What will put Greenville on the map?

[goodbye]

Interesting. I have some doubts about it. Like how will all of these people get around during the games? Can you imagine the congestion? Yikes. Atlanta had a hard enough time, I'd hate to think how it would be in Greenville. Of course, the Olympics could be so unpopular by that future date that it wont be an issue

The Olympics are also a regional event. The entire Upstate and probably western NC would benefit from them as the various events are spread around.

It's obviously just a dream at this point, Spartan. Much work needs to be done before that can even become feasably possible. That said, I would not count the opportunity out altogether, would you? The vision we have for Greenville is dynamic enough to work hard at making this place humanly on par with the other awarded cities even if we never reach their size. We're on the right track!

[RestedTraveler]

Well, why wait until 2036? I'll be an old man then. We've got until October, 2009 to put together a bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. That's when the voting will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Before we can get to the I.O.C. voting rounds, however, we must first make the cut and be selected by the U.S.O.C. to represent the United States as a candidate city. Our competition (in the U.S.) would most likely be Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Minneapolis/St. Paul, San Francisco, and San Diego/Tijuana.

If we could get that far, then International Competition (so far) would prospectively be Santiago, Chile; Dubai, UAE; Hamburg, Germany; Sapporo/Fukuoka, Japan; Madrid, Spain; Rome, Italy; Montreal, Canada; Moscow, Russia; Rotterdam, Netherlands; St. Petersburg, Russia; Tokyo, Japan. Brussels, Belgium and Paris, France have withdrawn from consideration.

Considering that the 2012 Summer Olympics were awarded to London, following the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, it seems very likely that the 2016 games will return to North America or perhaps South America or Africa will finally get a shot at them.

That just kinda puts things into perspective.

[RestedTraveler]

I'll see if I can influence the U.S.O.C. for Greenville once I get out to Colorado Springs.

[krazeeboi]

Piggly Wiggly's new world headquarters. Maybe a 20-30 story building with a giant pig's head on top. Just imagine the Gaffeny Peach as a pigs head on top of the landmark building. At the holidays we could even shine green and red spotlight on the pig head.

Greenville is on the right path. Just keep doing the right things right and focus on quality of life and economic issues, and more and more people will take notice.

[goodbye]

I have several copies of this document with color renderings and photos. Yes, there is a large international center on one of the pages, but I would like to see something more authenticly related to traditional architecture in the various countries. I'll scan a copy of the one on the document later today, if I have a chance.

Okay a day later, but it is my Valentine's Day gift to everyone on UrbanPlanet.org!

From the Greenville, South Carolina Vision 2025 brochure

DP3, Architects, Greenville, SC

[RestedTraveler]

And here's mine:

"They say I'm a dreamer..."

[goodbye]

Good one, RT!

Thanks for doing this!

We can definitely build on that one. I see things shaping up for us all.

[GvilleSC]

Where would this international center go?

Nice scanning job and nice creativeness, respectively

[RestedTraveler]

It would make sense to me that this would be part of the Millennium Campus / CU-ICAR.

[GvilleSC]

It would make sense to me that this would be part of the Millennium Campus / CU-ICAR.

Oh man, would this have a presence on 85!

[goodbye]

Where would this international center go?

Nice scanning job and nice creativeness, respectively

Thanks!

The document says near the airport, so I assume it is refering to GSP. I would personally prefer it to be located within Millennium Campus, since it is setup for this type of development and would work well with Verdae, ICAR, and the International Trade Center. Wherever it goes will be a benefit to the entire Upstate. I still think an authentic village could work along with this place.

[gs3]

Okay a day later, but it is my Valentine's Day gift to everyone on UrbanPlanet.org!

From the Greenville, South Carolina Vision 2025 brochure

DP3, Architects, Greenville, SC

Fantastic!!!! How did I miss this? This is the rendering from the 2025 document? Sweet.....

[btoy]

And here's mine:

"They say I'm a dreamer..."

You know what would be fun, and it would be great UP publicity. Print a bunch of those up and start placing them all over town. People we take them seriously and start asking about it. Eventually stories would be done by the press and after a while we can let the cat out of the bag that it is a UP Hoax. Anyway it would get us publicity and it would get more people thinking about that as a possibility.

[NYTransplant]

You know what would be fun, and it would be great UP publicity. Print a bunch of those up and start placing them all over town. People we take them seriously and start asking about it. Eventually stories would be done by the press and after a while we can let the cat out of the bag that it is a UP Hoax. Anyway it would get us publicity and it would get more people thinking about that as a possibility.

That would be a hoot!

[RestedTraveler]

Those of us on U.P. should just just form an organizing committee on the side and submit our application to the USOC. I should change the wording to "APPLICANT CITY" really. That may generate some publicity, don't you think?

[distortedlogic]

Hello all, long time reader/ new member. I grew up here in the upstate, so I too have seen it grow over the years. I think that it would be very difficult for greenville to build attractions that will "put it on the map." While I would love to see our zoo grow, I don't think we could build one that would compete with Cola's well established one, or an aquarium that would compete with Atlanta's. I do think we have the regional population to make an amusement park work, but it would need to be totally different than a six flags or carowinds; something unique that would separate it. I would like to see greenville take advantage of some of the things it already has. I think the roper mtn rd science center is one example. I never hear anything about this place except when the holiday lights are up. But I remember hearing once that it has one of the largest reflection telescopes in the country. I think the planetarium could be built up, and that ti could be made into something really unique. It could be an educational thing too; imagine students from the lower part of the state, or even neighboring states coming to visit the world class planetarium and science center for field trips. This is just one example. I think this was done with falls park, which is now FIRST CLASS!

I also think paris mtn is unique, at least within the state. Perhaps the top could be cleaned up and the state park marketed to visitors, and have an interactive museum of the upstate or something. I also think the pro-cycling championships will help, perhaps we could have a cycling museum DT. Another thing I have thought about before; we have all of these international companies. Maybe we could turn one of our downtown streets into some sort of international showcase, with a restaurant/gift shop with each country's architecture represented, complete with a national flag and pictures of that country. Can you guys envision a whole street the has architecture and food from dozens of different countries?

[GvilleSC]

I'm pretty sure that the Planetarium at the Roper Mountain Science Center is actually already one of the largest ones around. rivaled by few. They have great things out there including the one room school house. It's a great asset to the Greenville County School system for sure and it'd be great if the whole state used it as well.

[goodbye]

Welcome aboard, distortedlogic! Great to have another voice join the Greenville discussions.

[gs3]

I also think the pro-cycling championships will help, perhaps we could have a cycling museum DT. Another thing I have thought about before; we have all of these international companies. Maybe we could turn one of our downtown streets into some sort of international showcase, with a restaurant/gift shop with each country's architecture represented, complete with a national flag and pictures of that country. Can you guys envision a whole street the has architecture and food from dozens of different countries?

Welcome distortedlogic! Great ideas! Now that Greenville has become a cycling mecca, the museum makes great sense. That would defnitely bring in tourist dollars from a great demographic group. I agree that the city should continue to play up its international connections....your idea reminds me of a similar idea that I believe Skyliner had for a marketplace on the street between Riverplace and Academy. Great ideas! Keep them coming....it's what makes Greenville such a wonderful place!

[Greenville]

Welcome to UrbanPlanet, distortedlogic! It is great to have you aboard.

I really like the idea of having a street downtown that is devoted to international cultures/customs. That would be awesome to have a great collection of fun ethnic shops and restaurants harmoniously existing along the same street ("International Drive" perhaps?). Tax breaks could even be offered for people who wanted to open a business there.

It would work best if it could be master-planned somehow, but where could it go?