Politics & Government

George Freeman Sees Greener Future

Candidate says Mount Pleasant needs more jobs from green-energy revolution.

Mount Pleasant heads to the polls Tuesday, November 8, to fill four seats on the town council. Three incumbents and six challengers are running for the at-large posts. This week, Mount Pleasant Patch will profile all the candidates.

Mount Pleasant has been a bedroom community for too long. And as lands east of the Cooper River reach capacity, the town should focus its attention on growing good jobs.

That’s the view of perennial town council candidate George Freeman, who has placed his name on the ballot nine times since the early 1990s.

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“We need new business here other than retail,” said Freeman, a Realtor and retired computer software engineer. “This community needs jobs that provide higher salaries.”

Read profiles of all the candidates.

Find out what's happening in Mount Pleasantwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

If Freeman is elected, he’ll focus on development of light industrial lands inside the town limits. Developing those lands, he said, will attract high-tech business that will sustain the town into the future as real estate and retail development plateau.

In the future, more businesses will focus on the production of so-called “green energy,” and Mount Pleasant could be a perfect location for those industries, he said.

“We need businesses that will protect our environment while providing an opportunity for a better quality of life,” Freeman said. “Our elected officials should actively recruit companies that produce alternate energy products.”

Mount Pleasant is ideal for the production of solar power, he said.

“We have lots of farmland in this community that could provide some energy,” Freeman said. “Many computer software companies in Silicon Valley would relocate if the energy costs here were more affordable.”

An avid bicyclist, Freeman also thinks the town could be more friendly to multiple modes of transportation.

“Without turning our town into an asphalt jungle, we can improve our traffic congestion by building connecting secondary, two-lane roads,” Freeman said. “Highway 17 will remain the main thoroughfare for through traffic, but local residents will have the option of using secondary roads to move north and south within Mount Pleasant.”

The town should partner with neighboring communities and municipalities to make a system of secondary bike baths and smaller roads, he said.

Freeman said he’s been on the ballot so many times because he believes the city needs to change its course to maintain its standing in the region.

“The town need to change its direction to maintain its growth,” Freeman said. “Instead of focusing on building new homes, we should focus on new business.”

ABOUT FREEMAN
http://www.citizensforgeorge.org
Age: 62
Personal: Single, one adult daughter
Professional: Realtor, retired software engineer
Education: Master’s degree in management, American University; Bachelor’s degree in mathematics, South Carolina State University
Previous elected office: Appointed to Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments, 2005-07; Greenbelt Advisory Board and Charleston County Planning Commission
Why he's running: “We’ve been a bedroom community for too long. It’s time for us to diversify and find new tax revenue for the Town of Mount Pleasant. We can no longer afford to depend on revenue from new home construction. … We need to recruit new businesses to the area, and when I say new businesses, I mean other than retail.”


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