Greenville Off-Topic

[Chickenwing]

Anyone seen this yet:

www.tonytrout.com

While I certainly appreciate what he and 7(?) other County Council members did to pass the MLK Day resolution, I'm starting to hear stories that he is a bit of a loose cannon. His blog is definitely pretty entertaining.

(disclaimer: I do not live in his district)

Thanks for the link. Great read.

[RestedTraveler]

Anyone seen this yet:

www.tonytrout.com

While I certainly appreciate what he and 7(?) other County Council members did to pass the MLK Day resolution, I'm starting to hear stories that he is a bit of a loose cannon. His blog is definitely pretty entertaining.

(disclaimer: I do not live in his district)

WYFF did a piece on this blog for the news a week or two ago. I'm not sure I agree with his assimilating data from what appear to be unscientific polls for the purpose of making decisions.

[GvilleSC]

I drove down Main Street today into the West End just to see everything. I saw some clothing store, that looked nice, on the left side of the street down toward the Ball Park. I really felt for the business. There was no one walking around at the time, there were open parking spaces all about. Hopefully they will be able to keep their head above water until the ball park opens, as well as until the Field House open. I don't want their efforts to be premature! There's so much dead space around them on the old Pendleton Street part of Main Street... Unfortunately the efforts at the corner of River and Main Streets were shot down.

[GvilleSC]

Has anyone else noticed The Greenville News' maps of Greenville? Whenever they are showing the location of something in Greenville County, the municipalities are in an orange color. Greenville's orange area extends to Greer and is made up of Taylors... Just thought it was interesting.

[cafealotaguy]

That nice clothing store you saw is Sworn Denim, a.k.a. the men's side of Augusta 20. Augusta 20 has been open 5 years, give or take. The mens side has been openi for less than a year and both sides specalize in high end clothing. As far as how good their doing, I have no idea, I did buy a few pair of jeans from them though.

[Fiddlestix]

WYFF did a piece on this blog for the news a week or two ago. I'm not sure I agree with his assimilating data from what appear to be unscientific polls for the purpose of making decisions.

I agree that Internet polls are not scientific, but the people who come to speak at County Council meetings aren't a scientific sampling either. Or the ones who call or send e-mails. Let's not pretend that anyone on County Council has access to any sort of scientifically sampled data before they make their decisions.

And if they did, so what? I don't want their votes to mirror the views of the public anyway. They need to learn about the issues and decide things that are in the public interest.

What I read on this guy's web site actually makes sense. He actually has a blog entry on this very point of using polls. He even makes the point you made:

"First off, there

[Fiddlestix]

And I heard one of the sports anchors actually say "Greensboro, South Carolina!" How uneducated these people are about our cities.

Yeah, they're only paid to speak. Why should they get it right? One of my "favorites" comes from many football announcers who say the play was "defensed" well. Huh? How about trying to use a word that's actually a word and does perfectly fine: "defended."

Alas, I digress...because the point I wanted to make is how EVERY FLIGHT ATTENDANT on flights into the airport will make Greenville or Spartanburg PLURAL! As in Greensville and Spartansburg. Sometimes they will say Greensboro (which I assume is the inspiration for making our town plural). Of course, it's when the pilot gets it wrong that I begin to worry. It's usually important that I travel to the correct city. And, to be honest, it's even more important to think that the pilot isn't a total imbecile.

[Greenville]

That happened to me one time. We were all sitting on the plane in Washington, DC bound for Greenville, and the attendant came over the speaker and said "...with service direct to Greensboro." A collective "Whoa!" came over the passengers, and she said, "Oops, I mean Greenville-Spartanburg." I thought to myself, "I hope the pilot isn't as confused as you are!"

But regardless, there is no excuse for that mistake. Greenville might not be New York City, but it is more than some open field with one inbound flight per year.

[goodbye]

Welcome to UrbanPlanet.org, Fiddlestix! Great to have another contributing voice in the Greenville discussions.

[Chickenwing]

Whether Trout is right or wrong, he does seem to have a genuine concern for the county and its citizens. I think he really takes the job seriously, and I do applaud him for that.

[Fiddlestix]

Welcome to UrbanPlanet.org, Fiddlestix! Great to have another contributing voice in the Greenville discussions.

Thanks, Skyliner! This is a pretty neat place. I hope I add something useful to the site.

[NYTransplant]

Whether Trout is right or wrong, he does seem to have a genuine concern for the county and its citizens. I think he really takes the job seriously, and I do applaud him for that.

I'll agree there. Here is a guy who didn't like the way the system worked, and did something about it by running for office.

Welcome Fiddlestix, glad to have you on board.

[Fiddlestix]

HELP NEEDED...

At the next level up -- the Greenville listing of forums, there's a column on the left side with various icons of text documents. Some red, some green, some dogeared, some with text, etc. Can someone explain them to me -- preferably by pointing me to the place where urbanplanet describes them. It seems that they might make my urbanplanet surfing experience more efficient...

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Thanks wellen! All I can say is "Doh!"

Edited March 29, 2006 by Fiddlestix

[wellen]

Scroll down to the very bottom of the page you speak of. There is an explaination there.

[g-man430]

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs..../LINK/603290426

-Rail to trail back on track

[RestedTraveler]

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs..../LINK/603290426

-Rail to trail back on track

That's just wicked awesome news! Thanks g-man430!

Be sure to post this over in the Rails-to-Trails thread in the Upstate Forum, too.

[Fiddlestix]

That's just wicked awesome news!

It is terrific news...for most of us. Personally, I'm very excited about what this means. Still, there are people who located to the rail line for which the finality of this decision means finality to a bad situation.

The really scary thing was the assumption made when the abandonment notice went in. Specifically, the assumption that nobody would want to resurrect rail service. I think they dodged a bullet. I'm not sure if it was actually said by the Duke of Wellington after Waterloo (and then, later, by Eisenhower referring back to Waterloo after D-Day), but I'll say it here: This was a "damned close run thing" that teetered on the brink of being a total disaster for the rails-to-trails proponents.

In the case of Waterloo and D-Day, I think the risks were justified and we're lucky to have the end result. While we're lucky to have this end result, I really can't say that the risks were justified...as I believe the idea was that this would slide through unnoticed and without a bona fide offer from a rail operator.

Looking forward, a great urban trails program will only happen by working with the railroads. Having lived for years in Arlington, VA where I could bike every morning for 10 miles without encountering a single car (along I-66 and an abandoned rail line), I have seen how an urban trail can provide numerous benefits -- from connecting neighbors, increasing fitness, putting commuters on bikes, getting people outdoors and funneling them to recreation areas, increasing property values, extending the range of the urban centers and making inaccessible or forgotten places viable for productive uses.

I hope we can attain the same level of trail connectivity that I enjoyed in Arlington, VA and I shudder to think that that possibility came so close to being lost.

[RestedTraveler]

Looking forward, a great urban trails program will only happen by working with the railroads. Having lived for years in Arlington, VA where I could bike every morning for 10 miles without encountering a single car (along I-66 and an abandoned rail line), I have seen how an urban trail can provide numerous benefits -- from connecting neighbors, increasing fitness, putting commuters on bikes, getting people outdoors and funneling them to recreation areas, increasing property values, extending the range of the urban centers and making inaccessible or forgotten places viable for productive uses.

I hope we can attain the same level of trail connectivity that I enjoyed in Arlington, VA and I shudder to think that that possibility came so close to being lost.

The W&OD Trail in NoVa is exactly the type of trail network that I'd love to see implemented here in Greenville County. It is an outstanding example of how Rails-to-Trails can benefit a community.

[breed]

I really can't say that the risks were justified...as I believe the idea was that this would slide through unnoticed and without a bona fide offer from a rail operator.

I may be blindly optimistic, but outside of the two people that make up WCRS, I don't think anyone really took their ability to restore rail service seriously. My only fear was that once it got in the hand of the feds, it would somehow get screwed up. But it didn't. I'm just glad it's over and the decision was swift.

[vicupstate]

Well some of those 2,250 volunteer hours were mine, and I got stung by yellow jackets about three times in one day, so needless to say, I am thrilled all that won't go for naught !!

[Greenville]

Hasn't their been some discussion about one day having light rail along some of the "rails to trails" paths? That doesn't make much sense to me, but if that is not the case then new track would have to be laid for much of the light rail system, right? How would people exercising on a trail feel about trains zooming by every so often?

[RestedTraveler]

There was some discussion that the Trail could co-exist with either LRT or BRT and that the trail would use utility rights-of-way to go out and around narrow rail/trail spaces where both couldn't safely co-exist.

[Chickenwing]

I rode by Joe Jackson's home this morning. They were just getting started with the work, because they did not close on the property until late yesterday.

Met Ginger with Trademark Properties. She said they would have it ready by Thursday. Will be neat to see them pull it off really.

This episode will be the first for their new show on TLC.

[RestedTraveler]

Thanks, Chickenwing! Did Miss Alexander mention what time they'd be beginning the move tomorrow? I'd love to get a few photos, but it looks as though my yard work from today is being pushed back to tomorrow due to the rain this morning.

The footer has been poured. Here's a photo of the future site of Shoeless Joe's old home:

[goodbye]

Did everyone notice in the Greenville Journal, John Boyanoski defined the North End as being the area just north of the Central Business District? Page 58. This is nice to hear coming from the local media.