Greenville Enthusiasts? (Charleston, Rock Hill, Greer: transplants, crime rates, credit)

[distortedlogic]

Hello everyone, I have been reading your posts, and am impressed (and delighted) to see so many positive comments on my native Greenville area. I am also impressed on how many different locales you are hailing from! I wonder if some of you would mind sharing how you heard about Greenville. Though most of us here love it, it doesn't make many tourist brochures or itenerary books. I would love to hear your accounts. I look forward to reading all of your posts in the future, and hope I will be able to provide some helpful info on the area.

[KMT]

Originally Posted by distortedlogic

Hello everyone, I have been reading your posts, and am impressed (and delighted) to see so many positive comments on my native Greenville area. I am also impressed on how many different locales you are hailing from! I wonder if some of you would mind sharing how you heard about Greenville. Though most of us here love it, it doesn't make many tourist brochures or itenerary books. I would love to hear your accounts. I look forward to reading all of your posts in the future, and hope I will be able to provide some helpful info on the area.

Distorted:

I drove through Greenville 4 years ago and wanted to go back ever since. We spent a week there in July and toured Pickens and Oconee county as well and really liked what we saw.

I think most people discovered Greenville through researching what is most important to them. I can only speak for myself, but I've noticed many people on this forum are looking for somewhere with four tolerable seasons, some contour to the land (mostly mountains) and a place where family values mean something.

I could be wrong, but many seem conservative and christian, or... one or the other.

One thing I've noticed that concerns many is the crime rate. While the sources of crime are numerous and complex, I look more toward what is being done politically and socially to reduce the crime rate.

I'm very excited about the prospect of moving to one of the aforementioned areas despite the crime however...

Just my thoughts to your question.

Keith

[33458]

Hello, Logic!

Actually, I'm not Xian (or otherwise religious), but I do desire a more 'conservative' environment to raise my young daughter...otherwise I fear the predominant hootchie/gangsta trend so common down here will be a constant battle. I am otherwise very open-minded, but the rude BOOM-BOOM-BOOM of the cars racing by at all hours and vulgar-mouthed delinquents who seemingly have no parental guidance have pushed me to my limit.

Also, since I was raised in an area with similar geographical traits and had a childhood filled with healthy, productive activities, I would rather have my family spend idle hours together enjoying the out-of-doors.

[flgargoyle]

We are looking to settle in the Greenville area (closer to the mountains) in a few years from FL. Originally from CT, FL has gotten too crowded and expensive for retirement, and we miss the change of seasons (but CT is too cold!). Hopefully, we will find some acreage to buy on our trip in September. We originally looked in some northern GA towns like Athens and Rome, but when we got to Greenville, there was no comparison. The job market is much more promising, too.

[anonymous]

Originally Posted by KMT

One thing I've noticed that concerns many is the crime rate. While the sources of crime are numerous and complex, I look more toward what is being done politically and socially to reduce the crime rate.

At least in SC - there isn't much directly you can do about the crime rate. Crime is a result of poverty, lack of education, and lack of opportunity. Directly, I suppose you could increase the number of policemen - but that is a short-term solution to a long term problem.

Most people consider crime part of one large problem that is economic, social, cultural, educational, and often racial.

So the "solution" (if there is one) is to increase the educational levels in the poorest neighborhoods; which happen to be the highest crime neighborhoods; which often happen to be black (though not always). Higher educational levels would bring jobs, jobs would bring money & less crime, money would bring better schools, and the cycle would continue.

But this works at a very slow rate. It's hard to tell what gov't programs help and which hurt, and you might not see results for 10 or 20 years. Not to mention SC is very poor state to begin with, so we can barely pave our roads and pay our teachers as it is.

What I'm saying is, when you look for things that are being done about high crime, you can include educational and economic things as well. But this is why you're moving to Greenville. Compared with most of South Carolina, Greenville is wealthy, top to bottom.

[KMT]

Originally Posted by anonymous

At least in SC - there isn't much directly you can do about the crime rate. Crime is a result of poverty, lack of education, and lack of opportunity. Directly, I suppose you could increase the number of policemen - but that is a short-term solution to a long term problem.

Most people consider crime part of one large problem that is economic, social, cultural, educational, and often racial.

So the "solution" (if there is one) is to increase the educational levels in the poorest neighborhoods; which happen to be the highest crime neighborhoods; which often happen to be black (though not always). Higher educational levels would bring jobs, jobs would bring money & less crime, money would bring better schools, and the cycle would continue.

But this works at a very slow rate. It's hard to tell what gov't programs help and which hurt, and you might not see results for 10 or 20 years. Not to mention SC is very poor state to begin with, so we can barely pave our roads and pay our teachers as it is.

What I'm saying is, when you look for things that are being done about high crime, you can include educational and economic things as well. But this is why you're moving to Greenville. Compared with most of South Carolina, Greenville is wealthy, top to bottom.

Anonymous;

You read my mind!

KMT

[frank scudere]

Hello all,

I just to preface my first post by wishing all a good day. I'm from NY and needless to say , people here take for granted too much.

Anyway, my family and I ( wife and two daughters) are relocating to SC but I'm trying to decide on Greenville( or a surronding town like Greer) or
further south to Seneca( which I heard is even more beautiful)
I am a lawyer and my wife is a schoolteacher.
My wife and I are concerned about schools
Can anyone give me some help on what's going on especially with Seneca.
Keep in mind I don't expect my kids to go to Harvard but I don't want them managing a Dariy Queen. Are the schools good; not great just good??

We are going down to visit Labor day weekend.
Btw, my daughters are 6 and 15 months and I don't mind if they pick
up the Southern accent; anything better than NY.

Many thanks in advance to all.

[distortedlogic]

Hello all, thanks for your replies, I am glad Gville has something to offer you!

It seems like some of the major concerns are about crime, schools, and possible over- conservatism. I do not have any stats in front of me. But having lived in SC most of my life, I believe that Gville County has lower crime rates than most, if not all of the other heavily populated counties in the state. Interestingly, Charleston and MB are known for having pretty high crime rates. Someone mentioned that a lot of crime is due to poverty and lack of education. There are certainly a lot of those in SC ( and all southern states), but this is rapidly changing. SC schools have a reputation for being among the worst in the nation, but I suggest that you do a little investigating. SC is the only state in the country that figures in ALL student scores on standardized testing, including menatally challenged students, and high school juniors who often take the SATs. SC has one of the highest rates of National Board Certified teachers, which is an intensive program, similar to a Master's Program. SC also has among the toughest standards (top 5) for students in the No Child Left Behind Program. This means that less students "meet the standard." So when you read that x number of student or schools are failing, keep in mind that the state standard is much higher than many states where far more students "meet the standard." There was also a report that came out a couple months ago that said SC has the lowest high school graduation rate in the country. Sounds terrible, but again, we must dig further. SC counts students who transfer to other states, private schools, or home schools as not having graduated, since they started in the public school system but did not finish. Even more noteworthy, is that SC requires 24 units to graduate. This is the fourth highest total in the nation. There is one state that requires only 13 credits, and as you might imagine, their graduation rate is much higher.

I am not saying SC schools are great or perfect, but they are much better than their reputation implies. Some of the rural ones are still pretty bad, I admit. The schools in the upstate are among the best in the state. Gville county school district has nearly 70,000 students, and is working on a 1 billion dollar plan to build or refurbish over 70 schools. Most have already been done. The SC Governor's School for the Art's and Humanitis is also located in DT Gville. There are also some great colleges and Univ's in the upstate. Furman, Wofford, Erskine, Clemson, N Greenville, Greenville Tech to name a few.

On Conservativism; there are a lot of Republicans around, and a lot of Christians. I do not think it is all that noticeable, though maybe I am biased since I am a fairly conservative Christian myself, and since I grew up here. I think more is made about Bob Jones from the outside, than it is locally. Every now and then a comment comes out that ruffles a few feathers. But in actuality, the school does a lot for the community in the way of volunteering, helping charities, the elderly, children, etc. The school has some excellent programs, and they put on very good Shakespearean plays every year. They also have an amazing art museum.

Many of the other great things about the area has already been spoken of, climate, scenery, location, diversity, business, etc.

Sorry my post got so long, but I wanted to speak to some of your concerns.

[KMT]

Thanks for your informative reply. It is nice to hear from someone who actually lives there. It also sounds like the state needs to adopt new methods for calculating education statistics! Unless a person knows the things you mentioned (or bothers to learn) it becomes easy to allow perception to control opinion.

KMT

[Adrienne1]

HI DistortedLogic,
Thanks so much for the info. We are looking at Piedmont, Powderville, Liberty, etc.. near Greenville. We currently live in a very liberal non-Christian state and wondered if you could recommend an area near G'ville that is not "watered" down by a lot of transplants. I went to school in Rock Hill (Winthrop) and I love the southern values and culture. Do you think this is being lost with all of the people relocating to the south?
Also, can you recommend one of the towns I mentioned above as being the most appealing as far as schools, values, "small town feel", etc...
Thanks again. Your info has been very helpful