 Thank you all so much and good morning to everyone. My name is Henry Simons. I am the assistant city manager of operations for the city of Columbia. We would like to welcome you and thank you so much for your presence on today as we celebrate the grand opening and ribbon cutting of the Saluda River walk, also known as the Saluda River Greenway. Thank you to our mayor, Steve Benjamin, who sends his regards this morning. He is currently hosting the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Um, Marcia Fudge, who is visiting from Washington D. C. Also Congressman Clyburn, as they highlight the importance of vaccinations and discuss housing related issues here in downtown Columbia. Um, this project, of course, is near and dear to his heart. So don't be surprised if you see him prior to the end of this program. Um, thank you to Councilman Howard DeVall. Thank you to Councilman Will Brennan, who is present with us on today and all of our council members collectively present. I know Councilwoman Divine is on her way. Also want to acknowledge our chair of the Risen County Council Chairman, Paul Lifston, who is with us today and also the Allison to ratio and other council members, county council members that are present with us today. Thank you so much for for being here. I would also also like to acknowledge our special guest today, our Prisma Health executive management team who is with us. Thank you all so much for your presence on today. Also want to acknowledge our city manager, Teresa Wilson, who will be joining us here in just a moment for her continued guidance and leadership on parks and record recreation initiatives. Also want to acknowledge Chief Holbrook and Deputy Chief Monroe Kelly, who are with us today. Thank you all so much for your support and presence on today. Today's today's a great day. It's a great day for the city of Columbia and all the agencies represented collectively. The Salute River Riverwalk is a game changer. The new amenity has already attracted citizens from all over this state and beyond. As most of you are aware, this project has been in the making for several several years. And today marks a day that we celebrate the body of work that you see behind me. The Salute River Riverwalk offers about three miles of paved walkway or boardwalk along the Salute River, offering citizens an experience of some amazing views to include fishing and floating, walking, running, biking, offering just a chance to rest, relax and enjoy the outdoors. This will be one of the premier destinations for the city for years to come. Again, thank you so much for your presence on today. Now this time, I'm going to ask Councilman Howard DeVall to come forth and provide some remarks and we'll follow the program as the agenda is outlined. So we have Councilman DeVall followed by Chairman Paul Livingston, Chairman John McAuliffe, the Riverlines, and I will come back with some specific acknowledgements at that time and we will cut a ribbon. All right, Councilman DeVall. Thank you, Henry. This is a great day for the Midlands of South Carolina. And many of you were here four years and 40 days ago when we stood right down the hill and decided that we were going to build this thing. There was a bald eagle as John McAuliffe was speaking soaring above the river. And I told Henry when he said he wanted me to have some marks, I said I will speak if you will get that bald eagle to come back and be in the background. So I'm sure it's going to appear before I finish my remarks here. I'll try to pinch it a little bit for our good mayor, Steve Benjamin. This is a Midlands project. It is not a city of Columbia project. It is not a Richland County project. It is a Midlands project. We talk all the time about how when the Midlands gets together and wants to do something, if we all cooperate with each other, there's nothing we can't do. And this is one great example of the cooperation of all the people in the Midlands on creating something that will be a game changer for the Midlands as far as outdoor activity is concerned. I'm very excited about how we have put this thing together. I also would like to thank the River Alliance and many of the board members are here today that were here four years ago. Mike Dawson has spent 25, 30 years. Has it been Mike? It seems like 100, but it's been about 25, I believe, putting this this network of great projects together that will be the Riverwalk and the walks through Casey and West Columbian Alls be one of the largest connected walk and bike pathways in the United States and has already gotten recognition and awards for being that. John MacArthur has given us great leadership as chairman of the board. Very few board meetings, which is great, but he gets things done and and we work all together. This has been a county penny project. And I want to thank my council member Allison to ratio. A lot of times we had to tag team because we were working with county officials. We were working municipal municipal officials and Allison was always willing to tag team with me on the county side to push and pull and finally get the results that we needed to move the project along. I also want to thank my city manager. Oh, there she is. I saw a walking up there and she disappeared. Teresa Wilson. She has put up with a lot of emails and pushing and pulling and has has guided us through this project to get this thing done. One of the things I want to make a shout out for was the parking lot. The parking lot that you see right here is the parking lot that came with the penny. The parking lot this over twice the size a little bit further down the road 100 yards down the road is 80 plus parking spots that was done by the city of Columbia and its department. I wanted to mention departments, but when I started trying to think of them, all of them were taking part and getting that parking lot done on the other side. So we have 80 80 more plus parking spot because on the weekends already, these parking spaces are filled up. So a big shout out to Teresa Wilson. Her management team, which I think is the best in the South Carolina and probably best in the United States gets things done when we want to get things done. I also want to give a shout out for the Boyd Foundation. We've got George Bailey with us here this morning. Their interest in and funding of the projects that go along with this. Riverwall has been essential and it's not stopping now. Susan Boyd and George and the Foundation are very interested in in completing this project. The next opening that we will have will be Boyd Island, which if you haven't been there yet is a very special place in the Midlands of South Carolina is a unique place. And thanks to the Boyd Foundation, we have been able to really do it right and to get the amenities on there that will be an attraction for years and years to come. It's a very unique spot where you can stand at the confluence of the Saludra and the Broad and look up and see the capital dome in the state of South Carolina. There's no other site like that that I can think of in the United States. So thank you to the Boyd Foundation. The last part of my remarks is what I think is going to be the linchpin of all of these systems that have been built over the last 25 years. And that's crossing the Broad River and connecting to the Columbia Canal Riverwalk that's already over there three and a half miles of the Canalwalk. Here again, the Boyd Foundation has stepped up, given us a challenge grant. And I think we're going to be able to accept that. I'm sure my cohorts from the county are going to find their part. The city is going to find its part and we're going to get that things done. I've got two and a half years left and I want to be at the grand opening of the bridge that goes across the Broad. Because once you get that bridge in, you will be able to go from any of the nice hotels that are being developed in the vista of the city of Columbia, take a tram across the Broad River, come down to visit Tommy and the Zoo or bring your bicycle and ride it. And you can go all the way up to the Lexington Hospital. And I'm sure that the people in Lexington County are going to soon find the resources to move this trail all the way up to the Lake Murray Highway Six Dam. So that's our challenge. But I think the next part of getting that bridge across the Broad will be the connecting linchpin that puts it all together. And I'm so proud to have been a part of the construction and hopefully the use of this river water. And I'd like to introduce the chairman of Richland County Council, who has been very instrumental in helping us, Mr. Paul Livingston. Thank you. And good morning. I think it's still morning. Yes. What a great day for Richland County, citizens of Columbia, Lexington County and the Midlands in general. And I want to first just thank you for this opportunity for me to bring with me on behalf of Richland County Council. You know, this has made a very involved and long audience challenging reggae journey, getting to this particular point. And I'm clean and aware of what that included having been involved with the River Alliance since its inception. You know, Howard talked about years engaging this. Mike and I can talk about decades. Mike Dawson, you are truly the glue, the gorilla glue. That surely got us to this particular point. Now, you know, there's this old adage that says, you know, you know, you know, so like, you know, a bulldog, you know, it's like a bulldog, you know, in a channel shop. You know, that's not quite appropriate for Mike. Mike is like a bulldoze in a channel shop. You know, he's going to boom until you get until you truly get done. You know, there's several things that are expected of public servants. But most importantly, I think it's those things that directly impact our true quality of life. And I can assure you if you scroll down the Riverwalk, and you don't think it impacts your mental and physical well-being, then I suggest you sign up for the, you know, Dr. Phil's show or Dr. Oz or some of them, whomever you know, because it is that. And I want to say special thanks to my colleagues, Mr. Rachel is here. He's worked close with the Alliance and he is on to the, to the Alliance. You know, commitment from the set of Columbia, hard work, the painting program and those who work with that particular program, private supporters, the board family, and many, many others who all made this possible, you know, staff members, board members, volunteers, supporters and so forth. This could not have happened without everybody working together. We made this as a county council a high priority without painting program. And that is one of the reasons why we're here today. And what about issues long ago, as we started this process was, you need some funding. And Mike was not going to let us forget that. So he reminded me every day that one of the highest priority for the penny private got to be a must be the river walk. I said, oh, Mike, okay, we'll see what we can do about that. And you know, I thought, you know, I'd be okay for a little while, but that didn't last very long at all. So Mike, I just really want a person to thank you for your effort in making this happen. I mean, I'm not sure many folks are aware of the due diligence and what you've really done to make this possible. Again, thank you very much. Good morning. My name is John MacArthur. I'm a lawyer by trade. But I've spent about the last 15 years on the River Alliance board and many as chair. I want to correct or give you my impression of the ceremony before we started Riverwalk where we broke ground while Howard was looking this way and seeing eagles. I was looking that way in the middle of our remarks a train went by and nobody could hear any of my remarks, which I think they all appreciate it. And between Howard and Paul, they've stolen many of my remarks. So I'll keep my breath. It's basically we need to thank a lot of people. It is my pleasure to represent the River Alliance today. This day has been long hoped for and dreamed about. The Saluta Greenway has been a part of the plan for the Three Rivers Greenway for more than 20 years. And the circumstances finally came together to make it happen. And we're so appreciative that we're here today. A little bit about the Three Rivers Alliance for those who don't know anything about I think most of you do. But we were formed in 1994. And Mike was hired as a original director about 1995 1996 to work for both counties, Richland and Lexington County and three cities, Columbia, Casey and West Columbia to plan the Riverwalks. And so our function, instead of having one person from each of those governments out there trying to figure out what to do that we would do it collectively and and coordinate with each other. So what we've done over that last 25 years is we've identified places where building a Riverwalk was feasible. And Mike has headed all this up. There are places where it's not feasible because there are a bunch of tiny residential lots and you're not going to get easements from all of them. But where you can find land that's in the flood plain that's not otherwise developable. And you can find big property owners, instead of a bunch of small parcels and get easements from those folks, you can build a Riverwalk. So we mapped out the locations of the Riverwalks. And then we talked to the owners and many generously gave us easements to build the Riverwalk. And I'll mention a few of them in a second. In addition to that, we worked with land planners and others on the planning of the Riverwalk, the initial permits, you have to get wetlands permits, you're in the Navigal order sometimes you have to get federal permits. When you're in the FERC dominion project lines, you have to get permission from them might coordinate at all of that. Our mission is to have shovel ready projects. So when a government can figure out the method and we will we will try to help them with that in terms of ideas. But when they can find the funding for a project, we're ready to go. And that's what happened with this project. It was ready to go before the penny was passed. And so it made it easy to put it in the penny projects, and it made it the first significant long trail to be created by the penny tax. I want to stop for a second and recognize our board members, the river lights, our past Chairman Jim Smith is here. A number of our current and former board members are here. So y'all just raise your hand just to let everybody know who we have. And that includes Allison and Paul and Howard and Mayor Benjamin, and in the past to Mika and numerous other county and city officials as well as those on the other side of the river. So how do we get here? First, we obtained easements from the look from the owners, then SC and G David Jordan, who owns about a mile of riverfront up here. The Gardner family and the river banks do all donated these easements. We have one small payment one of them, but they all donated these easements so that we would have the right to put the river walk here. But for that, we would not have a river walk. I want to thank Richland County for coordinating with us and the city and getting this in the penny programs that were approved and voted on by the voters. That was essential to this. I want to thank all the all the council members, particularly Paul and Allison. I want to thank the county manager and all those on the county staff who worked on this for four years to get this bill. I want to thank the city. Not only is it a financial commitment to build a river walk, it's a financial commitment to pay to own and operate and secure it. That takes several city staff members full time out here doing that and the city committed on the front end that they would do that. That was essential to the county putting it in the penny program. It was essential to these landowners granting the easements. So thank you to the mayor, to the council members, to the city staff. And I'm one of those people who was emailing and bugging Teresa and I'm sure she got very tired of it. But thank you, Teresa, because this is here because of you and your staff. So, you already mentioned you took my words because my words were Mike is a bulldog. He is a bulldog. And I'm sure while they help pay his salary that the various government sometimes wish they didn't. But that's what it takes to get things done. You know, you've got people who are just pulled in all kind of different directions in the city and county governments. Having one person whose job is to plan the river walks and implement them is why it's gotten done on both sides of the river. None of the river walk on either side of the river would be here, but from Mike Dawson. So let's just stop and give him a hand. Thanks again to the Boyd Foundation. What a wonderful partner you are. George Bailey's here, who's the chair of the Boyd Foundation, the late Donnie Boyd and Mrs. Susan Boyd who's still with us have been and others on their board have been instrumental and very cooperative and their generosity not only has enabled Boyd Sanctuary to be built, but it's also instrumental in our ability to do the next phase, which is to go up the brawl, over the brawl, connect to the canal. When we connect that canal, you can walk from right here to the riverfront part where the waterworks are. And we're also working with the city and others on getting a bridge or some access near the State Museum. John McCabe is on our board. He's a chair of the State Museum Board to get across the canal once it's repaired at the State Museum. That would allow you to walk from Cobal Plaza to where we stand today and beyond. So those are great things in the future and we're working hard on those and those are going to be a reality. And thank you everybody for working on those. I want to thank our design team for the Boyd Island, Charles Howell, who's done a terrific job of planning that. And if you walk through there you'll see these tables and resting areas of the works of art. And Charles coordinated that and worked with a talented sculptor to make those special areas on Boyd Island. I want to thank the design team for the Riverlabs, who has been doing this for probably 20 years. Oz Negler, who's a renowned land planner. Ken Simmons, a land planner. And John Watkins, in addition to Mike, in addition to Mike's assistant, Sheila Starkey, who is here. Thank you for all you've done. So I think I've covered everything. Thank you again for being here. This is such a great day. Thank you. Thank you so much, John. I think you've covered all the mind remarks in terms of acknowledgments. But just just in summary, again, many thanks to our mayor, Steve Benjamin, all of our city council members present and collectively our Riesland County Council president and collectively city of Columbia and Riesland County staff who participated over the years and made this possible. Again, the Realized Board of Directors, of course, led by Mr. John MacArthur, who you just heard from. Again, the Riverline CEO, Mike Dawson, who's been named the Bulldog for the event. Thank you again, Mike, for your leadership. And just just again, a special thanks to the Boyd Foundation, specifically Susan and Donnie Boyd for creating a foundation that has blessed so many people in the community. We are forever grateful for your generosity. And Mike Dawson told me that Susan may be listening. Thank you so much, Susan, for your generosity and your vision. It means a lot to us. It means a lot to our community. So as Councilman DeVall has mentioned, we look forward to another grand opening of the Boyd Island Sanctuary. Isn't that what it's called? Mike Dawson, the Boyd Island Sanctuary. It is a beautiful place. And we look forward to all of our citizens enjoying, enjoying Boyd Island. Again, thank you, George Bailey, president of the Boyd Foundation for your continuous leadership and support of the Boyd Island Project, amongst other amazing projects that you've been a part of, representing the actual foundation. To the real bank zoo for your support and leadership, Tommy Stringfellow, for your support. Thank you so much. Dominion Energy, Department of Transportation, all the contractors that were involved in this process over the years. Thank you so much. Our City of Columbia Parks and Recreation Team for their amazing work. Our park rangers Karen Crucifix, who leads our park rangers. Just just a collective effort and to get us to this place. Again, as I made these comments in the beginning, Miss Councilwoman Devine, who is now with us. Thank you so much for being here. Also, our city manager again for your leadership and and guidance and just giving us direction and keeping things moving. We are we are forever grateful for this moment and also want to acknowledge our county administrator, Leonardo Brown, that's up near the restrooms in the shade there. Thank you so much, sir. I see you. Also, Assistant Administrator John Dr. John Dr. John Thompson was also with us. Thank you so much. I see the City of Columbia Mass. You're wearing. Thank you so much for representing. We appreciate you. That was a gift, I believe, from the mayor. So thank you. Thank you so much.