Spinal Decompression Therapy in West Ashley, SC

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A West Ashley restaurant plans to close for good after 17 years in business.

The Sunflower Cafe, located at 2366 Ashley River Road, will serve its last meal on Sept. 30. Owner Jennifer Adams said a lot of things led to the decision, among them ongoing staffing challenges, food shortages and rising food costs.

“The price of everything has literally doubled,” she said. “When you’re a breakfast and lunch place, how high can you go?”

She said the COVID-19 pandemic really changed everything, but especially so for small businesses.

“I don’t really see an end in sight,” she said.

The family-owned restaurant, located at 2366 Ashley River Road, opened its doors in August 2005. Operated by four generations of women, the cafe has come to be known by its regulars at least as much for its personal touch as the authentic family recipes.

Those recipes have included breakfast favorites like omelets, benedicts, waffles and pancakes. Lunchtime staples have included “the Best Sandwich in Charleston,” with grilled filet mignon topped with swiss cheese and onion aioli on grilled ciabatta bread and au jus for dipping; a pan-seared Salmon filet served over fresh spinach salad with strawberries, feta and toasted pecans tossed with balsamic vinaigrette; a shrimp platter, or a grilled chicken sandwich topped with caramelized onions and swiss cheese on a toasted croissant with basil dijionnaise.

For some regulars, no visit was complete without a dessert of powdered sugar-dusted beignets.

“We treat them like family,” Adams said of her customers. “I never felt like it was a restaurant. I thought of it as another version of my home where I feed them. We genuinely love our customers.”

Their loyal, longtime customers feel the same way.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many restaurants were forced to offer take-out-only service, Adams said they were overwhelmed by the community’s reaction.

“I do love all of them and I appreciate the support we had during the pandemic,” she said, adding that people even offered donations to the restaurant to help keep them going. “It was really amazing to know we touched people and they touched us.”

The restaurant is open Wednesday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. offering breakfast and lunch; and on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. for breakfast only.

Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

WEST ASHLEY, S.C. (WCBD) – A West Ashley man is warning others about a scam after someone attempted to gain access to his bank account while pretending to protect the victim from a fraud attempt.

“I initially got a text message asking if I had made a change,” explained Jamey Mellis, CEO of Software Solutions and Designs.

Mellis said the message appeared to come from his bank, Wells Fargo, on Wednesday.

“I’m looking at the message and just 10, 12, 15 seconds later I get a phone call from someone who said they’re from Wells Fargo fraud alert,” he recalled.

The person on the other end asked if he was attempting to make multiple purchases.

“Wanted to know if I had made a charge at Walmart out of Atlanta- I told him no. He asked me if I was out of town, and I said no. He goes ‘OK how about a charge at a gas station in Atlanta?’ No.”

The man texted him a link to confirm he did not make the charges.

“So, when I clicked on it, up came the screen asking me to sign into Wells Fargo — and I looked at it and did not have the same address as the link did. Nor was it a Wells Fargo address,” he warned.

Mellis told the man he didn’t know if this was legit.

“He said well, look- look at the number I’m calling you from and I want you to pull out your card. Turn your card over and you’ll see it’s the same number that’s on the back of your card and sure enough it was the same telephone number,” Mellis explained.

Mellis just happened to be driving by his Wells Fargo branch in West Ashley. He went inside and talked to someone.

“She told me that they were getting inundated with these types of calls and that it was definitely fraud.”

Mellis owns Software Solutions and Designs, and he is a certified, trained computer security expert. He said caller ID info can be faked to look like a call came from a legitimate number.

“Usually when I get a call and somebody tells me they’re from wherever I usually will hang up and call him to confirm,” he said.

He went the minute that I login, they capture my username and password and then they could’ve gone straight into Wells Fargo log into my account and got access to every account I have and drained everything that I have. I think if the average person, if they would have looked at that they would’ve fallen for that.”

Bulls Creek Apartments, in Charleston, South Carolina’s West Ashley neighborhood, is a 57-unit affordable housing development geared toward families. All of the one-, two-, and three-bedroom units are reserved for individuals and families earning less than 60 percent of the area median income (AMI). When Bulls Creek opened in August 2022, it was the first project in the city to be completed using revenue from the city’s dedicated $20 million affordable housing bond. Bulls Creek Apartments represents a promising step toward resolving Charleston’s affordable housing shortage.

The Apartments

Bulls Creek consists of 7 one-bedroom, 35 two-bedroom, and 15 three-bedroom units ranging from 750 to 1,150 square feet. Forty-five apartments are reserved for households earning up to 60 percent of AMI and 12 are reserved for those earning up to 50 percent of AMI. Amenities at Bulls Creek include a fitness center, a clubhouse, and a laundry facility. The development is in Charleston’s West Ashley neighborhood, roughly 7 miles northwest of downtown, and a nearby freeway provides easy access to the city and surrounding metropolitan area. A large shopping center nearby offers residents retail and service job opportunities. The development cost approximately $16 million. The primary funding source was low-income housing tax credit equity. The city also provided roughly $2.6 million in dedicated bond revenue for construction.

Affordable Housing Bond

According to Geona Shaw Johnson, director of Charleston’s Department of Housing and Community Development, the city’s recent comprehensive plan found that Charleston needs to add more than 16,000 housing units to keep up with demand, nearly half of which should be targeted to those earning less than 30 percent of AMI. In November 2017, Charleston voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum allowing the city to issue up to $20 million in general obligation bonds for affordable housing. Bond funding could be used “for the acquisition, construction, and equipping of safe and affordable housing for persons and families of low- to moderate-income,” which is defined as those earning between 30 and 120 percent of AMI. The city uses bond revenue to award loans to developers who provide income-restricted units that remain affordable for at least 30 years. The city began accepting applications for loans in 2019, after the council approved funding to repay the bonds from the city’s general budget.

The city prioritizes projects based on factors such as the timing of the development process, duration of the affordability period, level of affordability, the energy efficiency of the project, and the project’s location. Reviewers also consider the projects’ proximity to grocery stores, medical offices, schools, parks, public transportation, and more. The city considered Bulls Creek an attractive project because the West Ashley neighborhood particularly needs affordable housing and because the project site is close to downtown Charleston, a bus stop, and neighborhood amenities.

Moving Forward

Although Bulls Creek was the city’s first project to be completed using bond financing, it is not the last. The city is planning eight other affordable housing developments that use bond financing. Most of these developments will also be targeted to families, although two will be designed for seniors. These projects will also be sited in West Ashley or downtown.

The city of Charleston still needs more housing units, particularly those targeted to low-income households, to meet its demand. City leaders are investigating additional sources of funding for affordable housing construction, including other municipal sources. For example, the city has started using tax increment financing for affordable housing. Although funding from the housing bond will support only a portion of affordable housing financing in Charleston, it has been a helpful local funding source for producing low- and moderate-income houses.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — The Charleston County School District will continue its search for a new superintendent on Tuesday as an ad-hoc committee plans to narrow down the list of search firms for the position.

It’s been over a year since the search for a new superintendent began in CCSD.

The previous Board of Trustees paused the search to wait until after elections, and now the new board seems to be ready to move forward, but not at the pace many initially anticipated.

READ MORE: Resident recalls West Ashley apartment fire and cat rescue

Ad-hoc committee members tell ABC News 4 that the list of search firms will be narrowed down from five, which is the list the previous board had left, to three at Tuesday's meeting.

That list will then go to the Board of Trustees to make the final decision on who to hire.

Board members tell ABC News 4 that the expectation is for a narrowed-down list to be reviewed by the March 13 CCSD Board of Trustees meeting. They'll use the selected search firm to start narrowing down superintendent candidates.

However, the initial timeline announced by the district in August was to have all finalists interviewed and a new superintendent announced by March 31.

While it doesn't look like that will happen, board members tell me that they're certain to get down to business in the coming weeks despite a lot of the moving parts.

“Although the parts are moving, it's constantly trying to keep up with what's actually happening, and what each member is considering and thinking and making sure that those are cohesive. Because ultimately, the board operates as nine or as a body politic, not as an individual," said Ed Kelley, District 2 representative. "So that's the piece, that it is so difficult to make sure that everyone's on the same page, or at least everyone is aware of what's coming down the pipe, so everyone can be prepared to engage meaningfully in the conversation.”

The full school board has been together for less than three weeks since the special election for the District 6 seat was held earlier this month. That's why the district is also getting help from the South Carolina School Board Association in the search process.

But throughout this all, there have been a lot of questions surrounding current superintendent Don Kennedy’s involvement in the district's future.

Kennedy took over as interim superintendent in January of 2022 after longtime superintendent Geritta Postlewait resigned after six years. District officials still have not confirmed why she left.

In July of 2022, Kennedy was promoted to full-time superintendent. Despite the title change, it was made clear he would hold this position only until a new superintendent was hired.

But it hasn't been ruled out if he will be a candidate in this search.

Based on the way he has handled the job so far, some board members say they hope he is.

“If you put yourself in his position, basically, you get a new boss randomly, and you don't know who it's going to be, because functionally, that's what the board is, as a group is to supervise [the] boss," Kelley said. "So on November the 9th, you get a new boss, and then that boss immediately goes, ‘Well, we are going to start searching for your replacement.’ How can anyone really [handle it] like he had? Mr. Kennedy has handled this with absolute dignity."

If Kennedy is replaced, it would be the fourth superintendent for Charleston County schools in nine years. ABC News 4 checked with the district, and the current total compensation package for the superintendent position is just over $246,000.

Cyclists, walkers and joggers going through James Island to Folly Beach are one step closer to what officials hope is safer and easier travel.

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCSC) - Cyclists, walkers and joggers going through James Island to Folly Beach are one step closer to what officials hope is safer and easier travel.

The Rethink Folly Road Complete Streets Initiative focuses on improving connectivity and reducing congestion on Folly Road.

The steering committee made up of officials from Charleston County, the city of Charleston, James Island and Folly Beach held their quarterly meeting Wednesday to go over where this project stands.

As far as the phase one update, Charleston County says we are seeing “the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The state’s department of transportation and health has officially approved the permits for phase one of Rethink Folly Road, according to a Charleston County official.

Phase one is the initial phase of the bike and pedestrian accommodation project, which includes mixed-use paths or lane markings, but construction cannot start just yet.

James Island Mayor Bill Woolsey says they are thinking of beach traffic and how this would impact construction if it were to start in the summer.

In addition to less traffic, these islanders could also see a beach shuttle connecting Folly Beach to James Island, sometime in the future. The town of James Island put out a survey on this to see if people would really use it.

“There is an interest if we can make the ride feasible,” Jenny Costa Honeycutt, Charleston County District 9 councilmember, said. “That is get out there in a way that makes it, encourages people to ride it instead of simply driving and waiting in traffic on their own.”

A survey that pulled in 400 responses from people on James Island, West Ashley and beyond says 77% of people would use a beach shuttle with 23% would not.

When asked if they would take a 10-minute ride in the shuttle in an alternative lane passing traffic, 86% said yes and 14% said no. When asked if they would take a 45-minute ride in the shuttle in the same lane of traffic, 19% said yes and 81% said no.

Katie Zimmerman, executive director of Charleston Moves, says this data could create transit opportunities in the future.

“I think the results are really telling and really useful,” Zimmerman said. “And its information we keep in the back of our minds proceeding forward.”

Charleston County says they are anticipating a 300-day construction timeline for phase one. There is not a set date of when that will start as of now.

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