Windows on Washington Square

For 40 years, Mayor Joe Riley helped guide Charleston through transformation-reviving its historic core, expanding public spaces, supporting the arts and rebuilding after disaster. But behind every groundbreaking council meeting and crisis response were the unseen decisions, doubts, debates and moments of clarity that shaped the city's path forward. Windows on Washington Square offers a rare, first-person account of how Charleston became the city we recognize today. Riley reflects on designing Waterfront Park, revitalizing King Street, expanding affordable housing and strengthening the city's preservation ethic-not as a list of achievements, but as lessons in collaboration, conflict and conviction. He recounts leading Charleston through Hurricane Hugo and navigating the profound, collective grief of the Mother Emanuel AME Church massacre, revealing how a city holds itself together when the world is watching. Alongside these public moments are personal ones-dinner table conversations, afternoon swims with his sons and the steady support of his wife, Charlotte, all of whom shared both the weight and the hope of his work. This is the story of how a city was built not just in its streets and parks, but in its choices, relationships and belief in what it could become. …