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Columbia is doing great; you must not spend much time in the Vista or on Main Street.
Thank you johngolf. That's exactly the point I was trying to make. Waccamatt you literally said what I said in an earlier post. Yes, the small strip of main street, the vista, and harbison are fine(for columbia standards). The rest of Columbia looks terrible.
Thank you johngolf. That's exactly the point I was trying to make. Waccamatt you literally said what I said in an earlier post. Yes, the small strip of main street, the vista, and harbison are fine(for columbia standards). The rest of Columbia looks terrible.
Find a place, outside of Disney World where everything is sunshine and roses. I doubt you can. I don't want to live in Disney World, or Plantation, for that matter.
Columbia has a lot of stand-alone buildings. Perhaps the ones that need work stand out more than in cities where more of the buildings attached. In a city where more buildings are attached, the occasional eyesore among them does not mess up the scene as much. Downtown Charleston has a good many buildings that need work, but most are in rows of attached buildings that have already set the overall tone of the scene. Thankfully, my everyday routes here don’t include areas that are derelict in general. The question is: how many areas are derelict and how much territory do they cover? And another question is how much money is pouring in and how fast, to get those areas cleaned up? Or will they deteriorate further? This is in any metro in America.
Find a place, outside of Disney World where everything is sunshine and roses. I doubt you can. I don't want to live in Disney World, or Plantation, for that matter.
You sound like a Cowboys fan because you are SOOO sure that we are one peice away from being the best city in the world, and are bashing any fan/resident that has any other opinion than that. The Cowboys havent won anything in over 20 yrs and Columbia hasn't since converting the Vista. Yes I know we have picked up some small projects aka free agents, but stop yelling this our year every season.
Plantation??? Not really understanding that part. Not trying to upset you but a lot of people have left after saying the same things about this city for years. I've pretty much planted my feet here for awhile. I go through the city frequently and like other posters stated, there are far more blighted areas than beauty in the city. It seems when you look at the city you are playing to her angles rather than giving an unbiased opinion.
I see no problem with being optimistic and rooting for the home team. Looking at Columbia from an objective view, it has some way to go but by no means is it a “dump”. Common sense tells me not to live in a dump and I would have moved along time ago. Columbia has made huge strides. At this pace, one has to see the finish line in the distance. The entire state has unprecedented forward momentum right now and Columbia is in on it too. Blight is typically accompanied by population decline which Columbia is experiencing the opposite. It seems like yearly number of blighted areas become less and. IMO the true blighted areas the remain are two notch, north main, Monticello, and Farrow Rd, all of which are on the same side of the city. Maybe Saint Andrews and Broad River but even they have a lot of activity. There’s a difference between blight and lower income.
Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Greenville are sighted as cities that surpass Columbia. If they can do it, why can't we?
One thing we have to look at is what those towns have that we do not. They have assets that perhaps our town is not as fortunate to have.
Greenville is in a lovely part of the state and over the years the powers that be went out and recruited global businesses. They also really spent some energy promoting the redevelopment of their Main St. Now Greenville has big international companies, and the benefit of the money and prestige that comes from that. The city realized they were going to need to entertain and attract people from all over with a certain level of amenities, beauty and services. It also doesn't hurt that Greenvile is a hop, skip and jump from the mountains and the area in general, is well done (mostly).
Charleston is on the water, near several beaches and is one of the best preserved old cities on the East coast, if not the entire country. It has also developed into a culinary destination due to all the fine dining restaurants.
Myrtle Beach is a beach town and has been a travel destination for decades.
All those cities have something that makes them unique, that makes them desirable, especially for people who have money. Whether it be for business reasons or quality of life.
What about Columbia? What do we offer that those towns do not? We are more or less in the center of the state, so we are not far from the mountains, ocean and close to several large cities on either side of the state. We are a government town. Military, USC, seat of state government. Outside of downtown Columbia, what attracts people to this area? Well, government work, school, military. Most people I know that live here were either born here, go to school here or are affiliated with the institutions I just mentioned.
The company I work with have several stores in Charleston and Savannah. We can get anyone from Columbia to transfer to either of those cities, but it is nearly impossible to get people that live in those towns to want to move here.
Let's look at our negatives. Trash everywhere, cannot sling a dead cat without hitting trash. Poor urban planning, urban sprawl and inexpensive subdivisions everywhere. Natural beauty, cleanliness, city aesthetics, all have a huge impact on the desirability of a city imho.
Perhaps we should look at this as if the four towns in this discussion are people trying to court someone. What makes us attractive? Why would someone want to date us over those other towns? Especially if they are better looking, make more money and just as smart if not smarter. If we want to attract more people we need to be able to offer more than we currently do. We need to get cleaned up, improve our circumstances to make ourselves more attractive. Keep offering incentives to renovate our old buildings, improve litter pickup on all roads leading into the city, enforce proper planning. What assets does Columbia have that we can better utilize? Answer that and work to make it happen. That's how we can win.
If you want to bring in people who have money, you have to make the town attractive to those people.
What about Columbia? What do we offer that those towns do not? We are more or less in the center of the state, so we are not far from the mountains, ocean and close to several large cities on either side of the state. We are a government town. Military, USC, seat of state government. Outside of downtown Columbia, what attracts people to this area? Well, government work, school, military. Most people I know that live here were either born here, go to school here or are affiliated with the institutions I just mentioned.
Let's look at our negatives. Trash everywhere, cannot sling a dead cat without hitting trash. Poor urban planning, urban sprawl and inexpensive subdivisions everywhere. Natural beauty, cleanliness, city aesthetics, all have a huge impact on the desirability of a city imho.
Great assessment!
If we can clean up our act with incentivizing renovation, revitalization, and inflilling we can be in the position to attract companies with higher wages, who attact people with deeper pockets, that attract higher end retail. It all begins with the people who currently live here. We have to have a certain civic pride in which we keep our neighboods clean, invest our communities, sell ourselves as somewhere worthy to live, work and play. If we don’t do it ourselves why would anyone from the outside want to be part of what we have. We are a Capital City, College Town, military town, outdoors town (parks, lakes, rivers, trails). That’s a heck of a combination that sets us apart from the others and something to brag about.
Great assessment!
If we can clean up our act with incentivizing renovation, revitalization, and inflilling we can be in the position to attract companies with higher wages, who attact people with deeper pockets, that attract higher end retail. It all begins with the people who currently live here. We have to have a certain civic pride in which we keep our neighboods clean, invest our communities, sell ourselves as somewhere worthy to live, work and play. If we don’t do it ourselves why would anyone from the outside want to be part of what we have. We are a Capital City, College Town, military town, outdoors town (parks, lakes, rivers, trails). That’s a heck of a combination that sets us apart from the others and something to brag about.
I agree. We have to make ourselves more attractive. I started living here because of the military and college (USC). With those other cities in our state I still think we are dead last. Charleston was named the best City in the WORLD(literally) a few years ago with Navy, Air Force, and Marine bases. Myrtle Beach is the 2nd fastest growing metro in America(and will explode once the interstates are built down there), and Greenville is smack dab in between Charlotte and Atlanta, with Tennessee right over the mountains. I would say almost anywhere in SC is an outdoors town with Greenville and Charleston being higher than us on that list as well. The only thing that we can clearly say we have that sets us apart is that we are the capitol city. With that being said, a lot of people complain about the incentives and tax breaks that are in place for development, but that is the only thing we can do to be competitive.
I agree. We have to make ourselves more attractive. I started living here because of the military and college (USC). With those other cities in our state I still think we are dead last. Charleston was named the best City in the WORLD(literally) a few years ago with Navy, Air Force, and Marine bases. Myrtle Beach is the 2nd fastest growing metro in America(and will explode once the interstates are built down there), and Greenville is smack dab in between Charlotte and Atlanta, with Tennessee right over the mountains. I would say almost anywhere in SC is an outdoors town with Greenville and Charleston being higher than us on that list as well. The only thing that we can clearly say we have that sets us apart is that we are the capitol city. With that being said, a lot of people complain about the incentives and tax breaks that are in place for development, but that is the only thing we can do to be competitive.
Greenville is in a lovely part of the state and over the years the powers that be went out and recruited global businesses. They also really spent some energy promoting the redevelopment of their Main St. Now Greenville has big international companies, and the benefit of the money and prestige that comes from that. The city realized they were going to need to entertain and attract people from all over with a certain level of amenities, beauty and services. It also doesn't hurt that Greenvile is a hop, skip and jump from the mountains and the area in general, is well done (mostly).
Charleston and Greenville both have their fair share of problems (especially Charleston). Lets not act like it is all roses and rainbows in these places.
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