Pearce, Wukela run for mayor

Florence mayoral candidates Rocky Pearce and Stephen J. Wukela said they’re running for office to bring success and improvements to the city where they both grew up.

The Morning News recently spoke with Wukela, a Democrat, and Pearce, an independent petition candidate, about what they hope to accomplish if elected.

What’s the most important issue facing Florence?

Wukela: “I think one of the most important is this issue of openness in our government. ... It affects every other issue. As I’ve talked about recently, special-interest giveaways, inside deals and self-dealing undermine people’s faith in the city government, contribute to the divisions that we’ve seen in our city, sap away the important resources needed for issues like public safety, and thereby degrade our quality of life and damage our ability to recruit job growth.”

Pearce: “Jobs. That’s it — the economic machine, quite frankly. ... Even in local governments we need to be re-evaluating our long-term debt, our maintenance programs, everything that we can — that’s what you do in business. In tough times, you come out and you say where can you cut, where can you save, how can you be more efficient. And then at the same time, what we’re trying to do is create jobs.”

What would you do to improve downtown Florence and speed up revitalization?

Wukela: “Downtown Florence — Evans Street and Dargan Street — are rotting and decaying and becoming havens (for drugs and gangs). In order to address that problem, we’ve got to first improve the security situation there. ... Secondly, once we achieve some stability as far as public safety in downtown Florence, we must go to work clearing out the abandoned and decrepit buildings that plague so much of north Florence. ... Thirdly, once we’ve done those stabilizing tasks, we need to bring some real investment of both city money and private money into major projects in downtown Florence.”

Pearce: “Downtown redevelopment is like a mall: The first thing you do is you get those anchor tenants ... It’s the library, it is the Florence Little Theatre, it’s the Francis Marion University Performing Arts Center ... and it’s Florence-Darlington Technical College having those classrooms down there. ... The other thing is if the new judicial center is built, it has to be in downtown Florence, and I know we’re looking at that, but it just makes sense that we have the property there, the parking. And the Bush Recycling area, maybe that could be the other end of that cultural entertainment corridor, where we could put a baseball complex or some sort of a stadium for other recreational events and sports events. ... But when these anchors are built, then you have what’s called infill, that’s when the retail (comes downtown).”

How would you deal with abandoned properties?

Wukela: “(City) ordinances provide that any official, including the mayor, may petition to have a hearing before the housing board and serve the landlord with notice that the housing board’s going to have a hearing and order them to either repair or demolish these sores on our community. If the absentee landlord doesn’t respond, then the housing board orders that the city demolishes the building or rehabilitates the building, puts a lien on the property and then sells the property to recover the lien. ... There is no excuse for that having not been done 30 years ago, and it must be done immediately.”

Pearce: “What I think needs to happen is you have to have those firm ordinances in place, and if the property owners won’t fix them up, we would have to go in, clean them up, fix them up and then put a lien on the property, and the owner could pay the lien. And if not, at some point in time then it would have to be sold, and they would get the proceeds from the land minus the lien. ... We’ve been talking about it for a long, long time, but that program just needs to be implemented in an organized way. Not in a punitive way to the owners, I’m not trying to say that at all. I would love to see if the buildings were ... structurally sound to get some investors to go in there and help renovate them.”

How would you handle the city’s infrastructure needs?

Wukela: “The infrastructure problems we have in the city have to be addressed immediately, and the city has to make serious effort to repair the crumbling drain system and resurface roads that have been left to neglect. Now, this is a very serious economic issue. ... The condition of our infrastructure is something that any entrepreneur that looks at locating in Florence or building a business in Florence has to deal with.”

Pearce: “The city controls the water and sewer not just for the city, but for the region, so we have a tremendous responsibility for growth in this region ... We have to identify where those leaks are and where those flaws are and fix those. That’s another reason why the city and the county have to work together because a lot of the drainage outfall is outside of the city. ... And there are certain areas in the city where there’s inappropriately sized pipe. ... So you have to weigh, when we have a downpour, a day-and-a-half of water settling versus the cost.”

Would you raise the city’s taxes and fees, or should such increases be a last resort?

Wukela: “Tax increases are always a last resort, particularly in the troubled economic times that we’re having right now. There are certainly city services (such as public safety) that can’t be neglected. ... But I’m not convinced that any tax increase would be necessary in order to adequately fund the police department and the fire department. ... We have to do a serious investigation and obtain an independent audit of the finances of the city to determine where our tax dollars that have already been generated are being spent. But let me also say, there is no free lunch. ... If we neglect our essentials in hopes of saving tax dollars, we’ll end up costing ourselves more money and not get the benefits that we’re paying for.”

Pearce: “I would not raise taxes. ... The way we do it is you generate more taxpayers. You generate a larger tax base; you generate it through sound business principles. One of the things you have to continually monitor: Are we delivering the services as efficiently and as effectively as we can? Sometimes you may need to spend capital funds to lower operating (costs).”

How would you tackle Florence’s crime problems?

Wukela: “The chief of police called a year and a half ago for 18 additional police officers. The city council ... has only barely hired enough to keep up with (officers who have left) the force ... The chief called for that increase after the brutal murder of a woman in Maple Park. In the intervening year and a half, as he predicted, we’ve seen an increase in crime. ... We need a dedicated gang unit that can be dedicated to the investigation and suppression of gang activity in the city. We also need to do our part ... in giving these young people who, without family or productive activity have turned to gangs, something else to do. Community activities and gym and services for young people that can prevent them from going into gangs.”

Pearce: “One of the things that we are talking about doing (is) community policing. ... When I grew up, I’d walk downtown Florence because I lived on Coit Street. And you’d see policemen just walking the streets down there. They’d talk to you; you felt comfortable with them, and the visibility was there. ... There are some ... public areas where we could put monitored video cameras so that when you see a crime occurring, you can immediately respond to it, plus you have evidence of who did what. ... We’re going to have to engage the churches in Florence to come together and we’re going to have to pray for this community, that we all become one community. Until we change people’s hearts, you can’t hire enough policemen to solve the crime problem.”

Candidate Bios

Stephen J. Wukela
Age: 33
Hometown: Florence
Family: Wife, Laura Wukela; three sons
Party: Democratic
Education: Juris doctor from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.; bachelor’s degree in philosophy and political science from Clemson University
Experience: Ran unsuccessfully against state Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence,
in 2004

Rocky Pearce
Age: 56
Hometown: Florence
Family: Wife, Carolyn Pearce; four sons, two daughters-in-law and two granddaughters
Party: Independent (petition candidate)
Education: Attended the University of South Carolina
Experience: Mayor of Florence (serving as a Democrat) from 1983-91

You ask the candidates ...
WBTW News13 and its media partners, the Morning News and scnow.com, will hold a “Voice of the Voter” debate featuring the two candidates for Florence mayor Oct. 23.
Rocky Pearce and Stephen J. Wukela will square off from 5 to 5:30 p.m. during the station’s news show, and it will be streamed live at www.scnow.com.

WBTW News13 anchor Bob Juback will moderate.

The debate will feature questions asked by viewers through e-mail, voice mail and on-camera.

Use keyword “politics,” which will take you to a page where you will find a button (graphic link) to click and submit questions.

You also can call WBTW News13 at (843) 317-1313 during business hours and ask to be connected to the Voice of the Voter mailbox and leave questions there.

At night and on weekends, call and follow the voice mail.