NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Thursday marked one year since North Charleston Mayor Reggie Burgess took office.
He is the first new mayor in almost 30 years, following the retirement of seven-term Mayor Keith Summey.
Even though Burgess has only been in office a year, he grew up in North Charleston, spending virtually his entire career as a police officer. He eventually became the city’s first black police chief. Now as the city’s first black mayor, he points to a downward trend in crime and an increased interest in areas of business development. But he also says much more needs to be done.
“We put a lot of effort into leveling the playing field in North Charleston,” Burgess said.
Burgess ran on three key pillars: Public safety, infrastructure and quality of life.
“What can we do as a government to improve the quality of life of people? Worked on infrastructure. I went to the Pentagon. I’m working with Mayor Cogswell,” Burgess said. “I work with everybody to improve infrastructure.”
RELATED READING | “Mayor Reggie Burgess: North Charleston has the ‘best of everything’.”
Crime is a major issue, but despite some high-profile incidents over the past year, Burgess said numbers are down overall.
“There are only three cities in the state of South Carolina that have a population of 100,000,” Burgess said. “Charleston, Columbia, and North Charleston. We have a bigger population. With a bigger population, you going to have more issues. Police just can’t solve all problems in communities. We realized we needed to work with our community and our businesses, we saw how we can actually impact crime. And because we did that, we started to lower crime.”
The North Charleston Police Department released 2024 year-end crime data. Violent crime is down 9 percent, including a 24% decrease in homicides with seven fewer total in 2024. Non-violent crime is down 14 percent.
“We need to pay attention to the root causes, to the condition of criminal behavior,” Burgess said. “That’s a big thing. because any child or young person that commits a crime, If we can go back and help them to actually improve their mindset and stay away from the negative things that they deal with in society, we can produce a better person.”
RELATED READING | “A historic moment: Reggie Burgess sworn in as North Charleston’s first Black mayor.”
One focus now is affordable housing, Burgess said.
“Sometimes, I see school buses pull up when they pull up to these hotels and I see children get off the buses,” Burgess said. “It bothers me because I got off the bus, and I went into a house. They get off the bus and go to a hotel. High Horizon Village. We offered to actually loan the money to get the 60 units up and running. If we have 60 units there that nobody’s living in, and we have people walking around trying to find a place to live, it’s hypocritical for us to sit back and not do anything.”
Burgess also talked about a project working with the national nonprofit, Tunnel to Towers, to turn the former Comfort Suites into a village for homeless vets. That was announced in October and officials are hopeful the village will be ready in a year.