Dickie Miler's Dream for A Walkable, Connected Summerville

Imagine living in a town where every corner holds a piece of history, where every brick tells a story, and where the future holds beauty and growth. Allow us to introduce you to Dickie Miler - a passionate real estate businessman, a candidate running for the Mayor of Summerville, and a man who holds the town’s heritage close to his heart. Let's journey through his rich family history in real estate and public service and learn about his unique relationship-building qualities that have shaped his leadership roles at church, the YMCA, and within the community. 

As you listen, you'll get a glimpse into Dickie’s vision for Summerville's future - a vision that marries the town's charm with growth and development. Hear about his plans to sidewalk the district, move power lines underground, and introduce an array of shops, boutiques, and eateries. A second town square, you ask? Yes, that's part of his blueprint too! Dickie's commitment to preserving Summerville's ambiance while fostering connectivity and walkability is bound to inspire. His dream to create a paradise for future generations while upholding the spirit of community is truly worth hearing about. Tune in and be a part of this fascinating conversation!

Thank you for listening! Please contact me if I can ever be of service:

Roni Haskell
www.thatSCrealestatechick.com
843.297.1935
roni.haskell@kw.com

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

I'm joined today by Dickie Myler, who's running for the Mayor of Somerville, and this is for the Love of Real Estate podcast. Dickie, thanks for joining.

Speaker 2: 0:16

Oh, Ronnie, thank you for having me. It's great being here Well it's an honor.

Speaker 1: 0:19

So we know each other socially and through business. You're a real estate agent.

Speaker 2: 0:23

Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 0:25

In fact, you own a whole brokerage here in Somerville.

Speaker 2: 0:27

I had the pleasure to be doing this for a long time, ronnie, but we started my other properties in 1992. So if you do the math, it's 31 years doing that.

Speaker 1: 0:36

You got me beat. I'm 21 years into the business. We both love this community and you have gotten quite a name for yourself. You've also pulled some of your family into your business and your love for real estate as well, right, yes?

Speaker 2: 0:51

Well, ronnie, it's a bittersweet thing, it's a love hate thing. Actually, debbie and I worked together, along with my daughter and son-in-law and my sister and my brother and several years ago, had my uncle and my father there too. So at the end of the day, regardless of what happened, we can honestly say I love you. Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow, but the first sometimes would fly, I don't mind telling you.

Speaker 1: 1:18

Well, I commend you and your family because it really shows the family unit that you guys have created for yourself. Thank you.

Speaker 2: 1:27

My father got involved in real estate in 1972 and I think we all kind of took a page off of his love for real estate. But it wasn't really the love of the real estate, it was the love of Somerville and you can see that in great real estate agents today. Like yourself and others, they love the community.

Speaker 1: 1:43

We love the community.

Speaker 2: 1:44

We love introducing other people to the community. Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 1:47

This morning I spoke with a mutual friend of ours, but she is a strong sponsor for Dickie Myler for Mayor, so I asked her what is it about, myler, that you are really? Why do you stand behind him? And a few things that she said about that was you have a unique quality as a relationship builder. You make people feel like they are the only one in the room when you're talking with people. You love this town. You have a different perspective. You are a Christ follower. Experience and qualities in leadership, such as your church, st Paul's, and for years at the YMCA, and just a real leader that looks at problems and is able to help make decisions that is best for all parties involved.

Speaker 1: 2:42

I spoke very highly of you.

Speaker 2: 2:44

Wow, I'm surprised my wife said all that to you. The truth, what in your mind? I know Well. Let me just say this I'm flattered by any kind of words of encouragement and affirmation, but reality is, when you love something, it's easy to do what you do. I don't care if it's a personal relationship or the love of the Lord, your community or nonprofit, and somehow.

Speaker 2: 3:08

I think we learned that from my parents. My mother was raised a Mormon, by the way, but she always had a huge sense of family and giving and she taught that all of us as young kids. And of course, dad, being born and raised here, his love of others would just kind of so obvious. In fact, ronnie went he was at the peak of his real estate career. All of his customers he would bring home to meet mother. It would. They'd break bread together, and so every customer became friends and we saw that it was modeled and so we said that's what life's all about, and so therefore we have always seen my business, whether it's what I do as a profession in real estate or serving others, I see it as a ministry, whether it's a housing ministry or social ministry or given ministry, and therefore it's effortless. I hate to say that but it really is, and I know you feel the same thing. You can't out give the giver.

Speaker 1: 4:10

Yeah, that is so true, we are in a relationship business and it's a really fortunate thing. It just happens to me that our skill set is it may be in real estate, right, but we are a relationship focused, and so that is evident. If anybody that meets you, they there's a strong connection, there's a strong connection. So, um, I commend you for that. Uh, you do have, as you mentioned, a long history, family history here in Somerville, and you've, um, raised your four daughters in this town. You got me beat by one. I was afraid if I had a fourth I might have another girl, so I stopped. But you went for it. You had four girls and they are, um, they are all raised and very successful in their own right.

Speaker 2: 4:53

Well, thank you for sharing that. But but Ronnie Debbie's OBGYN and I love this guy, dr Victor Weinstein, he told me. He said Dickie, you can have seven kids, but they're all going to be girls. So we, so we weren't trying to have another son.

Speaker 1: 5:06

You know what I mean. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 5:08

So we just had children and boy. By the way, the girls are, um, they're a gift, they're a joy, and they have stretched me as a guy. Um, I can play Barbie with the best of them, you know. I can do hair, Um, and I see a different side of life, as supposed to have just a bunch of guys.

Speaker 1: 5:27

Um, a little softer, A little softer side and emotions. You know we have to be sensitive to that.

Speaker 2: 5:33

Yes, no, I don't weep, and I don't weep and moan like you all the time.

Speaker 2: 5:36

But I do have a little sensitive side to me, but you know what I'm talking about, um the family heritage here. My great great grandfather was named Edward Hutchinson, who was the first intendant of Somerville, and that was just a fancy word for mayor. But it wasn't until 1900 that they changed the term to mayor, and my great grandfather, dan Myler, was the first mayor of Somerville. So we've had a history of always being involved. In fact, uh, hutchinson squares, namely after my great great grandfather, edward Hutchinson.

Speaker 1: 6:11

What a legacy.

Speaker 2: 6:12

Wow.

Speaker 1: 6:14

Now you get the honor to to run on a platform, Um, so that you too can hopefully serve as mayor of this town. Yes, your platform, as I understand it, is preserve, protect and promote that is correct. Tell me what that means to you. Why is that your platform?

Speaker 2: 6:31

The platform um has the three P's, which is preserve, protect and promote, uh, underscored with the three T's, which is trust, transparency and teamwork. And the way I see this team building like in real estate, like in anything, uh, you have to build a trust relationship with those you work with or for, and once that happens, then some kind of synergy happens where really a common goal is met and great things can happen. And what I believe that this summer of this little town we have called summer of the flower town of the pines is it is, in my opinion, the greatest town in South Carolina. It's the Jew to the little country, it's an oasis that everybody feels. They love it. It's a sense of place, um, and it has a community pride that, um, you don't see, it, see, in a lot of towns anymore.

Speaker 2: 7:21

I'm not talking bad about any other town, cause we have dear friends and family, and a lot of them, but summer of it is a special place.

Speaker 2: 7:28

Therefore, I want to protect and preserve that feel, that ambiance, and you do that by making sure that the people still feel the connectedness and also the town has a sense, a look that still speaks town, even though we're 55,000 plus, as you well know, we're the eighth largest city in South Carolina, so we're not Mayberry, but that may very feel as special. And therefore that's the platform is to preserve and protect that some of the buildings, some of the height restrictions, some of the other areas that we have. But also I want to promote this town by increasing the downtown walkability of the historic district. We need more shops, we need more wine bars, we need more boutiques, we need a, we need a several more restaurants. So my plan as I promote this town is to go right across the railroad tracks into the next block and make that the second town square, and we've got a beautiful vision of that that I think the town will love and also something that our grandchildren will want to come and stay.

Speaker 1: 8:35

Yeah, I think that's the key component is building families but then retaining the children into this town. Well, that's interesting that you're talking about the downtown kind of growing outward, because there's great potential for that. I think that the roads, the infrastructure here within the town of Somerville and then the greater area of Dorchester, berkeley, county, because Somerville, even though it's comprised, you know, you're running for a seat on the town level, but really it's very impactful for the whole community at large of Somerville, which does span across really into three counties, but two vastly between Dorchester and Berkeley, which I understand Berkeley is the second fastest growing county, only next to Horry County right now. But so you've got this expansive growth. Technology, manufacturing, hospitality are all feeding into that growth and with it people want that sense of community. That's what I sell all the time and you do too in your brokerage of real estate.

Speaker 1: 9:41

But people who want to come here, they hear about it, they tell their friends about it and there's been a huge migration into this area. But with it comes responsibility for growth. Now, thankfully we've got Berlin G Meyers that is underway. That's gonna alleviate a lot of burden off of Main Street coming through the heart of town. But there's gotta be continued and I feel like some of this has been from my perspective. My opinion is that it's been delayed and we've gotta catch up with where the growth is today.

Speaker 2: 10:15

Absolutely. It's kind of funny that you mentioned infrastructure, because that really is my main platform is what can we do to relieve this horrific traffic in this town? You know congestion of traffic is not just congestion. There are several factors that it plays a major impact on a community's health and welfare. It drains the economy for people who are stuck in traffic late to work, so the productivity is less. It hinders the emergency vehicles to getting from point A to point B. There's a snarl, in fact. There's studies. It's even a mental health problem that affects a lot of people.

Speaker 2: 10:52

You've seen more road rage and those kind of things, but I want to eliminate the word. I love Somerville, but I wanna eliminate the word but, and of course, the but is always followed by. There's so much traffic and we have a marvelous plan in fact. In fact, I've got a team that we call ourselves the traffic czars and Roddy, I'm telling you right now there are things we can do about seven things that are gonna relieve a lot of traffic. The Berlin G yes, huge help. The next in Parkway, through Maple Street yes, big help. But lots more has to be done and we're gonna do it.

Speaker 1: 11:25

Yeah, well, you were talking about connectivity and the walkability of town. Those of us that are runners, those people that have recently I had an incoming buyer who wanted to buy in town but there was no sidewalk, you know and people that have young families they want to be able to safely walk from point A to point B. They wanna get to the parks that are so beautiful here now, and so they want to have accessibility to easily get into the shops and the boutiques and the dining and the wine store, all of this that is now hosted in town and will continue to grow. We've gotta be able to get people here, and sometimes that means outside of cars, right? So if they can bring their golf carts, if they can bring their bikes and get around town, if you can get from downtown Somerville easily and safely, with a widened walkway out to next in, you know, just starting to really connect, allowing next in residents to be able to come and to town and shop and dine here, which is now feeding into the town, would be great as well.

Speaker 2: 12:32

Well, you speak so wisely about that? Because, even though we have beautiful parks, they're not connected at all.

Speaker 1: 12:39

I don't know.

Speaker 2: 12:40

And walkability is a major problem. So part of our platform is to sidewalk on chi� fork with the entire district, to connect it all the way from downtown all the way through next, and part of that will be the new passive part that we hope and pray to do on Gadsden property. Also, anybody who's done any kind of quality studies realizes that sidewalks, bicycle paths, those are quality of life issues. It draws people into it, it makes a family have a sense and those are things we want to do Now. Many administrations in town have known that but have failed to do it.

Speaker 1: 13:15

It takes passion and energy and drive and total commitment to do it, and I am yes, and being able to cooperate and collaborate with other people, because there's a lot that goes into being able getting power lines underground, which is a passion of mine, to beautify the city, but also getting the sidewalks widened and nice and level, and being able to have all of that we just talked with our town engineer and, by the way, they have appropriated the funds to put all the wiring underground in town, not in the residential district yet.

Speaker 2: 13:54

But that is step number two, Because think about this Every time there's a bad storm we spend thousands of dollars trimming the trees and butchering our pre-canopy so that's the plan. Is put that underground? Expensive, yes. Long term it's a benefit.

Speaker 1: 14:11

Well it is, and we preserve in our town or field, it is Well more parking.

Speaker 2: 14:17

Yes, I got a great plan for that. And listen, I know this is very controversial, but why not? All right? Part of my platform is that we have to have another downtown parking garage and I plan to do that on the YMCA parking lot. It's already a parking lot I've already talked a lot of the stakeholders to be perfect. Plus, it opens up the next quadrant of downtown shopping which is right across the River Track and we've got a great plan for that. We want to put the new county library on that track. We want to move the museum which is buried somewhere on that track. We want to build a children's interpretive museum. Put it on that track. Put a couple of wine bars in there, brewery, some shops anchored by the old train depot restaurant.

Speaker 2: 15:00

It's going to be beautiful. In the middle is going to be a big fountain with pass and greenery and canopy space. Just think about a second town square. It's going to make Somerville really so dynamic, but not lose its appeal. And all those buildings, the Lord willing, will have the same kind of look as the Timrodt library. You'll still feel, wow, it's new but it's not. So those are things we're gonna do to make this town beautiful, accessible and, yes, to do that we have to work together and I really believe that one of my gifts and Lord, I'm not bragging, I'm just saying one of my gifts is to build teamwork, to work with others, to understand that we make things happen. Therefore, I have great connections with Dream, downtown Dream, with the Chamber of Commerce, great friends on County Council and then with new people coming in to Town Council, by the way, and a new administration. I really believe the best days are so much in front of us.

Speaker 1: 16:00

It's exciting. It is exciting.

Speaker 2: 16:02

I look forward. I want you to be excited.

Speaker 1: 16:04

Well, it is. It is exciting. I mean, I live here, I'm raising my family here, I do business here. This office that I hope to open is here, and it's all here with a purpose and an intent very intentional. I travel all over, like you do every day, right, but this is my home base.

Speaker 1: 16:23

This is where my love and passion is is right here in the heart of Town. So what do you envision Town of Somerville looking like in 25 years, when your grandkids are sitting here doing business and operations? What do you want this town to look like?

Speaker 2: 16:41

I want them to wake up every day and say, wow, we live in heaven, a place of paradise, a sliver of heaven in paradise. And you know, what makes it happen is commitment, passion and drive and the desire to leave a legacy behind us that honors them, but us as well. And let me just say this once something is lost, it's gone, and that's why I'm so passionate about this 500-growth main street, about preserving that facade over there at the old hospital that has so much history. The Town of Somerville drips with history, culturally wise, from the black community, from the Native American community, from the old brick kilns we had here. I mean, once that's gone, you can never get it back. So I want to preserve that kind of history and feel so everybody would think that they've got the most beautiful small town in the state and it will look something like it is today.

Speaker 1: 17:40

Yeah, that's right. Speaking of preserving some history, I was at your home the other day. And I was sitting there and I said what is that building? And you have a little piece of history right in your backyard. Tell me about that.

Speaker 2: 17:54

When we bought the property 23 years ago, I didn't know it was there.

Speaker 1: 17:57

It was so grown over, it was so overgrown over.

Speaker 2: 18:00

But what we found out it is an old servants quarter that was part of the old wearing plantation. That was a gift by King George back in the late 1700s. Now they have dated this and who was they? The Preservation Society from the States has come down and they have dated this to 1837. And it's a two-story servants cabin and so we're in it. It's just amazing that something is still standing and there's a lot of interest in that. In fact, I met with Dr Ed West just last week and he's bringing another archeological dig team coming in there just to find out more about the history of Somerville. But there's a story that we don't have enough time to talk about. But that is part of who we were. But it was part of a loving family who embraced all that were there.

Speaker 1: 18:52

It's really cool. Well, we cannot erase history. We learn from it, right?

Speaker 2: 18:55

Amen.

Speaker 1: 18:57

And part of that is preserving and keeping intact those memories, and so I think the overgrowth helped preserve it to the point that it is today, but I look forward to it.

Speaker 2: 19:08

Don't talk bad about my housekeeping and yard work now, Roddy, but let me say this about history History is a wonderful vehicle to unite people, not divide. Now people try to twist it to say it's some kind of bad thing. No-transcript how we got here, why we're here, why we think, what are the factors that influence that? That's all beautiful stuff and it's our DNA, who we are, and it helps us in all of our life's journey become better people and better citizens to know where we came from. So I love history and I want someone to always embrace its proud history.

Speaker 1: 19:43

The history of this town is what it is. There's been a lot of good that happened in this town. It really has. There's a huge responsibility on not just the mayor, because it's the whole town council, it's the whole county council, it's the cooperation of all of those parties integrated to make this every year. Every year, every person that's elected official in this town has a responsibility to serve this community and help it grow, and so I'm putting the pressure on you, dickie.

Speaker 2: 20:21

Well, let me say something.

Speaker 2: 20:23

Thank you, I appreciate that Let me say this also about collaboration Is that, because of the profession that you and I are in, I've had the privilege to sell real estate in all the Tri-Cannery area, and so I've met a lot of the stakeholders not just landowners, but people who work in the communities, the legislatures, the mayors, all these kind of people and so I've already got a great working relationship, and they know that Somerville has to have a main seat at that table because we are a major stakeholder in the growth of the Tri-Cannery area, and so I'm excited about that Pressure.

Speaker 1: 21:04

Well, it's the collaboration, it really is.

Speaker 2: 21:06

It's building the relationships, it's having the vision.

Speaker 1: 21:08

It's sticking to the platform not just saying that I'm this is what I want to happen. It's making a difference and I look forward to if, in fact, you are elected I look forward to seeing what you do with the visions that you've had, the people that are standing behind you, like the individual I spoke with this morning, and just getting things done in this town.

Speaker 2: 21:31

Well, I really appreciate that, and the Lord, willing in his favor, shines upon me. That will happen. In the meantime, though, we run an excellent campaign, because those that run it against me are fantastic. People have the highest respect for everybody. Anybody wants to serve the town in any capacity I have the highest respect for, because their love for the town is great as well, but together we're going to do great things, so I'm looking forward to that.

Speaker 1: 21:54

Dickie, if people want to find out more about you and your platforms, how can they do that?

Speaker 2: 21:59

Very easy. All you have to go is wwwmylarformaircom. They'll tell you all about it.

Speaker 1: 22:06

Good, please do, dickie. Thanks for joining me this morning.

Speaker 2: 22:09

I appreciate you. Well, ronnie. Thank you for having me. Great seeing you.

Speaker 1: 22:11

You bet For those watching on YouTube. Make sure to click the bell so you can be notified when more podcasts drop. See you next time.