COLOR BOTANICO PALERMO SOHO

PERFECT APARTHOTEL FOR A LONG STAY IN BA'S BEST NEIGHBORHOOD

Color Botanico is a 9.8 out of 10 -- one of my highest ever ratings.

I almost booked a similar sized apartment in MicroCentro.

While that area has a lot of famous spots and places the tourists go -- it is creepy after dark.

Palermo SOHO is vibrant 24-7.

A few blocks in either direction and it would have been noisy.

But this is a quiet, mostly residential street.

Lots of buses nearby as well, to make it easy to visit other parts of the city.

Two people could live in this unit for 2 weeks (4 with 2 bed configuration) and not feel crowded.

COLOR BOTANICO PALERMO SOHO

PERFECT APARTHOTEL FOR A LONG STAY IN BA'S BEST NEIGHBORHOOD

Color Botanico ApartHotel Palermo’s unit provides lots of space to stretch out in.

There are plenty of racks to dry clothes washed in the sink, to allow for light packing.

Check in is after 3, but my flight arrived at 4 a.m.

They got me in my room a little after 10 a.m., which was great.

It is an apartment hotel, meaning it does not have an onsite restaurant, large lobby or those kinds of offerings.

There always is one person at the front desk to troubleshoot if you have an issue.

It is very secure -- they give you a code to get into the lobby.

Great working elevator.

COLOR BOTANICO PALERMO SOHO

PERFECT APARTHOTEL FOR A LONG STAY IN BA'S BEST NEIGHBORHOOD

Color Botanico ApartHotel Palermo’s balcony was great for breakfast (a half dozen grocery stores are less than 10 minutes walk from unit.)

While not presenting a gorgeous view, the courtyard-facing balcony was a great spot for end of day gelato (huge freezer in unit kept it ready for consuming) or malbec (really good less than $10 USD bottles at shops nearby).

I slept was well as I've ever slept -- and I'm a light and fussy sleeper on the road.

 

COLOR BOTANICO PALERMO SOHO

PERFECT APARTHOTEL FOR A LONG STAY IN BA'S BEST NEIGHBORHOOD

Color Botanico ApartHotel Palermo SOHO has outstanding full apartment amenities.

Twice, I overindulged at nearby restaurants – so I brought home the leftovers and had a great meal and saved money.

You can't do that in a tiny hotel room.

COLOR BOTANICO PALERMO SOHO

PERFECT APARTHOTEL FOR A LONG STAY IN BA'S BEST NEIGHBORHOOD

Color Botanico ApartHotel Palermo SOHO is in a great location.

World class gelato, dining (casual and fine), shops, galleries, activities – are all minutes away by foot.

The unit is more than double the size of a standard hotel room – it features a full kitchen that's nicer than what I have in my house.

Huge bed with comfy mattress, normal size pillows, great AC and extra sheets upon request.

 

COLOR BOTANICO PALERMO SOHO

PERFECT APARTHOTEL FOR A LONG STAY IN BA'S BEST NEIGHBORHOOD

Color Botanico is in an absolutely perfect location in Palermo SOHO.

It is located within crawling distance to all the fun, but quiet at night (I did request a room not facing the street, so that helped).

One of world's best restaurants is two doors down.

Huge parks are 15-20 minute walk north.

The subway is 10-12 minute walk north.

 

MUNICIPAL FINANCE CHALLENGES

AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

Kristy Gore is a Charleston Area REALTOR® and Civic Leaders Academy alum who serves on the Berkeley County Planning and Zoning Commission.

She is running for South Carolina House District 99, gearing up for the primary.

“Most of my platform is tax reform and infrastructure.

We are in an infrastructure crisis, so we must reallocate money for roads and bridges,” she said, saying fiscally conservative policy can reduce tax burden while redirecting funds to pay for the basics.

Gore said she learned to navigate difficult decisions while reviewing controversial developments during her year and a half on the planning and zoning commission.

“A planning vote recently dealt with a medium-sized commercial parcel that backed up to residential.

I have become very familiar with wetlands in my real estate career. 

I have seen individual homeowners end up paying dearly for planning and zoning decisions done poorly.

I voted against a plan to change the zoning for that commercial plan,” Gore said, noting that the plan ultimately was approved.

A no vote can cause a developer to pay attention more to neighborhood flooding concerns.

She said a developer can revise a plan, creating less concrete lot coverage and more on-site ponds, before a council gives its final approval.

“We have to be responsible in our development. 

The leadership class was very eye opening.”

 

 

 

 

 

MUNICIPAL FINANCE CHALLENGES

AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

Greater Charleston is experiencing exponential growth. It also welcomes eight million visitors per year, a big driver of the economy. Academy participants learn how to balance both permanent resident and tourism growth.

“Healthy tourism keeps taxes low,” Dix noted. “Good schools, a fire and police presence and sustaining healthy communities are the things buyers and sellers focus on. 

We are teaching that the beauty of local government is paving roads, picking up trash, and maintaining and improving the quality of life.”

Because Charleston has one of the richest architectural histories in the nation, the academy also teaches about how to protect the skyline and how to evaluate redevelopment that is sensitive to historic districts.

Participants learn about accessory dwelling units, missing middle housing, other diverse, affordable housing types, and that higher density does not have to mean taller buildings.

Missing middle housing includes duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and bungalows as well as cluster homes and cottage courts.

The academy is very hands on about preparing people to run for election. 

Many of its graduates serve on boards and commissions as well as in elective office. 

MUNICIPAL FINANCE CHALLENGES

AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

Seasoned elected officials share their experience with The Civic Leaders Academy in South Carolina.

Experts from municipalities lecture on the flow of a zoning application from an advisory board to a board of appeals to a council for final vote.

“We try to teach you the nuts and bolts of running for office — polling data reading, putting a team together and strategy for campaigning,” Josh Dix, consulting advisor to CTAR’s CEO, said.

“We also explain how parliamentary procedure works. 

If you want to be on a board or commission, parliamentary is a key tool.”

 

 

MUNICIPAL FINANCE CHALLENGES

AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

The Civic Leaders Academy in greater Charleston features classes of about 15 to 20 professionals learning about land use and planning practices.

The first class graduated in 2021.

One course session is a trip to Columbia to meet with legislators and heads of key state departments.

Participants learn about financing, policy and how land-use decisions can sometimes wind up in the court system.

The class is educating land-use decision-makers to vote based on sound planning.

“We were having a hard time when projects came to the planning commission or council. There really wasn’t a REALTOR® voice in those projects.

Projects were approved or denied for reasons that were not justified,” said Josh Dix, consulting advisor to CTAR’s CEO.

MUNICIPAL FINANCE CHALLENGES

AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

In South Carolina, The Civic Leaders Academy teaches participants about the government’s role in community development, economic prosperity, transportation and infrastructure.

The Charleston Trident Association of REALTORS® (CTAR), the Charleston Home Builders Association and the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce partnered to create a knowledge base that prepares active community members for elected office, as well as appointments to planning and advisory boards.

 

 

 

 

MUNICIPAL FINANCE CHALLENGES

AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

Kim Rueben, formerly a senior advisor, Fiscal Systems at the Lincoln Institute,  said some cities will look to Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to build transit stops, capturing the increased value around the station and dedicating it to paying off bonds that funded the transit extension.

She said some areas are looking at a series of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) to fund some capital costs, but it may be difficult to convince property owners to the additional self-taxing that comes via a BID, as those may be downtown businesses already hurting from the shift to remote work and hybrid work from home.

MUNICIPAL FINANCE CHALLENGES

AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

Kim Rueben, formerly a senior advisor, Fiscal Systems at the Lincoln Institute, said taxing the value of land independent of what is being built on top of it can provide a more stable flow of revenue.

She explained that many commercial buildings have lost value because they have vacancies due to the shift to remote work.

MUNICIPAL FINANCE CHALLENGES

AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy was founded to promote the Land value Return concept of public financing.

“Land value return is based on a simple core premise: public action should generate public benefit.

As challenges mount from rapid urbanization, deteriorating infrastructure, climate change, and more, this funding source has never been more important to the future of municipalities,”said the Germán-Bernstein brief titled “Land Value Return Tools to Finance Our Urban Future.”

 

 

 

MUNICIPAL FINANCE CHALLENGES

AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy was founded to promote the Land value Return concept of public financing.

“In an era of tight budgets and exploding need, cities around the world are funding infrastructure and other public improvements through land value return, also known as land value capture.

This policy approach offers an array of public finance tools that enable communities to recover and reinvest land value increases resulting from public investment and other government actions.

Notably, as new subway lines, roads and other public works raise the value of nearby land and real estate; developers and property owners share that publicly generated windfall to help local governments pay for new bridges, transit, parks, affordable housing and other infrastructure upgrades,” Lourdes Germán and Allison Ehrich Bernstein wrote in a policy brief published before deep federal funding cuts became a reality.

MUNICIPAL FINANCE CHALLENGES

AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

In Broward County, Fla., voters approved a new property tax and a special district to provide services for disadvantaged children.

The new district was the Broward County Children’s Services Council.

Shayne Kavanagh, senior manager of research for the 26,000-plus member Government Finance Officers Association, said local government must challenge itself to find ways of increasing economic activity without increasing operational costs.

He said better coordination of land-use policy to economic development could help.

Development that results in urban sprawl often costs as much or more than the new taxes generated by the development itself.

 

MUNICIPAL FINANCE CHALLENGES

AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

Shayne Kavanagh, senior manager of research for the 26,000-plus member Government Finance Officers Association, authored “New Taxes That Work: How Local Governments and Raise Revenue and “Rethinking Revenue”

He noted that even in an era of strong anti-tax sentiment, communities successfully gained voter approval when they associated the tax with a concrete purpose that citizens value.

“For Plant City, Fla., 50 percent of its 160 miles of streets were in poor condition.

Staff estimated that it would take up to 60 years to resurface or reconstruct all roads in the city, based on available resources at the time.

Street quality served as the foundation for a new tax,” Kavanagh reported.

MUNICIPAL FINANCE CHALLENGES

AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

Karen Tamley, president and CEO of Access Living, a Chicago-based disability rights and service organization, urged public officials to find a way of addressing a projected $771 million Chicagoland transit funding shortfall that would start in early 2026.

Projected transit service cuts of up to 40 percent, mass layoffs and fare increases “would have a devastating impact on our communities, including people with disabilities who live here.”

“For disabled residents, especially those who can’t drive or afford their own wheelchair-accessible vehicle, public transit is the foundation of daily life — a way to get to work, attend school, access medical care, visit family and be part of the community,” Tamley’s op-ed stated.

 

MUNICIPAL FINANCE CHALLENGES

AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

Karen Tamley, president and CEO of Access Living, a Chicago-based disability rights and service organization, points out that transit cuts have a disproportionately negative impact on people with disabilities.

“Public transportation for people with disabilities is the difference between a life of isolation and full independence. 

Right now, for those who live in the Chicago region, independence is on the line,” Tamley wrote in an August Chicago Tribune opinion piece.

MUNICIPAL FINANCE CHALLENGES

AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

“When states preempt what cities can do, it denies the fact that cities are individual and not uniform.

Cities need to be nimble and not be restricted from creating the kind of revenues they need to continue delivering services,” said Michael Pagano, dean emeritus, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs and former Brookings Metro non-resident fellow.

There is no such thing as a magic bullet that works in every city.

Having worked in the core of Chicago for two decades, Pagano also noted that commercial occupancy hovers around 70 percent downtown.

That has a huge negative impact on transit ridership and funding.