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Many of you may have seen Gangland-Bloody South on the History Channel the episode is dedicated to Columbia's gang problem. It featured Gonzales Gardens as the gangs headquarters though the lead gangbanger claimed West Columbia as his hood of origin. The Gardens was portraited as Columbia's version of "The Carter" from the 90s movie 'New Jack City' with the narrorator stating that the gang, Gansta Killer Bloods aka G-Shine controlled the housing development's drug trade. I believe that Gonzales even has a Columbia Police Dept KOBAN though it wasnt enough to stop the gangs 'reign of terror'. It is a shame, though a reality, that gangs have taken hold of so many neighborhood throughout the Country. Here in Columbia Housing Developments like Hendley Homes and Saxon Homes once notorious for crime and gang activity appear to have been successfully redeveloped into mixed income neighborhoods.. but nearby challenges still exist at Allen Benedict Court and at Gonzales. Columbia appears to have gotten a hold of the problem...I personally think that the show overstated the importance and the influence of the gang.. but I could be wrong . The closing scenes of the show.. featured areas that resembled Bluff Estates and older intown suburbs with members stating that they will G-shine until the end..so we know that these types of organizations and criminal enterprises are mobile and often simply move from one place to the next.. so stay tuned
. YouTube - Gangland s06e06 Bloody South part 1
No need to grow (sprawl) much, just improve in quality. Adopt Mediterranean style of architecture more.
I think part of the problem is that the Counties (Lexington and Richland) have no incentive (in their opinion) to curb sprawl. They collect permit fees, property taxes, impact fees (if applicable) etc. Now the long term implications of this types of policies are now starting to emerge.. crowded roads, schools, storm water issues, and it a declining real estate market declining tax base. Also as others have mentioned.. you can commute from one side of Columbia to the other in 30 mins maybe 45 mins in rush hour? So, people can continue to move to the ends of exurbia until they reach diminishing returns in terms of commute time versus housing cost/type.We have had discussions in this forum before about the possible merger of the City of Columbia and Richland County.. which would allow one government to look at the relationship between urban, suburban and rural land uses. The politics of such a merger are immense.. it also may mean little other than to leap frog sprawl out of Richland and into Kershaw and Lexington Counties who may have more liberal development policies compared to a unified Cola-Richland govt aimed at curbing sprawl
this made me lol...
i live in cayce, sc...literally minutes from columbia. cayce is in the "darkened ghetto" on the map...lmao.
definitely NOT ghetto.
there are little 7-11's/shops etc here that make it seem "ghetto" its not a city...its a small "town"
i walk around where ever i go and nobody does anything.
I'm 65 years old and spent my childhood hanging out at the Gardens as we called it. My grandmother lived there 47 years as well as my uncle along with my mom, aunts and uncle's. A shame the people today can not experience the pleasure I and many others had living there.
It may come as a shock to many but I'm white and remember a time when "management" could walk in your apartment if you were not at home and do an inspection and if there was any discrepancy's you were given time to correct or pay a fine.
Had there been children living in there parents house hold and not living decently, you were told to move, no questions asked.
Wow..thanks for sharing. I had forgot about this thread and I actually started it.
I think eventually the Gardens will be replaced with the more normative "mixed income" neighborhood much like Saxon and Hendley Homes have been replaced. The location is ideal given its proximity to downtown and Providence which could easily create a program to encourage its workers to move into the new development which happens in other cities. It could be something as simple as a 'soft' second mortgage or even a flat $500 grant at closing. It benefits them since it could be a recruitment tool in addition to strengthening the area around their facilities.. which has been marginalized since the late 70s.I thnk once the Gardens come down you will see an immediate boom in that area since immediately to the east you have a very affluent older inner suburban neighbrohood.. to the south you have Melrose Heights(which borders another problem area); Providence to the north; and historic Waverly to the west which is poised for a continued renaissance if the Gardens is removed.
Allen Benedict Court is probably the "best" out of all the housing "projects" and will likely be the last to go.
As we have discussed on these Boards.. the areas that could fall victim to "ghettoization" are the older inner ring suburbs that have fallen out of favor (parts of St. Andrews/Dentsville) along with dated apartment complexes; inexpensive poorly built tract subdivisions in the NE; and isolated older rural subdivisions in Lower Richland and Northern Richland County. More and More of Columbia proper will continue to improve with only isolated areas and blight poverty.
Eau Claire/Beltline Blvd will remain the largest challenge in the urbanized area since it is very vast and is a hodge podge of neighborhoods and housing types. It is also zoned for the lesser performing schools in the District which may also slow its progress.
Last edited by Woodlands; 12-18-2014 at 08:42 AM..
I think what's happened with the Broad River Road area will spread. You can already see it spreading into St. Andrews area, creeping from Broad River up to the White Hall area. It's really sad. I grew up in that area in the 90s and it was a great area for the most part.
The same phenomenon will spread up Two Notch. Columbia Mall went from one of the top malls in the area to ghetto. I doubt it'll ever make its way all the way out into Blythewood, Chapin, or Lexington though.
I think it may eventually come back just because of its proximity to the interstate and downtown, but it'll take a long time.
I think what's happened with the Broad River Road area will spread. You can already see it spreading into St. Andrews area, creeping from Broad River up to the White Hall area. It's really sad. I grew up in that area in the 90s and it was a great area for the most part.
The same phenomenon will spread up Two Notch. Columbia Mall went from one of the top malls in the area to ghetto. I doubt it'll ever make its way all the way out into Blythewood, Chapin, or Lexington though.
I think it may eventually come back just because of its proximity to the interstate and downtown, but it'll take a long time.
Indeed. My prediction is that the inner-suburbs including irmo will become a no-man's land as people's desires become heavily fixated on downtown neighborhoods and the far out living in Lexington/northeast. That is, my sense is that the future buyers of columbia will either want to be truly downtown or very very close to it or way out. The middle could be doomed. We already sort of see it happening with irmo.
Last edited by Bouje2; 12-22-2014 at 09:08 AM..
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