Randal Wallace
Wallace is a 53-year-old real estate agent. He served on the Myrtle Beach City Council from 2002 to 2018, and he has worked on local, state and national campaigns.
Why are you seeking this office?
I love the city of Myrtle Beach. It has been my home for my entire lifetime, and I feel that I bring experience to the council as both a former member, a lifelong resident, as a person who spent most of their life building relationships with people on every level of government and I believe all of that could be helpful with the challenges our city faces in the years ahead.
Why should voters choose you for this seat?
I have a record as a city councilman of building coalitions on council and in the community to address issues we face together, a history of working to keep taxes low, government small, watching the budget, and most importantly listening to our residents, and business community, and then working to find the solutions to their issues as quickly and satisfactorily as possible. I always believed they knew their issues better than I did and my job was to either help them or get the government out of the way.
What do you think of the way the city is being managed?
I believe in open government and government that listens to the people, first and foremost, and that sometimes that means listening to them when they are angry. That you always keep as many channels open to the public as you can, that you are responsive to their needs and make them as much a part of the decision as you can and if I am elected I will work to make that more of a reality for the citizens than I feel like has been the case in recent years.
What should be done to encourage redevelopment in the downtown area?
On the west side of Highway 17, every effort should be made to draw citizens into living in the area, and attracting our locals into coming down to enjoy the area too. That is what has been the only thing that worked in that area. It needs to feel safe, have a police presence, be well lit at night, and efforts made to get young people to move into the areas either adjacent to the west side of downtown, or in the apartments that are scattered around the area above the stores. One of the keys to that is figuring out a way to keep it affordable. On the east side, where the city has spent a lot of money buying property, I think we need to search for some private sector investors with a plan and some know-how to invest in the area to bring that next great thing to the downtown.
