Whose voices will be heard in this election? Below are more letters received from Aiken City residents hoping their voices — their votes — will be the ones heard in tomorrow’s mayoral runoff.

Updated 8/21/23 at 11:42 a.m. to add a fourth letter.

Jack Wetzel: Why I am Voting for Teddy Milner on August 22

It is no surprise that Aiken’s Association of Realtors endorsed Mayor Rick Osbon for re-election. Under his leadership, Aiken has seen flurries of developments approved, choking major roads and streets cutting across our burgeoning city. Realtors can hardly be expected to vote against the hand that feeds them their commissions.

The city infrastructure is increasingly unable to handle the growing lines of vehicles that accompany new housing construction, but Rick Osbon’s leadership has not resulted in solutions to the predictable traffic congestion. The Powderhouse feeder has slipped schedule and exploded in cost. The agonizing traffic disruption at the intersection of Silver Bluff Road and 118 bypass is another example.

At one point, work ceased there because of yet another contract given out by the Osbon administration to a company that did not deliver what their contract called for (shades of the trees destroyed along Williamsburg Street and behind the farmers market.) The Dougherty Road and Parker’s Kitchens are also examples of Osbon administration poor leadership.

It is not surprising that clusters of local, state and national politicians endorse Osbon’s re-election. Birds of a feather flock together.

For decades, Aiken has taken pride in and enjoyed its heritage of Winter Colony homes mixed with quaint cottages, a charming downtown ambiance, and a Southern lifestyle of quality along streets cut by wide green parkways.

Mayor Osbon has approved plan after plan that would change all that and convert our downtown into a metropolis of slick new buildings and organizations with no interest in what the taxpayers and residents want. Planning meetings discouraged public input. As an example, the Pascalis project would have demolished charming downtown historic structures and replace them with a large apartment building requiring an equally large parking facility and alteration of Newberry street where many of Aiken’s unique events are attended by thousands of residents and visitors to the city. That failed plan left the city with a debt exceeding $9 million.

Osbon also endorsed building a Savannah River National Laboratory downtown, again replacing old historic structures which add to the area’s leisurely ambiance. It would also result in traffic congestion nightmares. He has been a strong proponent of additional programs at the Savannah River Site which provides a portion of jobs in the city, but also places everyone in and around Aiken with health and safety risks.

In recent years, SRS cleanup of deadly radioactive waste, housed and leaking since the 1950s, was a Department of Energy priority. Incomplete, the cleanup priority moved aside for a dangerous program making Aiken a major target for any nuclear attack on the U.S. (pit production, or triggers for nuclear warheads). Aiken could be incinerated beyond the speed of Hiroshima. Mayor Osbon has not objected.

Teddy Milner opposes all that and supports growth stemming from public input and concerns; a community where progress and people are compatible. I am voting for Teddy Milner on Aug. 22.

Jack Wetzel
Aiken

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Bill Reichardt: Aiken Evolving Toward “Anytown, USA”

Do you see Aiken as a special place and want to halt its headlong march toward mediocrity? If so, please vote for Teddy Milner. 

Ms. Milner sees Aiken as a community where the distinctive qualities of the City merit respect. She appears to believe that all of the City’s neighborhoods have standing and deserve recognition and not just the immediate downtown area. She favors a moratorium on selected developments so that the City can take a long-overdue reassessment of its future as a place for all of Aiken’s constituents – in contrast to indiscriminate, nonstop, commercial sprawl. 

Mr. Osbon, an obvious favorite of Aiken’s realtors, appears to favor virtually unchecked commercial growth, with Aiken’s character and future shaped largely by developers – rather than by the community.

In recent years, Aiken has been evolving toward “Anytown, USA”. During the April 24, 2023, City Council meeting Mayor Osbon said, in essence, that the City does not determine which developments take place and where; it is up to developers. At the first Republican mayoral candidates forum in July, Mayor Osbon rejected any notion that there should be a moratorium on development at the south end of Aiken – a truly reckless stance.

Given the dangerous Whiskey/Powderhouse/Stratford intersection (including numerous Whiskey Road problems cited by City staff twenty years ago), Mr. Osbon’s view of Aiken’s future is worrisome at the very least.

Certainly, Aiken must grow. It’s a matter of how.

Bill Reichardt
Aiken, SC

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Jean Greenwald: It’s Time for New Leadership in Aiken

I voted for Teddy Milner because Aiken officials have gone off the rails — rails that they just earmarked $900K for, instead of spending that money on something more essential like, for instance, clean tap-water for city residents.  The train-wreck of failed Project Pascalis has cost taxpayers millions. There has been no accountability for killing public trust and no accountability for killing the Farmers Market trees. 

My first city council meeting under the leadership of Mayor Osbon was when, despite three neighborhoods of opposition, they approved a car wash in my backyard. They did not give notice to the public in accordance with their own rules, nor did they acknowledge the conditions that the parcel was zoned with, which included no car washes. Until recently it appears this council had become quite accustomed to running roughshod over their citizenry. I have attended many meetings since they saddled us with Lulu’s Car Wash, and I have seen other citizens cry out for things as simple as clean water, or for the police to show up when called, which appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

The current push to expand the city limits is really just a nice name for costly and often ugly sprawl, yet it appears the Mayor has not been successful in taking care of the city’s current backyard. He was successful at becoming the government landlord of his only downtown competitor’s business which is poor form at best.

It’s time for new leadership in Aiken.

Jean Greenwald
Aiken, SC

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Lee S. Thornton: Towards a better city for all with renewed energy and collaboration

On the eve of tomorrow’s Mayoral election for the city of Aiken, I find I am increasingly feeling the need to make a plea to those able to vote that they realize the importance of their vote.

Hanging in the balance, teetering precariously, is a city under siege from within. While I am not sure exactly when this began I know that it is time for a new mayor, and thankfully Teddy Milner is up to the task and has the support of a great many of us who believe the incumbent is no longer working on behalf of the citizens to be a worthy custodian and steward of all of Aiken. 

These concerned people include small business owners whose livelihoods depend on the city not allowing nearly an entire city block to become a lab/office for a government agency that could build elsewhere in town. Citizens, as well as tourists, who visit Aiken to experience the unique shops and restaurants, and who appreciate the overarching entrepreneurial spirit will be met with a town forever lost if the current mayor continues to be at the helm. His administration’s $9 million investment, which intended to demolish half a block of downtown buildings, now lies virtually idle, with surrounding rents continuing to become inflated, driving out more of what makes Aiken unique and possessive of the “best small southern downtown” distinction. 

The drive to partner with SRNL and give the green light to an office/lab would move forward despite much objection. Gone would be the ambiance of a tree-lined, cared-for cityscape with a parkway and free on-street parking (rather than building a huge, unneeded parking garage). The cascade of dominoes would have the city folk wondering what happened. Joni Mitchell’s words would ring true, and it would then be too late. 

This is what just happened at the Farmer’s Market. Plans were made behind closed doors to pave over and destroy all but a few trees. Barely any shade remains because nobody was given notice, and opposition could only happen after the fact, when it was too late. The city and current mayor lied by saying the contractor got the wrong set of plans, when there was only ever one set! 

The current mayor is approving sewer extension to the outskirts north of Aiken and past Wire Rd to appease developers, when inside of Aiken proper the water is brown and reportedly making residents sick. The bridges remain in disrepair, and the hotel Aiken remains vacant and crumbling. 

The list goes on, but thankfully Teddy Milner, a small business owner who has raised her family and helped to cultivate community with her restaurant on Hayne Avenue has stepped up to the plate to help at this critical time. If elected mayor she will open the doors again for dialogue, discussion, inclusion and renewed revitalization of Aiken to move into the next stage of her growth while maintaining the qualities that drew many of us to make it our hometown. 

Tomorrow we have the opportunity to make the change and I stand strongly in favor of Teddy to help us turn the tide towards a better city for all with renewed energy and collaboration.

Respectfully submitted,
Lee S Thornton
Aiken, SC