Published: Oct. 2, 2024 at 3:57 AM PDT|

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - City of North Charleston leaders are asking for the public’s voice on more affordable housing in the area.

North Charleston’s 2020 Comprehensive Plan states over 17,000 households spent more than 30% of their income on housing costs in 2017. This means 44% of the city households were cost-burdened.

City leaders will look at a Unified Development Ordinance to combat the need for more affordable housing. This means leaders are reviewing different city codes such as zoning, subdivision regulations and design standards all at once. While codes have been amended over the years, this will be the first time codes are reviewed across the board since their adoption back in 1976.

Adam MacConnell, the project manager for the city, says the plan is to streamline the process for more development for current and future residents. The ordinance finds barriers to affordable housing by looking at topics such as housing cost policies, increasing the supply of homes and transportation locations. MacConnell says this work is just one part of the region’s efforts to get over housing barriers for many.

“A lot of our challenges that we face are regional in nature, housing, transportation, flooding and it’s going to take an all hands on deck approach,” MacConnell says. “That means the city of North Charleston, our neighboring jurisdictions, the counties, the nonprofits sector and the private sector to help solve some of these issues going forward.”

City leaders are looking at the federal Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing grant to get the initiative started. The grant supports communities that have higher demands for accessible housing than what is available. Leaders are applying for one million dollars in funding towards consulting to get the initiative started. That funding requires the input of residents in the area.

Residents are invited to share their comments on where housing is needed. MacConnell says there will be boards, surveys and documents that guests can take part in.

Anyone interested in commenting in person can visit the public hearing at City Hall before the committee of the whole meeting beginning at 5 p.m.

“We’ll be generating those public comments about what they think affordable housing should look like,” MacConnel says. “What we think a zoning code rewrite should incorporate…that looks like not just housing but it looks like transportation, it looks like conservation, it looks like flooding, it looks like safe roadways and so forth.”

Residents can email lalston@northcharleston.org or send mail to Attn: Linda Alston, City of North Charleston, P.O. Box 190016, North Charleston, SC 29416-9016.

Emails will be due by 5 p.m. on Oct. 10. Mailed comments have until Oct. 7 to be considered.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Published: Oct. 1, 2024 at 1:34 PM PDT|

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Roughly 6,000 port workers in the Lowcountry are almost a day through the first strike of its kind since the 1970s, demanding better pay and protections for the job.

Some are describing the roads near Charleston, North Charleston and Mount Pleasant terminals a ghost town for cargo, but the sidewalks are crowded. Port workers are taking shifts of 50 or more to sit on the picket line, waving signs that demand wages and protection against automated industries.

“Whether it’s two days, two weeks, two months. However long it takes we’re in it for the long haul. We’re long overdue,” International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1422 member Marquette Mapp says.

The demands come after negotiations over a Master Contract stalled between the association and the U-S Maritime Alliance. The group was discussing a deal meant to go into effect on October 1, but when the time came, no decision was made.

The union was offering a 77% pay raise over the contract’s six-year life. The alliance had responded by offering 50% and limits of automation from the previous contract.

Many on Columbus Street, Remount Road and Long Point Road are describing this as a generational fight, striking alongside parents and children. Some have under 10 years of experience, others have decades, but all have the same goal.

“If we give in now, in the future, it’ll just snowball,” ILA Local 1771 President Lance McLaughlin says. “We have the majority of containers in the Southeast. Everyone at some point or another, some fashion, relies on the ports.”

When asked about their day-to-day, workers say it’s impossible to compare to any other field.

“You’re on call 24/7, you could wake up as early as five in the morning, and not go to bed until five the next morning. When a shipment calls into the port, we’re duty bound to do what it is to get containers out,” Mapp says.

Throughout the day, the group heard honks, and some rebukes, from passersby. In solidarity, the group plans to stay put until a final decision is made.

The president of the South Carolina Ports Authority released a statement on a strike involving thousands of port workers from Boston to Houston, including Charleston.

Barbara Melvin released this statement Tuesday:

In South Carolina alone, port operations generate an $87 billion economic impact each year and support more than 260,000 jobs, meaning every 1 in 9 SC jobs is tied to port operations. These jobs account for those that work on the ports every day, as well as for thousands of jobs at port-dependent businesses throughout the state. Our port system is critical to thousands of businesses throughout the Southeast and beyond. Manufacturers, automakers, retailers, grocery stores, health care providers, farmers and small businesses all greatly benefit from the skilled services that we jointly provide with our maritime partners. When we move cargo in support of companies and communities, the positive benefits ripple out across our state and region.

The strike began at midnight Tuesday morning after negotiations between the U.S. Maritime Alliance and the International Longshoremen’s Association stalled.

But the union wants a complete ban on automation.

“We just want the community to know that we’ve done our part,” Mapp said. “Just this past weekend, we had over 30 ships to come in the Port of Charleston Thursday night up to Sunday morning. None of them was delayed. All of them was turned back around and headed in their destination in a timely fashion, professionally. People that we call longshoremen did the work and made sure that it was done and in the proper time.”

It wasn’t clear just how far apart both sides are.

Gov. Henry McMaster held a briefing Tuesday afternoon on the state’s efforts to respond and rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

When asked about the strike about 15 hours after it began, he said he anticipates there will be an impact to be felt. But the extent of that impact, he said, would depend on how long the strike lasts.

McMaster said that preparing for a strike or trying to work around it to minimize effects to supply chains involved in storm response is hard to do, especially since this strike extends up and down the east coast.

“It’s been in the news, and people were aware that it was coming—suppliers, shippers,” he said. “We have a lot of logistics that flow from that port, and I’m confident that everyone that is involved with it on either end are aware of it and did whatever they could. But we cannot settle the strike between the carriers and the union.

Experts say immediate needs in the wake of Helene should still be met – but the impact on longer-term necessities is unclear.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

SEATTLE, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab shares gained 3.5% on Friday on bets that the planemaker's U.S. West Coast factory workers will approve a new wage offer and end a seven-week strike that has halted jet production and hammered the company's finances.

Around 33,000 machinists, who have been on strike since Sept. 13, will vote on Monday on a new contract offer raising wages by 38% over four years, up from a prior 35% offer.

The proposal adds a $12,000 ratification bonus but did not meet workers' demand for the restoration of a defined-benefit pension. Boeing workers rejected two previous proposals in votes on Sept. 12 and Oct. 23.

"It looks promising since it is approaching the union's original target of a 40% wage increase over four years. The fact that the strike has lasted almost two months is also a factor in favor of a deal," said Ben Tsocanos, aerospace director at S&P Global Ratings.

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg urged workers on Friday to accept the deal, saying in a note to staff that it was time to "focus on rebuilding the business and delivering the world's best airplanes".

Workers on the picket lines were divided, with some telling Reuters they were ready to end the grueling strike and others determined to hold out the full 40% wage increase.

"It's not enough. They haven't even reached our demand," said Kenneth Vi, a 34-year-old quality inspector.

Kate McKinney, a 59-year-old who works on the 737 MAX jet, said she would be voting to accept the deal.

"I want to get back to work. Bills are what they are," McKinney told Reuters.

The strike has halted production of Boeing's best-selling 737 MAX jets as well as its 767 and 777 widebodies, leading to a $6 billion loss in the third quarter and complicating Ortberg's turnaround efforts.

Wall Street analysts have been scanning Reddit posts and social media reactions, which were a harbinger of worker sentiment in the previous two votes.

The machinists union has said it extracted everything it could from the company, while warning that future offers could be regressive.

"The proposal's economics are a material improvement for labor. Union leadership's endorsement, unlike the most recent proposal, should help further bridge the vote towards ratification," said Dino Kritikos, managing director at Fitch Ratings.

Workers have the option of putting a lump sum of $5,000 from the bonus into their 401(k) retirement account or take cash.

That option, coupled with the possibility that workers could see 20% of their salary go into retirement accounts, may sway pension hardliners, Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu wrote in a note.

Workers have lost an average of $10,400 in wages during the strike, eclipsing the average first year pay rise under the offer, Kahyaoglu said. She said Boeing's recent capital increase puts it in a stronger negotiating position.

Its shares have fallen 8.3% since the strike began in September.

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Reporting by Utkarsh Shetti in Bengaluru, Dan Catchpole in Seattle and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Writing by Abhijith Ganapavaram and Joe Brock; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Cynthia Osterman

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Marine investigators say an F-35B stealth fighter pilot grew disoriented amid multiple system failures while flying in stormy weather over North Charleston in 2023, prompting the pilot to eject even though the jet was still capable of flying.

Investigators identified an "electrical event" during the flight that triggered multiple malfunctions, including the aircraft's radios, transponder and air navigation system.

Glitches also caused the plane's $400,000 helmet-mounted display to flicker at least three times.

But the investigation concluded that the pilot's decision to bail out of the jet was "ultimately inappropriate" because other instrumentation was "partially operational." As proof, the report said: "Furthermore, the aircraft continued to fly for an extended period after ejection."

The Marine Corps report redacted the pilot's name, but a Defense News story Oct. 31 identified him as Col. Charles "Tre" Del Pizzo, 49.

The Marine investigative report said no punitive actions were taken against the pilot. However, Defense News quoted Del Pizzo as saying he recently lost command of a squadron in Arizona because of the mishap.

The report comes more than a year after two Beaufort-based F-35Bs were flying near thunderstorms over Charleston International Airport. Under these dark clouds, one pilot ejected. But his F-35B kept flying.

Search parties deployed across the region, hunting for a crash site. The situation grew more bizarre as time passed without any evidence of a crash. Social media memes spread, including one with an F-35 on a milk carton and the word “Missing” splashed across it.

About 27 hours later, search crews finally found the wreckage. Debris was strewn across a field and swamp in the Indiantown community in rural Williamsburg County, about 64 miles from North Charleston. The crash had burned patches of pines brown and scattered fragments across a cotton field.

Military cleanup units arrived, erected signs declaring the area a national defense zone and excavated a crater big enough to hold a couple of trucks.

Then, more than a year passed without any word about what caused the ejection, a delay that raised eyebrows. The Marine Corps normally issues a preliminary report within a few months, Dan Grazier, a defense expert with the Stimson Center think tank, told The Post and Courier earlier this year.

“The longer (the investigation) drags out and we don’t hear about the findings, the more suspicious it gets that there’s some systemic problem with the aircraft,” he said.

The Marine investigation ultimately found a combination of system and pilot errors led to the ejection and crash.

Details of F-35B ejection

In its investigation, the Marine Corps said the Beaufort-based pilots knew the weather might be bad over Charleston the afternoon of Sept. 17, 2023, but forecasters predicted at least four miles of visibility, so the mission went forward.

But the weather soon grew worse, with lightning detected within 10 miles of Joint Base Charleston. The two pilots completed their training mission and planned to land at the Charleston base. One landed, but the second ran into trouble.

The F-35B is capable of hovering, and as the pilot neared the base, he pressed a button that converts the aircraft from conventional flight to hover mode.

A minute later, displays began to malfunction, the Marine report found. The pilot (identified by Defense News as Col. Del Pizzo) raised his landing gear and put the plane back into its non-hover mode.

In an interview with investigators, the pilot said his helmet-mounted display flickered. The display allows pilots to see through the jet's gray skin, thanks to six external infrared cameras on the plane. It also is the pilot's critical link to flight and tactical sensors.

The pilot said he saw multiple malfunctions on his helmet display, and that he thought the jet might have an engine problem. He lost contact with air traffic controllers. He saw more failures.

"Unsure of which instruments he could trust, (the pilot) perceived he had entered out-of-control flight."

The pilot then "ejected from a flyable aircraft, albeit during a heavy rainstorm compounded with aircraft electrical and display malfunctions," investigators later concluded.

Ejection and crash details

The Marines offered somewhat conflicting details about his experience.

One section of the report described him as a "highly experienced fighter/attack pilot" and an instructor VMFAT-501 in Beaufort. Yet, he also was "relative novice in the F-35B." Another section noted that the pilot had more than 1,200 flight hours on the F-35 before the mishap.

Del Pizzo's official Marine Corps biography said he is from Atlanta and completed his Marine Corps Parris Island training in 1993. He was deployed six times, including roles in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, the Second Gulf War and Operation Inherent Resolve, the international war against the Islamic State. He had more than 3,000 hours in multiple military and civilian aircraft.

Ejecting from a fighter jet is a lesson in violence. A line of explosives blows off the canopy. Straps pin a pilot's arms and legs to the seat. Air bags inflate around the pilot's neck and head. A rocket fires, launching the pilot into the air, a process that generates as much as 18 Gs.

During Del Pizzo's ejection, the force ripped off his helmet and mask. The pilot saw he was floating into a residential neighborhood and used his steering toggles to avoid power lines and land in a backyard. A resident helped him into the kitchen and called 911.

The Post and Courier obtained a recording of that call.

“… I guess we got a pilot in our house, and he says he got ejected, or he ejected from the plane,” the resident told the dispatcher. “So can we just see if we can get an ambulance please?”

“I’m sorry, what happened?” the dispatcher said.

Del Pizzo took the phone.

“I’m the pilot. We need to get rescue rolling. I’m not sure where the airplane is. It would have crash-landed somewhere. I ejected.”

Del Pizzo said he was OK but that his back hurt. The dispatcher asked, "OK, and what caused the fall?"

“An aircraft failure,” Del Pizzo answered.

After paramedics arrived, Del Pizzo walked to the ambulance and was taken to the Medical University of South Carolina.

Above, his plane traced an unusual route.

It flew "in a nominally trimmed condition" for 11 minutes and 21 seconds, climbing at a 10-degree angle to about 9,300 feet, then descending in a right turn.

The jet then began "clipping the top of a densely forested area," the report found.

The investigation concludes the jet was able to continue flying due to its "advanced automatic flight-control systems."

The report said Air Force personnel in Charleston lost contact with the plane near Bonneau, about 25 miles north of the base.

Marine investigators offered several reasons for the 27-hour delay in finding the wreckage: the loss of radar contact; its flight below air traffic control's radar horizon; and its stealth technology.

More questions

Investigators cleared the pilot of dereliction of duty. Del Pizzo assumed command of a squadron in Yuma, Arizona, in June, months after investigators had done much of its investigation.

But on Oct. 2, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Bradford Gering relieved Del Pizzo of his command in Yuma, Defense News reported. Gering reportedly cited a "loss of trust and confidence in his ability to execute the responsibilities of his command.”

The Post and Courier could not immediately reach Del Pizzo for comment.

The report comes against a background of air space successes and questions about the jet's reliability.

Together, the three F-35 variants make up the nation’s most expensive weapons program and among the most important. It's known as a fifth generation fighter, meaning it was designed to replace stalwarts such as the F-16 and F-18 fighters.

The Marines said the plane's loss amounted to $100 million, but other cost data suggest a higher price tag of about $150 million apiece, including all necessary and supplies.

The ejection and crash in South Carolina follow at least 10 other F-35 crashes since 2018 and come amid longstanding questions about mounting costs, which may pass the $2 trillion mark for the whole program, according to one recent federal report.

For nearly four years, the Air Force limited certain F-35s from flying near thunderstorms over fears that lightning could cause the fuel system to explode.

Inadequate training and the lack of spare parts also have been chronic problems. The U.S. fleet of F-35s has failed its readiness goals for the past six years, the Government Accountability Office said in an Oct. 21, 2024, analysis.

At the same time, F-35s are being used increasingly in combat operations, including Israel's recent attack against Iran.

CHARLESTON, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BoldAge PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) is excited to announce the opening of its newest center in North Charleston, South Carolina. This new location marks a significant step in the organization’s bold mission to provide comprehensive, personalized care for seniors in the community, allowing them to live independently at home while receiving medical and supportive services. The Charleston center officially opens its doors today and is now welcoming participants.

BoldAge designs its PACE programs to deliver holistic care through an integrated team of health professionals, ensuring that participants receive the medical, social and emotional support they need. The Charleston site will serve a growing senior population, providing access to primary care, physical therapy, home care, nutrition services and social activities – all under one roof. The custom-designed center is located at 2801 Ashley Phosphate Road, and BoldAge will provide transportation services to the building for participants.

“We are thrilled to expand our services to North Charleston, a community that values the health and dignity of its older adults,” said Mary Austin, CEO of BoldAge. “Our goal is to help older adults stay in their homes and communities while giving them the comprehensive, compassionate care they need to lead fulfilling lives.”

Leading the new site in North Charleston is Rob Williams, Sr., who brings extensive experience in senior care management and community outreach. “I am honored to lead the BoldAge team here in Charleston,” said Williams. “This program offers life-changing services, and we look forward to partnering with local families to ensure that our seniors receive the care and support they deserve.”

The BoldAge PACE North Charleston center is now enrolling participants. Enrollees must be 55 or older, live in the service area, and be certified by the state as eligible for nursing home care. For more information or to schedule a tour of the new facility, please visit www.boldagepace.com or call 855.801.2653.

About BoldAge PACE: BoldAge is a privately owned and operated company focused on providing excellent PACE care. The organization currently provides care to over 400 individuals at six licensed PACE centers across New Jersey, South Carolina, California, Indiana and Kentucky. It has plans to open 10 more centers by 2026.

Contacts

For media inquiries, contact: Heidi Webster National Director of Business Development BoldAge PACE 801.706.1680 hwebster@boldagepace.com