Charleston, S.C., is one of America's favorite cities for travelers.

It's a city you can walk with wonder at the historic architecture of its houses and storefronts, listen to the clip-clop of horses pulling carriages full of happy tourists, sit for a spell in shady waterfront parks, stroll the neighborhoods for an understanding of the southern marvel — a city that lives well, eats well and draws admiring visitors.

I wish my home city of Cleveland, Ohio, offered its residents and visitors such parks on the southern shore of Lake Erie.

On a recent visit to Charleston, I met one of the heroes of the city's success saga, Joseph P. Riley Jr., mayor since 1975. He is pro-people and anti-illegal guns.

 "The way to create a great place for people to visit is to create a great place for people to live,"  Riley told a group of journalists and public relations executives who are members of the Society of American Travel Writers.

Charleston, he said, is a city that thinks of its own citizens first. Visitors are like paying house guests.

"A safe place to live is where you see regular people walking down the street," said Riley. The goal in Charleston, he said, was to concentrate on city places that were public. It is essential, he said, for cities to develop fine public spaces, so a diverse population lives elbow to elbow, makes eye contact in their daily lives.

Otherwise, said Riley, "We run the risk that all the finest things are privately owned."

I ate well at High Cotton, slept well at the fashionable and newly refurbished Mills House Hotel, and lazed through some afternoon hours watching the Charleston River Dogs, top, a minor league baseball team affiliated with the New York Yankees and home of fried corn dogs, right.

I will be back. 

For information, Charleston.