The Post and Courier has a sort of mix between a history of North Charleston and a bio of former mayor John Bourne. The story reminisces about some of the good that creating the city accomplished:

In the old days, dirt sidewalks lay along part of East Montague Avenue's now-bustling business district. Reynolds Avenue teemed with sailors in port who made a beeline to the nightclubs and prostitutes that thrived there.

Many of the neighborhoods were built way before the area was a city. Sidewalks were not required. Drainage was a county problem the city inherited. The industrial base and military sector helped paint the North Area as a blue-collar community that was looked down upon by high-brow Charlestonians.

While the story is mostly a noncritical feature piece, a Charleston.net reader going by the username of "archdude" offered some criticism regarding the city's "Tanger Outlet achievement":

"Trees and wetlands stood where Centre Pointe's Tanger Outlet Center and surrounding retail outlets now add to the city's long-running reign as No. 1 in the state in retail sales. Upper Dorchester Road remained countryside without a hint of Coosaw Creek and other suburbs and the traffic gridlock that followed."

And this is a good thing? What a wacko! Nothing should have ever been built at Centre Pointe...just wait, one day soon a jet will have a problem and what is directly in line with the runways? You guessed it, Centre Pointe. North Charleston is just begging for a disaster.

If you're curious to know about the history of North Charleton's government and some of its politcal infighting back in the day, read on.