emerging.me, on Oct 17 2005, 07:42 PM, said:
The vote on the Olympia TIF is going down tomorrow night. If you live in Richland County, and you care about the various Olympia community improvement projects, I would encourage you to call your councilperson and ask them to support it. It's not a given by any stretch. My gut tells me that it may pass with some cuts, but I'm not even counting on that. I'm really disappointed by what I've seen coming out of the county council this past week -- councilmembers playing politics because their district isn't yet getting the same sort of assistance and others that just seem so ignornant about something that's been talked about for 5-10 years. Well, I can guarantee them that if this doesn't happen then it will short circuit the whole revitalization process for these close-in neighborhoods and their districts may never see anything. Olympia will just keep slowly churning towards renewal -- maybe you'll see a slight improvement in 10 years. The people saying that Olympia will "take care of itself" don't realize that the new developments that have begun to emerge there have only done so because these improvements have been virtually promised for almost a decade. If this doesn't pass, everything shifts back down into low gear. If it passes, then Olympia booms quickly and the trend spreads to parts of town like Rosewood and North Main.
Personally, I have a project gestating that I'd like to do in Olympia, but if this doesn't happen then it's potentially back to the drawing board. With the way some of the council members are behaving, I'm tempted to start looking in West Columbia/Cayce and spend my money in Lexington County. Really...I'm actually kind of tempted just to pull up stakes and get the hell out of Columbia. I was born and raised here and love this place, but it's projects like this that give me hope that it can be something better than it is. And if the local government can't follow through on commitments they've made to the community that will ensure progress, then I'd just as soon forget my roots and live in some place like Raleigh or Savannah.
I know all of downtown Columbia's renewal doesn't hang on what happens with Olympia, but it is an important part of the puzzle.
Almost a decade ago, Olympia was set to be first real effort to see if local government could leverage resources to bring about positive changes in redeveloping close-in neighborhoods. Will they keep their commitment? We'll see how it goes. The vote is at 7:00PM at 2020 Hampton.
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Contact Info: Richland County Council
That is a very articulate (and accurate) post emerging.me. I can relate to your frustrations. I was Neighborhood President of Elmwood Park a decade ago, and often got miffed at the pettiness, whats-in-it-for-me, and general cluelessness of certain city and county officials/staff. Now that I live in a different city, I see even more clearly how small their mindset can be. Although, no city or region is free of such things.
If the Vista TIF hadn't been enacted, it would still be a run-down warehouse district. The Vista TIF only has a few more years to go I believe. When that TIF expires, there will be a flood of new revenue for the city, county and Richland 1 to more than make up for the 'burden' of increasing development in the Olympia area. The obvious success of the Vista TIF SHOULD be plenty of evidence of what a difference it can make. Yet somehow, the county councilmen seem oblivious to this.
The Olympia TIF has been in the works for years, it should go forward. It is an investment in yourself that will reap plenty of dividends. EauClaire, for one has already received tens of millions of dollars in federal, state and local funds for revitialization. It has worked too. It is selfish for them to insist on a TIF too.
Good luck, and remember, if Columbia isn't progressive enough for you, there are plenty of other places to live.
Edited by vicupstate, 18 October 2005 - 10:50 AM.
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But don't worry, I'll get down there sooner or later, I promise. 
