friends, I have to give him credit. Burt louder milk Was a very good guitarist and he was in a band as white my next-door neighbor, adam Jacobs, and Burt was the lead guitarist and Adam was the drummer, and I can still hear the music right now.
Speaker 1:It was loud it probably wasn't very good, but it was loud. We had a fundraiser here for my wife did dancing with the Ark and so we had a fundraiser here and we had a bunch of people over, we had a band and it was. It was. It was a lot of fun, it was. We just did that a few months back. We had golf carts all the way out, for it was. I didn't even know half the people that were here by the time. The nice, this is really cool, it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:Well, they all knew your wife, that's for sure. I guess so. I guess so. And what a great night that always has been.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was my son.
Speaker 2:My son-in-law, sean Harrington, has done that and my sister, lucia Campbell, has done that. Okay, and we have always been a supporter of that. I mean dancing with the stars, as you well know us for Alzheimer's, and we just always had that as one of our primary go-to Non-profits. Me support, yeah, great ministry, great night.
Speaker 1:They do a good job, they do a really good job.
Speaker 2:They dance pretty well, you know, it's fun.
Speaker 1:It's funny she worked so hard at it, I mean, and she did gray it was, it was intense, it was more than I expected, actually it was it was more than I expected. I don't think I could do it.
Speaker 2:Sure, you could, you do great, I guarantee it.
Speaker 1:I don't know. You mentioned tasty freeze. I'm from Asheville. We had a tasty freeze that my best friend's family owned, and we would. That's what we would do too. A lot of times we go to tasty freeze and that was that's good memories.
Speaker 2:It's a great memory. So now was the hangout, especially after Friday night football games. Yeah you know I mean hello. As president Bush said, it was a kinder gentler nation back in those days.
Speaker 1:You know that, yeah.
Speaker 2:But great memories, great town and, by the way, which is one of the reasons I've decided to run for mayor, is to make sure that we never lose that small-town flare and and favor and sense of feel, even though we're growing. You know we're a large city, now the seventh largest in South Carolina. But I don't want you to feel that way. I want you to feel like you're still in Mayberry, even though you're not yeah but never lose that feel it does.
Speaker 1:It does have that. You know We've lived here for almost five years and you know we've been in Charleston longer but in Somerville and Somerville, of any place that I've ever lived, has just been Just welcoming and the best people and it does give you that little small town. So when I moved here somebody said you have to have a golf cart, you have to get around and and it's the only place. I don't know any other place like that and it's a great it's. But it is growing right, it is and Kim's a.
Speaker 2:When I hear folks like you say that, it really warms my heart. Why? Because you could live anywhere, yeah, but you decided here. Yeah and for the same reasons that I embrace, and when I was younger I don't want to say I took that same feeling for granted. It's just what. It's what you always knew.
Speaker 2:Yeah but so many folks have moved in that have become dear friends of being a real-state Broker for the last 35 years We've sold hundreds and hundreds of houses but they love Somerville for the reasons I love Somerville. Yeah, the feel, the look, the community spirit. It's still alive so well. I hope you love living in Somerville. I really mean.
Speaker 1:I, I, our daughter's going to preschool next year wonderful and you know we're, we're here, we're not playing, I'm going. A lot of my clients are part of the the growth. So I'm a financial planner. A lot of them move from New York, new Jersey, pennsylvania, ohio and they move into here and Maybe they don't want to live in Charleston but they want to be close to the beach and so it seems like this is that's probably a lot of the growth is people who are not from around here, not even close to here. How do you I mean, how do you manage that? What I mean? I know that everybody has their plan. You know different plans, but tell me a little bit about, and I'm selfishly asking you know what's the, what's the plan for all that?
Speaker 2:Well, gee whiz, I think the answer, the right answer, is it everybody's heart? I mean, I think that the the growth of the town for the next decade is in the crosshairs, of Vital importance for all of us. And I mean that not because we're not going to grow. We're going to grow regardless. We have to just because of our locale. Yeah, as you will know, 23 miles from Charleston, 25 miles from I-95.
Speaker 2:Yeah the major artery transportation between the two. Yeah, the port is exploding. We have the deepest port on the East Coast. In fact, I just read the other day that our airport is now Going over six thousand customers of six million customers for the year. Wow, new record. So that's why all the big players the Walmart's, the Boeing's, the Volvos and others of the world are coming here. Yeah, so how do we manage it for summerville? And that's where planned Strategic growth is my platform. So what happens happens on our watch, not being reactive to how it's going to work, but being proactive on how we want it to develop. And that takes a lot of Energy, it takes a lot of planning, takes a lot of cooperation. But the biggest thing is setting the vision, and I I liken what we need to do to any family, you having a family. We want this child, son or daughter, to go to this school to do that. So what do we do now to get ready?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're playing for it because you know it's gonna happen. You know it's gonna happen.
Speaker 2:So don't wake up. When she's a senior, say what, what happened? You know, and that's how I feel we have dropped the ball, not to throw a stone against anyone, but I believe we have dropped the ball and things we should have been doing to To safeguard our future is it Infrastructure traffic?
Speaker 1:is that the main thing that I feel that going just, you know, around town I know everybody does, but is that the big thing?
Speaker 2:It is because it's gotten out of hand and so we're behind the eight ball. You know, infrastructure is a product of growth, so the amount of infrastructure will be determined on how wise that growth was planned, because every new subdivision, every new apartment complex is going to put a demand on infrastructure. So infrastructure, sidewalks, cars, service vehicles, schools, you name it. And so what are we going to do in advance to make sure, when that happens, it doesn't overwhelm us like it already has? And so I feel, as a candidate for mayor, that we're like salmon swimming upstream, but we can get there if we have enough willpower to get there. And that means we have to be willing to roll our sleeves up and, in some areas, say no. So someone's got to be the parent I know you're going to be taxed many, many times as your family rises up and somebody's got to say I'm sorry, no or not. Now.
Speaker 1:Do you think so? I'm thinking about the different traffic things going on. We were talking earlier about Berlin G. Yeah, and when it first started I would ask people how far is it going? And they would say all the way.
Speaker 2:And I would just say okay, okay, I didn't know what that meant, you know?
Speaker 1:and I've watched it. A quarter mile from the house. I watch it and I mean maybe you can tell a little bit about the plans there, because that's my route to the grocery store and I really look at that as saying, okay, how's this going to lay out, how's it going to go? I mean, tell me a little bit about that. And a lot of people thinking about that Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Before I address the Berlin G Myers you mentioned that's where you go to, that's where you shop. I had a job with Piglet Wiggly years and years and years ago and I learned from the best grocery man in the world, mr Jack Kirsten which is Mr K's Piglet Wiggly is that what determines a housewife or a mother or anybody to buy food was how long it would take to get home. And the ice cream hasn't melted yet.
Speaker 1:Oh yes.
Speaker 2:And that's the parameter. So now everybody's ice cream is melted before they get home and everybody's mad as heck. So time and distance is key. In the mid 90s, our deceased Mayor Berlin G Myers, who that wrote his name?
Speaker 2:after he had the plan to increase that to do the Berlin G Myers, and it was supposed to be completed by 2003. So we're 20 years behind schedule. So obviously the price has gone up to the roof and everything has changed so much. And now we're having to do overtime and pay triple time to get this thing completed. And when people say, well, until it's completed or it's going to be all the way, no one really knew how far it was going to go. But the plan is you probably know now, it's to tie into 17A or the continuation of Main Street out there before you get to the ponds. Ok, so we can bleed back out of town and then tie back into Central Avenue where that comes in at the same kind of point. So hopefully there'll be almost like a perimeter, a mini beltway if you would, and so the question is how much traffic will that bleed off?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And no one really knows. And let me tell you why. And, by the way, once again, this is not a stone, don't it guess anybody. But in 2005, I was on the 1 cent tax authority. We raised $125 million it was on a referendum to for roads. At that time we did a comprehensive traffic study. We have not done one cents.
Speaker 1:When was this that you?
Speaker 2:did 2006. So what has not been done in 17 years? So the question is what are we doing? Why are we doing it, where's it going? And so those questions haven't been answered. We're hoping, and, as you well know, hope is not a plan, that's a prayer, that's not a plan. So the first thing I want to do is do a comprehensive traffic study so we can know exactly how to connect the dots. All right, so that's number one. The Berlin will be a help, especially, I believe, off of East Carolina and West Carolina as well, because so many people now who live on that side of town have to go this way. That will help a lot.
Speaker 2:That would be, and through traffic is the biggest problem we have, especially through where you live in the historic district. Yeah, we've got to eliminate that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a huge quality of life issue. Yeah, A lot of people come, I wouldn't say flying through here, but every once in a while they you know there's a lot more. There's a lot of traffic through here. There's a lot of traffic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, by the way, years ago there was no three-way traffic stops on this road, so you could rev it up to about 60. And you could hear it. But the point is it's I think people are more aware of that, but we need more things that slow this traffic down. But back to the Berlin G One is completed, then we'll see how much of a real help it's been for us and was it worth the cost. We can't stop now, right, we cannot stop now. And the bank's construction who's the general contractor? They're great and you know so. They're doing a fantastic job with that, and Reed Banks is the president. He will make sure they're on time and under budget. So that part is feels great. We're just so far behind. Yeah, that's, that's the biggest problem. And what's happened is everything else is falling behind as well Our inner streets, our sidewalks, nothing's connected. And, as a walker or bicyclist, these kinds of there's some safety concerns. There's safety concerns that I know all of us are worried about. Yeah, so traffic is huge, huge, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So once the Berlin G is finished, then you think, okay, how did that help? What did that do? And then I'm sure there are other things that you know. At Main Street, I mean if you go to is, it's just bursting at the seams. I mean it really is. Even the time I've been here it's. It's a big difference. There's a I mean I don't know, maybe in a second you can tell me. I'm sure you know the numbers of population now, growth in the future. I'm such a nerd for those things, but it seems like it's grown so much since when I moved here five years ago.
Speaker 2:Well, it has. And now the good news is where you, where you are in the historic district, because of the parameters and the lot requirements. The minimum lot requirements half an acre. We really haven't grown that much in this little quadrant, but everything that chokes the transportation arteries has. We have grown from roughly 38,000 to 53,000 in 10 years. That's a huge number, just in the in the right, the areas around the Somerville Belt Line if you would.
Speaker 2:So, and by the way, on trolley road, for example, where my office is, there are nine subdivisions off of trolley road. Yep, I guess so yeah. And so, having said that, all those bleed into the same road, which will bleed into the same road, which chokes us, you know terribly. So the biggest thing we have to do downtown is do some I would call some road traffic redesign and some things that I've already worked with my little traffic committee on, and these are things like, for example, eliminate some left turns to increase right turn lanes.
Speaker 1:Okay, that makes sense.
Speaker 2:For example you're coming from the target center, you come into your home down Main Street you go to the railroad tracks. There's town square right there, yep, and on the right hand side you have eight horizontal parking spots. So that means if you want to take a right, you can't because you're tied up. And that whole thing was the toll turn lane that people come over go and keep going.
Speaker 1:That's true, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then you with a couple other places. Then you marry that with, which is really, really good. It's called smart camera technology. It's a Bluetooth system tied to A&I algorithms which measures time, distance and density at each stoplight, so therefore it flows automatically through AI technology so you're not stopped if the traffic flow needs to continue to go. Oh interesting, it really is. It's a fascinating thing, and Augusta George has done this every year. They have the masters. Yeah, thousands and thousands of people go to Washington Road. It flows like water downhill.
Speaker 1:I didn't. I never even knew that that existed. So it adjusts the traffic lights based on and it can see the traffic and everything's on time.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's neat Density. Density means number of cars, yep, okay, and how fast that goes to the intersection. So if you're five cars, for example, it takes 15 seconds red light.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:If there's a thousand cars and they're going boop, boop, boop, boop, green light all the way through.
Speaker 1:Interesting.
Speaker 2:And that's why they eliminate some left turn lanes and increase the right turn lanes and they've put in we all need to put in about three traffic circles, which are wonderful to do. Yeah, they are. These all about moving traffic quicker.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yep, those are little things that a lot of times people don't think about. Small wins, that makes a big difference Small wins.
Speaker 2:Now back to people who are riding their bike and walking. We need to have more pedestrian crossroads with signage, because the town needs to feel safe and when you're riding or pushing your stroller or on your golf cart, you gotta feel safe. And you know something. The big ticket items, like the continuation of the Berlin G and the completion of the Maple Street extension, those are big wins. The small wins are these things that we can see immediately.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those are probably a lot faster and in a lot of ways, that system there that's more important in a lot of ways.
Speaker 2:It really is.
Speaker 1:Just moving things along.
Speaker 2:It is, by the way, as you know, this gee whiz, you've traveled the world. Traffic congestion is not just a quality of life issue, it's a real health issue. And it's a safety issue and it has a drain on our economy. It keeps students from school. They're late, Keeps employees away from work, can't get there. It stops emergency vehicles from getting on time to save someone's life and plus it has a huge issue. It's all kind of studies on mental health, rage and stuff like that, I mean so it's a major issue.
Speaker 1:They put some roundabouts in Candler, where I'm from, and you would have thought my papa was so mad about this. They put a couple of roundabouts, no big deal, and they worked great. They were really wonderful. He was so mad, he thought they were changing everything, you know, and so I wonder if we'll have some of that here. But they are fantastic, cause you just get in there and I mean it really does help.
Speaker 2:Oh, it helps tremendously and we're gonna have some. And all we gotta do is drive out to Pinewood Prep, which your folks might go down the road, and that was a four way stop and everybody hated it. They built this really nice roundabout and for the first month there was a lot of friction.
Speaker 1:There really was, there's always friction with change. They love it.
Speaker 2:They would shoot us if he wanted to go back to the old system.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cause it's great. That's where my daughter's gonna go by the way. We're starting her next year. Fantastic, you'll love it.
Speaker 2:And, by the way, we're talking about Pinewood School, part of my journey is I was on the board of the directors for six years out there. Cause my kids went out there and it's a great school. Our public schools are great as well, I mean. So there's, it's a win-win that, whatever the the family feels best for them, but roundabouts what it does it's it allows traffic not to stop and that's the whole secret to keep it moving. And we're gonna do that. And these are all little win-wins.
Speaker 1:A couple of those would really would really help In strategic areas.
Speaker 2:And now I want to say something about my campaign, about that.
Speaker 1:Sure yeah.
Speaker 2:I've always believed in total transparency. I believe in collaboration with as many stakeholders as possible. Therefore, I'm not going to say we're doing this, thus set the Lord. I want to say these are options. What do y'all think what's best for us? And that way, everybody feels that they have a say so in it, cause I always believe everybody's voice matters, regardless of who you are, where you are. You live here. You're a duke's paying citizen. You're a tax paying citizen. I want to hear what you have to say as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's nice, you know so and I'm, but I'm very excited about what we can do.
Speaker 1:I think people will like that.
Speaker 2:I hope so.
Speaker 1:You know there'll be any change. Is is tough for people at first you know, but any little thing, but, man, something like the AI lights. I did not, I didn't even know that existed.
Speaker 2:That is really important to me. It is fabulous stuff and, believe me, it's not terribly expensive. But it's expensive, so that means every town has to make it a priority.
Speaker 1:Is that something where you could, if it got approved, you could put it in? I mean, is it quick to put those things in?
Speaker 2:It would be integrated and operational within three months once it's in. Oh, wow it's all coordinated, and once that's happening for example, if you came home at night from a ball game or whatever a dance recital, or your wife's coming back from the Gibbs Art Gallery she comes, it's a red light, no one's there, it turns green immediately. So it's for both ways If there's no one there and everybody's there.
Speaker 1:That's nice, that's huge, Because sometimes if you get, if I go to the Y in the morning and it's five o'clock or there's nobody there, I'm sitting at five points. I have to wait. You know that's tremendous. It is. That is tremendous.
Speaker 2:So we're excited about that, and those are the things. Let me say this also, kim, I've heard this a hundred times I love Somerville, but the traffic's horrible. I don't want to eliminate that, I just want to get rid of it.
Speaker 1:The traffic's horrible everywhere.
Speaker 2:It is.
Speaker 1:I mean, I go back to Asheville, the traffic's horrible. I was in New York last week that if you think traffic is bad here, you just go up there. It is chaos, people. They don't stop at the crosswalks, they just run out blowing the horn each other. You know it's nothing Like and I come back here and I'm like, yeah, this is okay.
Speaker 2:Well, this is not that bad, Sadly, if you all can't go to DC or New York City for a week to get our fix. But you're right, it's comparatively speaking. But once again, but if you're coming to the flower town of the Pines, what I think is the number one city in South Carolina. I want you to feel different.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I want you to say hey, honey, we're home.
Speaker 1:I think so. I think people do, I know, I do. You know, what I've been really excited about is we've gotten some of the restaurants that were only in Charleston, and I forget the numbers, but a while back somebody told me X amount of dollars gets taken from Somerville to Charleston. Just, it's date night, we're going to go to halls or we're going to go wherever it is, and now some of those restaurants are coming in. Are there more plans for that? Absolutely.
Speaker 2:More plans for that and also recreation of old dreams. And, by the way, we have some fabulous new restaurants in town, as you well know.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I believe halls was the first domino that said hey, we can make it, so others are followed. They've done well and they've done very well, but years ago we had a place called the teapot, which was long gone, and we had a place called the train depot, which was actually the train depot, but it had a snack bar in it.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:I want to recreate that to make it the nicest restaurant in Somerville.
Speaker 1:The train depot. I got old pictures.
Speaker 2:It was right where the tracks are now in historic district, but it was demolished as other things were because there was no preservation. Yes, and you know, if you travel a little bit, you can go to Europe and see buildings six, seven, eight, a thousand years old. Yeah, so you don't have to demolish, you just got to get in the business of thinking repurpose, revision, reconstruct. That would be great.
Speaker 1:I never thought about that.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'll be fantastic. And so I have a plan for a whole new shopping district, I think second town square. That's exciting. Same kind of model, another walking quadrant.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great, that's exciting. So my dad is in the railroad business and he preserved a railroad in Asheville.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:And he's always one. He has a lot of different railroad cars, cabooses, engines. He's always got some new something. But that would be really interesting. Either have it as a depot, maybe have a couple of cars, a couple of box cars.
Speaker 2:That would be really nice, that's what's going to look like the box cars would be wine bar those kind of things, A cigar bar those kind of things, and then the main depot, the restaurant, and it'll be beautiful. I'm so excited about that. Oh, that's really great.
Speaker 1:I never thought about that, but I know where we can get a couple of box cars cabooses, whatever, listen, let's go.
Speaker 1:I could get them right. So you mentioned Pigley Wiggly. My first job was Chick-fil-A, but one of my very early jobs was I would go lay railroad track with my dad. We would move a caboose and he would restore it for someone at the time and we would lay the track. So I would be out there moving the cross ties, so I could get out there and do some of that work too. I know how to lay track. I know a little bit about that.
Speaker 2:Well, this is the first application we've gotten there for manual labor. I can see by those guns you got you used to do some work.
Speaker 1:That was, yeah, we would have. I mean, I am very familiar with that.
Speaker 2:That is not light lifting, that's heavy lifting too. Kids, I guarantee it is.
Speaker 1:That's tough, especially when you're. I would shoot 11, 12. You know, but that's a great. I love that idea. I love that. And is the depot still up? Or is it? Where was it at?
Speaker 2:It was right where the railroad tracks are right now, if you know where Kupamana is right across the street from there. Okay, and so what I want to do is I want to use the railroad tracks that go through Somerville not as an obstacle, but as an opportunity to embellish a town that grew around the railroad tracks. That makes sense yeah, you know and we're not Chicago, we're not gonna build an L over anything. You know that Southern Norfolk would never allow that in the first place.
Speaker 1:Do you think so? You have a background in real estate. Do you think that that helps you in this? I mean, you have a background in Somerville, but do you think your background in real estate helps you with some of these projects and things?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. My family's been in the real estate business for 58 years, oh wow, and so I don't mind telling you this. In the last 30 years, our company, Mylar Properties, has sold over a billion dollars in real estate.
Speaker 1:Fantastic.
Speaker 2:So we understand what development is. Our company has been partners with four major developments Gehagen, somerville Trace, woodpatch Hill and also Pine Forest Country Club.
Speaker 2:So we know how you to develop things, oh wow okay and we do a lot of work commercially as well. So I believe that expertise will be invaluable in that, in bringing the right players in for highest and best use for product mix to ensure that everybody is successful. And because we've been in the real estate business, I think we have an entrepreneurial spirit that understands it's gotta be a welcoming environment that people wanna come, people want to invest in, they wanna put another LaRustica in here or another Laura here, those kind of things. For example, I remember when Five Loaves opened up, took an old house, repurposed it and made it a wonderful place with a very charming bar. I love that place.
Speaker 2:I do too. Food's great, but once again, all they did was embellish the feel of an old town field.
Speaker 1:I see what you're saying. Now that makes sense. They didn't redo the building, no, they just actually sort of rehabbed it recently and it looks even better.
Speaker 2:But that's one of our favorite places to go.
Speaker 2:It does. Now let me tell you why. Another reason I'm running for mayor On that same road. About 50 yards before you get to it, there are two brand new office buildings that are going up. Praise the Lord, guess what? There's no setbacks, so it's right on the highway, and so once again it disturbs the landscape of the curb appeal, and that's what's happened in many cities. No one said no, that should have been moved back another 25 feet, so then you could have green space, some shrubbery, planning to make it beautiful, and it blends in. And that's why I'm so much in favor of height restrictions and proper setbacks to let the town breathe. What's the height?
Speaker 1:What would you say is a proper height, 45 feet or two and a?
Speaker 2:half stories, okay, okay, because let me say this, like your house and others, you have 10 foot ceilings, Some have eight foot ceilings, some have 12 foot, so I would never want to go more than two, two and a half stories. Why I don't want to change the landscape.
Speaker 1:So okay, let me mention this, the building you're talking about. So I'm actually buying, I'm moving into that building, which?
Speaker 2:one.
Speaker 1:The one right next to Five Loaves. We close on it, we actually close on it. It's a great building, but you're saying and I do actually like I mean that's a really good thought, if it was set back more it would have some greens. I understand that, but I'm excited to be right next to Five Loaves, you know, because you can smell the bacon and the more it.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness, oh my gosh. By the way, the bread's the best in Somerville, so I don't want to it is good.
Speaker 1:I'm excited to be right next to you guys. So yeah, so we're moving our operations into there and I've worked with the developer on that from the very beginning, through the whole process, just basically committing on to a certain amount of space and kind of helping it push through, and he's worked with everything with the town and I like the design.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's a very attractive building. But, if you look at it, it looks like a sore thumb because it's on the road it is closed Everything. It goes back, so it doesn't allow you to breathe, you can't catch the feel of the look.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it was back a little bit. I get. I see what you're saying.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I understand the developer probably said well, I can't get enough parking space and those kind of things All the parking's in the back.
Speaker 1:I see what you're saying. There's another development coming on the other side of Richardson and I've seen pictures of that. I've seen renderings. Yes, that looks really beautiful.
Speaker 2:And let me say once again, before y'all moved here, that was originally wanted to be a, what they call it, boutique hotel.
Speaker 1:Yep, I heard about that.
Speaker 2:And it was the wrong idea for the wrong spot at the wrong time and it would have dwarfed that part of the town and it would have queered the look and feel of the town. So it was shot down. But what's going up now is going to be very attractive. It's going to fit in nicely. It's going to be walkable, very walkable, tucked in nice. It won't dominate the landscape and I would call that a win-win and that's what we can do with working with the developers make sure it works well. I've got to say this also, kimsley I'm so proud of the city of Charleston because what they did with the Union Pier Project. They decided to put that on pause for about a year and by doing that they brought in more stakeholders, they got more collaboration and decided to scrap what they were doing Because they realized that that was the gateway from the water. It was forever going to affect how Charleston looked. Now they're going to get it right and with time it will be beautiful. That's the same thing we need to do with this town.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, yeah, those things. Do you think we need a boutique hotel in Somerville?
Speaker 2:Oh, we do, and I've got a perfect plan for one. You better believe it.
Speaker 1:I mean because I'm thinking about my family comes down, my wife's family comes down. They all live in North Carolina and they stay over in Nexton, which is fine and they stay. But man, it would be kind of cool if there's a hotel right there.
Speaker 2:Oh, I've got a great place for you, Kim. I am so excited about the folks who are going to come here in the future. My vision is that we're going to build a beautiful boutique hotel right where Berlin G Myers Lumberyard is in the middle of town.
Speaker 1:OK, yep.
Speaker 2:That'd be a perfect spot simply located plenty of land to build exactly what we want with parking. So all the folks, like your folks and my relatives, when they come to Somerville they don't have to drive across I-26 to go to that place. They can stay in town and still have the walkability, the shopping experience, the dining experience and never leave their car, and it's right in the main building corridor as we go.
Speaker 1:That would be perfect, be perfect. Yeah, there is space there.
Speaker 2:Perfect space.
Speaker 1:And a boutique hotel would be perfect.
Speaker 2:It'd be perfect, right, it would be designed to look kind of older and classic.
Speaker 1:It would be really nice.
Speaker 2:It'd be gorgeous, and that's what this town needs. Because of that one thing you said, there's no place to stay downtown.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and two, a lot of people. My dog loves you by the way, I love the dog.
Speaker 2:So you got one vote here, one extra vote if she can vote, oh, she could put her paw in the vet. Thank you, Margaret. One good vote.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because people come into town and if they could stay here they would, but they have to sort of stay somewhere else and that doesn't just bring the money to the hotel. They're here, they're going to go to Cup of Mana, they're going to go to LaRus together, they're going to go to Oscars and they're going to spread that money around.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and that's why that whole area where I want to put the new train depot hotel. I mean restaurant will be like town square A lot of beautiful shopping stores, little boutiques, coffee shops. I also want to put the old museum there, which is hidden behind Main Street. Ok, ok, and then build a children's interpretive center there as well, like you're seeing in Greenville and other cities, so it can be a real educational outdoor place to go and also shop and buy and eat. Oh, it's going to be wonderful.
Speaker 2:That'll be great and that's how Summerville grows, but stays Summerville. Yeah, I mean the vision of this town for the next 50 years looks so bright if we'll just work together and say no to some of this ridiculous overdevelopment that people want to shove down our throat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I understand what you're saying. It's something else.
Speaker 2:It really is yeah.
Speaker 1:I understand what you're saying.
Speaker 2:How many people move in here continuously, daily, monthly, whatever the number is Well the last couple of years, we've been looking at about 2.1% growth per year, and so that's about what? 5,000, 6,000 people, yeah, ok, which seems like a lot, and that's why Summerville is growing so far wide.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that's why we have allowed subdivision after subdivision to go up without the infrastructure. And please understand, I'm a realtor. I understand about homes and housing and these things, but you don't have to build everything. You know when is enough is enough. When can you really get wise and smart and make sure that what is going on doesn't choke us to death, because these people are gonna come, believe me, and so how can we manage and control that so it doesn't change us? And that's where it calls teamwork, synergy all of the players playing together and relying on each other. And that's why I believe transparency, once again, and building trust are the two factors to make a team become a team that wins. I always look for the win-win, always start with the end in mind and always be proactive and make sure that we are on the same page. We have not had that, sadly.
Speaker 1:When did you decide you wanted to run for mayor?
Speaker 2:13 years ago. Kim Ziar ran 13 years ago for mayor and lost by 486 votes.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:And I got in the game late and my two premises, all my planks, my platform was annexed. The exterior of the outskirts, all we could for protection of the border, okay, and preserve downtown. And I have not changed my motto at all. But for the last 12 years I've been waiting for the Lord to open that door for me and he has. So I'm very excited about that. There's a lot of passion involved and because the town hasn't changed, when I mean that it's still a summer-real-flower town of the Pines, it still has a wonderful warmth to it. But if we're not careful, because I know we're at the crossroads, I think all of us feel we're at the crossroads. So are we gonna be Mount Pleasant? Not as slow as Mount Pleasant at all. My sister lives in Habakkuk. I mean I love Mount Pleasant. Do we wanna be in Mahabekor? I mean at Mount Pleasant or not?
Speaker 1:Well, I don't wanna live in Mount Pleasant, you know what I mean. Lorna I was talking about the other day, is this gonna be like old village in Mount Pleasant and next in is gonna be like the new? You know, it's just it doesn't have the old village does, but Mount Pleasant doesn't have the charm that anywhere. This town is charming and needs to stay charming. It's right because it's going to grow. But if it doesn't stay charming then it loses its soul, you know.
Speaker 2:Well, kim, you sound like my campaign manager, because that's exactly what everybody tells me. Yeah, and we all agree with it. And so now's the time to rise up and stand in the gap. In fact, that's one of my life verses in the book of Ezekiel that says who will rise up and stand in the gap? And I believe now is the time because, if not, there'll be no gap to stand in. That's true, and that is why 500 North Main Street is so critically important for the future of this town. I've been very vocal about that, about preserving that corner.
Speaker 1:Where's that? Which corner?
Speaker 2:That's the old hospital building that has caused a lot of rancor and anxiety. I don't call it that. I call it passion, because people realize that's the gateway into the old village.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:And so how can we revision that, repurpose that to preserve the old, protect the building, but also augment that with a commercial spur that generates revenue for the town?
Speaker 1:That makes sense, that's a win-win.
Speaker 2:That is never need to be any kind of residential component at all, because it's the most unsafe corner in Somerville. The traffic is brutal.
Speaker 1:It is yeah you know it is.
Speaker 2:There's flooding problems over there as well. There's all kinds of problems that does not need to be. That needs to be a commercial little yeah it does Unclade that can support us yeah. At the same time, be beautified. And let that old building, let's learn to use it for some really dynamic purposes, whether it's event venues, yeah, that's true Whether it's housing for businesses like yours.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a thousand things we can do and I see that building like the old Somerville High School, which is now the Dorchester II Admin Office, right next to the football stadium.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's beautiful. That's a good job on that.
Speaker 2:But we could have built those and built something brand new. Why yeah? So we preserved it, we repurpose it and look at it. It's something we all are proud of.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that is, they did a really good job on it. They did, they really did, they did a great job with it.
Speaker 2:I'm very proud of the folks stepping up and deciding to do that. Gee whiz, so many new people that have moved into the area that I haven't had the pleasure to meet, even though I've knocked on thousands of doors. I would like for them to know just a little bit about me in my background. Yeah, maybe give them a higher comfort level of who they may or may not be voting for.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that'd be great.
Speaker 2:And, in a nutshell, kimsey. This is my hometown, born and raised right here, but my great great grandfather was the first mayor of Somerville and before him my great great grandfather on my father's side was the first intendant of Somerville in 1847. Wow, and all that meant the intendant was the person who took care of the town until they had a mayor.
Speaker 2:Okay, so that's how all was, and the very first ordinance ever passed was preserving the trees, and it's still on the books. It's 180 years old and still on the books. And so preservation and protecting things that are available and it's always been a part of what we care about in this town. Okay, and that is why preserve and protect of what I'm all about as long as promoting. But my family has always been here. My grandfather ran the country club. It's called George Myler Country Club.
Speaker 2:Growing up in Myler Country Club, my other uncle was the first banker in town and we've always been a part of this community and that's why Hutchison Square is named after my great grandfather, hutchison at Hutchison. Okay, and so part of that means that we are custodians of this town and also stewards of what we hope it will be in the future. So taking care of the town and preserving things is key. I'm married to Debbie, my wife of 40 years. We've raised four gorgeous daughters. All are wonderfully successful and happy and through that we have learned that giving back the community means everything, and I believe, if you look at my bio, I've done so much work for the community, not because I'm challenged to, because I want to, because I love it. In fact, one of my greatest jobs was or I should say, duties was I was the PTA president of the Raleigh School, which is a middle school for three years and it was just fascinating to see how education has such a huge role in the community.
Speaker 2:And that's why I'm a passionate guy about education.
Speaker 2:I'm a former school teacher, I'm a Citadel graduate former school teacher and coach, a PTA president, I was on the Pinewood board for six years. I'm all in with education and that's why I know, with our new guy, shane Robbins, who's our new superintendent, and working with other stakeholders, we can do great things for this town. But also I believe in the town that supports each other. So we're very generous donors and givers to this great, great town because it's been so good to us and so we believe in serving others. In fact, as a Rotarian, it's all about service above self. So anybody who wants to know about me please find out. We're open all the time to answer any phone calls. My cell phone is available to anybody because I wanna hear your voice, because your voice matters.
Speaker 1:How people contact you.
Speaker 2:So the best way to reach me really is MylarFermaircom or DickieMylercom or my cell number 843-270-9532. Please call. Love to hear from anybody and everybody, because your voice matters and I wanna hear what your opinion is.
Speaker 1:Well, your passion for the town is you can feel that yeah that's definitely immediately. People hear that you feel it, that's my terror.
Speaker 2:I love this town. I mean I really do and some of the stories my father's told and others about this great town, I mean it's folklore, almost.
Speaker 2:You know, and we're still building memories, and so by I wanna say one thing about what protection means. I believe that we protect anything that is of value or that's vulnerable, and I believe Somerville is very valuable. We are the flower town of the pines, we are the best town in South Carolina. I mean we are the jewel of the low country and I want everybody to move here feel that way. But also we're vulnerable, meaning if we don't do what's right, we'll lose it and what's is gone.
Speaker 1:That's true. That makes sense. I had not thought about that very much until recently.
Speaker 2:looking at the growth, that's right and what we're preserving not just our assets that are of age, but the community feel you know our trees, our parks, our recreational spirit, our entrepreneurial spirit that welcomes everybody. I want town hall to be the most welcoming town in South Carolina the Southeast for that matter. I want people to love to come here and say, hey, where's Garen's? And you know those kinds of things and we can do that because it's that important to us.
Speaker 1:How so? Voting's coming up soon. It is Difficult to figure out where to vote. What would you say is the easiest way to figure out? How can you vote?
Speaker 2:Well, I would love to put on your podcast exactly how to get that information. We can go to town hall and get that. It's wwwtownhallslashvote slash election. But I want to make sure that we don't give the wrong information because we're redrawing the districts. But I certainly want to get that to you because I want everybody to be able to vote.
Speaker 1:Okay, we'll put the link in that Great, and so that'll be great. And what? The day for voting the hours.
Speaker 2:Next Tuesday and it's flying by. Next Tuesday the seventh voting starts at 7.30 and goes till seven, so it's going to be a long day, but please get out and vote. Your vote is so important.
Speaker 1:Where are you going to be?
Speaker 2:Everywhere.
Speaker 1:You're just going to be flying around.
Speaker 2:Everywhere. Let me say one last story, can I? Oh yeah for sure. One of my dear friends. Her dad was the town attorney years ago and Mr Sidney Jones was the man's name, a legend back in the day. And he ran for mayor and the guy who beat him was Berlin Myers, who was our mayor for 46 years. But Mr Jones lost by one vote.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:One vote. So that's how important it is for anybody who's thinking about it or still undecided Get out and vote. Please get out and vote, cause it's important, but I'll be everywhere. Kim said I will be everywhere. I'll be like a shadow.
Speaker 1:How many? You said you've knocked on how many doors?
Speaker 2:You know, I stopped counting after 4,000, but let me say this my tennis shoes are thin, yeah, and my socks got holes in them, but you know. But also guess what, every door I knock on, it really energizes me because people care and they all say pretty much the same thing protect us, preserve us, make sure we don't lose Summerville and, for the Lord's sake, help some with this traffic congestion. Yeah, and that's our platform to do all that. Even Margaret wants to get in the show.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And she should.
Speaker 1:I tell you she's loved you a lot. She's a good judge of character too, so listen if Kane adds a vote for you you should also, that's for sure, kim.
Speaker 2:What I want people to know is we are at a tipping point, you know and I don't want to come across as an urgent sounder of doom, because it's not that Because Summerville is going to be OK, but we won't be Summerville, we'll be next and we'll be Mount Pleasant. You know that, and for a lot of people they might say well, that's great. I love going to Mount Pleasant. I mean, I get that too. So I'm trying to find the balance where people at least will stop enough to say wait a minute. Do I want us to be that way?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know. You know my wife thinks about things like that more than I do, but we moved here and a lot of people moved here, because this is how it was. It was Summerville, and the more people move it gets further away from that.
Speaker 2:It does. I mean, there's a balance to everything in life and I understand that, but the balance needs to always tip on the side of never forgetting who you are. In fact, one of my great lines is probably you know this is that Lion King when the daddy says remember who you are, don't forget who you are, remember who you are, don't lose that. And the town's crying at Don't lose me, listen to this. Two weeks ago, three weeks ago, we were in Nashville, tennessee, from my nephew's wedding. So we stayed in Nashville. It was wonderful, but the wedding was in Franklin which is 23 miles.
Speaker 2:That's how it's beautiful. And it's about three times the size of Summerville downtown. Still the same town charm, same height, restrictions, same building type of composite. You still feel like you're in a small town, even though 23 miles away is Nashville, 23 miles away Charleston, to the seventh largest city in Tennessee with the seventh largest city in South Carolina.
Speaker 1:I know, franklin. I've not been there a long time and you walk around there and you're saying, man, where's?
Speaker 2:where's Barney Fife, where's Opie? Because every that's how the feel is. Now, don't get me wrong, 23 miles is music city. I didn't know this, but Nashville's the number one wedding destination in America. Well, charleston is the number one destination city in the world. So we got that, they got that. But they don't want to be Nashville and we don't want to be Charleston, we want to be Charleston. Oh, I love that noise. Here they come, here they come.
Speaker 2:Another part of my whole DNA is being a small business owner. I've been a small business owner for 35 years and we own Mylar properties, which is a residential full service real estate company. So we handle residential commercial selling and leasing. We do a full gambit of property management. So we understand about building, about attainable housing, about affordable housing, highest and best use. We understand about property rights and, as a former mortgage banker, I understand about financing and how to make deals work. So those things all are part of why I can bring to the mayor's office a business mentality, because running the town is running a business. You've got to know how to run a business and what our success I think is paramount. I think this town has embraced us. Our company has been the business of the year twice in the last eight years. The BBB has recognized us as the best small business in the area, so I know we have a lot of credo.
Speaker 2:If you would to make business decisions that affect this town, especially in the real estate segment of what we have to do, listen, please get out and vote, because every vote matters and every vote counts. And, by the way, there are a lot of folks who would say, dickie, I'd love to vote for you, but I'm out of the town. Limits Rats. Let me say this Even though you can't go to the ballot box, your word of encouragement, your voice you're telling other people what you should do or can do or might do means the world to me. So please keep the word going, because you still are part of the town and I want to hear from you as well, and one day I'm going to annex you in so you can vote.
Speaker 1:That's great, that's fantastic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man.
Speaker 1:Well, I think you're going to do great. I appreciate that I'll try to find you on Tuesday at some point, but I think you're going to do great and I wish you the best of luck. I've really enjoyed it today.
Speaker 2:Well, kim, let me say this Thank you. I really mean that. An honor to meet you, to be in your home and to share some thoughts and ideas about this town.
Speaker 1:But you're welcome anytime. I'll come back. You're welcome Anytime.
Speaker 2:Thank you, brother.
Speaker 1:I want to take a look at the van too, before we leave.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I'll give you a free ride. You better believe it. That's fantastic. Thanks, Kimsley.