As he officially leaves office Tuesday, North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey deserves our region’s appreciation and gratitude for almost three decades of steady leadership that transformed a young, challenged city into a mature, bustling one.
His election in 1994 instantly stabilized governance inside a City Hall in upheaval after the tumultuous tenure of Mayor Bobby Kinard, who had defeated John Bourne, the only mayor the city had known since its incorporation in 1972. But that was only the first, and far from the most important, of Mr. Summey’s major accomplishments.
North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey stands in the middle of Montague Avenue in 1995, as he began his lengthy tenure as mayor. File/Staff
Those include his leadership in promoting regional economic development in the wake of the closure of the Charleston Naval Base, the region’s largest employer at the time. Mr. Summey was among local city and county leaders who shifted from a mindset of competition to cooperation, a change that helped set the stage for a boom era that continues to this day. While efforts to redevelop the base remain a work in progress, other former military property off Remount Road is now home to the Charleston Animal Society, the Berkeley Charleston Dorchester Council of Governments, a new city athletics center and more.
The mayor also greatly expanded the city’s footprint by annexing willing neighborhoods, including African American communities left out of the city’s original incorporated area. Along the way, the city and its City Council became as diverse as its geography, and he provided solid leadership on one of the city’s most challenging days, helping to keep the peace after video surfaced showing a white North Charleston police officer firing multiple shots into the back of a fleeing Walter Scott, killing him. “When you’re wrong, you’re wrong,” Mr. Summey said soon afterward.
When the police were criticized for patrolling too aggressively in minority neighborhoods, Mr. Summey argued that was partly because the most serious crimes were taking place there. But he also showed the flexibility to have his department audited by an outside entity and to embrace some of the resulting recommendations. Thus he adeptly handled racially charged challenges that might have derailed a lesser mayor: It’s no surprise that his hand-picked successor, former Police Chief and Mayor-elect Reggie Burgess, will be the city’s first African American mayor.
Mr. Summey also modernized much of the city’s public infrastructure, including a new City Hall, a major public works complex, the region’s best aquatics center, new senior centers, Riverfront Park (the city’s first public park with water access) and, most recently, in what could be considered his crowning achievement, the highly popular makeover of Park Circle, with its mix of indoor and outdoor gathering spaces and one of the South’s largest accessible playgrounds.
North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey served for nearly 30 years, transforming the city with regional economic development. Henry Taylor/Staff
Meanwhile, some of his significant achievements won’t be appreciated for at least a few years, such as the eventual opening of a large new public park on 440 acres the city has acquired just west of Interstate 26 and south of U.S. Highway 78 or the ambitious public-private redevelopment recently approved for the northern end of the former navy base, just across Noisette Creek from the city’s already iconic Ray Anderson Memorial Bridge.
The mayor came under fire for occasionally operating in an ethical gray area just this side of the law, and a certain level of cronyism was a regrettable feature of the Summey governing style. But there’s no arguing that he accomplished much, especially during the past decade. His business-friendly approach has made North Charleston South Carolina’s largest retail sales hub and attracted major new employers such as Boeing’s manufacturing complex at the airport and Roper Hospital’s pending move from downtown Charleston to a new site near North Charleston City Hall.
For much of his tenure, Mr. Summey operated in the shadow of Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, who was transforming the adjacent city to the south long before Mr. Summey took office. They were very different people governing very different cities, but they shared a hard-driving, inclusive leadership style that prioritized public safety, public service and leveraging what they could to improve residents’ quality of life. And they both ultimately left their cities larger, safer, more prosperous and more desirable places.
