Drayage Brokersin Charleston, SC

It’s encouraging that Charleston County Council recently took a step back from reducing the county’s protection of African American settlement communities, particularly when it comes to deciding whether new development is compatible with the historic land patterns that largely define these unique places.

As reporter Adam Parker noted, council members reversed course last week and voted against a plan to eliminate the Charleston County Historic Preservation Commission’s right to review new subdivisions. That proposal had arisen after the commission voted down a subdivision in East Cooper’s Ten Mile community, saying the site plan featuring 10 homes with a cul-de-sac on a 5-acre site did not fit within the context of this low-density community.

The commission made the right decision, and County Council needs to continue to uphold the commission’s important role in reviewing new development within settlement communities to ensure it’s a good fit.

The county might have work to do here to review and update its zoning ordinances to provide more clarity on the kind of new development that would be considered appropriate. Our main objection to the county’s effort to end the Historic Preservation Commission’s role in reviewing subdivisions was that it was being done without adopting any new protection or zoning change that would help accomplish the same goal.

This issue is only going to loom larger. The county’s African American settlement communities developed mostly on former plantation land that previously enslaved African Americans were able to buy during or shortly after Reconstruction. They were sort of rural villages, with homes close enough together to form a sense of community but still far enough apart so that everyone had a sizeable plot to raise crops, keep animals or both.

Today, these once-rural areas are at the edge of an ever-growing metropolitan area, prime sites for residential growth in the eyes of many. We don’t object to this growth, but we do support efforts by these communities and their allies in the historic preservation community to ensure this new growth fits and complements the communities’ existing sense of place. That often will mean new housing should not be as dense as developers want to build.

That growth pressure is only expected to intensify, and residents of settlement communities as well as those who buy land in them need more assurances about what sort of new building would be welcomed. The status quo offers some protection, but it doesn’t offer as much clarity. A lawsuit already is pending that questions whether the criteria for a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission are too vague and arbitrary. As the news article noted, even preservationists agree that the county’s methods to protect historic neighborhoods could be improved.

There is a positive way forward. County Council can initiate a broad-based process to consider zoning overlays for historic African American settlement communities that would provide more specificity about what would and would not be allowed there. Such a process could lead to a general overlay approach but with specific provisions for unique aspects of the Phillips and Ten Mile communities in the East Cooper area, Beefield on James Island and other communities that the county eventually recognizes as historic. Many residents in these communities are descendants of community founders and deserve a voice in setting regulations for future building.

This inclusionary approach is preferable to a more recent attempt simply to lower the allowable zoning density in the Ten Mile Community from four houses per acre to three. It may take more time, but as Ten Mile resident Craig Ascue said, workshops with community residents and county representatives could lead to agreements on restructuring the county’s ordinances in a way that limits the county’s legal liability while also strengthening the Historic Preservation Commission and clarifying the rules for developers.

County Council may revisit this issue Nov. 14. Its earlier votes have been close enough that no one is sure what will happen next.

What should happen next is that County Council proceeds with an open, methodical review of its zoning ordinances and procedures regarding settlement communities, not to weaken them and allow inappropriate development but to improve them to ensure these communities already deemed worthy of historic protection remain that way in the long run.

Click here for more opinion content from The Post and Courier.

Get a weekly recap of South Carolina opinion and analysis from The Post and Courier in your inbox on Monday evenings.

MOUNT PLEASANT — Leland Archer wasn’t sure this night would be possible ten months ago.

When the Charleston Battery gathered together for the first time back in early February, Archer didn’t know what to expect.

A year ago, the Battery had been one of the worst teams in the USL Championship, winning just six matches all year.

Archer, the longest tenured player on Charleston’s roster, was like most of his teammates that were left over from that disastrous season. He thought the Battery would be better in 2023; how could they be much worse?

As the final whistle blew Saturday night, the realization hit the veteran defender of what the club had accomplished and he fell into the arms of his teammates in disbelief.

Minor Leagues

Arturo Rodriguez scored on a set piece just five minutes into the match and Augustine “Augi” Williams added a penalty kick in the second half as the Charleston Battery defeated Louisville City FC, 2-1, in the USL Championship Eastern Conference final on Nov. 4 before a sellout crowd of more than 5,000 at Patriots Point.

Charleston, which has won four league titles during the club’s 30-year history, will face Phoenix Rising FC, a 2-1 winner over Sacramento, on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. at Patriots Point. The match will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

Making the playoffs, let alone advancing to the USL Championship final, seemed like a dream when the Battery opened practice in February.

“If you had asked me at the beginning of the year if we would be here, I’m don’t think any of us would have said yes,” Archer said. “I don’t think anyone would have expected us to be here right now. But we defied the odds and now we’re here. It’s been a long, tough year.

“All season long the guys have been locked in, they’ve been selfless. Everyone works hard for one another, and it has really paid off these last couple of games.”

Archer has spent the last decade in the Lowcountry, playing first for College of Charleston and then signing with the Battery after he graduated.

MOUNT PLEASANT — There’s nothing like playing against your hometown team.

When Charleston Battery keeper Trey Muse steps onto Ralph Lundy Field at 7:30 p.m. Saturday against Louisville City FC in the USL Championship Eastern Conference final, he’ll be competing against a club he has been a supporter of since it joined the league in 2015.

Muse even trained with Louisville City for a week when he was home from college on spring break.

But that’s where the loyalties end for Muse.

“I’m trying to treat this like any other game,” said Muse, who grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. “It’s not like I was a part of their academy, so there’s not that connection or motivation. I went to matches when I was in high school and I was a supporter, but my focus is on helping the Battery get to the next round.”

That will be tough against a Louisville City team that will be playing in its ninth straight USL conference finals.

In its short history, Louisville has been one of the most successful postseason teams in the USL, advancing to the championship four times and winning back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019.

A year ago, Louisville lost to San Antonio, 3-1, in the USL Championship final.

“They are a very experienced team, so nothing is going to be a surprise for them,” said Charleston Battery coach Ben Pirmann. “They’ve been very good out of possession, very hard to break down and they pressure their opponents. They’re Louisville, they’ve always been good in the build-up phases.”

Despite Beatriz Alves earning her seventh double-double of the season, the Hofstra University volleyball team got swept on the road by the College of Charleston Cougars on Saturday, Nov. 4.

The Pride drops to 18-8 on the season with a Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) record of 8-7. Charleston jumped to 11-15 on the overall year with an equal 8-7 CAA standing. In the all-time series, both programs have won 12 times, but this was the first time in four matchups that the Cougars came out victorious.

The set scores were 20-25 in the first set, 25-27 in the second and 19-25 in the third.

The first set saw both teams in hot pursuit of each other as neither team held a lead above two points until later in the game. The teams were evenly matched as they both tied and then took the lead on every other serve. However, an attack error by Clara Bal made the Pride lose their momentum, resulting in the home side scoring six straight points to give the Cougars a 25-19 first-set win.

The second set did not start off as tight as the first one, but it soon became a close match. With the set score at 4-3 after seven serves, Hofstra took an 11-6 lead thanks to three service aces – one by Emily Nunes and one by Chiara Cucco, as well as five kills. A Charleston timeout did not do the Cougars any favors as the Pride capitalized on a service error by Charleston’s Olivia Mae Van Der Werff with a kill by Yagmur Cinel. Four straight points from two kills and two attack errors made it a 13-11 match. Hofstra got returned to a four-point lead thanks to a kill by Bal and a bad set by Charleston’s Emma Appleman. 

With a 24-21 score, the Pride had the lead, but two kills and an attack error from Beatriz Braga tied the match at 24. Despite a kill by Bal to make it 25-24, Hofstra was not able to take the set. The Cougars managed to tie and eventually win with three straight points, capped off by a Tynley Smeltzer service ace.

Things did not start well for the Pride in the third set, as a service error, an attack error and three straight kills gave Charleston an early 5-0 lead. The Pride responded right back, though, as Bal got two kills, the Cougars’ Lexi Wierzbicki had two attack errors and a Cougars service error leveled the score at five.

The College of Charleston made it 6-5 due to Cinel’s service error, and the Pride only got within one point for the rest of the match. Two attack errors, one by Izadora Stedile and the other by Alves, caused the Pride to lose focus as the Cougars secured their win.

Cinel had 19 kills, which matched her season-high on the year that came against North Carolina A&T State University on Oct. 7. Bal had 10 kills and five digs. Braga also contributed with six kills and five digs.

The Pride looks to win in their second game of the weekend on Sunday, Nov. 5. First serve from Charleston is at noon.

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Alexis Friedman

James Island-based artist Cristina Victor showcases Charleston’s ceramic art community in her curatorial debut, SHAPERS. The group exhibition at the James Island Cultural Arts Center includes sculptural ceramic works by 19 Charleston-based artists and is on view now through Jan. 11, 2024.

The maximalist, salon-style exhibition serves as an opportunity to recognize an “incredibly dynamic and skilled community that is overdue and deserving of visibility,” Victor said.Born and raised in Miami, Victor received her master’s degree in fine art in San Francisco and is now an interdisciplinary artist and studio art professor at the College of Charleston. She moved here in March 2020 and said “ceramics is what got me through” the pandemic and being alone in a new place.

“It was like this thing I could completely pour myself into and endlessly learn,” she said. “It was endless. It was boundless.” (These are themes explored in Victor’s own colorful sculpture included in the show, titled “Quimbara.”)

To get involved in the local artistic community of her new home, Victor started working at Studio Union, an artist-run studio space in North Charleston. That’s where she connected with artists like Susan Klein, a fellow interdisciplinary artist who also teaches at College of Charleston, and Susan Gregory, who directs Studio Union and is an artist working in ceramics and encaustic.

Victor said the exhibition also relied on her meeting Myra Bowie, who owns Riverland Terrace pottery studio Terrace Clay and introduced Victor to many of the represented artists. Like Studio Union, Terrace Clay is an artist-run studio space founded after the longtime Charleston pottery hub cone10 closed in 2019 — after nearly 20 years serving the artistic community — when its space was bought and demolished due to development on the downtown peninsula.After working in Charleston, Victor decided to curate a group show.

“I knew I had to kind of pay my dues and hang out and see what was going on. But in general, I immediately felt like, there’s a lack of representation of a lot of kinds of artists here.”

Through conversations with fellow artists, Victor began to sense many Charleston artists felt similarly and though art spaces in Charleston represent a very specific kind of work. For artists who are creating experimental, subversive art, the options to show are limited.

“I became aware of this sense that there isn’t a whole lot of representation outside of the kind of art that I feel really appeals to tourism,” she said. “We don’t see enough art about the complexities of the history of this place.”

With these issues of visibility in mind, it was important for Victor that the group exhibition went in an accessible and free community space — that’s why she put SHAPERS in the admission-free James Island Cultural Arts Center.

“I’m kind of punk about things — sitting around waiting for something to happen is not my jam. And so I was like, I’m not seeing this, I’m going to make it.”

A sculptural altar piece by Steph Frederickson invites introspection and meditation, while an artwork of a dilapidated house complete with a spider web inside by Holly T. Benton speaks to themes of ephemeral beauty. A wall of shelves holds many smaller pieces by the group of artists and is presented without labels, as if the works all together represent one large artwork by a collective, rather than individual artists.

The show speaks thematically to community, to Charleston, its beauty and horror, and the compulsive, generative practice that is making artwork — specifically the experience of making three dimensional works which exist in a state of simultaneous physical fragility and powerful presence.

“There’s just a lot of richness here,” Victor said. “And I’m not trying to represent the whole ceramic world of Charleston with this show — I know a lot of people are left out that I probably haven’t met yet or seen yet. I know that there’s a lack of connection with certain communities here. If I do this show again, I want to prioritize finding those kinds of makers.”

Victor received awesome feedback from artists and community members, saying many people agree that a Charleston ceramic salon-style exhibition should occur regularly. She said she hopes SHAPERS “ignites more people to find ways to show their work in ways other than what we’ve had available to us.

“I think we’ve got to demand a little bit more of the city. There’s so much more going on than what’s being shown — we’re busting at the seams. It’s a matter of how we collectively figure that out.”

Keep the City Paper free

We don't have a paywall. Each week's printed issue is free. We're local, independent and free. Let's keep it this way.

Please consider a donation of $100 to keep the City Paper free. Donate: chscp.us

The NC State Wolfpack open their 2023-24 college basketball season on November 6, 2023, going up against the Citadel Bulldogs at PNC Arena.

Last year NC State went 23-11. Last year Citadel finished 10-22.

When is NC State vs. Citadel and when does it start?

This game between the Wolfpack and Bulldogs is set to start on Monday, November 6, 2023. You should expect the opening tip at 7:00 PM ET.

The Wolfpack and Bulldogs will take to the hardwood at PNC Arena for this matchup on November 6, and if you would like to catch the event live, get your tickets now from Vivid Seats!

You can catch this game live on ACC.

NC State Wolfpack vs. Citadel Bulldogs Game Preview

Last year, NC State was 41st in college basketball on offense (77.7 points scored per game) and 202nd defensively (70.8 points allowed).

Last year, the Wolfpack averaged 77.7 points per game, only 3.5 more points than the 74.2 the Bulldogs allowed.

Beyond the arc, NC State was 84th in the nation in 3-pointers made per game (8.3) last year. It was 153rd in 3-point percentage at 34.7%.

Offensively the Wolfpack performed better at home last season, posting 83.3 points per game, compared to 70.1 per game away from home.

With 67.4 points per game on offense, Citadel was 289th in the country last year. At the other end of the court, it gave up 74.2 points per contest, which ranked 293rd in college basketball.

The Bulldogs put up just 3.4 fewer points per game last year (67.4) than the Wolfpack allowed their opponents to score (70.8).

Citadel sank 7.2 three-pointers per game (202nd-ranked in college basketball) last year, while sporting a 32.5% three-point percentage (272nd-ranked).

The Bulldogs averaged 70.6 points per game at home last season, and 65.5 away.

And for more CBB game previews, NCAA basketball picks or even how to bet on college basketball check out the latest NCAAB lines on Betsperts.

written by

Just a regular guy who absolutely loves sports. I've been playing, watching, and recreationally betting on sports for over 30 years. My favorite sports to attack at the sportsbook are Football (NFL/NCAAF), College Basketball, and most recently - the NASCAR Cup Series. I'm not an "expert" and I don't have or use betting models, but I do put in the research and apply that to my wagers which are mostly backed by the trending data with of course a little, as Gibbs from the show NCIS would say "Gut Feeling" contributing to the side chosen. Sports betting should be fun and enjoyable so always play within your means and NEVER chase your losses. You can follow me on Twitter @Brian_Twining - Let's try and win some bets!