31 www.ReadMPM.com | www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.MountPleasantPodcast.com our town Harmony. It is something we think about this time of year between early European settlers and Native Americans as we gather for Thanksgiving, between God in heaven and man on earth at Christmas and Hanukkah and harmony with our neighbors when we look up from our phones. How is harmony possible in a town of 96,323 people? Human nature is so complex, at times irritating if we’re honest, and our town has undergone significant changes over the last couple of decades. If America is the great melting pot of the world, I think Mount Pleasant is a melting pot within America. We have long-term residents, natives and new neighborhoods comprised of people from a vast array of heritages and geographic origins in a community that has 14 Gullah Geechee Settlement Communities and 42,798 residences. Maintaining harmony is a big challenge that I’m reminded of every day that I enter the mayor’s office in town hall. But uniting as the Town of Mount Pleasant is not new to this community. Our progression of harmony goes back to our founding. In the beginning, what we now know as Mount Pleasant was once five villages: Greenwich Village (est. 1766), Hibben Ferry (est. 1770), Mount Pleasant Plantation (est. 1808), Hilliardsville (est. 1847) and Lucasville (est. 1850). So how do we preserve harmony now in the 21st century among so many residents? Shared values are the best place to start. Values like honor and respect always build harmonious towns, despite our individual differences. The cover of this month’s magazine is proof that we live this way in Mount Pleasant. Not long ago, when in the dark of night some out-of-town haters decided to leave anti-Semitic pamphlets in the driveways of our neighborhoods, our residents responded with overwhelming love and support and town council unanimously passed a hate crimes ordinance placing us among the leaders in the state on this issue. We have been recognized nationally by winning one of only 20 annual All-America City Awards based on our efforts to make our town and businesses friendly, welcoming and accommodating to families with members who have developmental and cognitive disabilities. Though the work of maintaining harmony is never finished, there are other signs that we are doing well. Statistics do not adequately capture the spirit of harmony, but they do indicate systemic health. In our most recently published annual report, we had an unemployment rate of 2.08%, a total of 6,989 businesses, our annual retail sales are about $2 billion and our hotel occupancy rate is 70.2%. In an economic sense, we are doing well. What about harmony with nature? Can we do well economically and ecologically? Natural beauty and our coastal environment rank at the top of the list of reasons why our area is so popular. The father of the American conservation movement, Aldo Leopold, said, “Conservation BY WILL HAYNIE MAYOR OF MOUNT PLEASANT Mayor’s Message Deck the halls with harmony
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