More traffic on this site!

[mr. chips]

I notice that there has been a drop-off of posts here lately. How can we get more people to contribute ideas here, and how can we help the "movers and shakers" in Columbia to pay attention? Are there other forums that people use for these discussions - or have people just given up dreaming and thinking about our city?

[carolinagarnet]

Apart from the baseball stadium (which I think we're all sick of by this point), not much has been happening in Columbia these days. There are a few USC projects that will be very exciting when built, but nothing is in the ground except for the business school. Let's hope Bright-Meyers gets is act together with the Capital City Stadium deal now that they have actual money on the line.

[mr. chips]

It would be good if some of the city leaders, journalists, elected officials, politicians, etc could post and respond to ideas on this board about the future of Columbia. We need some real leadership in Columbia…How can we get them to at least read this board? How can those of us on this site promote it more? Maybe an article in the Free Times? Maybe sending the information to City Council members, etc?

[Neo]

I would suggest sending a request for participation to council members and journalists for local papers/journals. You may also want to hit up any developers out there that have active (especially upcoming projects still in the planning stages). Believe it or not, the above types of users make up a very large percentage of our user count here. Lots of folks join just to lurk and lots of these folks are of the above groupings. I can't speak for Columbia specifically, but I do know that even if activity is low for an area, that doesn't directly correlate to those in decision making positions from knowing your point of view.

 

We've had many cases where a development was guided in some manner by the contributions from our users. Stick with it is the best advice I can give you. Traffic to this site is organic by most accounts and does take some time, particularly for an area that has little development going on or is just seeing a rush of development. There are other forums that are similar to UrbanPlanet.org, but the issue is that our site (I'm trying not to be biased in this statement) typically has a higher caliber of users than seen on other sites. While our traffic may be a little lower, the quality is much higher.

[CorgiMatt]

There is competition among city-related websites.  A lot is happening in Columbia, mainly in the form of renovations right now.  The Keenan building (Merrill Lynch) is being stripped and rehabilitated into apartments; four new quality restaurants just opened on Main Street in the past month, the Hyatt Place Hotel is under construction; the USC Alumni Center is under construction; the Music Farm at Tin Roof is under construction; new brickwork is being laid in the sidewalk alongside the east edge of the State House; the southeast corner of the State House grounds are being restored into a garden area; the new Sheraton conference center on Washington near Main is getting close to completion; The Hub (the old SCANA building) is getting a new look as it is renovated into apartments for 850 students and young professionals; a Rita's (frozen custard) just opened at Lady and Gadsden; Entourage just opened on Lady next to M Vista; a zoning sign is on the Adluh mill site for what speculatively will be an Old Chicago Pizza and Taproom; two fitness centers just opened on Lady Street between Main and Assembly, as well as one in the 1600 block on Main; and USC has partitioned off several big lots where the start of construction is eminent.  On Devine Street there's a zoning sign for a new craft beer store.  Also, the first road construction project from the penny sales tax just got underway in northeast Richland County.  These just popped right into my head when I read the posts above.  All South Federal Credit Union is looking good at Elmwood and Gadsden, too.  A design review board sign has just been put up in front of the Bull Street property (Columbia Common).  There's stuff going on, and a lot more will be going on by summer and into fall.