History Of The Palm Republic

The Palm Republic, known by some as the Isle of Palms, SC, was created by the former mayor of the island and his lawyer out of their collective shock, dismay and frustration in witnessing the childish, selfish and lawless acts of the SC Secretary of Transportation, the SC Senate Transportation Committee and local State Senators.

In an attempt to pander to inland voters, these State Senators enlisted the Transportation Committee and the Secretary of Transportation to do their bidding. In 2021, the Isle of Palms residents were attacked as elitist that wanted to close the beaches to the public. This, of course, was not true, as the beaches of South Carolina are all public and open to everyone. However, parking is a finite commodity on a barrier island and must be funded for police, fire and emergency services as well as maintenance of the parking spaces.

With a total disregard for the rights of the citizens of the island or the laws of SC , including the constitutional right of Home Rule, these Senators demanded that the right of beach goers to walk our beaches was an “empty right” if unlimited free beach parking was not provided. Putting aside this was a socialist demand made by “republican” politicians, it amounted to an illegal tax on the residents of the island and violative of the SC Constitution and Statutes.

The Secretary of Transportation at that time visited the island and communicated to Mayor Carroll that she didn’t care about our objections. She threatened to take away the emergency lane on our only bridge to the mainland to show the Isle of Palms who was in charge. 2 weeks later, in the middle of the night, the SC Department of Transportation came to our island and restriped our connector to the mainland to remove our emergency lane. The restriping itself does not meet the SCDOT’s own rules and safety regulations. In the ensuing 12 months, accidents on the Connector doubled.

Undeterred by our objections to these unlawful acts, the Transportation Secretary promised in a prepared statement that she would institute free public parking island wide, including the front yards of our residents, if we did not bend to her

will. The first phase of her forced parking plan included changing the parking on Palm Blvd, the island’s main thoroughfare to a configuration that again violates SCDOT’s own safety regulation and increased the risk of serious harm to our residents and visitors alike. Ironically, this unilateral act by SCDOT did nothing to increase the number of parking places on the island, it simply increased the summertime traffic congestion.

Shortly thereafter, two SC State Senators sponsored a bill attempting to permanently take away the right of Home Rule on 4 barrier islands, including the Isle of Palms, which the Governor signed into law in the summer of 2021. Accordingly, the State of South Carolina has now violated its own Constitution, Article VIII, as well as multiple statutes, codes and safety regulations. The only motive being to pander to off island voters and punish the Isle of Palms for lawfully objecting to these illegal acts.

In response to these acts of Tyranny, the Palm Republic was formed and its Declaration of Independence written. On Friday, May 13, 2022, the founders formally executed the Declaration of Independence and “seceded” from the State to shake off the shackles of the Tyranny of this South Carolina State Government and reclaim our Island’s right to Home Rule through the use of public demonstration and illumination of the wrongs perpetrated on our fellow residents of this Great Island.