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Put it another way, perhaps lower taxes in Lexington by itself didn't attract Amazon, but the lower taxes are indicative of a better and more cohesive pro-business and pro-economic development environment. I think Lexington worked hard on a lot of other pieces of the puzzle to make this happen.
I think Mayor Benjamin was quite accurate with these quotes:
"But I will tell you that Lexington's had some great success because of the focus on economic development and because they have the foresight to build a world class business park. That's something I think the city of Columbia should also do."
The mayor says one way Columbia can help itself is to keep red tape at a minimum for new business developers. "People ought to be able to come and make an investment and be able to at least forecast three months, six months, nine months, when will I be able to start getting a return on my investment," Benjamin continued.
Again, I think the higher taxes in Richland aren't necessarily the issue per se, but it is part of a larger issue of not being as business-friendly overall as Lexington. I will admit there seems to be more of a mentality in the City of Columbia, and to a lesser extent Richland, of trying to grab enough revenue to fund particular public services, rather than providing a baseline economic environment for businesses and corporations to come in and organically grow. Lexington County is, I will admit, overall a better managed county with a sharper eye on these economic and business matters. They certainly have less red tape than the other side of the river.
Wow...the comments from some of people commenting on this link are amazing.. Why someone would compare Columbia to Detriot is beyond me....
I dont know why there is so much animosity towards north main/eau claire or Columbia in general. It seems like many would rather have the area turn into a slum and drag down the City and the Region. Many forget that the Vista was a form of 'skid row' with vacant warehouses and train tracks until it was redeveloped. Granted, the City should be prudent with its spending on redevelopment but to do nothing may not be in the City's best interest
I don't know, but the bottom line is they chose Columbia, and the specific location is merely a cheaper part of Columbia's suburbs currently.
Well, my previous "rocket science" analysis notwithstanding, I do think there is more to it than just being the cheaper part of Columbia's suburbs. I think it's pretty self-evident that the location Amazon chose is highly desirable due to the infrastructure. If it was merely low cost they were going after, they could have easily set up shop off, say, somewhere off I-20 in Kershaw County (where there is already a Target distribution center).
I have to give Cayce leaders some credit.. when they first announced that they were building an interchange at 12th Street and I-77 I was like WTF.. no one is going to build anything down there other than maybe a Jumpin Js Truck Stop and a Waffle House. It is certainly developing into more than just a highway exit. Cayce has just about annexed all the land (flood plains and all) into the City Limits to insure that any residual growth will line their coffers. Incidentally, some residents were asking Cayce to "de annex" or to "unincorporate" the section of Richland County that was annexed some time ago as part of the failed Green Diamond project.. I dont believe they ever did....
Well, my previous "rocket science" analysis notwithstanding, I do think there is more to it than just being the cheaper part of Columbia's suburbs. I think it's pretty self-evident that the location Amazon chose is highly desirable due to the infrastructure. If it was merely low cost they were going after, they could have easily set up shop off, say, somewhere off I-20 in Kershaw County (where there is already a Target distribution center).
I should have added "on Columbia's beltway." I had already made the beltway comment in an earlier post. Starting all over - it is the cheapest land on the beltway and it just happens to be in Lexington County, and Lexington County currently does have some tax advantages over Richland County for businesses. The beltway created infrastructure years ago, but things kept locating in Blythewood. Now it's the southeastern beltway's turn. The area around Shop Road south of Columbia needs some updating, but that will come. I'm not into this county versus that county. I'm only into cities and the metros that surround them. The Amazon site is in a close-in part of the Columbia metro and it only makes sense that distribution centers would want to locate close to UPS and on the Charleston port side of the metro.
I found this interesting since it plays on ones definition of economic development. Here you have a land owner along Bluff Road wanting to further the industrialization of this corridor versus urbanites who want this corridor to continue to develop as 'SoCo' or College Town South around the stadium. Looks like the County and the Zoning folks need to decide what directions this area goes in. If they allow the quarry they will certainly be curtailing any future residential growth in the area. On the other had industrial tax base is part of a good diversified tax base.... we shall see who prevails....
Quarry planned near USC stadium, apartments - Local / Metro - TheState.com (http://www.thestate.com/2010/12/14/1604945/quarry-planned-near-usc-stadium.html - broken link)
There's plenty of room closer to City Center for apartments. Apartments out there are just more sprawl. I say keep it ugly and industrial out there and do the quarry.
I found this interesting since it plays on ones definition of economic development. Here you have a land owner along Bluff Road wanting to further the industrialization of this corridor versus urbanites who want this corridor to continue to develop as 'SoCo' or College Town South around the stadium. Looks like the County and the Zoning folks need to decide what directions this area goes in. If they allow the quarry they will certainly be curtailing any future residential growth in the area. On the other had industrial tax base is part of a good diversified tax base.... we shall see who prevails....
Quarry planned near USC stadium, apartments - Local / Metro - TheState.com (http://www.thestate.com/2010/12/14/1604945/quarry-planned-near-usc-stadium.html - broken link)
Bad idea. The city should not allow this quarry.
The area around the stadium isn't the greatest area now....too much asphalt, old industrial type sites, the fair grounds, etc. If anything, the city should be planting trees and encouraging more positive types of commercial / residential developments.
The State Fair grounds parking lot has lots of trees that will mature into quite a green space. The same will happen with the old Farmer's Market site. When the proliferation of new apartments in that area pushes the industrial base just across the river over into Lexington County (Cayce), I don't want to hear any comparisons between Lexington and Richland counties from you, gsupstate, with Lexington getting all the industry that would leave Richland in the spillover. The boundaries are arbitrary. Just remember that when you walk to the western edge of downtown Columbia you step into the river and that when you get to the other side of the river you're in Lexington County, where the ugly industry will be if it gets pushed out of the Bluff Road corridor by apartment villages.
Bad idea. The city should not allow this quarry.
The area around the stadium isn't the greatest area now....too much asphalt, old industrial type sites, the fair grounds, etc. If anything, the city should be planting trees and encouraging more positive types of commercial / residential developments.
Heres part of the problem... I believe this property is in the County. Most of the 'redevelopment' of Bluff Road is in the City. This is one reason why both jurisdictions should merge their Planning and Zoning Dept. so that there is some consistency of vision/planning efforts. The City may want to continue the 'revitalization' of the area. The County.. not so much...for reasons listed above.. .(i.e. industrial tax base) The County could care less about how the area looks. How many revitalization efforts or beautification efforts has the County led???? Decker Blvd and St Andrews are just now being "studied" other than that not much else going on in the redevelopment world for the County. The County's cash crop is subdivisions and its getting plenting in NW and NE Richland.. so a few apartments on Bluff Road is no biggie for them. My point here is that the City and the County likely look at development differently and that will likely play out in areas like Bluff/Shop Road.
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