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Other cities scope out Greenville

gs3

By gs3
in Greenville Coffee House

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ROBTEX Whistle-Stop

ROBTEX

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There's a great little video to watch on this page, too. Greenville is a very exciting city right now and has a beautiful downtown. I find it very impressive that North Carolina leaders would travel to a South Carolina city to learn how to make some major improvements! Greenville is SOOO far ahead of many cities its size, even larger cities. Greenvillians should be very proud!

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goodbye Metropolitan Area

goodbye

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One of the neatest things about Greenville is the words you hear from the many visitors walking around downtown. I can only say that everyone who visits is totally blown away by how alive this place is. And it is growing incredibly fast on top of that. Yes, Greenville is a marvel! :D

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NYTransplant Burg

NYTransplant

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Speaking of visitors and Greenville,

To put into perspective how the falls have long been the centerpiece of Greenville, here is a quote from the Greenville News on July 4, 1926:

"The Falls, the one thing that Greenville was prouder of than anything else. When a stranger arrived in town, and before his name was dry on the hotel register, he was taken down to see The Falls that Greenville folks believed to be second on to Niagara. "

Actually if you are into history, there is a collection of Greenville News articles by Charles A. David which is taken from the book "Greenville of Old" where Charles tells of what he remembers from his childhood which would be around the late 1800's. Its a real interesting read. I converted it to a PDF file and it is 110 pages. I haven't gotten through it all yet.

The web site is Here

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krazeeboi Gigalopolis

krazeeboi

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There's a great little video to watch on this page, too. Greenville is a very exciting city right now and has a beautiful downtown. I find it very impressive that North Carolina leaders would travel to a South Carolina city to learn how to make some major improvements! Greenville is SOOO far ahead of many cities its size, even larger cities. Greenvillians should be very proud!

Greenville is certainly ahead of many of its peer cities, but I don't necessarily find it extraordinarily fascinating that NC delegations are being sent to the city. Heck, even Raleigh could stand to learn a thing or two from Columbia in both past and future respects (i.e., locating developments downtown instead of out in the 'burbs).

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gs3 Metropolitan Area

gs3

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Greenville is certainly ahead of many of its peer cities, but I don't necessarily find it extraordinarily fascinating that NC delegations are being sent to the city. Heck, even Raleigh could stand to learn a thing or two from Columbia in both past and future respects (i.e., locating developments downtown instead of out in the 'burbs).

You're right, one city from North Carolina sending delegations, not that fascinating. However the list of cities nationally (something like 25 plus), that have sent delegations....thats pretty fascinating! :D I'll post links later on today for many of these cities newspapers and the articles about their trips to Greenville. Fascinating reading! These cities haved all learned from Greenville and I think its great Greenville is sharing it's success and energy with others. :thumbsup: By the way, most cities were not peer cities in size, but much larger cities.

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gs3 Metropolitan Area

gs3

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Some links below to some good reading:

http://www.lehighvalley.org/default.aspx?pageid=616

http://www/fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/...al/12625736.htm

http://www.wane.com/Global/story.asp?S=3856578&nav=menu32_11

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/12687600.htm

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/12723911.htm

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/...ss/12625669.htm

http://www.wfmynews2.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=49216

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krazeeboi Gigalopolis

krazeeboi

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How did Columbia make it into this discussion? :silly:

Hey, I think it's only fair, given the times you Greenvillians have managed to sneak Greenville in on a Columbia thread. :P

But it's great to see that Greenville is serving as a national model for downtown/Main Street revitalization. The hard work is definitely paying off.

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krazeeboi Gigalopolis

krazeeboi

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Yeah, Chattanooga comes to mind, specifically for their riverfront development I believe. I would imagine that just about any other city that has won the "Main Street USA" award would be getting visits as well. The however, I think Greenville is probably the largest city thus far to win one, so other cities visit Greenville in hopes of duplicating its success within the context of a larger urban environment.

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ROBTEX Whistle-Stop

ROBTEX

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Greenville is certainly ahead of many of its peer cities, but I don't necessarily find it extraordinarily fascinating that NC delegations are being sent to the city. Heck, even Raleigh could stand to learn a thing or two from Columbia in both past and future respects (i.e., locating developments downtown instead of out in the 'burbs).

"There's a great little video to watch on this page, too. Greenville is a very exciting city right now and has a beautiful downtown. I find it very impressive that North Carolina leaders would travel to a South Carolina city to learn how to make some major improvements! Greenville is SOOO far ahead of many cities its size, even larger cities. Greenvillians should be very proud!"

Perspective is an interesting thing...did anyone pick up on the fact that I said nothing about finding it "extraordinarily fascinating" that NC leaders would travel to South Carolina for ideas? I said "I find it very impressive that North Carolina leaders would travel to South Carolina..." I do find it very impressive that leaders from a state that is SO very far ahead of SC in SO many ways would travel to a South Carolina city for ideas. Should we discuss the educational system, the annexation laws, the vision for economy transformation, or ??? This was certainly meant as a compliment. I know you Greenvillians and pro-Greenvillians (of which I am one!) are a very active and proud group on this site, but I think you should take a step back sometimes and not respond from so much of an emotional stance as from a scientific, data-backed stance. No one is prouder than I of being born and reared in the great state of SC, but I can't let that pride segregate me from certain facts. Greenville, outside of SC, is NOT a nationally recognized city. Some 20+ states have a "Green(e)ville," so the national prominence simply is not there. If I say "Greenville" in Dallas, people assume I mean Greenville, TX, and so on in TN, NC, MS, ME, etc. Without the addition of "Spartanburg" to the area name, the city of Greenville, SC requires further clarification for most folks outside of SC and certainly outside of the SE states. Those of you who have lived and/or traveled vastly outside of SC know what I mean, for sure. BUT, as mentioned, I find it REALLY cool that once people "stumble" across Greenville, SC, they are so amazed and impressed with its beauty, vibrance, and obvious potential. I LOVE what you guys do on this forum, but don't let your sense of pride outweigh your sense of national knowledge and perspective.

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Spartan Gigalopolis

Spartan

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Important to include this link, and note some of the other cities it mentions. :)
  • Birmingham

  • Winston-Salem

  • Durham

  • Raleigh

  • Montgomery

  • Augusta

  • Columbus, GA

  • Marietta, GA

  • Reading, PA

  • Greensboro

  • Fort Wayne

  • Madison County, MS

Indeed. Don't forget to include vital information such as links.

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goodbye Metropolitan Area

goodbye

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I'm afraid you've got it a little mixed up there. I see what you're saying from one perspective, but there are many others you've not taken into consideration. I know people from all over the Nation who recognize Greenville as a nice city in SC. Maybe some need Spartanburg to be added - but many don't. Do you watch The Weather Channel? You won't see any other Greenville in their 40-city forcast. I can't think of another Greenville with the International prominence this one has either. :)

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krazeeboi Gigalopolis

krazeeboi

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Robtex, I understand where you're coming from. But to be honest, and as has been stated on other threads here, differences between states usually shake down to differences between major metropolitan areas within those states. In many cases, the stark differences between states are usually attributed to the condition of the rural areas therein. That said, even though NC may be ahead of SC in terms of, say, average income, if you took Charlotte and the Triangle out of the equation, NC doesn't look like anything special. While Greensboro is a nice city in its own right, the Triad metropolitan area doesn't have as much momentum as Charlotte and the Triangle and is quite comparable to the Upstate in several ways; as a matter of fact, I would argue that the Upstate has a leg up on the Triad in some ways.

Even though the state of Alabama is very similar to SC in certain respects (such as the categories you mentioned in your previous post, save annexation laws), I find it impressive that Birmingham civic leaders have toured Greenville to get some ideas, simply due to Birmingham being a much larger and more historically important city in the South than Greenville; me being impressed has nothing to do with the fact that Birmingham is located in Alabama, a state that is not "so very far of SC in so many ways." I also find it somewhat impressive that Raleigh's leaders would visit Greenville, especially given the fact that Raleigh is maybe about twice the size of Greenville (maybe give or take a few thousand) and is an economic powerhouse within its state (I said "somewhat" impressed because Raleigh seems to be a very suburban-minded city); however, the other NC cities (Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Durham) that have visited or are planning to visit Greenville aren't really light-years ahead of Greenville in any significant ways, if ahead at all. So while SC as a whole doesn't tend to look too good on paper, our major cities (Greenville, Charleston, and Columbia) are VERY much on par with our Southern peers, and they could stand to learn a thing our two from us in some respects, despite our shortcomings as a state. Our "poor little state" has more things going for it than many, including natives and residents, give it credit for. :thumbsup:

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goodbye Metropolitan Area

goodbye

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This whole crazy "debate" comes back to the fact that a group of people did something(s) right in Greenville and now other groups of people want to learn what that was because they're not doing the same right thing(s). No matter what your inside or outside view of Greenville as a positive status symbol, it is what it is, and that is a great role model for many another city. These articles and columns are not written by story writers after sitting at home reading all they can find on the Internet about Greenville, but rather those who've gotten off their tushes and breathed the open air and walked the delightfully scented sidewalks to the shops, cafes, galleries, parks, theatres, etc. No one paid them off to print those words of adoration. They were as sincere as the very words you'd hear from any random pedestrian on the street from another far-off place -- if you had gotten out to listen. :)

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gs3 Metropolitan Area

gs3

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This whole crazy "debate" comes back to the fact that a group of people did something(s) right in Greenville and now other groups of people want to learn what that was because they're not doing the same right thing(s). No matter what your inside or outside view of Greenville as a positive status symbol, it is what it is, and that is a great role model for many another city. These articles and columns are not written by story writers after sitting at home reading all they can find on the Internet about Greenville, but rather those who've gotten off their tushes and breathed the open air and walked the delightfully scented sidewalks to the shops, cafes, galleries, parks, theatres, etc. No one paid them off to print those words of adoration. They were as sincere as the very words you'd hear from any random pedestrian from another far-off place -- if you had gotten out to listen. :)

Well said Skyliner! :thumbsup:

When a city has adoration (as Skyliner said), enthusiasm, energy, and active, caring citizens, that's where it gets good! A city that can evoke passion and emotion in it's citizens....WOW.....thats a far greater thing than statistics. These are intangibles that can't be bought or built on a street corner. These are core values and attitudes that make a city great! Not every city is lucky enough to have these intangibles. Thankfully, Greenville has them! :D

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EDPro Whistle-Stop

EDPro

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simply due to Birmingham being a much larger and more historically important city in the South than Greenville;

Just fwiw:

Gross Metro Product (US ranking, 2004):

67. Birmingham, AL, $35B

68. Dayton-Springfield, OH, $33.4B

69. Syracuse, NY $33.3B

70. Greenville-Spartanburg $32.3

71. Fresno, CA $31.3B

(I understand your comparison was/is city to city, but metro to metro and they are very similar)

For more:

http://www.usmayors.org/metroeconomies/100...tables_1004.xls

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