Our view: New times call for new strategies across county
Newly released census data is shedding light on how Beaufort County is changing — and what must be done to prepare for the future.
On Hilton Head Island, about a third of residents are now older than 65. While most retirees are currently active, they’ll likely need additional resources in the next couple of decades to continue enjoying island life.
To make that happen, the Town of Hilton Head Island must have a true public transportation system to shuttle residents to grocery stores, doctor’s offices and pharmacies. Currently, the regional public transportation system is primarily used by island hotels to bus in workers from surrounding counties.
Residents needing a lift must rely on an on-demand van service, provided by Palmetto Breeze. To catch a ride, residents must call at least a day in advance. Plus, drop-off and pick-up times can be inconvenient.
A recent infusion of an extra $700,000 each year into the system (given because of the area’s population growth) must be used to create new routes into Hilton Head neighborhoods and help seniors get around town.
Meanwhile in Bluffton, the town’s Hispanic population is booming. From 2000 to 2014, the number of town residents who identify as Latino or Hispanic rose from just 76 to 2,616 residents, according to the census data.
The actual number of Hispanics is likely much higher. That’s evidence from the fact that the majority of students at two of the town’s elementary schools are Hispanic.
The Beaufort County School District must take the lead in ensuring these new students are getting intensive help to learn English and to succeed in the classroom. Superintendent Jeff Moss is working to create a reading and language immersion academy for students who do not speak English or are not proficient readers. In the academy, these students would study only English for one semester to a year.
We applaud this type of out-of-the-box thinking that will benefit not only students, but their parents who will learn from their children.
At the same time, Beaufort is grappling with an exodus of young residents. From 2000 to 2014, Beaufort lost one-quarter of its residents between the ages of 20 and 44. In that same period, that age group fell from 45 percent of the city’s population to 35 percent.
City leaders are right that the only way to hang onto its rising stars is with a more diverse economy that offers high-paying jobs. Currently, too much of its local economy is based on tourism and service industry jobs that don’t attract college-educated, young professionals.
Beaufort must either get serious in pairing with Beaufort County to craft new economic development strategies that will attract industry or accept its plight as an older community where tourism is king.
But no community must do it alone. All three trends that showed up in the census data are present across the county. This is not the same Beaufort County of our grandparents, and together we must work harder to address the quality of life here. We must address the cost of living, education, transportation, jobs and the elderly.
This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 6:59 PM with the headline "Our view: New times call for new strategies across county."