Spartanburg Off-Topic

[Spartan]

Wow 25,000?? That might be a record for our Christmas Parade. Thats exciting!

[Spartan]

This is an interesting article in the HJ today. It talks about Greenville's new parks plan and the hospitality tax increase they approved to pay for it. More importantly it talks about Spartanburg's lack of funding for parks compared to other major SC counties, and how Spartanburg is unlikely to see anything like Greenville's efforts anytime soon.

I think Spartanburg needs to start stepping up to bat and working on these things.

To be fair, the City has a parks master plan for its parks..... but the County has nothing of the sort.

[gs3]

This is an interesting article in the HJ today. It talks about Greenville's new parks plan and the hospitality tax increase they approved to pay for it. More importantly it talks about Spartanburg's lack of funding for parks compared to other major SC counties, and how Spartanburg is unlikely to see anything like Greenville's efforts anytime soon.

I think Spartanburg needs to start stepping up to bat and working on these things.

To be fair, the City has a parks master plan for its parks..... but the County has nothing of the sort.

Interesting article. IMO, it would be great if Greenville, Spartanburg and Anderson could work closer on regional tourism.

[krazeeboi]

^Might as well coordinate some stuff with portions of western NC as well.

[goodbye]

Here is this year's holiday greeting from Karen Floyd:

(Disclaimer: This is her actual Christmas greeting card. I have no connection to her, her family, or her political campaign, but thought this was rather appalling.)

Edited December 23, 2006 by Skyliner

[Spartan]

I thought this was an interesting article. With places like New York City and others banning trans fats- or at least considering it- its great to know that so many Spartanburg traditions have already cut them out entirely. Namely the Beacon. This came as a surprise to me, but also explains the difference in taste after John White retired. I'm glad to know that we're ahead of the curve on this one

[Spartan]

Random sighting...a Pee Dee RTA bus in Spartanburg. This is South Pine St... you can see the Denny's Tower in the background, so I'm not making this up! Very strange!

[Spartan]

Does anyone get the GSA Business Journal? There is what looks to be a good article about downtown Spartanburg, but I can't read it all on the online version...

http://www.gsabusiness.com

[Spartan]

Check out Spartanburg Coutny's new GIS system here:

http://www.spartanburgcounty.org/govt/depts/gis/index.htm

It has some amazing aerials. I can clearly see my car parked in my driveway at home. This is great stuff. I'm glad that Spartanburg is catching up to the rest of the civilized world.

[goodbye]

...I'm glad that Spartanburg is catching up to the rest of the civilized world.

In more ways than one. Wireless Internet service is being added to the entire Morgan Square area.

[Spartan]

Yep, that was news last week though Check out the Downtown Developments thread.

[goodbye]

I knew about it then, though not by reading here. WYFF is on top of these things.

[g-man430]

Random sighting...a Pee Dee RTA bus in Spartanburg. This is South Pine St... you can see the Denny's Tower in the background, so I'm not making this up! Very strange!

I saw a CAT bus driving on Verdae Blvd. in Greenville a couple days ago. I then went down one of those back roads between Verdae Blvd. and Woodruff Rd. and there was a bus maintence facility there where they fix CAT buses. Kind of odd it's located in Greenville instead of Clemson, but if they ever do come to Greenville then due to ICAR and stuff then that would be a good spot for maintence. Also, a couple weeks ago I saw an Atlanta Marta bus that had been pulled over by a cop on I-85 right under one of the I-385 bridges. It was headed southbound back towards Atlanta.

Edited January 16, 2007 by g-man430

[GvilleSC]

I saw a CAT bus driving on Verdae Blvd. in Greenville a couple days ago. I then went down one of those back roads between Verdae Blvd. and Woodruff Rd. and there was a bus maintence facility there where they fix CAT buses. Kind of odd it's located in Greenville instead of Clemson, but if they ever do come to Greenville then due to ICAR and stuff then that would be a good spot for maintence. Also, a couple weeks ago I saw an Atlanta Marta bus that had been pulled over by a cop on I-85 right under one of the I-385 bridges. It was headed southbound back towards Atlanta.

We're all being invaded!

[Spartan]

I saw a CAT bus driving on Verdae Blvd. in Greenville a couple days ago. I then went down one of those back roads between Verdae Blvd. and Woodruff Rd. and there was a bus maintence facility there where they fix CAT buses. Kind of odd it's located in Greenville instead of Clemson, but if they ever do come to Greenville then due to ICAR and stuff then that would be a good spot for maintence. Also, a couple weeks ago I saw an Atlanta Marta bus that had been pulled over by a cop on I-85 right under one of the I-385 bridges. It was headed southbound back towards Atlanta.

The CATbus system has no maintenance facility, so any time they need work done, they have to go to Greenville. Thats why they park all of the busses behind City Hall in Clemson. Its something that CAT wants to change, but it likely won't happen for a few years.

[hub-city]

This probably doesn't warrant a thread of it's own, but the HJ is reporting that California rep. Duncan hunter has chosen Spartanburg to announce his run for presidency. This shows how important SC is and it is also great for the Marriott at Renaissance Park. With all the bad publicity for that project, it is nice to see something positive.

STORY

[Spartan]

Definitely good new and publicity for Spartanburg and SC. The Spartanburg Republicans do a great job of getting big name politicians to town.

[Spartan]

This is a good arrticle about the sculptures on the fountain of the new Carolina First building downtown. Spartanburg has started a great tradition of public art, and I think we have even more great things to look forward to.

[Spartan]

Spartanburg was recently named one of the 100 best communities in the nation for young people by America's Promise-Alliance for Youth. The title does not come with a rank, just recognition of our community. The designation puts the city in the running for a $100,000 grant.

You can read more about it here.

[Spartan]

I just thought this was an interesting story- Barberton, OH officials have come to Spartanburg to "explore what partnerships community leaders had made here and the long-term plans derived from developing the Community Improvement Plan..." This town has similar demographics and a similar situation to ours. Its a suburb of Akron though, whereas we are the heart of a larger community. Its good that our successes have started to encourage others to come and check us out.

Article

[krazeeboi]

Sounds good.

[alias007]

This is certainly off topic. And a bit overdue. I've been looking forward to posting this.

So, some of you may have heard of the Oracle Space Sweepstakes. If not, the grand prize winner gets an all-expenses paid trip into space. Well, a guy named Brian Emmett had won the sweepstakes but later backed out because the cash prize that went along with the gift didn't quite cover the taxes. He's from CA and he'd have to pay another $25k on top of what Oracle gave him, which is $35k, in order to go. As it turns out, another space company heard why he couldn't go and decided to "hire" him as a "consultant". At that point, it was no longer considered a gift, but an expense, which is non-taxable. So now he still gets to go to space and Oracle is left looking for another winner!

Which brings me to my point.

So, I got a call a few weeks ago from some lady in New York and apparantly I was 2nd in line for the grand prize! Woo hoo! As it turns out, even in SC the $35k in cash isn't enough. But it's under $10k which is much more palatable. So I will somehow be coming up with that money and going into space!

Way cool, huh?

Watch for my name to show up on Oracle's website (below) over the next couple of monthes. (There's a ton of paperwork yet to go through, so my picture won't be up there anytime soon.)

http://www.oracle.com/technology/space/winners.html

Here's the company that's going to be sending me up!

http://www.spaceadventures.com/

Time to change the 'ol Avatar! hehe

[krazeeboi]

That has GOT to be one of the coolest things ever to happen to someone. How many people can actually say they've been in space? Congratulations, big time! I'm jealous.

[alias007]

Thanks! I'm still in major disbelief, to be honest. It doesn't feel like I'm going. I'm still waiting on the catch, even though I already know what it is. I'm just happy to have my wife's blessing. The first 10 hours after telling her, I didn't have her blessing AT ALL. I owe her BIG TIME. hehe

[Spartan]

Wow, that is the coolest thing ever. I think that's definitely an opportunity worth getting in a little debt over. You are guaranteed to be a local celebrity once the news gets a hold of this. While you're up there, get a good picture of Spartanburg to share on UrbanPLANET!!!