By Donald Moniak
September 2, 2022
In the past few days a few symbolic Pascalis project changes have taken place:
- The small tree growing from a second floor window above Beyond Bijou was removed; and
- Somebody in the City of Aiken overrode the decision to redact a project manager’s work descriptions from their submitted invoices.
While the changes are not monumental, they are notable.
A Tree No Longer Grows From a Window In Downtown Aiken
The Chinese elm sapling growing from the second floor window above Beyond Bijou at 106 Laurens Street, SW is gone. The tree was portrayed as one of many symbols of blight by the Aiken Municipal Development Association (AMDC) when it announced its $9.6 million purchase of the building and six other properties—money funded by an August, 2021 City Council approved bond issuance that failed to identify the involved properties.
The AMDC exploited the scene to make its dubious case that:
From every angle, the area of Downtown that makes up the Project Pascalis footprint is in need of a refresh. This highly visible block of the central business district has fallen into disrepair… (1)
This statement was made in spite of the fact that nine existing businesses were in the “footprint,” and only two of the seven properties were vacant.
But for the next ten months the new landlord of these properties (AMDC) failed to remove the tree, defying city codes and state of South Carolina landlord-tenant laws. The tree evolved from a public relations ploy to present downtown as “suffering from disuse and deterioration” (2) into a genuine symbol of landlord neglect.
On August 26th, the following letter pertaining to the tree and general upkeep of AMDC properties was sent to AMDC Chairman Keith Wood:
Chairman Wood,
The City of Aiken‘s Municipal Development Commission (AMDC) is a landlord. South Carolina’s Landlord and Residential Tenant act applies to properties owned by the AMDC:
(a) A landlord shall: comply with the requirements of applicable building and housing codes materially affecting health and safety;
(2) make all repairs and do whatever is reasonably necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition;
(3) keep all common areas of the premises in a reasonably safe condition, and, for premises containing more than four dwelling units, keep in a reasonably clean condition;”
https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t27c040.php”
While the AMDC could argue that the hotel is vacant and currently unfit for habitation, the Holley House and the AMDC’s five other properties are occupied.
My questions for today are:
1. The AMDC continues to collect $11,000 to $15,000 per month in rents. Why is some of that money not going to basic upkeep of buildings? For example, why is the tree sapling still growing through the window of the 2nd Floor of the Berkman Building/Palmetto Block at 106 Laurens St, SW?”
Chairman Wood has yet to answer the letter.
On August 29th, “A Project Pascalis Update” (3) was published that featured two photos of the tree—one by the AMDC in November 2021, and one from late July of 2022.
Whether these letters and negative publicity had any impact, or a call to the city from a concerned citizen did the trick, is unknown. There is no longer a tree growing from the window, and the building now looks more presentable for the three successful businesses (Beyond Bijou, Vampire Penguin, and Ginger Bee) below it.
A Project Management Work Description Reappears
As reported in “A Project Pascalis Update,” sometime between August 23rd and August 26, 2022, the AMDC added “Project Timesheets” from its project management contractor, Capstone Services, LLC, into its “AMDC Financial Binder” file on the commission’s “Transparency” webpage. (4) This action was taken in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
However — even though, in March 2022, three of the timesheets had been disclosed, along with all other AMDC billings and invoices — this time the “Description of Work” column was completely redacted from every timesheet.
To make a long story short, after an appeal to City Solicitor Laura Jordan and City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh (who is also the City’s custodian of records), the unredacted versions and two missing timesheets are now in an updated version of the AMDC’s “Financial Binder” file.
Conclusions: These two stories illustrate a few trends regarding the $100 million plus downtown Aiken demolition and redevelopment endeavor known as Project Pascalis.
First, City of Aiken officials from the Mayor on down tolerated a flagrant violation of City codes for nearly a year, allowing an obvious indicator of impending blight to remain on what is essentially city owned property.
Second, City of Aiken officials from Records Custodian and City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh to City Solicitor Laura Jordan have tolerated flagrant, egregious violations of South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act, allowing AMDC Executive Director Tim O’Briant to redact harmless information from commission documents; including the facts that a contractor was paid $100 per hour to attend AMDC public meetings, review environmental documents, and meet with developers—a basic project management function. No explanation has been provided for this lapse in openness by officials who are on the record claiming “transparency is key.” (5)
REFERENCES
(1) https://aikenmdc.org/2021/11/08/293/
(2) https://aikenmdc.org/2021/11/04/aiken-municipal-development-commission-to-acquire-key-properties/
(3) https://aikenchronicles.com/2022/08/29/a-project-pascalis-update/
(4) The AMDC transparency page is at:
No new information has been proactively posted to the page since at least early June, and it is unknown how much was ever proactively posted to the page absent a FOIA request. The Transparency Page appears to have been a response to what was termed “overly broad FOIA requests” submitted in mid-March, 2022; and not an informational philanthropic acton on behalf of the AMDC.
The AMDC financial binder can be viewed at:
The reference to “overly broad FOIA requests” can be found at page 160. There is no definition of “overly broad” in South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act; but it is a common bureaucratic term that functions to deter public inquiry into government actions and practices.
(4) “Development exec promises transparency as commission moves on Hotel Aiken, other land.” Aiken Standard, November 5, 2021.
“‘At this point, we can come out and tell you what we’re doing,’” Tim O’Briant said at the Aiken Chamber of Commerce’s monthly breakfast forum. “‘We want the community to be involved.’”
It seems like the city is taking the opposite approach to transparency. Give the ratio of FOIA exempt information, it is easier to identify what must be redacted than to determine what must not be redacted. The Pascalis project as a whole process has been devoid of any public input by design. If SC attorney general Alan Wilson is going to enforce open meeting and FOIA request laws for the Charleston county school district, then he has plenty of work in Aiken.
Thank you for the interesting connection to the recent involvement of the SC AG to the Charleston County School District issue; which really is small potatoes. There they are talking about a few individual meetings, here it is many closed-door Executive Session meetings (including the two hour one on June 13th with developers) and a chronic denial of documents.
Here is the letter from AG Wilson to Charleston School District: https://www.scag.gov/media/pjggfgfa/charleston-school-board-letter-chairman-eric-mack-03076200xd2c78.pdf
Excellent well-described and well-documented examples of Aiken city officials’ penchant for unwarranted secrecy about their Project Pascalis activities. Considering the wasteful manner in which they have been spending taxpayer $s on the Project Pascalis debacle, they must believe that avoiding scrutiny by the taxpayers is the best strategy. Also, their careless treatment of the properties for which they paid $9,5 million constitutes dereliction of duty. Bravo to “The Aiken Chronicles” investigators and writers for spotlighting the unacceptable practices.