257 replies to this topic

[Greenville]

B&R, on 06 July 2011 - 03:09 PM, said:

The whole "sensed shortcomings" was a little irritating.  I read these things to get a different viewpoint. There is nothing wrong with some constructive criticism.  Maybe there is something that can be done to solve the shortcomings.  Maybe we would disagree about whether there are shortcomings.   But at least make the case.  He was being too coy and too cute with that comment.

What sense was he using?   Sight, sound, smell, touch.   His spidey-sense?

I was irritated when I read that part as well.  Then I remembered when I visited Lexington about a year and a half ago, and how their downtown was dead and quite boring - especially in comparison to the vibrant and exciting downtown we have in Greenville.  

At first glance, Lexington is similar to Greenville when you look at metro population, suburban shopping, etc.  But visiting both in person reveals that Greenville is at least a decade if not two ahead of Lexington when it comes to planning and city development.  One thing is for certain: their leaders made a great decision to visit Greenville.  

[Skyliner]

Skyliner, on 29 May 2011 - 01:43 PM, said:

A group of leaders from Topeka, Kansas, will be in town this week hoping to learn from Greenville's success and find inspiration.

An update:  They're sending a delegation in September.
http://cjonline.com/...ibrant-downtown

[RiverWalker]

The City of Rock Hill is planning to build an urban park on the east end of downtown. "The primary objective of the park design is to create a regional draw with a dynamic 70’ diameter fountain as the centerpiece, as well as a highly flexible urban space that can accommodate small festival events, weddings, daily vendors, and passive recreation." According to planners and designers, the bowl-shaped fountain would be the largest of its kind in the world. In addition, longer-term plans call for a 100-room hotel and performing arts center.

Sound familiar? While this project isn't specifically tied to any specific visit to Greenville, it would appear that Rock Hill is taking a chapter out of Greenville's playbook, substituting a world-class fountain for Greenville's world-class Liberty Bridge in Falls Park along with a performing arts center to rival Greenville's Peace Center, all anchored by a new hotel to be built as part of a public-private partnership.

The Greenville model works, and it's being copied by other cities in South Carolina and across the country.

[Birdbrain]

RiverWalker, on 02 August 2011 - 09:22 AM, said:

The City of Rock Hill is planning to build an urban park on the east end of downtown. "The primary objective of the park design is to create a regional draw with a dynamic 70’ diameter fountain as the centerpiece, as well as a highly flexible urban space that can accommodate small festival events, weddings, daily vendors, and passive recreation." According to planners and designers, the bowl-shaped fountain would be the largest of its kind in the world. In addition, longer-term plans call for a 100-room hotel and performing arts center.

Sound familiar? While this project isn't specifically tied to any specific visit to Greenville, it would appear that Rock Hill is taking a chapter out of Greenville's playbook, substituting a world-class fountain for Greenville's world-class Liberty Bridge in Falls Park along with a performing arts center to rival Greenville's Peace Center, all anchored by a new hotel to be built as part of a public-private partnership.

The Greenville model works, and it's being copied by other cities in South Carolina and across the country.

Now the only thing missing in be-yootiful Rock&Roll Hill, SC is a Football Stadium for the Mighty Winthrop Eagles! (Whose football team, you should be reminded, remains undefeated to this day!)  

[krazeeboi]

Birdbrain, on 03 August 2011 - 07:15 AM, said:

Now the only thing missing in be-yootiful Rock&Roll Hill, SC is a Football Stadium for the Mighty Winthrop Eagles! (Whose football team, you should be reminded, remains undefeated to this day!)  

Seconded!

[GVLbikeNboard]

Birdbrain, on 03 August 2011 - 07:15 AM, said:

Now the only thing missing in be-yootiful Rock&Roll Hill, SC is a Football Stadium for the Mighty Winthrop Eagles! (Whose football team, you should be reminded, remains undefeated to this day!)  

Ah yes, I even have a t-shirt that says so!

[citylife]

Huntsville: http://blog.al.com/b...greenville.html

[Greenville]

citylife, on 10 May 2012 - 11:14 AM, said:

Huntsville: http://blog.al.com/b...greenville.html

Nice writeup.  I hope Greenville's downtown will continue to be a model for others to emulate moving forward.

[gsupstate]

Greenvilians need to be jumping on a bus and checking out Huntsville as Huntsville is out-performing Greenville in almost every metric.  In Huntsville often for business.  GREAT city!

[citylife]

gsupstate, on 10 May 2012 - 04:45 PM, said:

Greenvilians need to be jumping on a bus and checking out Huntsville as Huntsville is out-performing Greenville in almost every metric.  In Huntsville often for business.  GREAT city!

Elaborate. While Huntsville is a great city, there is NO way they have a downtown as alive and thriving as Greenville's. I am jealous of their Bridge Street Town Centre though.

Edited by citylife, 10 May 2012 - 05:58 PM.

[Skyliner]

I'm sure most cities would love to have NASA rocket scientists in town, but that is a rare commodity — like scenic natural waterfalls in a downtown setting.

[StrangeCock]

Huntsville? Seriously? Other than Space Camp and white BBQ sauce, what do they have to offer?

[vicupstate]

White BBQ sauce?


Milk or ranch dressing ?

[gsupstate]

Skyliner, on 10 May 2012 - 09:21 PM, said:

I'm sure most cities would love to have NASA rocket scientists in town, but that is a rare commodity — like scenic natural waterfalls in a downtown setting.

Huntsville has a great number of rare commodities, and judging from many of the post here, Greenvillians obviously need to jump on a bus and check Huntsville out, as I suggested above.

Just off the top of my head......
- Cummings Research Park.  The second largest research park in the US after Triangle.  A who's who of high tech corporations.....Boeing, Lockheed, EADS, GE Aviation, Johnson Controls, Sikorsky, Scientific Atlanta/Cisco, Orion, General Dynamics and on and on and on.   Considering Greenville wants ICAR to grow, a trip to Cummings could be useful.
- Space Camp and The Space and Rocket Center and NASA and Redstone Arsenal.   Would be incredible if Greenville had a tourist attraction that drew people from all over in the numbers the Space and Rocket Center does.  Also would be cool to have all the high tech spin off jobs that come from NASA and Redstone.
- Monte Sano mountain and the views.  Some notes could be taken for Paris Mountain and an overlook.
- Big Spring Park.  In the heart of downtown and one of the largest springs in the Southeast.  Yes, Falls Park is pretty, but Big Spring Park is lovely as well.
- Bridge Street Town, Village of Providence, Parkway Place.....Haywood, Magnolia and Verdae could take notes.
- HSV.   Cargolux regularly scheduled 747 international service in support of Panalpina cargo operations.   Greenville couldn't even get the FedEx hub, much less scheduled international 747 service.
There is a list too long to name......read up on Huntsville.  Greenville could take notes.

[citylife]

Greenville continues to make strides gsupstate. It can't happen overnight but if you look at where the city is now compared with twenty years ago it's a big difference.

Edited by citylife, 11 May 2012 - 12:13 PM.

[vicupstate]

Billions in Federal funding over a few decades can do wonders, no doubt.

Huntsville is coming here specifically in regards to DT.  What in regards to that, does Huntsville offer as a blueprint for Greenville/

As for the FEd Ex hub, didn't Greensboro pay through the nose in incentives for primarily part-time jobs?  If those planes carried people instead of boxes, it might have been worth it.

[scgubers]

You cannot compare a general Huntsville to a general Greenville. They are too different, especially in regards to their economies. Huntsville is a much richer area because of NASA. Also you said Huntsville has a number of "rare" commodities. Well if they were in Greenville too they wouldn't be so rare would they? So just as Huntsville has rare commodities so does Greenville.

- A waterfall in the middle of downtown
- An award winning park system
- An award winning Main Street
- A award winning suspension bridge
- A top 50 liberal arts University
- The only BMW plant in North America
- The Michelin Headquarters of North America
- A performing arts center that constantly sells out
- An award winning Arts Festival

And thats just to name a few. Notice Huntsville has none of these things. I'm not saying Huntsville is a bad area, what I'm saying is that each is different and defined by completely different characteristics.

[B&R]

Here is the followup story from the Huntsville paper.  They were impressed.

"The Greenville trip, organized by the Big Spring Partners downtown redevelopment group, gave Battle and about 50 other local leaders a firsthand look at one of the South's biggest success stories."

http://blog.al.com/b...sc_left_hu.html