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It is inside the newly established urban overlay district that would have continued to look largely suburban if the overlay had not been approved, since the average joe developer would not have cared about anything but parking at the doorstep of his new building. Except for the fact that the overlay was established, Innovista is not a place but a concept, a concept that includes using the overlay area for buildings as needed, whether they are university owned and operated buildings or private ones. The hydrogen research that has taken place is what the critics are criticizing, and that is taking place without any new buildings. If they are complaining about two planned buildings that haven't been built yet, then apparently they haven't been paying much attention to this thing called a recession. I wish you guys would call the Innovista director. I'm sure he would be more than happy to talk to you about his job and the University's future. I'll look forward to your report, or reports if you wish to submit them separately. The guy on the radio mentioned Fluor.
Except for the fact that the overlay was established, Innovista is not a place but a concept, a concept that includes using the overlay area for buildings as needed
What an oxymoron! LMAO! So Innovista is only a concept, but Innovista is in an established urban overlay. Sure sounds like a place to most of us.
All that nice spin still doesn't answer the questions of:
How many jobs has Innovista created?
How many corporate headquarters / companies has Innovista brought to Columbia....anywhere in Columbia?
Concepts such as Innovista at some point have to come to fruition and become a reality.
I can have a concept that I'm a famous rock star for the next 20 years, but until I become a rock star, it all just remains a concept inside my head.
When will Innovista move out of the concept stage and become reality? Innovista has had more than 5 years and tons of taxpayer dollars.
How can the Arnold School of Public Health be inside Innovista?!? Someone here told us that Innovista is not a campus, but a concept. You can't be inside something that doesn't have boundaries.
What an oxymoron! LMAO! So Innovista is only a concept, but Innovista is in an established urban overlay. Sure sounds like a place to most of us.
All that nice spin still doesn't answer the questions of:
How many jobs has Innovista created?
How many corporate headquarters / companies has Innovista brought to Columbia....anywhere in Columbia?
Concepts such as Innovista at some point have to come to fruition and become a reality.
I can have a concept that I'm a famous rock star for the next 20 years, but until I become a rock star, it all just remains a concept inside my head.
When will Innovista move out of the concept stage and become reality? Innovista has had more than 5 years and tons of taxpayer dollars.
The urban overlay was an addition to an urban (not suburban) university campus. If you want to get technical, Horizon I and the empty lot that is supposed to be Horizon II someday aren't within the boundaries of the area commonly thought of as Innovista.
As far as how many jobs Innovista has created is concerned, since that question has been asked over and over again by the same person who insists Innovista has defined boundaries that are contained only within the new urban overlay district, with the stroke of a pen, however many people work within those boundaries became the number of jobs in Innovista, including the people who work in the university's buildings that are within those boundaries, and including the jobs in the stores and restaurants within those boundaries. After all, anyone who reads Innovista's mission with an objective mind will see that from the beginning it was supposed to be a catalyst to attract public and private sector jobs, not necessarily jobs that sprout from research, but jobs that land there because of the desirability of a live-work environment in the vicinity of a major research university. At the end of the day, both USC's historic campus and the new overlay district that could eventually contain more USC buildings are urban, not suburban - thank God. I'm clear on what Innovista is. Making people who don't won't to open their minds to the idea that anything in Columbia could be a good idea isn't my problem beyond my efforts to penetrate a few hard heads on City-Data.com with the knowlege they need to look at the situation objectively. The next question is whether hydrogen research is a waste of money, since that part of USC's research efforts is what critics have focused on. People laughed at Thomas Edison when he was trying to capture energy from lightening to create electricity. Sometimes it takes a future rock star 20 years to make it. From the outset Innovista was set up as a 20-year plan.
SC's law makers have abandoned higher education in this state. Researchers and economic pundits have been saying for years that cities with the most successful economies in the long-term future will be those centered around research and development. What is our General Assembly thinking? They continue to use the same old model of attracting companies here by selling the farm. We've got to grow our own industries through knowledge-based endeavors. Lining up like robots hoping to fit the mold of what manufacturers are looking for sets us up to be abandoned by those companies one day when they decide it would be even cheaper to move off-shore. Then we'll have a new wave of unemployed desperate for whatever work they can find in a city or state where not nearly enough people know how to think critically enough to be employers themselves.
State needs to recommit to higher education - Letters - TheState.com (http://www.thestate.com/2010/07/26/1388846/state-needs-to-recommit-to-higher.html - broken link)
I agree with everything that' s said, but :
A. That would require investing in Public Ed. Blacks would have to use the same schools, also. And that would be a problem for many in SC.
B. SC's 'Competitive Advantage' is that it has a 3rd world economy within US borders.
That works great for the boys at the top.
So, do you think they're gona change it?
Or to put it another way:
Do members of the ursidae family defecate in sylvan ecosystems?
Here's a March, 2010, article from The Gamecock about Innovista. Don Herriott, the new director, explains the situation. I know someone will have a comeback for the part where he says Innovista has a unique opportunity to change the nation's perception of South Carolina, but not many outsiders currently think of South Carolina when they think of innovative urban places, and I'm pretty sure that's what he means. After all, there aren't any built-out urban university research parks in the state now.
A. That would require investing in Public Ed. Blacks would have to use the same schools, also. And that would be a problem for many in SC.
B. SC's 'Competitive Advantage' is that it has a 3rd world economy within US borders.
That works great for the boys at the top.
So, do you think they're gona change it?
Or to put it another way:
Do members of the ursidae family defecate in sylvan ecosystems?
I have been saying this about SC for years. That's why I got out. There isn't much changing, and there definately wasn't anything changing with many residents stoic viewpoints. It was like arguing with a "donkey", or perpetually banging your head against the wall.
i think the title of this thread is nonsense. if cheap land and cheap labor are the hand you've been dealt, then use them to your advantage. there is no shame in that, as long as a state takes care of the quality of its land, and the quality of life of its citizens.
what i have a problem with, is politicians that spend taxpayer money on specific projects, because they want everyone to know they're "creating jobs". SC needs infrastructure and education, and jobs will take care of themselves.
instead we give tax dollars directly to corporations, naively thinking that tax giveaways yield some "magical multiplier" effect, creating more jobs and more tax revenue. it is a bunch of baloney.
you build the best seaports, highways, airports, high schools, technical colleges, and you staff them with the best people you can afford, you provide better quality of life for citizens, and then maybe SC might be an attractive place to do business.
i think the title of this thread is nonsense. if cheap land and cheap labor are the hand you've been dealt, then use them to your advantage. there is no shame in that, as long as a state takes care of the quality of its land, and the quality of life of its citizens.
what i have a problem with, is politicians that spend taxpayer money on specific projects, because they want everyone to know they're "creating jobs". SC needs infrastructure and education, and jobs will take care of themselves.
instead we give tax dollars directly to corporations, naively thinking that tax giveaways yield some "magical multiplier" effect, creating more jobs and more tax revenue. it is a bunch of baloney.
you build the best seaports, highways, airports, high schools, technical colleges, and you staff them with the best people you can afford, you provide better quality of life for citizens, and then maybe SC might be an attractive place to do business.
I have been saying this about SC for years. That's why I got out. There isn't much changing, and there definately wasn't anything changing with many residents stoic viewpoints. It was like arguing with a "donkey", or perpetually banging your head against the wall.
Agreed:
They will buy into any lie to keep from changing.
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