Daily Archives: October 29, 2023

Elections, October 2023

Online Forum for City Council District 1

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Aiken City Council candidates for Districts 1 and 3 were invited to take part in an online forum composed of twenty questions submitted by Aiken Chronicles readers. This is the third and final online forum published by the Aiken Chronicles this election season.

As stated to the candidates, the goal of the written, online forum is to provide time and opportunity for thorough and thoughtful consideration of issues of concern to area residents. The hope is to contribute toward a better-informed electorate, an enthusiastic voter turnout, and a healthier democracy. 

Candidates Kay Brohl (unopposed District 3 incumbent) and DeMarcus Sullivan (District 1 candidate) did not respond to the questions. Below are the responses provided by District 1 incumbent Gail Diggs.

ESSENTIAL SERVICES: WATER, SEWER, ROADS

What more can be done to address potholes and conditions of roads? 

Gail Diggs: The city is responsive & proactive on city owned roads. Most roads in the city are SCDOT’s responsibility.

Should City residents and business owners be told that there is nothing that can be done for mainline breaks, leaks, and sewer backups because those pipes are just too old? Should our norm be running the faucets until the water clears up, if ever? 

Gail Diggs: They are not told this. Running faucets are not the norm.

Do you think it is sound policy for the Aiken’s leadership to invest in expanding the infrastructure to I-20 and beyond while the existing residents and the existing infrastructure are wanting for solutions to the longstanding deterioration and deficiencies that have long gone unaddressed?

Gail Diggs: We are addressing both. We will always have to balance growth and maintenance.

Much of the city’s spending on infrastructure derives from Capital Project Sales Taxes, which are approved by voter referendums. What backup plan do you propose if voters reject the next round of one-percent sales tax?  

Gail Diggs: Funding sources change: however, our priorities are our priorities. We will adjust and make the most of the resources available. 

GOVERNANCE AND CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT

Are you in favor of a process that would better enable citizens to request and receive public hearings? If so, when should a public hearing involving an independent committee, as allowed by city ordinance, be held? 

Gail Diggs: We have not had this ever come up or had such a need.

How would you improve the lines of information and communication to ensure that the voices of citizens and experts will be given as much, if not more, weight as the voices of the developers and real estate speculators?  

Gail Diggs: I will always strive to do what’s best for Aiken. What’s best may come from both citizens and developers.

To avoid future conflicts of interest, should the city hire an attorney on staff, (as is the case with the Aiken County Government), whose only client would be the City of Aiken? 

Gail Diggs: Both approaches can be successful. Both have pros and cons.

Can you explain the relationship between the city and the Aiken Corporation? Are you willing to look at ending the City’s partnership with the Aiken Corporation and cease being its primary source of funds?  

Gail Diggs: Aiken Corporation is a tool, and we want to use the best tool for any given job. I am willing to consider our options.

HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS 

Do you think it would be reasonable for the city to amend the square footage requirements in existing zoning to accommodate the Aiken County Homeless Coalition building a tiny village? 

Gail Diggs: This will require more study. I am in favor of a tiny village that includes resource programs to assist the occupants and help them come out of homelessness. We need to make sure our citizens are housed in a safe structure in compliance with building codes.

Do you know the difference between affordable housing and low- income housing, and do you think the City of Aiken housing market is hostile or hospitable to low- income seniors, single parent families, veterans, and disabled persons? 

Gail Diggs: The government defines affordable housing “as any home, rented or owned, in which costs comprise less than 30 percent of the household monthly income. Public (low income) housing is owned/managed by the government which evaluates your expenses and income.” The City of Aiken continues to partner with community development corporations, local banks, and agencies that offer affordable homeownership programs, as well as develop creative ways to strengthen and enhance the quality of life for all citizens in Aiken.

What, specifically, do you think needs to be done to address the needs of Aiken’s homeless population, and do you see support of the Salvation Army emergency shelter and soup kitchen on Park Avenue as part of this? 

Gail Diggs: Yes. I do. Agency partnerships should be formed and work together to acquire funding sources. 

Given the definition of a slumlord as “an unscrupulous landlord who extracts profit by renting properties in ill repair without regard for codes, tenants and neighborhoods, while exploiting poor people with limited choices,” do you think the City of Aiken could or should take a proactive approach to slum lording by enacting a rental registry ordinance, as many cities across America have done, to provide checks and balances in the landlord-tenant relationship and to, in the bigger picture, help prevent deterioration and blight in residential areas, Crosland Park being a prime example of this?  

Gail Diggs: The City of Aiken already has an ordinance in place for Rental Registration in which landlords that own one or more rental properties within the City limits must register with the city. This program is intended to be used as a contact list in case of an of an emergency or if substandard conditions and city code violations have been discovered.

DOWNTOWN AND HISTORIC DISTRICT

What lessons have you learned from the failed Pascalis project?  

Gail Diggs: Because some will jump to the worst conclusions when all information is not presented, it is extremely important to share as much information reasonably possible in a timely manner.

How should the city manage the balance between preserving historic character and structures vs. the demands by economic development to demolish historic structures?  

Gail Diggs: Carefully and reasonably! A cost/benefit analysis is always a good idea.

How can City leadership best support our small business owners, who feel they are being pushed out of the downtown by rapidly rising rents?  

Gail Diggs: The Free Market determines rents. Not Aiken City Council.

GROWTH

What should be done to prevent Aiken’s northside, east side and west side repeat the mistakes that created the Whiskey Road corridor? 

Gail Diggs: It’s already been done! It’s called a bypass.

What would you propose to protect the interests of owners of residential and business properties which are threatened by inappropriate, and often non-conforming construction proposals? 

Gail Diggs: Work within the existing system.

THE EQUINE INDUSTRY

Do you think horses are important to your District? If so, why? 

Gail Diggs: Of course. They are a huge economic contributor.

Do you think horses are important to Aiken’s economy and its culture? If so, what do you plan to do to protect and promote the industry? 

Gail Diggs: We need to keep the zoning in place. This industry is thriving as things are now.

Should Aiken’s horseman be represented in City government? 

Gail Diggs: All voters should be represented. The City of Aiken has an Equine Commission. Each council member appoints members from the horse community to the commission.

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Map showing District One in light blue. Click here to explore the City’s district location tool.

Nature News, October 2023

Trick or Treat! It’s the Bradford Pear

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By Burt Glover
October 29, 2023

It may be the tree that I love to hate. Then again, maybe it is the tree I hate to love. When it comes to the Bradford pear, it all comes down to the season. Now, with autumn creeping in, I feel a certain excitement starting to build whenever I drive by one the grander specimens. This week, I saw the first color emerging in the tops of the trees. Soon, these Bradford pears will explode with stunning shades of mahogany-red, crimson, and orange-red, tinged with yellow. I will try to keep my car on the road as I drive by these beauties, slack-jawed and amazed; likewise in springtime, when witnessing their masses of delicate white flowers, usually one of the first to emerge after a barren, cold winter. So, why do I feel the urge to carry a chainsaw around to cut down every Bradford pear that I see? Why is the sale of this tree increasingly being banned by so many states? Is it the devil tree that it is now made out to be?

To make sense of it all, you must know how a Bradford pear is made. Yes, it is made. The process begins with the Callery pear, Pyrus calleryana, native to Western China and Vietnam. The Callery pear is a very vigorous tree, able to grow in arid lands, standing water, shade, sun, rich soil and poor, (some say it will even grow in concrete). It is fast-growing and resistant to the diseases that plague other pears, however, it tends to produce long, sharp, thorns along the stems and branches, which make for a very undesirable tree. Graft a more desirable pear cultivar onto the rootstock of the Callery pear, and you have a winner. That is what horticulturists did in the 1950s upon discovery of a single specimen of a Callery pear that was characteristically lovely in leaf and flower, yet uncharacteristically thornless. They took scions from this Callery pear tree — which would be named “Bradford” — and grafted them to common Callery rootstock. Every Bradford pear they “made” was a genetically-identical clone of that original cultivar. Because Callery pears cannot self-pollinate, the trees were sterile — incapable of producing viable seeds.

These Bradford clones were brought to market at garden centers and big box stores across the southern and eastern U.S. The trees were inexpensive, fast growing, and eagerly snapped up by landscapers and homeowners, who planted them as singular specimens and in picturesque rows along city streets, rural driveways, in parking lots, apartment complexes, schools, churches, front yards and backyards everywhere. Entire subdivisions were planted with them. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Bradford pears were the most commonly planted tree in South Carolina.

The problems arose after plant breeders started making “improvements” to the original. Bradfords will grow 50 feet tall, if allowed. What about a shorter tree? Let’s see some more foliage colors. Wouldn’t a narrower crown be nice? Whatever. Consumer demand led to the production of more cultivars — Aristocrat, Autumn Blaze, Capital, Redspire, and many others. The problem with these trees is that they were no longer genetically identical to the Bradford stock, which meant they were only a bee’s flight from producing viable seeds. The birds did their part by eating the fruits of these trees and pooping the seeds throughout the countryside. Thus began the invasion.

ABOVE: A country lane on Aiken’s southside, sprouted with dozens of Bradford pears. These trees are among the earliest to show color in autumn. Spot them by the red leaves.

The seeds produced from these unions produced all manner of variations, including, notably, trees with the characteristic Callery “thorns.” These thorns can be wicked, often growing upwards of 3-inches long and easily capable of penetrating shoe leather and tractor tires.

ABOVE: Callery pear thorns are spaced about one-inch apart along the stem and can be quite long.

Clemson University deems them as one of the most aggressive invasive plants we have in South Carolina. They establish themselves in fields, forests, roadsides, right-of-ways and take over by means of newly-produced seeds or root sprouts, crowding out any other plant in their path.

ABOVE: Dilapidated Bradford pears in the parking lot behind South Aiken High, the green tree in the left photo a thorny Callery pear sprouted from the rootstock.

BELOW: Nearby are the telltale thickets of Bradford pears, perhaps the offspring from the trees above, sprouting into the landscape.

Deer and any other animal that might feed on their leaves avoid them due to the thorns. Being an introduced species, they are free of the insects and caterpillars that attack native trees, making Bradford thickets food deserts to insect-eating birds and animals. The Callery pear rootstock exudes chemicals that suppress other plant species that grow in their vicinity. They spread/escape to fields, forests and untended waste areas, growing in dense impenetrable stands that outcompete and crowd out native plants for light, water and nutrients.

You may wonder, how can this scourge be contained? We’ll slash and burn them out — yeah! For every stem of this plant that is burned, four more stems sprout in its place. Cutting them down only causes the vigorous Callery rootstock to burst into action. The Callery pear is the South’s equivalent of kudzu, occurring in the 21st century. The best hope for eradication is one tree at at a time — stop selling Bradford pears, stop planting them, and quickly phase out any existing trees in our landscapes, pretty as they may be at certain times of the year.

Love/hate? I’m still trying to decide which side of the coin I’m on. This is, after all, an invasive species of plant. I lived for a while in one of those apartment complexes that originally planted them to shade the parking lot . Come springtime came their beautiful flowers, smelling of….. rotted fish? Baby poop? Seems that Bradford pears evolved to attract fly pollinators with this stinky scent, rather than bees. Ours produced large fruits that collected and rotted in the parking lot. Walking from car to door was like walking in through a minefield of dog doo. Over time, heavy winds and ice storms shattered theirfragile branches, which crashed onto fences, cars, clotheslines…. the apartment building itself. 

Bradford pears? The original invention seemed like such a grand idea. But those unintended consequences… ouch! Let me get my chainsaw. Better, still, a camera. It is probably more effective than a chainsaw and an infinitely more pleasant way to spend a Sunday morning.