Guest Column: Charleston carriage code

As you know, our City Commissioners have co-opted the Charleston Code that regulates the carriage businesses up there, and are determined, despite growing opposition, to force it on the carriage trade here.

There are five carriage companies in Charleston. I spoke to the owners of four of the five companies. The fifth company owner was not in the mood to talk. He has been hit lately with four tickets from the City, costing him $1100 each in fines, and if he loses in the appeals process, his business will be shut down for six months. Another owner is in the process of retaining an attorney.

After my first two paragraphs, I’m sure some readers are already alarmed this Charleston Code is headed to becoming law in St. Augustine.

Conversely, I imagine Mayor, Joe Boles, is grinning at the prospect of the City government raking in tens of thousands of dollars from fines on carriage companies. I also hear the laughter of City Senior Attorney, Ron Brown, and Assistant Carlos Mendoza, who have made their livings (reportedly $250,000 combined per year) by defending the City from law suits caused when the Commissioners step on the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens.

Let me share with you comments from carriage owners about their own Charleston Code and what your City Commission is planning for St. Augustine.

CONCERNING THE CHARLESTON CODE:

Tommy Doyle, is owner of Palmetto Carriage Works, the oldest carriage company in Charleston established in 1996. “The way the enforcement is done, they can make up any rules they want, and then they bully you into signing them. I wish they would just tell us they don’t want us here. That would be more honest than their causing our death from a hundred cuts. I am in the process of retaining an attorney.”

David Compton, owner of Old South Carriage Company. “It’s crazy stuff! They go after the company and not the driver who violates a traffic law. We have to pay $1100, not even for traffic violations, just a driver straying into another zone. They have a lot of unnecessary rules.

Broderick Christoff, owner of Classic Carriage Works. “I don’t like paying all these trumped up fees. It’s expensive. The worst thing is that they are using Charleston as an example for other cities to follow.

Andrew McGauly, owner of Old Town Carriage: “Different problems arise at different times. The things they should enforce, they don’t. Then they make a big deal out of incidental things. It’s so subjectively written.

CONCERNING THE CHARLESTON CODE BEING IMPOSED ON ST. AUGUSTINE:

David Compton, owner of Old South Carriage: “If they have the power to frivolously shut you down, then you don’t have any rights.”

Broderick Christoff, owner of Classic Carriage Works: “It works here in the short term. But (in St. Augustine) they have left out the most important part, the part that makes it work. Obviously, carriage licenses in your city have been considered assets. It’s like an “eminent domain” issue, if the government seizes property they are required to pay compensation.

Andrew McGauley, owner of Old Town Carriage: “If the City government of St. Augustine gets a hold of the carriage industry, they will run it poorly and St. Augustine will lose a great industry.

There is no ten license limit to carriage companies in the Charleston Code. It was inserted apparently at the bidding of the City Commissioners to force out of business the St. Augustine Transfer Company, 1877, the second oldest known continuously operating carriage company in the world.

This is how they have also operated in regards to musicians, artists, boaters and small businesses. Either you change it, or have your ankles measured for shackles.

Terry Herbert
St. Augustine

Terry Herbert has been driving horse-drawn carriages in St. Augustine from 2004-2010. He is a former radio news director, and has written for many mediums, including screen plays. His book, Love Tides & Golden Isles Lore, was published in 2003 with accompanying CD’s.