Residents and nonprofit leaders ask council to support Liberty Hill welcome center, autism training and community services

Multiple speakers used the meeting’s public-comment period to present community proposals and request city cooperation on neighborhood initiatives.

Reverend Nelson B. Rivers III and Dr. Tanya Matthews of the International African American Museum asked the council to support converting the historic building known as Al’s Diner in Liberty Hill into a welcome center connected to the International African American Museum. Rivers said the Charity Foundation owns the building and that the museum had agreed in principle to the concept; Matthews described Liberty Hill’s historical significance and said the museum will show a Liberty Hill documentary and would support programming at a welcome center. They asked the city to consider investing in the plan so the building’s brick facade could be preserved and repurposed for museum programming, senior activities and after-school tutoring.

Leila Luna, founder of the nonprofit Just Be, asked the council to fund and help create an autism-friendly town program and a database to alert first responders when a vehicle or person may be neurodivergent. Luna said that on May 20 the governor signed a law expanding first-responder training; she proposed license-plate or other alerting systems and asked for city collaboration and funding to create a local registry and training for first responders.

Bryn (Bryan) Gerting, a resident presenting a draft ordinance, proposed a rental-property registration and transparency ordinance to create a public online database of rental properties, their maintenance history and registration status. Gerting said the program would be self-funded through modest registration fees and would stop short of rent control, relying instead on building-code and licensing powers.

Representatives of Liberty Hill Next Generation (Andre Middleton) summarized a resident-led 2022 survey and a 2024 follow-up town hall. They said top concerns included mental health, sidewalks and transit access and requested continued city partnership for a planned mental-health and wellness event that would include a 5K run, a summit and a health fair.

Louis Smith of the Community Resource Center presented “Uplift North Charleston 2025,” a partnership with the Palmetto Barbers Association that he said will distribute food and supplies at multiple February 2025 events. Smith said the initiative will distribute 1,000,000 pounds of food (valued in his remarks at about $1,500,000 at $1.40 per pound), 300,000 diapers (valued at about $150,000) and provide mobile medical screenings and education through partners including Roper St. Francis and corporate partners for tutoring and workforce training. Antonio Rivers and Jessica Ford of the Palmetto Barbers Association described mentoring and barbering education components and confirmed diapers and supplies would include seniors’ needs.

Council members responded briefly to several items from the public-comment period (thanking presenters, noting grant-coordinator contacts in the audience and acknowledging sidewalk and streetscape projects under way in Liberty Hill). The council did not take formal action on the requests during the meeting; presenters were advised to coordinate with staff and grant coordinators.

The public-comment period also included other brief statements about community projects and recognition of local individuals.