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Been here my whole life and I'm sick of being told that public road up at the top is private property and we can't be there. As for land needed? Use Turret Peak. At the top the road splits left to the television building next to the towers / old forest ranger post and right goes to the rock face apparently called turret peak. Could use that for views of the blue ridge / downtown. If not there, then simply clear out the old ranger tower / house and put one in there.
As for funds? Either divert some from that stupid waste of money baseball stadium, the ugly wannabe Greek golden statues downtown (Hate to tell everyone, but this isn't Europe, get over it), or if all else fails do what they are doing to put an observation tower at the top of sassafras mountain. Grass roots efforts seem to be the only ones that carry any weight anymore. There apparently used to be a small overlook on down altamont road after you pass by the towers heading away from piney mountain, but its long over grown so you can't get a good view. And if they did a good enough job with it, you could connect the paris mountain park trail that already almost leads to the top and finally have a reason to hike up there aside from yet another boring lake to see. There is plenty of potential for this to work, it just needs a good push to get people off their butts. Also with a small gift shop like the one at Cesar's head, you might even make some profit off of it.
Been here my whole life and I'm sick of being told that public road up at the top is private property and we can't be there. As for land needed? Use Turret Peak. At the top the road splits left to the television building next to the towers / old forest ranger post and right goes to the rock face apparently called turret peak. Could use that for views of the blue ridge / downtown. If not there, then simply clear out the old ranger tower / house and put one in there.
As for funds? Either divert some from that stupid waste of money baseball stadium, the ugly wannabe Greek golden statues downtown (Hate to tell everyone, but this isn't Europe, get over it), or if all else fails do what they are doing to put an observation tower at the top of sassafras mountain. Grass roots efforts seem to be the only ones that carry any weight anymore. There apparently used to be a small overlook on down altamont road after you pass by the towers heading away from piney mountain, but its long over grown so you can't get a good view. And if they did a good enough job with it, you could connect the paris mountain park trail that already almost leads to the top and finally have a reason to hike up there aside from yet another boring lake to see. There is plenty of potential for this to work, it just needs a good push to get people off their butts. Also with a small gift shop like the one at Cesar's head, you might even make some profit off of it.
Waste of money baseball stadium? I was intrigued with your post until you said that. I agree a lookout would be nice, but to say the stadium is a waste of money is dumb. Besides most of the money spent was private. Plus, it brings a lot of money and visitors to Greenville. The view from the stadium is nice too. I could go on and on with the benefits we get from a beautiful baseball stadium. Someone want to add a few?
There is a lot of history "built" into the stadium. Wasted money? Of course not. A view of Greenville from the top of Paris Mountain might be nice. The view on the ground in Greenville is much better. Come down from the mountain and enjoy it with us! You might just see things differently.
Last edited by furmanpals; 08-10-2013 at 06:33 AM..
In 2012, the ballpark averaged greater than 5,100 attendees over 68 home games. The ballpark is one entertainment aspect within the whole downtown area, which includes dozens upon dozens of restaurants, a variety of shops, museums, several galleries and art studios, theatres, hotels, condominiums, apartments, corporate offices, private clubs, a library, a large indoor arena, a zoo, parks, riverwalks and trails, natural waterfalls, public plazas, public art (including statues), and more. Criticism becomes foolishness after you look at recent developments in the West End.
I assure you, I've been here a while and have noticed how the west end and all of downtown has changed thank you much. I will say it is much better than when I was young, but it has gone to the ridiculous level in some spots.
As for the baseball stadium? Glad you think its dumb, but, yep, waste of money and space. I'm glad for their sake its held on for as long as it has, but I don't see it lasting forever. Haven't yall noticed how short lived most of our minor league sports teams are? I mean we've gone through I'd guess about a dozen since the Greenville braves packed up and left town. Granted, not all baseball teams, but the writing is kind of on the wall. I say it was a waste of money since they had a perfectly good stadium out on mauldin road that is now just going to waste most of the time. And lets be honest, the property could have been something cooler than a crappy remake of Fenway park. I know downtown caters almost exclusively to transplants and tourists, don't get me wrong, but out of all the boring sports, why baseball? Its just such a snooze fest going to one of those games, even when the tickets are free. Yeah, it was built with plenty of private funds, but lets be honest, like with most things in downtown, there were some hefty tax incentives and donations to get it built. Rather like the (ex?) Bilo arena. I mean, they could have built it between GVL and SPA and made it much larger and actually able to handle a decent number of people. But no, it just HAD to be right in downtown GVL.
And I assure you, criticism is always going to be around (and justified) when you hope your city will remember the people that kept it going through the lean years and instead it only wants to try and remake itself into a poor facsimile of an Italian village with baseball. Its better than that, let it be what it really was. Not frumpy golden Roman statues and wannabe trendy smart cars. A good example would be the building Devereux is currently in. Preserves a historic building, looks awesome inside, and keeps some of what built this city intact. Also, the mice on main and to a lesser extent the mast general store.
"Why baseball?" Because baseball is part of the rich history that local leaders and citizens together have successfully preserved for generations. If you live in the Greenville area, then you already know the former G-Braves stadium property has been remodeled into a more attractive (functional) collection of baseball fields and public park amenities, which are adjacent to a nice nature preserve and eventually may connect with the growing Swamp Rabbit Trail system. Fluor Field is cozy and expertly designed to maximize the spectator experience. The ballpark continues to receive accolades from industry professionals impressed by the facilities and atmosphere. Franchises may come and go, as they do even in large cities, but baseball will not disappear from Greenville anytime soon, if ever.
Downtown does not cater "almost exclusively to tourists and transplants." It was primarily redeveloped for the enjoyment and economic benefit of local and regional residents and is now very attractive to visitors as well. This is common knowledge to most of us.
To G-man: Thats nice, couldn't care less. Don't let the door hit ya.
To skyliner: Yeah, but the point is we had a perfectly good stadium, we didn't need a new one to begin with. When they started building that thing downtown, the stadium on Mauldin road was still completely useable and hadn't been changed over yet. Sides, little league baseballs fields are a dime a dozen. As for the teams coming and going. Well, if the team goes, the baseball field just sits there taking up space in downtown that could be used for something better.
And as for that nature preserve... Eh, you do know how contaminated that water in lake Conastee is right?
And yeah, downtown wasn't revitalized in the way it has been for locals, and everyone that has lived around here prior to the 90's knows it perfectly well. It was built to attract new money and people to the area (specifically European) and it has done a good job of it, don't get me wrong about that. It has served that purpose very well. Remember those signs they used to have up along church street with that whole "Sister city" program? The two that I remember (and are still listed on the website) are Bergamo, Italy and Kortryk, Belgium. Simply put they wanted new money here and began catering to transplants, which bravo to them, they have made quite a killing off of the influx of people from overseas and up north. However, it just kind of kills a lot of the city we used to know. Sides, with the prices most of those stores and restaurants downtown have, most everyone I know doesn't eat or shop there with any semblance of regularity. At best they have a few drinks and walk around the bridge every other week or once a month.
In any event, I've found you guys plenty of sources right off hand to start funding an overlook on Paris mountain. Which means that the project is doable and odds are we could find plenty of other sources to redirect funds from in order to make it a reality. Furthermore the sooner the better. Otherwise yet another freaking fly by night developer will buy up any worthwhile land and toss down more McMansions and Cram-does on the ridge line before anything can be done.
I'm curious Lunarstorm777. Do you live atop Paris Mountain? Weather you do or not, have you considered all the people that live up there and if they want an overlook? I would think if they did, there would be one already up there. The guy trying to build that neighborhood and or condos is having a hard enough time pulling that off. And, it is the locals up there that are saying no to his plans. They want to maintain there privacy and keep that mountain as it is and not have everyone riding around and hanging out on top of the mountain.
I'm not even going to waste my time responding to such a stupid and idiotic post.
Yet, you just did.
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