Greenville Grit

[Cap'n Prowler]

Well, if nobody else is going to, I may as well. This is the type of thread I had hoped to create a couple years back when I was still living in Greenville. I would think it would get some good discussion going.

Wade Hampton Blvd. just a ways north of city limits. I always thought that billboard was a nice slap in the face to the neighborhoods it would appear in. This is from 2005, so this scene may be different now. Y'all need to start taking more current pictures for the out-of-town crowd.

And BTW, grimy alleys are what makes a city feel genuine.

[RestedTraveler]

^^ The scene along that stretch of Wade Hampton hasn't changed much in 3 years...I believe that billboard is still there, even.

[GVLbikeNboard]

Well I like this thread, so I'll post some pictures as soon as I can get some shots. That may be this summer...but it's only a week or so away.

[912]

It is funny that you mention Ingles. They do seem to be huge offenders of abandoning buildings without rehabbing them. I heard (not sure how reliable the info is) when Lowe's was looking for land on Poinsett Hwy that they approached Ingles regarding that property and that Ingles wanted an astronomical price for it. Is that not ridiculous? Why in the world would Ingles ask for more than whatever Lowe's ended up paying for the land that they ended up with?? Would have been nice to see that property bull-dozed and reused for the Lowe's!

[Greenville]

I totally agree with gsupstate's idea of calling out who is at fault in each picture.

[Spartan]

Probably thinking along the same lines as the quoted post above, seems if we are calling out areas that need improvement we should make sure that "ownership" is attached to the photo. If we want to bring about positive change through this thread, then the person, group or entity that is responsible for the problem (and therefore can remedy the problem) should be called out with the photo.

[StrangeCock]

Interestingly enough, that Wade Hampton shot is taken right in front of one of the aforementioned abandoned Ingles. And if what was reported earlier about Ingles is true, that would explain why it's such a dead spot.

In fact, that whole intersection sucks. The Hess is abandoned. The BK is now abandoned. The Winn-Dixie is abandoned. The old steakhouse that has been a million different restaurants is abandoned. The LJS was abandoned and thankfully torn down. The Arby's down the road is abandoned. And the K-Mart may as well be abandoned. Is there any word about re-development in this area?

[btoy]

Dirty little secret about Ingles: They're not a grocery company, per se. They're a real estate holding & development company. They know the value of the land that their closed stores occupy will eventually go up, and they will sell at a time, place & price of their choosing. The grocery stores are merely a way to generate extra income while the land they own appreciates.

[gs3]

As a side note, I've noticed non-Greenville forum members rarely contribute to the "pretty" Greenville threads. It will be interesting to see how many times non-Greenville forum members contribute to this "ugly" thread. Says alot.

[crescentmoon]

Interestingly enough, that Wade Hampton shot is taken right in front of one of the aforementioned abandoned Ingles. And if what was reported earlier about Ingles is true, that would explain why it's such a dead spot.

In fact, that whole intersection sucks. The Hess is abandoned. The BK is now abandoned. The Winn-Dixie is abandoned. The old steakhouse that has been a million different restaurants is abandoned. The LJS was abandoned and thankfully torn down. The Arby's down the road is abandoned. And the K-Mart may as well be abandoned. Is there any word about re-development in this area?

[DT-Gville]

Thank you, RT, for starting a new thread that is generating some interesting discussion!

[mbsurf]

^^ The scene along that stretch of Wade Hampton hasn't changed much in 3 years...I believe that billboard is still there, even.

[benjamesriddle]

Ah, the On the Border billboards on the way to the beach!

back on task!

WHERE ARE THE PICS?

[GVLbikeNboard]

Here's one, thanks RT for suggesting I bring this one here.

If you can't tell, it's at Falls Park.

[goodbye]

Pardon me for asking, but how in the heck is this considered "gritty" or "ugly???" It is a nice photo, but I personally don't see how it belongs here. He appears to be telling a story. Any more information you can share with us?

[greenvillehistorytours]

Interestingly enough, that Wade Hampton shot is taken right in front of one of the aforementioned abandoned Ingles. And if what was reported earlier about Ingles is true, that would explain why it's such a dead spot. In fact, that whole intersection sucks. The Hess is abandoned. The BK is now abandoned. The Winn-Dixie is abandoned. The old steakhouse that has been a million different restaurants is abandoned. The LJS was abandoned and thankfully torn down. The Arby's down the road is abandoned. And the K-Mart may as well be abandoned. Is there any word about re-development in this area?

[Vegas]

Has anyone here gone on the homeless tour? I have a friend who works for Homes of Hope and she has encouraged me to go - she said it's really eye opening

[Greenville]

Pardon me for asking, but how in the heck is this considered "gritty" or "ugly???" It is a nice photo, but I personally don't see how it belongs here. He appears to be telling a story. Any more information you can share with us?

[gs3]

Here's one, thanks RT for suggesting I bring this one here.

If you can't tell, it's at Falls Park.

[RestedTraveler]

Here's one, thanks RT for suggesting I bring this one here.

If you can't tell, it's at Falls Park.

[GVLbikeNboard]

Ok. Can do...

My friend and I were at Falls Park on a nice day, just above Overlook, when this man approached us. He was very friendly, in a "if I be nice, I'll get some money" kind of way. He noticed our cameras and began talking about all kinds of photo opportunities in Greenville, and somehow got on the topic of Downtown Baptist being the oldest church in Greenville. After talking a few minutes he proposed this brilliant idea: I would snap a few photos of him and Kevin would head over to the Subway and get him a roll of quarters...and after talking our way out of that we told him we had to leave.

So, how does this fit into this thread? RT commented on this on flickr saying how surreal it was...and that's true. You have this beautiful park with people throwing a frisbee, walking their dog, etc. And then there's this rather large population of homeless men (almost everytime i'm there i get sucked into a conversation with someone...).

"We have litter. We have graffitti. We have poverty. We have homelessness. We have crime. We have sprawl. We have traffic. We have eyesores. ... All sitting right along side of the things that we have all come to embrace and love about our community.

This thread is dedicated to that side."

So if there are any other questions I'll be glad to answer them to the best of my ability, but I think this photo fits in this thread just fine.

[Galley]

I know there is already a Target on WH, but I hate driving all the way out to Greer. We need one in that quadrant of town, IMO. Tear down the EmptyMart...oops, I mean KMart, and build a Target. This area really needs to improve.

[Greenville]

Good to know that nobody here thinks African Americans = grit.

[GVLbikeNboard]

Good to know that nobody here thinks African Americans = grit.

[RestedTraveler]

No - I didn't think that for sure (especially since I had already seen the photo and knew the story behind it). It's just something that people took out of context without the proper story to explain the photo. You know the old saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words." Sometimes, you'd be surprised at what kind of words people will manufacture for a photo when there are none provided to go along with it.

Homelessness knows no color or ability...and it's not just a problem for the poor, either ... well, I guess "poverty" is increasingly becoming a relative term. I've been reading online and in periodicals about the rising numbers of people in areas such as Silicon Valley who are making upwards of $70K/year and are now homeless becasue they cannot afford to pay rent or mortgage payments. CNN, especially, was focusing on this topic a week or two back. I cannot even begin to imagine this...especially considering that there other parts of the country where one could live quite comfortably on this kind of income.