Mayor, city council races show voters' impatience with speed of progress

By: | SCNow
Published: November 14, 2008

There are no “exit” polls of voters to officially gauge their reasons for how they voted in the races for mayor and city council members in Florence.

But it seems clear that in voting for Steve Wukela for mayor and Octavia Williams-Blake and Steve Powers for city council, voters said they are not satisfied and are impatient and frustrated with the “pace” of change in Florence.

Everybody’s idea of what that change should be is different.

And even though the candidates talked in general terms of things they wanted to see done, there weren’t really a whole lot of specifics.

But while there have been lots of good things happening in Florence and while a lot of other things are ready to move forward, such as the Francis Marion University Performing Arts Center and the Veterans Memorial Park which will be dedicated Tuesday, people still aren’t satisfied.

They want more “evidence” of change and progress.

Some think progress is the approval of Sunday alcohol sales.

Some think that’s a bad thing that will hurt the community.

But Florence is changing and growing, and it seems like the voters have said get aggressive and do something even if there is disagreement and unhappiness.

Make sure there is a lot more public discussion and involvement.

Sometimes that makes things harder to accomplish, but if it’s the right thing then go for it.

So as Wukela, Williams-Blake and Powers take office they will need to work with other members of Florence City Council to try and move things forward.

The situation with the economy is going to make it harder to do things like attract businesses and development to areas that need it including downtown.

But they can’t let that slow them down.

But funding issues will also play a role in what the council can do.

But certain things such as improving design guidelines and zoning; being more aggressive about annexation, cleaning up abandoned buildings, working with Florence County Council on such things as where to move the Florence County Museum and locating the court house are key issues facing the city.

There are also major infrastructure issues the council will have to deal with.

The new mayor and new council members will join four other incumbents late this month or early December.

The signal from the voters is to get moving.

We anxiously await the process.