What Columbia is doing right & what can be improved upon

[vicupstate]

It appears as though the business community wants to do something to boost the quality of schools in the area, particularly Richland 1. Schools have an important role to play in shaping a community's quality of life, so this is a good step.

A good step - provided it is MORE than window dressing and hot air. The city has had a 'hands off' approach to the schools for decades, despite an obvious need for improvement. The business community simply ignored the problem and sent there kids to the suburban schools. Will the city and the business community step up to the plate this time?

Nothing will bring people back into the city like good schools will. Dreher is a great example of an inner city school that offers a quality education.

Very true. Poor schools is easily the hardest obsticle to getting people to move back into the city. The Number two reason, whatever that may be, isn't even close.

[CorgiMatt]

Columbia is doing its water right. A friend just called me and said the Today Show on NBC just had a national municipal water-tasting contest and Boston and Columbia tied for 2nd place. Salt Lake City won the contest. They first narrowed it down to 12 and then down to 3. They used wine-tasting experts as judges. The friend recorded the show for me. Can't wait to see it.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19865855/

[krazeeboi]

That's interesting.

[TheCarolinaKing]

""Columbia

[Spartan]

Its in The State today...

http://www.thestate.com/local/story/124629.html

[Ellen]

[krazeeboi]

This would fall under "what can be improved" and is something that I mentioned in the first post in this thread, which is city/county cooperation. I have no idea why sometimes the most common sense things seem to be the hardest to be implemented (and this isn't just specific to Columbia). Mayor Bob needs to be taking the lead in this. That's the sign of a good leader.

[Spartan]

Thats a good idea. It would be nice to see that happen. It would take some major consolidation of zoning laws and other various land use regulations to make it work though. I'm guessing Richland has lower standards than the City.

[krazeeboi]

Wouldn't that be true of just about any county and its principal city?

[Spartan]

Yes

[krazeeboi]

Here's a recent article from this week's edition of The Columbia Star about the local chamber of commerce's "Navigating from Good to Great" initiative. The eight focus areas are briefly touched on and suggestions are given as to how Columbia can improve in each category. Here's a pertinent excerpt:

Columbia, through the mid- 1980s, was a little too comfortable as the home of Ft. Jackson, USC, state government, and the state's bank headquarters. With its fixed economic condition, Columbia had little need to grow and change.

Columbia can be called "good" in just about all descriptive categories, but it cannot be called great. Not yet.

[krazeeboi]

Here's an example of something being done right by the city. Columbia

[sonofaque86]

Her something in the state from a few days ago about 248,000 moving to the Columbia area over the next 30 years and how the city should grown. They will be having meetings throughout he city over the next month or two

http://www.thestate.com/news/story/194502.html

[krazeeboi]

The Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce is two-thirds of the way towards its goal of raising $3 million to fund the new nonprofit, Navigating from Good to Great Foundation, which aims to knock down barriers to greatness for the community, chamber president Ike McLeese said Wednesday. The Chamber really seems to be serious about this venture, which is a really good thing.

[krazeeboi]

Here's a good example of something being done right.

Regional business and government leaders have joined to create a forum where local officials can come together and discuss common problems and potential solutions. The initial participants are Cayce, West Columbia, Lexington, Columbia, and Richland and Lexington counties, but other communities might be invited to join later. The effort is being spearheaded by the Midlands Business Leadership Group and the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce as an outgrowth of the Good to Great effort launched earlier this year.

It's good to see this "Good to Great" initiative actually being implemented in some form instead of being just talk. The next step is the production of tangible results.

[krazeeboi]

Here's a pretty good piece by editor Warren Bolton at The State about the Chamber of Commerce's "Good to Great" initiative. A key excerpt:

While it

[Spartan]

City Council really needs to take a look at how the city is run. Perhaps its time for an overhaul?

[CorgiMatt]

The first of four articles in a series is in The State this morning about what Columbia is, how satisfied people are with it and how people feel about its future. There are some interesting statistics on crime, culture, perceptions, etc. I was skeptical when I saw that a respondent said he likes it because he feels safe due to its low crime rate, but there are a couple of crime rate comparisons to other cities that surprised me to be honest, and made me feel pretty good about crime around here, especially in light of numbers provided that show strong downward trends in crime over the past five years.

http://www.thestate.com/2010/03/07/1189632/we-like-where-we-live-but-fear.html

[krazeeboi]

I'm actually surprised by the balanced comments accompanying the article. Every once in a while it happens.

[Brookgreen]

Nice way to introduce yourself on a new board. Just to let you know, we don't make it habit of simply throwing out "hit and run" statements here on UP. We encourage in-depth discussion and dialogue, so I hope you will be making useful contributions in that regard.

At any rate, by "regional leaders" I'm referring to the mayor, city/county council, regional chamber of commerce, etc. And no, CAE isn't going to shrivel up and die. CAE will want to try and lure some other low-cost carrier or at least adopt the PTI model, which has not shriveled up and died despite close proximity to RDU, which has Southwest.

I apologize, I was not scoffing at your suggestion - it would be the next logical move. But I have no confidence in the regional "leaders" here. In reality there are none that compare favorably to what I have seen around the region.

Columbia has been steadily falling behind economically every peer city for the past 25 years. The decline started slowly but has accelerated the past 3-4 years.

Are we going to turn to Bob Coble? He's a lame duck and never met a problem he didn't think government couldn't solve anyway, (Air South). The City of Columbia is the most dysfunctional one I have ever lived in. The Tandy Carter issue is just the last in a long line of recent fiascoes. Poor Steve Benjamin's tenure is already marred by a horrible accident that his advisers refuse to let him speak about. To continue to run down the list, Ike McLease? The Chamber of Commerce here is a joke - how many economic development announcements has Columbia had compared to Greenville, Charleston, Charlotte and Raleigh? Harris Pastiedes? I like him a lot but his supporting cast is so weak it defies description. Innovista is going nowhere, in fact it is a black eye for USC and by association Columbia. The University is not even competent enough to to finish the buildings they own for their own recently recruited research faculty. It is incredible!!

Who in the private sector? There are no large corporations here to tap into for leadership. The only Fortune 500 company here is SCANA (unless they dropped out recently), and I don't even think their CEO lives here, I believe he lives in Charlotte.

I have spent the last 30 years hoping that Columbia could morph into something more than it is. But I have resigned myself to the fact that it is simply a government and university town and that's all it ever will be. We have had our doors blown off by Raleigh and Charlotte, and now Greenville and Charleston. I don't care what statistics show - I travel every week and I see it with my own eyes.

There is no Pat McCrory, Hugh McColl, Knox White, or Joe Riley here. Just a bunch of laidback good 'ol boys who take what comes their way. There is no perspective as to what is possible, no entrepreneurial culture and unfortunately there is a real antipathy towards business in Columbia.

Finally - the triad area has about double the population of Columbia, and substantially more corporate operations. I don't think Columbia has much chance to emulate what they have done. In fact our new airport director has already said he expects to lose 40-50% of the current passenger load due to Southwest's arrival. As a frequent flier (once a week) I am disgusted by all of this. My lifestyle is impacted by the lousy service we have here.

Congrats to Greenville and Charleston but for Columbia to miss out on this opportunity is inexcusable. And the midlands will suffer significantly for it.

[CorgiMatt]

You sound exactly like me. I am giving up. Next year after I retire from the state I'm moving if I can ever sell my house in this God-forsaken place. Columbia has been an obsession of mine from the core of my heart since I moved here over 25 years ago, as I have hoped and hoped for something big to happen here. This marks the point at which Columbia will begin to see clearly what it feels like to truly get left behind by Charleston and Greenville. The void in leadership here is sickening and disheartening. As for competition among the cities, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

It never hurts to hope, though. Here's some fresh news on the matter.

http://www.columbiabusinessreport.com/news/34188-midlands-leaders-region-must-rally-to-support-airport?rss=0

[SCxpBrussel]

I wish I could argue with what Brookgreen and CorgiMatt have said, but sadly I can't. My one optimistic hope, particularly regarding the Columbia vs. Greenville comparison, is that perhaps Columbia is just a few years behind in terms of renewal and growth. BMW was a coup for Greenville and the extent of the economic impact there cannot be overstated. Columbia has not had a BMW-level shot in the arm, but that does not mean it isn't coming. Nor does it mean that incremental growth and improvement can't be achieved without a BMW-level investment.

I agree that it is visible at times that Columbia is being surpassed, but I believe that things are, slowly but surely, getting better around here. Innovista may be a punchline now, but let's not forget it is a long-term project that tried to get started amidst the Great Recession. Southwest may have skipped over CAE for 2011, but once enough people eventually settle in the Midlands, air service will follow. Columbia's metropolitan population has been growing at a relatively healthy pace if you look at the Census trends. In 10 years, the circumstances will be very different.

Missing out on Southwest shouldn't make you give up on Columbia. We aren't locked out of the race forever. We won't get Southwest in 2011, but that doesn't mean other things won't happen later. If only a quarter of the projects that were planned for Columbia before the Recession hit actually take place, we have a lot to hope for and look forward to. Bad air service is something I hate about Columbia, but that doesn't outshine the things I do like about it here.

[clt29301]

You sound exactly like me. I am giving up. Next year after I retire from the state I'm moving if I can ever sell my house in this God-forsaken place. Columbia has been an obsession of mine from the core of my heart since I moved here over 25 years ago, as I have hoped and hoped for something big to happen here. This marks the point at which Columbia will begin to see clearly what it feels like to truly get left behind by Charleston and Greenville. The void in leadership here is sickening and disheartening. As for competition among the cities, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

It never hurts to hope, though. Here's some fresh news on the matter.

http://www.columbiab...t-airport?rss=0

Columbia has not had a lot of strong city leaders from what I can tell. I have never seen a Hugh McColl, Ed Crutchfield, Bill Lee, or Pat McCrory type person in Columbia. For that matter, I have not seen many people on that level in a lot of places. But, there is no reason to give up on Columbia. Contrary to belief, just because you get SWA does not mean you will become a top 20 economic development city. Lubbock Texas has SWA and ranked around 300 out of 366 metros in the economic strength rankings (Columbia ranked 115, Charleston was at 77, Greenville at 161). I doubt Charlotte will have SWA anytime soon and that has never affected our growth or quality of life (In know...the hub does not hurt). Columbia does need stronger leadership but, it is anything but dead. It does, however, have challenges to overcome (one of which is air service). It also has a lot going for it not the least of which is a good educated workforce, a major research university, built in economically stable industires (state Govt, Military), great momentum in a strong downtown (when that is becoming increasingly more important) and strong growth of about 1% per year over the past decade. While it is true that it is not Raleigh or Charlotte as someone posted, I would not hesitate to bet that no other SC city will be either.

[krazeeboi]

Some of what's being said here is fair; some is just reactionary and a bit over the top. I've said for some time now that leadership in Columbia is nowhere near as aggressive as it should be, at least economically. Bob Coble is just too much of a "go along to get along" type of guy, wanting to be everyone's friend and not rock the boat. That hasn't served the city well. He wasn't a bad mayor, but he wasn't a great one either--certainly not visionary. Having him be mayor in a strong-mayor system wouldn't have meant much since he wasn't a strong mayor.

That said, there are small victories that have been won that show that there is a solid foundation in place for future economic growth, if it can be capitalized upon with the right leadership. Innovista has had private tenants locate in space in the CBD while decisions are being made on how to proceed concerning the private buildings (my suggestion: hire John Holder). Trulite was lured to the area based on hydrogen research coming out of USC and located in the Midlands Tech incubator building, and could add up to 1,000 jobs over the next few years. The SCRA USC Innovation Center, completed in February, has had two high-tech tenants locate there. DHL opened a processing center in Lexington County this year that could employ up to 700 in the next few years. SCBT is doing well after their acquisition of a failed Georgia bank and is adding jobs. So let's not act like there is nothing going on in Columbia economically and that it's stagnating, because that is far from the truth. From 2001-2008, Columbia's GDP in private industries increased by 34.6%--behind Charleston's 52.9% but ahead of the Upstate's gain of 20.7%. The population growth is there; Columbia even ranked in the top 25 for metros experiencing the most domestic migration nationally from 2008-2009. And all of this is in place without particularly aggressive leadership, which gives you an idea of what could be if regional leaders would wake up. As I said, hopefully, this little recent Southwest debacle will serve as a big wakeup call to the powers-that-be to get serious about things before Columbia is really left in the dust.

[CorgiMatt]

Well, thank you Krazeeboi, for helping me calm down, not that this is about me and my nerves. I hear everything you're saying and it shows it's not over till the fat lady sings, not to be trite. On a different but tangent subject, WIS-10 did a report last night that showed the investigation into the mayor elect's traffic accident is proceeding within a completely normal time frame given all the research it takes to reconstruct a traffic accident. If he can get the accident behind him, I do think he is going to be a true leader.