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OK so its not "technically" downtown.. which I believe begins at Laurel Street, but its certainly within the Central Business District/ City Center. That being said I am certain the folks living there may still frequent downtown.. but they will not be your typical "homeless" resident because that will have temporary housing and surrounded by supportive services.
Maybe the transition center will not be full of "typical homeless", but perception IS reality to many people. Any city with a fledgling / fragile Main Street, trying hard to attract more shoppers and needing to bring in residents from the burbs to spend money, the words "homeless shelter / transition center" bring up thoughts of a "reality" most suburbanites don't want any part of. Especially a city having a history of homeless issues along its Main Street.
I see it as the community just taking the bull by the horns. Columbia, downtown and all, will be fine. My partner and I were in the Vista tonight. We walked a block from where we parked, to the restaurant we went to. Three homeless guys were walking in front of us and one had a conversation with a fourth homeless person across the street by yelling. They talked about where they would meet up later, and it wasn't indoors anywhere. One of the homeless guys we were walking behind made a loud train engine sound a couple of times on the bridge we were crossing because a train was passing underneath. And at the end of the bridge they went left and we went straight and crossed the street to the restaurant, and everyone was happy. And the Vista isn't hurting judging by the scarcity of parking spaces and the music filling the streets from several different restaurants tonight on Lady Street. And it's only Tuesday.
Last edited by Charlestondata; 06-14-2011 at 08:24 PM..
The fact that there ARE homeless people is certainly a tragedy, but some people will come up with any excuse necessary if they are out of their comfort zone. I've lived in the city my entire life and homeless people are a fact of life. I've never felt threatened by them, although it is annoying to be asked for money. I offer to buy them food, but will never give money. I never carry cash anyway.
The Transitions center will not be the death knell for Main Street. It's out of sight from the center of the commercial area of Main; you can't even see it from the block that Mast General is on. Out of sight, out of mind. The only suburbanites that will be deterred are those who probably wouldn't visit Main anyway. Judging from the activity that Mast General is producing, the center isn't preventing a whole lot of people from coming to Main.
I didn't realize until this morning that Ben Arnold has already started renovating the building at Main and Lady into studio condos/apartments. It's a four- to six- story building - somewhere thereabouts. He's going to put in two retail spaces fronting Lady Street as part of the project. Next to the building, also on Lady, there is an attractive two-story building for sale with retail space on the ground floor. It needs no refurbishing.
Wow.. seems like things are picking up. I thought that this development was like a "condo hotel" where you could buy a unit and rent it out??? I guess it didnt work out.. but Arnold must have bought everyone out because I though a few had sold under that model. A couple were decorated with USC colors and paraphernalia and rented for games...
I didn't realize until this morning that Ben Arnold has already started renovating the building at Main and Lady into studio condos/apartments. It's a four- to six- story building - somewhere thereabouts. He's going to put in two retail spaces fronting Lady Street as part of the project. Next to the building, also on Lady, there is an attractive two-story building for sale with retail space on the ground floor. It needs no refurbishing.
Personally I think this project isn't getting enough play in the local press, this is much more of a game changer then Mast. The more people who live on Main the better and this will get the numbers higher. The paper published a total of residential units on Main and I forgot the number but something in the ballpark of 400, this plus the apartments planned on top of Mast will take it over 500 which is significant.
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re: Old Rhodeway Inn Reno
