Some Things You Dislike About Columbia

[sonofaque86]

We all love Columbia of course but what are some things you don't like about Columbia or wish could change?

To start, I hate driving down Assembly street and getting stopped 85% of the time by 200 car trains

[Spartan]

I think they are going to put a tressle bridge there so that you won't get stopped by trains. Its part of that deal where they will take out the track that gous through USC's campus... I haven't heard anything about that in a year or so. So who knows.

[krazeeboi]

-Retail tends to lack in Columbia, especially as far as the higher-end goods are concerned

-The lack of street-level retail on Main gets on my nerves

[waccamatt]

We all love Columbia of course but what are some things you don't like about Columbia or wish could change?

It isn't so much something about Columbia, but I hate the state's conservative politics; I think Columbia would fit better in another state, politically speaking. As far as just a Columbia thing I would have to say a lack of confidence in the area's attributes.

[Doug L]

I hate street level parking lots!!!!! They make our city look cheap and unfinished. Open parking lots look as bad as all the bill boards we now can't get rid of, thanks to the idiots in the State House.

My favorite parking lot to hate is the block long lot on Assembly Street across from our beautiful Richland County Public Library. Second in Line are the two lots on adjacent corners of Gervais and Assembly Streets across from the State House.

These things drive me NUTS!

[Mr.Marc]

I think they are going to put a tressle bridge there so that you won't get stopped by trains. Its part of that deal where they will take out the track that gous through USC's campus... I haven't heard anything about that in a year or so. So who knows.

Wish they had done that when I was staying in Bates West. Those trains used to wake me up at 2 am with their blaring horns.

[Spartan]

Wish they had done that when I was staying in Bates West. Those trains used to wake me up at 2 am with their blaring horns.

They have a noise ordinance or something now, so they don't blow their horns in populated places at night. I have heard that Bates and Whaley Mills were particulary annoying to live in because of that.

[waccamatt]

I hate street level parking lots!!!!! They make our city look cheap and unfinished. Open parking lots look as bad as all the bill boards we now can't get rid of, thanks to the idiots in the State House.

My favorite parking lot to hate is the block long lot on Assembly Street across from our beautiful Richland County Public Library. Second in Line are the two lots on adjacent corners of Gervais and Assembly Streets across from the State House.

These things drive me NUTS!

I can't believe those parking lots are the best use of the land at the Gervais and Assembly intersection, it is one of the busiest in the state.

[Temeteron]

Ooohh boy since you asked.......lets see.......where do I begin.................Lack of retail not only in downtown but also in the suburbs, lack of upscale restaurant selection, is always last at getting restaurants and/or stores compared to other metro cities in SC and other cities across the country of relative size, You cant fly out to anywhere at the airport here, its not even an international airport, GSP airport is, and so is Charleston, and Myrtle Beach's airports.....there is no Immigration office in columbia, a state capital with no immigration office? Does that make any sense to you? Then there are other things that annoy me like how its not very ethnically diverse as it should be for a city it's size, but i dont think that anyone can really change that, although if we had an immigration office, and an airport with international flights it might help, noone supports urban grocery stores such as harris teeter when it was here, people rather go to wal-mart and piggly wiggly where the produce sucks........for those of you who have seen some of the harris teeter stores in charlotte you know exactly what im takling about, how it would be so nice to have a harris teeter like the one off Park Rd. in Columbia.......Columbia isnt very pedestrian friendly, in Charleston cars stop for pedestrians, in columbia pedestrians have to stop for cars.......thats all for now lol

[krazeeboi]

Wow, and we had to see it all repeated 5 times...LOL.

The retail criticism I totally agree with, although Columbia isn't always last to get things. But the city should be first more often.

As far as the "international" airport designation, as has been stated in the past, that's all it is--a designation. GSP is an international airport but has no direct international flights.

As far as urban grocery stores go, I'm surprised you so easily overlooked Publix in the Vista, which has been a significant catalyst in the redevelopment of that area and is doing quite well. I see Publix and HT as basically in the same league, so I don't see why Columbia should have both chains.

I don't see Columbia as any less diverse than any other similarly-sized metro in the South (outside of Florida).

As far as being pedestrian friendly, that's Sunbelt sprawl for you. Charleston is just a different kind of city in that regard. But even then, outside of downtown, not that many cities are pedestrian friendly in the South including (especially) the larger ones, although there may be pockets here and there.

[sojay]

Street level parking lots don't bother me as much as all those ugly parking garages, because a lot just looks like a potential building site to me, garages might not be demolished as quickly.

Definitely not pedestrian friendly. Hard to cross streets, not enough pleasant areas for a lunch break walk.

Not enough outdoor caf

[teshadoh]

This is hard to criticize, since it was an important feature of the city's design - but some of the mammoth wide streets in downtown. Mainly the N-S streets that lead to the north side of Columbia. These streets could be grand boulevards, but without significant medians or trees, it can look rather barren. This is more of the case where in place of 5 to 10 story buildings are nothing but suburban oriented bank buildings & parking lots. It's hard to feel like 'you want to walk' when it looks like a highway.

But I think it isn't as bad as it was 10 or 20 years ago, but this is just from my memory from visiting.

[Temeteron]

Im sorry i have no idea why it was posted 5 times lol

[digital_sandlapper]

This is hard to criticize, since it was an important feature of the city's design - but some of the mammoth wide streets in downtown. Mainly the N-S streets that lead to the north side of Columbia. These streets could be grand boulevards, but without significant medians or trees, it can look rather barren. This is more of the case where in place of 5 to 10 story buildings are nothing but suburban oriented bank buildings & parking lots. It's hard to feel like 'you want to walk' when it looks like a highway.

But I think it isn't as bad as it was 10 or 20 years ago, but this is just from my memory from visiting.

teshadoh, check out the "Greening of Columbia" string I started about the need for making Columbia's grand, wide streets into the boulevards they deserve to be. I focused on Assembly, then Elmwood, but there are certainly other candidates!

[teshadoh]

I'll try to do that, in the long run - it will benefit Cola to have those wide streets. Just as it did - supposedly - in the old days when malaria & other diseases were a big issue.

But those streets are so big it will take a lot of building up for them to fit in...

[digital_sandlapper]

Ooohh boy since you asked.......lets see.......where do I begin.................Lack of retail not only in downtown but also in the suburbs, lack of upscale restaurant selection, is always last at getting restaurants and/or stores compared to other metro cities in SC and other cities across the country of relative size, You cant fly out to anywhere at the airport here, its not even an international airport, GSP airport is, and so is Charleston, and Myrtle Beach's airports.....there is no Immigration office in columbia, a state capital with no immigration office? Does that make any sense to you? Then there are other things that annoy me like how its not very ethnically diverse as it should be for a city it's size, but i dont think that anyone can really change that, although if we had an immigration office, and an airport with international flights it might help, noone supports urban grocery stores such as harris teeter when it was here, people rather go to wal-mart and piggly wiggly where the produce sucks........for those of you who have seen some of the harris teeter stores in charlotte you know exactly what im takling about, how it would be so nice to have a harris teeter like the one off Park Rd. in Columbia.......Columbia isnt very pedestrian friendly, in Charleston cars stop for pedestrians, in columbia pedestrians have to stop for cars.......thats all for now lol

I agree with krazeeboi, you must've forgooten about the Publix downtown.

I agree with you about having more upscale restaurant choices to go with the ones we do enjoy. We really should have more. I'm a bit disappointed in the Vista's selection, which seems to be mostly chains or just mediocre. We need more adventurous chefs to locate here. The Vista Guild should actively pursue gourmet restaurants before it descends further into utter blandness.

Columbia is very diverse ethnically for a city of its size! We have a huge, contributing black community, an ever-increasing Chicano community, especially in West Columbia, a large percentage of residents with a Greek heritage, many with a Jewish heritage, and large Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern, and Latino populations, thanks to the University and Fort Jackson.

As for making it pedestrian friendly, see the strings on changing that. The Greening of Columbia string addresses this in depth.

Also, most residents of Charleston do NOT respect bicyclists any more than any other city. Riding downtown is especially death-defying, if you survive. I know, I did it extensively when living there the last few years before moving to Columbia, and also in the '80s when living there. The motorists do not share the road welll AT ALL. It was not a pleasant experience. There's simply no room for them in peninsular Charleston.

Columbia is blessed with W-I-D-E streets downtown. Let's put them to good use, and make them boulevards for pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists!

[digital_sandlapper]

It isn't so much something about Columbia, but I hate the state's conservative politics; I think Columbia would fit better in another state, politically speaking. As far as just a Columbia thing I would have to say a lack of confidence in the area's attributes.

Boy, you got THAT right about the hyper-conservative politics that we have going on in our city, thanks to those often imported (i.e., from less open-minded communities) clowns in the State House!

I am not completely against conservatism--I'm one of Gov. Sanford's biggest boosters--just narrow-minded boneheads that our state is unfortunately famous for. Ugh!

I think we DO have a lot of confidence in our area's attributes--just witness these many strings!

[BryCola]

Boy, you got THAT right about the hyper-conservative politics that we have going on in our city, thanks to those often imported (i.e., from less open-minded communities) clowns in the State House!

I am not completely against conservatism--I'm one of Gov. Sanford's biggest boosters--just narrow-minded boneheads that our state is unfortunately famous for. Ugh!

I think we DO have a lot of confidence in our area's attributes--just witness these many strings!

Let me ALSO agree about the right wing nutcase politics of this state. I LOVE my state, but dang... sometimes I'm embarrassed by the close-minded backwards people that run it.

[krazeeboi]

^AMEN!!!!!!!

[Hybrid0NE]

You cant fly out to anywhere at the airport here, its not even an international airport, GSP airport is, and so is Charleston, and Myrtle Beach's airports

Those cities don't have international airports either, you'd have to transfer in Atlanta or Charlotte if you want to get out of the United States from those cities. The "international" in those airports is used to give them more status, like Paris Hilton's use of blue contacts and bleached hair to appear as an attractive woman.

[waccamatt]

Those cities don't have international airports either, you'd have to transfer in Atlanta or Charlotte if you want to get out of the United States from those cities. The "international" in those airports is used to give them more status, like Paris Hilton's use of blue contacts and bleached hair to appear as an attractive woman.

That's a great analogy; kind of like what I've always thought about Charlotte. Tammy Faye Bakker would be a great spokesperson for Charlotte.

[Hybrid0NE]

That's a great analogy; kind of like what I've always thought about Charlotte. Tammy Faye Bakker would be a great spokesperson for Charlotte.

thanks waccamatt

[Temeteron]

somehow i feel that im too young to even know who tammy faye baker is

[Temeteron]

I agree with krazeeboi, you must've forgooten about the Publix downtown.

I agree with you about having more upscale restaurant choices to go with the ones we do enjoy. We really should have more. I'm a bit disappointed in the Vista's selection, which seems to be mostly chains or just mediocre. We need more adventurous chefs to locate here. The Vista Guild should actively pursue gourmet restaurants before it descends further into utter blandness.

Columbia is very diverse ethnically for a city of its size! We have a huge, contributing black community, an ever-increasing Chicano community, especially in West Columbia, a large percentage of residents with a Greek heritage, many with a Jewish heritage, and large Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern, and Latino populations, thanks to the University and Fort Jackson.

As for making it pedestrian friendly, see the strings on changing that. The Greening of Columbia string addresses this in depth.

Also, most residents of Charleston do NOT respect bicyclists any more than any other city. Riding downtown is especially death-defying, if you survive. I know, I did it extensively when living there the last few years before moving to Columbia, and also in the '80s when living there. The motorists do not share the road welll AT ALL. It was not a pleasant experience. There's simply no room for them in peninsular Charleston.

Columbia is blessed with W-I-D-E streets downtown. Let's put them to good use, and make them boulevards for pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists!

'a large percentage of residents with a Greek heritage' haha thats funny, Im Greek, and I've heard from several Greek officials that Charlotte has 14,000 Greeks approx. with 2 churches and 1 more on the way in a few years, Greenville-Spartanburg's Greek community is much larger as well, even Winston-Salem has way more Greeks than columbia which is about the same size city.....most Greeks in Columbia dont even know how to speak a lick of Greek compared to the other nearby cities, alot of the Greeks at my church dont even bother going to church because noone likes our priest because he has made our church more of an international orthodox instead of simply Greek orthodox...so there are several families who actually drive to Charlotte just to go to a Greek Orthodox Church and to have liturgy in Greek because our priest wants to make it mostly English.....as far as the Asian, Indian, Jewish, and Latino populations........those are sparatic and in certain areas mostly......Asians are mostly around the Decker/Two Notch area, the Jews are mostly in Forest Acres, a big portion of Mexicans are in W. Columbia and Puerto Ricans in the NE........its not that big of a mix......how many Persians, Swedes, Vietnamese, and Armenians do you know in Columbia?

[krazeeboi]

Tem, what ever would we do if we didn't have you here to remind us of what an urban paradise Charlotte is and how oh so superior it is to Columbia in every way imaginable? We give up. Charlotte is the promised land, and all Columbians should just abandon the city, hitch up the wagons, and head north up I-77 where all of their problems will disappear. We'll also christen Charlotte "New Athens" in the process. At any rate, what do you expect? As we keep saying over and over and over and over and over, Charlotte is a bigger city. If we were to compare percentages of various ethnicities with other similarly-sized areas, I'm sure Columbia measures up quite well. As a matter of fact, I remember reading Columbia having ties with people from an African nation, having served as a refuge for many of them due to political upheavals in their native country. None of our cities can hold a candle to Seattle, Toronto, or NYC anyway, so this is basically a cripple fight.

You say, "as far as the Asian, Indian, Jewish, and Latino populations........those are sparatic and in certain areas mostly." Ummmm, hello? This is true of just about every city out there, especially in the South. Even in Charlotte, many ethnic restaurants are concentrated on one corridor (eg, Central Ave.). The fact of the matter is that most of our Southern cities haven't really matured to the point where various ethnicities are significantly ingrained into the total life of the city so as to create a "melting pot" effect.

It's fine if you wish to complain; we all have that right. But if you truly want to make a difference, here's your opportunity to do so.