Great news, neighbors!

P.S. - TO reserve your spot for next Thursday, Feb. 7, please email lkwhitney@gmail.com !!!!

Save the Date!
Metamorphosis, E. Montague Ave., Feb. 9 from 5-11 p.m.
If you could use some more art in your life - and we all probably could - you can’t miss Metamorphosis. Painters, photographers, musicians, performance artists, and DJs will all be showcasing their work at businesses like Bella Bella Salon, Madra Rua, and Evo, turning N. Charleston’s E. Montague Ave. into a talent extravaganza. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged: all funds collected will benefit the Carolina Youth Center. And make sure to stop by the Mixson office to see paintings by Kevin Harrison, the creator of Mixson’s informative video “Inside Mixson.”

Community event to help shopkeeper who was shot
By Warren Wise
The Post and Courier
Thursday, January 17, 2008

Melissa Haneline
The Post and Courier

Mike Torres, owner of Quisqueya Deli and Groceries in North Charleston, was shot in the arm during an attempted robbery in the fall.

To help Torres
For tickets, information or to make a donation, call Richard Campbell at Park Circle Coffee ‘n More at 225-4520 or Matt McIntosh at EVO Pizzeria at 225-1796.

To offer tips
Anyone with information about attacks on Mike Torres and robberies at Quisqueya Deli and Groceries can call Crime Stoppers at 554-1111.

After a long day of selling snacks and sandwiches the Saturday before Thanksgiving, Mike Torres was about to close his deli and grocery store in North Charleston’s newly streetscaped Olde Village.

Just before 9 p.m., two masked men entered the store near Park Circle. One pointed a gun at Torres, ordering him to get down on the floor behind the counter. Torres, 58, leaned forward as he was getting down to reach for a golf club to fend off the robbers.

“That’s when he shot me in the arm,” he said.

The assailants dashed out the door empty-handed and ran down the street. They have not been caught.

The shopkeeper was shot through his left forearm. He was taken to a hospital, where he was treated and later released with a metal plate in his arm.

Torres was down for a while, but the community is rallying to lift him back up with a fundraiser Jan. 26 to help pay his medical expenses.

His store, Quisqueya Deli and Groceries on East Montague Avenue, was closed for a week and his medical bills mounted to nearly $20,000.

It was the second armed robbery at Torres’ store last year. In April, a masked man walked in behind the counter, forced him to open the cash registers and pistol-whipped him. The robber took about $50, Torres said. That robber was not caught either.

“We are a close community, and we look out for each other,” said event organizer Mahwish McIntosh.

“When we learned that one of our merchants was harmed this way, we felt it was necessary to help him out in whatever ways we can,” McIntosh said.

Park Circle Coffee ‘n More, The Mill, and EVO Pizzeria will donate proceeds from designated draft beer while residents will serve to-go barbecue meals, offer donated prizes from $1 raffle tickets and organize live music in local venues starting at 1 p.m.

Advance tickets of $7 each are on sale at each of the three shops before Wednesday. Meals will cost $10 on the day of the event. The Mill will host DJ Trail Mix later in the evening.

All proceeds will benefit Torres and Crime Stoppers.

“The robbers may think they got away, but what they don’t understand is that acts of violence and neighborhood crime bring our community even closer together,” McIntosh said. “We are speaking out through our actions with this fundraiser because it simply is not right that one of our merchants must endure expensive medical bills all because someone wanted to make a quick buck.”

Torres, a native of the Dominican Republic, is grateful for the assistance.

“I appreciate it a whole lot,” he said. “You don’t always find that kind of people.”

Reach Warren Wise at 745-5850 or wwise@postandcourier.com.

Copyright © 1997 - 2007 the Evening Post Publishing Co.

Show your support for Park Circle!

Saturday, January 26 starting at 1 p.m.
Olde Village, East Montague

All proceeds will benefit local area
Crime Stoppers and assist local merchant’s medical expenses from an armed robbery

To-go BBQ meals, $1 raffle, live music,
and DJ Trail Mix spinning at The Mill!

Purchase tickets for BBQ meals in advance for $7
(until January 23 at Park Circle Coffee ‘n More, EVO, or The Mill)
Meals are $10 day of the event.
Pick up meals from 2-5 pm.

Proceeds from Miller High-Life Draft Beers at Park Circle Coffee ‘n More, EVO, and The Mill
will be donated!

Contact information for donations: Matt at EVO or Richard at Park Circle Coffee ‘n More

1,405 square feet
3 bedroom, 2 bath
$209,900
Offered By: Carolina One Real Estate

*Interested in this home? Contact me, Thea Riley, for more information or a showing appointment: (843) 259-8705 or Thea@PerfectlyParkCircle.com

*Need a pre qualification for a Mortgage? I can do that too! Call me @ (843) 259-8705 and I will have Residential Mortgage at your service!

*Contact me for more information or a showing appointment! Thea Riley (843) 259-8705 or Thea@PerfectlyParkCircle.com

Video production by: Heilig Mulitmedia Design

My morning walk with the dog was a little more cheerful today as we made our way around the circle…trees sponsored & decorated by churches, civic groups, schools and caring individuals lined the street as art, festive decor and lights filled the center of our beautiful town.

Here is what I experienced before dark…stay tuned for my attempt to capture the magic after nightfall!

Come join in the holiday cheer! Drive around the traffic circle or get out, stretch your legs and enjoy the festive display here in Park Circle!

SC Business Journal
By Molly Parker , Staff Writer

A North Charleston City Council committee approved a lending plan Tuesday night that the Noisette Co. says is necessary to jumpstart its massive redevelopment project of the old Charleston Naval Base.

The Finance Committee voted 9-2 during the specially called meeting to approve the complicated financial deal, advancing it to the council’s regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday. The entire 11-member council also sits on the Finance Committee, though nothing binds members to vote the same way the second and final time.

Under the deal, the city could float millions of dollars worth of bonds over the course of several years to pay for public infrastructure improvements, which, once completed, would be turned over to the appropriate utility or to the city in the case of new roads.

The bonds would be paid down from revenues generated through a tax-increment financing district on the base. But what makes this plan different from other financial deals the city has approved is that the bonds could be floated before the property value has appreciated enough to pay off the debt with the increased tax revenues produced through the tax-increment financing district.

To make up any shortfall, however, the city would place an extra fee on the developer through use of a municipal improvement district. That fee would decline as the value of the property rises along with new development. Similar financial deals have been used to spur economic development at the defunct Myrtle Beach Air Base, and to aid the so-called Magnolia development in the city of Charleston along the peninsula’s neck, but it is unprecedented for North Charleston.

The deal as structured, because of the fee placed on the developer, virtually eliminates any risk to the city’s bond rating even if the Noisette Co. fails to complete the job as outlined, goes bankrupt or otherwise ditches the project, according to Paul Trouche, the city’s longtime bond consultant.

But Councilwoman Dorothy Williams, illustrating just how wary many council members were of the deal, expressed concern over Trouche’s demeanor as he stood at the microphone fielding tough questions.

“You seem nervous,” said Williams, who voted for the deal in the end. “Are you nervous?”

“I’m not nervous,” Trouche said.

This particular meeting was delayed for more than three months while the city and company worked on the details of the financial agreement, which outlines benchmarks that Noisette must hit before the company can be reimbursed. It also mandates the company complete the infrastructure improvements in phases. Councilman Kurt Taylor, chairman of the Finance Committee and an ardent supporter of the deal, said he could not recall another document that required so much “blood, sweat and tears” as this one.

The first phase of infrastructure improvements would pave the way for some 2,100 housing units and 1.8 million square feet of commercial development, Noisette Co. CEO John Knott said. The company already has contracted for 400 housing units and 500,000 feet of commercial space, he said.

Before the committee’s vote, Mayor Keith Summey said he had to “get some things off my chest” and followed with an impassioned speech about the impact Noisette has had on revitalizing the southern end of the city, clearly defending Noisette against critics’ concerns that the development project has moved too slowly. He noted that no other developer was willing to take such a risk.

“I’m not a rocket scientist, but when someone tells me I can sign for a multimillion loan that won’t affect my credit rating … again, I ain’t no rocket scientist, but it would seem like a pretty darn good idea,” he said.

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