By Megan Fitzgerald, Greenville Journal
Greenville Organized for Accountable Leadership’s recent public assembly drew a crowd of more than 1,140 community members, faith leaders and local advocates.
The third annual Nehemiah Action was held April 10 at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Simpsonville. During the event, elected officials and a South Carolina Department of Transportation representative made pledges to help solve Greenville County’s high eviction rates and pedestrian safety issues.
The local interfaith coalition of 29 congregations has spent three years tackling pressing community issues. This year, GOAL focused on Greenville’s affordable housing and transportation issues.
“We’re not here simply to acknowledge the problems. We are here to bring about action,” said Greg Dover, pastor at Augusta Heights Baptist Church and an at-large member of GOAL.
GOAL identified evictions as a barrier for people trying to access affordable housing. At Nehemiah Action, Greenville County councilmembers Ennis Fant and Frank Farmer each committed to work toward establishing a housing court by 2025-2025. A housing court would help people facing evictions have access to legal representation.
State lawmakers pledged to support two bills introduced in the state Senate and House that would allow a judge to seal and expunge evictions from the tenant’s permanent record. Senate Bill 56 is sponsored by Sen. Karl Allen (D-Greenville). Sen. Jason Elliot (R-Greenville) said he would support the bill but the chances are it will not be taken up this legislative session which ends May 8.
“What you all need to know in this room is to redouble your efforts to make sure that this initiative is passed before May of next year,” Elliot said.
Rep. Chandra Dillard (D-Greenville) and Rep. Wendell Jones (D-Greenville) — both sponsors of House Bill 4270 — voiced their support for the proposed legislation at Thursday night’s event. The House bill is also sponsored by Rep. Bobby Cox (R-Greenville) and Rep. David Vaughan (R-Greenville).
GOAL also aims to improve pedestrian safety in Greenville County, specifically along White Horse Road/U.S. Highway 25. The coalition received verbal commitments from Fant and Farmer that they would work to adopt a county-wide Vision Zero plan to eliminate pedestrian fatalities.
Ben Olsen, a district traffic engineer for the South Carolina Department of Transportation, pledged to install streetlights along White Horse Road by 2026 and work toward obtaining funding for additional lighting improvements along the corridor. He also committed to working with the Berea neighborhood to address pedestrian safety concerns.
“There is an active, ongoing safety initiative project which was identified by our headquarters’s safety office that improvements need to be made in this area,” Olsen said. “In fact, this project is well on its way and one of the last pieces of that puzzle is to install lighting on this corridor.”
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