Four years after One Vote...

Four years ago, we elected a Mayor in Florence by one vote. In running for office, that individual told voters we needed to hire more cops, build a new fire station and deal with abandoned properties. In outlining his goals, Stephen Wukela did something rare: he candidly told voters millage would have to be raised if we were going to address these long neglected issues.

Four years later, the City has tackled those issues and then some, doing so in a way where the City's financial situation is strong and any change to your city tax bill is miniscule. Along the way, he's won over many of those who opposed him last time around.  That's a helluva better record than most politicians can ever claim.

Notwithstanding what happens this Tuesday, Wukela heads in to Tuesday's Democratic Primary in a unique situation: having delivered on his campaign issues and having done so in the way he told voters the issues would have to be handled. That is impressive, if for no other reason than because in this day and age, it's rare to see someone run for office, tell voters what they are going to do, how they are going to do it, then go out and actually deliver.

That is as successful as any politician can hope to be.

Vote Tuesday. Vote Wukela.


Wukela for Mayor from WukelaForMayor on Vimeo.

21' Center Console Robalo 2120 for Sale

Wouldn't you like to be on the water this summer?  How about going to the lake...in your new boat!

Our moms is looking to unload my stepdad's boat. It has been used very little since he bought it a few years ago. It was, in all candor, too much boat. He just enjoyed fishing down at the gettys or on the lake. This boat is made to go out a piece. Asking price: $12,000. Email me at pluvlaw@hotmail.com if you are interested.

 Well maintained, 2d owner. Boat stored on lift-shed Center Console Length: 21.0’ 04” Beam: 8.0 feet
Hull material: Fiberglass
Engine type, make, model: 225 Mercury single outboard
Use: Salt water
Primary fuel type and fuel capacity: Gas – 101-150 gallons
Boat hours: 613 hrs.

 Fishing features, options, and amenities: Pompanette adjustable swivel helm seats; T-Top with 4 rod holders and floodlight; Electronic locker with Garmin Color GPS and Mapscan (new) and a Garmin Fish Finder; Fiberglass bow platform with anchor roller and hawse pipe; 4 stainless steel deck rod holders; Rod racks port and starboard; Aerated aft livewell; Rigging Station; Built in 4-tray console tackle box and ice chest. Hardware and Equipment Mercury 225 HP oil injected; Hydraulic steering; Stainless steel prop; Stainless steel steering wheel; VHF Radio and Antenna; Ritchie flush-mount illuminated compass; VDO tach, speedometer, voltmeter, fuel, trim gauges and oil injection non-op alarm; Bennett trim tabs; Quicksilver engine controls, binnacle; ignition safety switches with lanyard; Dual batteries with oscillator switch; Bilge pump with auto float switch 1500 GPH; Bow rail, welded stainless steel through/bolted to deck; Stainless steel cleats; Stainless steel lifting rings; Cockpit courtesy lights, navigation lights, horn; Rope rub rail; Two-tone non-glare gel coat; Tinted windshield with stainless steel grabrail on center console; Console dash cover; AM/FM cassette; Bow anchor rope locker; Console storage lockers, lockable radio-electronic compartment; Helm foot rest; Helm beverage holder; 100 gallon fuel tank; Draft motor up – 1’5”; Draft motor down – 2’10”; Freeboard aft 2’5”. Storage T-bags

 Venture 2009 Trailer purchased from EMI Marine, Hanover PA T2005 Trailer winch – Max line pull 2000 lbs.

Ed Robinson kills the Florence City Gym Project

Councilman Ed Robinson was the swing vote in killing a resolution for a new city basketball complex on the north side of Florence today. Despite the resolution being presented about 6 months ago, there having been 2 work sessions since its introduction and the council ordering the City Mgr to come up with the proposal within 90 days, Robinson wasn't ready to vote on it yet. After his motion to defer the matter lost 4-3, Robinson voted against the resolution. (Robinson, Powers, Brand and Willis voted against it while Ervin, Williams-Blake and Mayor Wukela voted in favor of the resolution).

Robinson stated:

“When it comes down to doing this gymnasium it needs to be the best, just like with everything else we do,” Robinson said. “To commit to that, I don’t think its something we can do. I don’t think we can afford it without giving people false promises.”

Take a second to read that. Robinson, who is now running for Mayor on a campaign decrying the disparity between North & East Florence versus the West & South side of town,* doesn't want to build the gym because he only wants "the best." Uh...it's a proposed $4-$7million facility, Councilman. It would immediately be one of the nicest basketball complexes in the region and certainly one of the nicest projects to grace the North side of town in quite some time.

The simple truth is that Robinson does not want the city to move forward with this project as it would hurt his campaign narrative that the City has done nothing for his side of town. Robinson's contention that he's concerned about it hurting other funding to neighborhoods is just as much of a smokescreen as his concern about the quality of the facility proposed. The city already has money in the budget for that type of funding. Robinson is simply doing what he does best and what he's done for all his years on council: looking out for his best interests. And this man wants to lead the entire city...

*Interesting enough, this was a disparity Robinson conveniently ignored when he publicly endorsed former Mayor Frank Willis 4 years ago. Willis, you may recall, unconvincingly claimed not to see such disparity when presented with precisely that argument from Mayor Wukela during their election. Nice to see Robinson has at least finally discovered the blight and poverty over in East & North Florence. Suppose late is better than never. Of course, we're sure Robinson finds no irony in the fact that one of the most neglected districts in the city is the one he has been representing for about 20 years.

Mayor Wukela's State of the City address...

Florence Mayor Stephen Wukela will deliver the 2012 State of the City address this coming Thursday evening (April 12th) at the Drs. Bruce and Lee Foundation Library. The event is scheduled from 6:00 pm until 7:30 pm. Come out and hear first hand what has been accomplished and what is on the horizon for the City of Florence.

Mayor Wukela representin'...

With Mayor Wukela facing challenges in both the primary and general election this cycle, hows about we take a moment to watch the Mayor representing the City of Florence on the Carolina Business Review recently.

Raise your hands if you think the two folks challenging the Mayor could come off anywhere near as knowledgable as Mayor Wukela did. Oh...and he didn't even need several months and a committee or multiple work sessions to help him out...

(Mayor Wukela's appearance begins at 12:01 of the video)

Thanking the Romans for our 4-day work week...

Suppose we ought to throw the Christians in here too. We pick on religion a good deal, but hey...thanks for the holiday tomorrow.

Let's add Good Friday to the list (aqueducts, wine, peace, public sanitation, etc)...

In the name of love...

April 4th marks a terrible anniversary in the history of our nation. On this day in 1968, James Earl Ray gunned down Civil Rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee. (For a wonderful book on the assassination and the manhunt that followed, read Hampton Sides' "Hellhound on His Tail").

King's assassination prompted widespread rioting around the country. One major metropolitan city was spared such riots: Indianapolis. The reason widely believed, was the speech Robert F. Kennedy gave upon learning that King had died as the result of Ray's attack. RFK was warned not to take the stage and that the police did not believe they could protect him if he took the stage and informed the audience of King's death. What followed was arguably one of the greatest political speeches in American history.

Historian Evan Thomas on the speech:

“My favorite poet was Aeschylus,” Kennedy told his audience, not many of whom had graduated from high school, but who now listened with rapt attention. “He wrote, ‘In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.

“What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or black.

“So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, that’s true, but most importantly to say a prayer for our country, which all of us love—a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke …

“Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and to make gentle the life of this world.

“Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.”

That night, as the news of King’s death spread through the blighted parts of the land, there were riots in 110 cities causing 39 deaths and injuring 2,500. But in the city of Indianapolis, where Kennedy had spoken, it was quiet.