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I'll agree on the roads needing attention, but driving 5 miles outside any metropolitan area, one tends see a loss quaint charms and and increase in a more obvious, gritty, function over form, reality. I spent too many years working around the underbellies of numerous cities to take JJ's assertions at face value. I strongly suspect that his personal agenda has yet to be revealed... just sayin'.
JJ said a five mile radius from downtown, not five miles outside of the metro. That is a humongous difference. I agree with him on several of his points.
JJ was here over the holiday week and weekend. I suspect he encountered the roving "saturation group" that is put in place before most holidays, to combat DUI drivers. I ran up on them several times over the course of the week. Heavy concentrations of LEOS, with multiple stopped drivers. City, county and state LEO's have all been known to participate in the past.
I'll agree on the roads needing attention, but driving 5 miles outside any metropolitan area, one tends see a loss quaint charms and and increase in a more obvious, gritty, function over form, reality. I spent too many years working around the underbellies of numerous cities to take JJ's assertions at face value. I strongly suspect that his personal agenda has yet to be revealed... just sayin'.
Cedge, I still think you're cool and I love all your posts.
I agree with OP's assessment of the generally poor condition of roads and much of the infrastructure. Moving from MN/upper midwest to down here, I can't believe how much more litter & trash I see everywhere (outside of downtown Gvl that is). It's disgusting and disheartening.
I feel like one of the major drawbacks in this area is the lack of cohesive sidewalks and walkability in most areas (again, outside of the gorgeous utopia that is downtown Gvl). I really really miss my regular ol' neighborhood in MN, where you could take for granted that every single street would be safely walkable and covered by sidewalks. That, and safe crosswalks everywhere.
All that said, on the balance we still love it here. Do I wish we could afford to live a lot closer to downtown? Sure, I do. But we can't, and so we will strike that balance of affordability and preference as best we can, when it comes time to buy (next year, probably).
We have been back here 9 months now, and I have to say I've never noticed this huge police presence/Big Brother phenomenon that the OP pointed out. Maybe I'm clueless, but I haven't felt it's any more or less than anywhere else I have lived.
Having lived here for the past 21 years I have witnessed the growth of Greenville from a falling textile mill town to one that is more business oriented. The downtown 20 years ago was a scary place with run down shops and being deserted after sundown. I nearly got mugged after coming out of a closing Woolworth in downtown at 6 PM on a December evening. The place has undergone a dramatic change in the past 15 years.
I have recently driven in NJ and the local roads there are in worse shape than in the outskirts of Greenville county. Yes, it could improve but then outside of the Midwest roads in other parts of the country can improve too. I am more concerned about the sprawl from the mushrooming subdivisions and the poor quality of education. Our civic sense need to improve too since trash is thrown out of cars and pickups with no regard to keeping the state beautiful.
Jjfiveoh, I couldn't have put it better myself. I moved from WNC to greenville a few years ago and agree with everything you said. We are looking for a house in Asheville now and as soon as we find one will be moving back. Best of luck in your search!
JJ was here over the holiday week and weekend. I suspect he encountered the roving "saturation group" that is put in place before most holidays, to combat DUI drivers. I ran up on them several times over the course of the week. Heavy concentrations of LEOS, with multiple stopped drivers. City, county and state LEO's have all been known to participate in the past.
I'll agree on the roads needing attention, but driving 5 miles outside any metropolitan area, one tends see a loss quaint charms and and increase in a more obvious, gritty, function over form, reality. I spent too many years working around the underbellies of numerous cities to take JJ's assertions at face value. I strongly suspect that his personal agenda has yet to be revealed... just sayin'.
I am a visitor looking for a new place. I've been anywhere from Tillamook, OR to South Beach, FL. My views are completely unbiased. If there is an agenda, I'd like to see it. I look at all towns/cities as a perspective owner. There is no agenda.
Let me just start off by saying that I have been looking for an area to relocate to between Greenville and Knoxville. That's the way it started off, I've recently widened my area, and then narrowed it down to the western NC area.
I've been to western NC many times in my life, I've also been to Jackson/Aiken probably 12 time in my life to race. I've heard many things about Greenville that caught my attention. When I looked at the home prices, the taxes, the cost of living and the job market..... I thought there must be a catch. My initial thought was that it resides in South Carolina which in and of itself gives it a bad name.
As many times as I've been to the WNC area and southern SC area, I really only spent an overnight in Greenville and didn't get a chance to check it all out. With that said, I got a chance to check it all out. I am extremely impressed with downtown. Main street and the surrounding blocks are rocking. Any residential areas within a 5 mile radius is really great to see because most homes haven't been touched and neither have the trees. And we're going back 70-100 years of homes. Downtown has great offering in terms of great local food, just enough late night entertainment and some great billiard halls. Downtown Live brings together some local live bands and props up local businesses. Between Knoxville, Asheville and Greenville...... I think Greenville is the best pedestrian city. With the tree coverage, it's comfortable to everybody even in the heat of the summer and everything is close. Asheville and Knoxville might offer more overall, you don't need to be offered more in terms of the city.
Now the bad news. I am an urban planner by trade so I look at thing like taxes, policies, home prices, etc.... when analyzing a city. I thought for a while that I found the one place that didn't have a 'catch' and I wanted to see for myself. Well, it turns out it does have a 'catch'. South Carolina loves to pride itself as the most conservative state in the Union in terms of fiscal policies. That very well may be, but it also doesn't mention how conservative it can get. Greenville has a deal with the state since it is the fastest growing city business-wise, that they can get $300 per inmate/per day. Since they thrive to rely on not getting federal funding. That means there are cops EVERYWHERE! Which is quite ironic in itself that trying to be the most conservative state that they have Big Brother breathing down their backs.
Here is where things get dicey. Infrastructure is terrible! They can get away with it downtown because traffic is slow. But once you get outside of downtown it gets worse. Once you get outside the 5 mile radius, you're on your own. Citizens that love the 'fiscal conservative' thing must love what they are dealt with because the infrastructure is 1950's variety. I haven't seen roads and highways this bad since I left Buffalo..... at least they have an excuse because they salt the roads 4 months out of the year.
I've been through most areas of SC and I was far from impressed. I hoped that Greenville would change my mind. Downtown did...... but that was it. Unless you live within a 5 mile radius and have no plans to go outside that radius, you are fine. But, there is a fine line between being taxed too much and being taxed too little. SC is being taxed too little. The entire state is a hole. The 'good ole boy' network is in full swing in SC. I will not come through SC again unless I have to race in Jackson. When I left, I hit 276 to Waynesville and you could tell where the state line was immediately without even looking at signs. Nothing is kept up in SC, no landscaping, no infrastructure, only cops looking to make the state a buck. At first I thought maybe SC got a bad rep for being in the deep south......... I tried to give them credit until I experienced it. The locals are hardcore, miserable to the point where they try to bring everybody down with their misery. They know they live in a state that saves them a buck in taxes, and they won't let it fly no matter how bad they have it. Greenville is an AWESOME downtown, but don't go there looking for an area to spread your entertainment. When people say SC is a hole, they are correct.
Gee, thanks for your honest opinion. Now here's mine. If you're the type of person who would come here and vote for people that would raise our taxes, then I would just as soon you go somewhere else. I have lived in SC for 15 years and I absolutely love it here. To me SC is not a "hole." You can find ugly parts of every state, and if that's what you want to cherry pick, so be it. But as a proud South Carolinian, I think this state is fantastic and I would not change much about it at all.
I moved from a state that had higher taxes, and the roads were no better, and the job opportunities were non-existent - which was the main reason I left that state. Its a state that has been controlled by the unions and the democrat party for over 60 years, and the economy is in the toilet (much like Detroit, Chicago, etc.). When I moved to Greenville, I was so amazed at how they actually had conservative leaders that understood how to lure businesses like GE, Michelin, and BMW, to the area while keeping the cost of living low.
Sounds like you're unable to appreciate what SC has to offer which is fine. I think you would be better off in Asheville. I hear the people there love high taxes. Its a sort of mini San Francisco in the Appalachian mountains.
Don't get me wrong... I dearly love Asheville and I visit there regularly. I did a photo shoot there, just yesterday and I can attest that Greenville is in no danger of being overtaken. I spent the whole afternoon clicking away in the "Artistic District" of "Track Side" River Road and the downtown Patton/Lexington Avenue zone. This included the Chicken Alley area. While a couple of buildings and bridges do have works that qualify as nicely executed high end murals. The rest is colorful, but typically urban style tagging of varying levels of artistic appeal. If an 8 foot, full color, cartoon penis is art, then I'm getting way too old for "cool".
In comparison, I recently scouted the back alleys of Greenville for several days before finding any graffiti at all. What I found wasn't much. Yesterday, I just followed the increasing levels of street tagging until it lead me to the mother lode. As I said... I love both cities, but both have very different philosophies of what urban rehabilitation and development mean. I prefer the Greenville approach.
I like greenville sc a lot but my hang up on headed that way, possibly one day... Is that what if the company I work for, who has a division in Greenville, decides to get rid of me? Not sure where I could work in GVL to match my salary. I'm in construction management in FL. Love the company I work for but what if the company laid me off... That's my concern...
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