Charleston News: 1) the 20th James Island Festival of Lights was for the entire family –included amusement rides, old fashioned carousel ride, portable climbing wall & shops & concerts… For $10 a wrist band provided unlimited rides on attractions. The 20-night (celebrating the 20 yrs) program included over 500,000 lights with 3 miles driving tour & a marsh mellow roast or a 54 passenger train ride thru the park $4/pp. In total there were over 600 displays incl Candy Land, North Pole and dinosaur-land. 2) Boeing - Gen contractors BE&K & Turner Construction -held an informal job session at the the Charl Area Conven Center 12/9 to explain their needs and meet w/prospective subcontractors. More than 2000 potential subcontractors & suppliers showed up. Also, the new Boeing jetliner made its first test flight mid-month. Not only were the 25,000 people in Everett Washington happy, but there were many celebrants here in Charleston. 3) The recent flooding & rainy weather has caused downtown Charleston problems (with road closures) blamed on the city’s low elevation, the fact that much of the downtown area is built upon filled-in streams & marsh & rising sea levels & slowly sinking land. Peak hour closures included peninsula-bound 1-26, the James Isl connector, & US 17 to be closed. In some cases, stranded cars were floating down the streets!. Charleston has requested a $146.3M fed stimulus grant to build a network of drainage tunnels & pumps that officials think would eliminate flooding in a large area around Medical U of SC & the Crosstown Expressway. 4) According to the Post & Courier, (12/17 & 23rd), the Charleston port lost its BMW contract & now the BMW 50,000 vehicles will ship through a Baltimore port. However, good news- the Mediterranean Shipping Co-the world’s 2nd largest container carrier, will begin a new weekly Asia service starting in Charleston in Feb. The Golden Gate service includes 12 megaships ready for the expanded Panama Canal. “Charleston’s deep, wide channels, & excellent productivity make it an natural fit for this service.” Belk Inc (the top Southeastern retailer) this week begins annually importing more than 1000 containers there. Belk is the largest pvtly owned mainline dept store in the country & runs more than 300 stores in the SE 5) Our friends at Dataw provided a list of great hotels & restaurants in Charleston including: Oak Steakhouse (newer) on Bay Street in a 150 yr old bank. $ but delicious. S.N.O.B.(Slightly North of Broad), 82 Queen Street, Fulton 5, Peninsula Grill, Magnolia, High Cotton, Cypress & Garabaldi’s. For Hotels, there’s the French Quarter Inn and the Mills House, the Planters Inn, Charleston Place and the Holiday Inn. 6) On the program for the Shaw Air Force Base air show in May are the Thunderbirds who fly red, white & blue F-16 fighter planes similar to those of the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw, perform as many as 88 demonstrations/yr. The Air Force estimates 280Mil people in the US & 57 foreign countries have see them. The pilots execute about 30 maneuvers during a show which runs about 75 minutes 6) Forbes ranked Charleston among the top 10 smartest cities in the world (as a place looking toward their economic future). especially noting the recent economic Boeing & Clemson news.
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