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What should Greenville Aspire to Be.


Gviller

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I have lived in Greenville all my life and spent the majority of my time both business and recreation in Downtown over the last fifteen years.

I am interested to see what others would like to see Greenville become.

I know we are all proud of what we have and I think most on this forum recognize what a unique place Greenville is, however I am a little scared of the direction that our city leaders are taking Greenville.

I had the unfortunate experience of having to spend four days last week in Buckhead and I pray that this is not what we hope to be.

Yes there are tons of high end shops and restaurants and residences in Buckhead but the people and environment is something that I hope Greenville does not become.

My hope for Greenville is that it continues to be unique. That we will be far sighted enough to understand that big does not always equal good.

My hope is that Greenville will be a place that induces diverse groups of ages and people to visit and live, and many of the decisions that have been made by the city recently I think are contrary to that.

The fact that Greenville is not allowing anymore bars downtown and that they are trying to ban smoking is pandering to the wealthy older set of people who have recently decided that downtown Greenville is a great place to live, and is excluding the younger hipper college age and early twenties group that bring vitality and creativity to a place.

I am in my mid thirties with a wife and 2 year old and by all accounts a middleclass suburban average joe. But when I think of Downtown Greenville I think of people of all ages, races and monetary classes, and I hope that one day we dont wake up living in a city full of pretty new buildings filled to the brim with rich 50 and 60 year olds who just moved up from florida.

I hope that group is there, but I also hope that the struggling 25 year old artist can find his or her place downtown, and that the college students from furman still make downtown the hangout of choice. I hope that 30 something families like myself can find our place along side all these other people, and I hope that people living in the Greenville Metro will think of downtown Greenville as the place to go when they want to have fun.

In short, I hope that several years from now I am not sitting in some new trendy restaurant looking at a bunch of people who are so full of themselves and the new plastic surgery they just had done that they stick up thier nose at anyone who is not wearing Hugo Boss and Jimmy Choo's. I just hope that Greenville continues to be a place where everyone who can contribute something in culture, talent or dollars is welcome.

What do you hope Greenville will be?

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"My hope for Greenville is that it continues to be unique. That we will be far sighted enough to understand that big does not always equal good."

Unfortunately this will never happen whether Greenville becomes more like somewhere else or everybody tries to be more like Greenville the uniqueness will undoubtly fade to some extent....And some people are always going to fall for the old saying "bigger is better", a prime example is the recent obsession with trying to build 14,000 high rise buildings. Sure they're neat to look at and what a great post card they will make, but honestly, i'm never going to buy a postcard of this town and if i did i doubt it would be of the skyline, not to mention to many gigantor buildings can kill the human scale of a street and just make things feel cold and iposing...

"The fact that Greenville is not allowing anymore bars downtown and that they are trying to ban smoking is pandering to the wealthy older set of people who have recently decided that downtown Greenville is a great place to live, and is excluding the younger hipper college age and early twenties group that bring vitality and creativity to a place."

No more bars can be bad putting a limit on the numbers of bars can be a positve thing though, do we really want Main St. to turn into Bourban St.?

Banning smoking, i don't think that is pandering to the older crowd, it's pandering to the crowd of people who don't find it necessary to come home at night reeking of smoke or who want to go out and breath it all night just because somebody else is under the delusion that a cigarette is going to make them fell better, look cooler or they just don't have enough will power to give it up----don't tell me its hard, i given up smoking and far, far, far worse things....

The younger crowd is by no means being excluded...there's Bait Shack, Dixie's Tavern, Corner Pocket and many others that the young college drinking frequent...Although i do think there could be more stores downtown to cater to this crowd..

And not only old people have decided to live downtown....I turn 30 next week, i live downtown and there are several people younger than me that live in my building....

"I hope that group is there, but I also hope that the struggling 25 year old artist can find his or her place downtown, and that the college students from furman still make downtown the hangout of choice. I hope that 30 something families like myself can find our place along side all these other people, and I hope that people living in the Greenville Metro will think of downtown Greenville as the place to go when they want to have fun."

I think Greenville is trying to catere to the young and old artist, the recent studios at Riverplace show that and i believe with the popularity of them among artists that there will be more in the near future. Also you don't find a place among people....you have to make one. And i believe people will continue to come downtown for fun , unless a new hip art/park/restaurant/bar district opens up somewhere, but places like that develop they don't just spring up.

"In short, I hope that several years from now I am not sitting in some new trendy restaurant looking at a bunch of people who are so full of themselves and the new plastic surgery they just had done that they stick up thier nose at anyone who is not wearing Hugo Boss and Jimmy Choo's. "

It happens now, it just depends on what restaurant you go to, people will always look down on others for one reason or another.....that's the problem with being better than everyone else, someone always thinks you're pretentious :blush:

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No one is better than no one else regardless of what their ego might think. As a matter of fact if you think you are better than someone else that is probably a sign that you are actually less than they are in psychological health and spirit. All spirits are equal despite what the ego thinks. I know many less fortunate people that are truly happy and many so called rich people that are miserable. Look who commits more suicide. I would rather be poor and truly happy than rich and miserable.

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No one is better than no one else regardless of what their ego might think. As a matter of fact if you think you are better than someone else that is probably a sign that you are actually less than they are in psychological health and spirit. All spirits are equal despite what the ego thinks. I know many less fortunate people that are truly happy and many so called rich people that are miserable. Look who commits more suicide. I would rather be poor and truly happy than rich and miserable.
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