268 replies to this topic

[Spartan]

This is a thread where we can discuss anything concerning the Spartanburg area that would not warrant a thread of its own, or something that would not otherwise be posted on this site. Please feel free to contribute as much as you like.

[Spartan]

I came accross this on GoUpstate.... Wades is finally getting a website

http://www.eatatwades.com

[jfl25]

They needed one Wades is a great resturant for a meat and three.

Edited by jfl25, 18 September 2005 - 12:43 PM.

[hub-city]

It's good to Wade's utilizing the internet.  I just wish the city would do the same.  I feel there a lot of great things happening, but our city leaders and even developers don't market themselves well.  The city web page is so outdated and the info is hardly ever up to date.  Also, you have to really search to find info about projects being developed.  I think a lot of enthsiasm can be created if we could get into the 21st century. Any thoughts?

[emo]

I absolutely agree.  I think that it would get a lot more people interested if there were some well done websites showing all of the new developments going on around town.

[Spartan]

Absolutely. I think that large projects should have a website (like Greenville's do) and that the city should come up with websites like Columbia has, that focus on the great aspects of Spartanburg, and the cool neighborhoods we have, just downtown, etc.'

On a separate note, I wish wades would start taking debit cards. Most times I go there, I forget that they don't take them, and I have to run to the car to get my checkbook (which I hardly ever use....).

[hub-city]

Is there an online resource to compare property taxes between the city and county?

[Spartan]

Not that I am aware of. You could probably check the city and the county sites for it. The county has tax information online, but you have to know what property you want to find. I am not sure if the city has the same information.

http://www.cityofspartanburg.org/
http://www.spartanburgcounty.org/

[hub-city]

My question was for more hypothetical reasons.  Right now anytime you mention annexation people scream higher taxes, but I don't always think that they are fully educated in the "higher taxes vs. more services" area.  I was just curious if you could set a property value and weigh the options.

[Spartan]

I think if you're in the city you pay taxes to the city and the county. I may be wrong about that though.

[Spartan]

I thought that this article in the HJ today was interesting. District 7 is redrawing attendance zones intoder to create better community shcools, rather than bussing kids all accross the district. In District 7's case, this will result in a more segregated schol system simply because that is how the schools exist within the district and its neighborhoods. Is this good or bad for District 7?

[GvilleSC]

I'd say that this is a bad thing. School's need diversity to perform well and produce well rounded individuals  who are ready for the real world- which isn't made up of people prodominantly of one race, one social class, etc. BUT, who wants to be bussed across town? It's a tough call, but I'd say keep bussing and don't segregate.  

[Spartan]

But its a defacto segregation. Its not institutional. To me it makes sense tohave schools serve the area around them, regardless of what that area might be, while utilizing the existing school buildings. When new ones are constructed they could be placed in better locations.

[hub-city]

I think that schools should be more neighborhood focused.  When you have a student who is being bused across town to school and having difficulty, you're limited in the help that you can give after school.  That student must catch the bus.  Also, if a student is a borderline dropout, adding over an hour of travel both in the morning and afternoon doesn't help at all.  

We as a society seem to have no problem with schools that are predominatly white, (look at the rest of Spartanburg's districts) but we don't think that a school that is predominatly black can succeed.  That's nonsense.

I feel it all comes down to funding and opportunities.  There has to be more of a justification than racial balancing.  If students were being bused to schools that offered more opportunities and had better facilities and faculty, then there might be an case for bussing.  However, I do not feel that this is the case in District 7.  Cleveland Elementary, for example, is only 6 years old and has a great faculty, but students living less than a mile from the school must go way across town to learn.  That just doesn't make sense.

[krazeeboi]

I was in Spartanburg yesterday/last night for a function, and I thought there was decent street activity, but there could be a lot more improvement in this regard (that was around 8:30pm or so). Also, the Marriott is quite impressive at night coming into DT. But everytime I drive through DT Spartanburg, I can help but think, "This place is literally SCREAMING to be something more, something bigger, than what it is." There is already so much to work with; with the right vision and the right leadership, Greenville and Spartanburg could easily have more of a twin city relationship instead of the older sibling/younger sibling relationship it has now.

[Skyliner]

Spartan has the vision and the voice, but so far, not the feet.  Hopefully that will change.

What I have noticed on several occasions is that downtown Spartanburg has pretty good pedestrian activity around Morgan Square - and that's it.  My experiences have been on several different nights of the week, but I was kind of surprised that Saturday nights at least were not much better.  That is usually the best night for activity.

That being said, things are definitely changing for the better downtown.  

[Spartan]

Skyliner, on Mar 12 2006, 06:56 PM, said:

Spartan has the vision and the voice, but so far, not the feet.  Hopefully that will change.

What I have noticed on several occations is that downtown Spartanburg has pretty good pedestrian activity around Morgan Square - and that's it.  My experiences have been on several different nights of the week, but I was kind of surprised that Saturday nights at least were not much better.  That is usually the best night for activity.

That being said, things are definitely changing for the better downtown.  

Saturday nights are usually pretty busy, particularly around Wild Wings and Delaneys with the college crowd.. I've been there at 11:30 and its pretty hoppin'... But also at 6:30 or 7, when its less so. The problem is that there aren't enough family restaurants downtown. we ahve expensive ones, and bars of various types. The oly place that is really a familiy joint is Sonny's Brick Oven Pizza. Maybe Hub City Grill too. The other places are in the suburban areas. I am not opposed to having some sort of chain restaurant downtown to encourage activit. maybe Olive Garden? That woudl be cool. People would flock to downtown to eat there.

The change around Morgan Square is occuring slowly. There needs to be a better link between morgan Square and Ezell St (which should be easy since they are right next to each other). And something needs to be done to encourage foot traffic on Magnolia St in the evenings (day time its not so bad). Activity wise, downtown is faring well compared to what it used to be. Day time activity is pretty consistent, even in teh summer. Nighttime is less so, but like I said, its improving.

[krazeeboi]

Because I was driving through, I didn't really have time to intently observe the street scene, but the majority of the activity I saw was near Wild Wings. And it seems as though Daniel Morgan Ave. (I think that's the right street) pretty much cuts downtown in half, with the Denny's tower anchoring one end and QS/1 anchoring the other end. Am I correct in this assesment?

[Spartan]

krazeeboi, on Mar 13 2006, 04:50 AM, said:

Because I was driving through, I didn't really have time to intently observe the street scene, but the majority of the activity I saw was near Wild Wings. And it seems as though Daniel Morgan Ave. (I think that's the right street) pretty much cuts downtown in half, with the Denny's tower anchoring one end and QS/1 anchoring the other end. Am I correct in this assesment?

Church St cuts the core downtown in half more or less. However, it really depends on where you draw the lines. I have always considered downtown to extend from Pine St to W Daniel Morgan and from Henry St to N Daniel Morgan. That is also the area that the City has zoned as the CDB (except for the neighborhood between Daniel Morgan and St John.

[emo]

there are some other family resturants downtown that are open in the evening.  monsoon noodle house is open and i'm not sure what kind of atmosphere lime leaf has.  there is also a subway but i guess that's a little different.  i agree though, i wish that there were some more family oriented restaurants in downtown.  i would also love to see a tea bar in downtown somewhere.

speaking of olive garden, i heard a rumor that they were looking at buying stefanos and putting one of their restaurants there.  I think that would be great if that strip along union was completely redeveloped with some nice retail and maybe even residential and offices.  there is certainly a lot of potential with that abandoned shopping center in cedar springs.  I think it would be great to put the residential near the sports complex.  Cedar Springs could become a really nice part of town.  right now there are a lot of eyesores and i've always thought that road is really random with the business on it.  I see a ton of potential there.