Spartanburg Pep Rally

[hub-city]

I just wanted to give a "shout-out" to some of our newest college grads and young professionals who have not only decided to live in Spartanburg, but work to make it a better city. Iwas very encouraged after reading a couple of atricles in the HJ. (that in itself is amazing)

The first was about a Wofford grad who is staying and working to burst the "Wofford bubble". That is those students who fo to Wofford, but are raely involved in the community. They kind of stay in there little bubble, graduate, and then leave.

ARTICLE

To here that she is interested in urban planning etc... really excites me.

The other article today deals with a small group wanting to have a pep rally for Spartanburg. They feel like our citizens always focus on the negatives and they want to change that mind set. I just like to hear people thinking outside the box and doing something. Pretty cool IMO.

ARTICLE

Thoughts?

[goodbye]

In my opinion, every time someone visits downtown they should feel pepped up about the city. In other words, people should be feeling excited by the changes they see and that should translate into ethusiasm about the potential accelleration of positive growth in the future. If you need to organize pep rallies specifically to promote excitement about the city among local residents, then something is missing, in my opinion. If more people celebrate the city each day by participating in more outdoor activities around town and aren't afraid to venture beyond their comfort zones (in their cars and at places in the suburbs for example), then undoubtedly the negative perception of most would likely transform into positive enthusiasm.

[roads-scholar]

I just wanted to give a "shout-out" to some of our newest college grads and young professionals who have not only decided to live in Spartanburg, but work to make it a better city. Iwas very encouraged after reading a couple of atricles in the HJ. (that in itself is amazing)

The first was about a Wofford grad who is staying and working to burst the "Wofford bubble". That is those students who fo to Wofford, but are raely involved in the community. They kind of stay in there little bubble, graduate, and then leave.

ARTICLE

To here that she is interested in urban planning etc... really excites me.

The other article today deals with a small group wanting to have a pep rally for Spartanburg. They feel like our citizens always focus on the negatives and they want to change that mind set. I just like to hear people thinking outside the box and doing something. Pretty cool IMO.

ARTICLE

Thoughts?

[Spartan]

I think that there are plenty of people who care about Spartanburg. The irony is that most of the people who would care and be involved citizens are forced to leave because there aren't enough good paying jobs in town. This situation applies to a majority of people that I grew up with. Any time we get together back home, it's 1) always downtown, and 2) there are always comments about how much better the city is. Many of them say that they would move back if there were jobs, myself included.

As much as I dislike comparing Spartanburg to Greenville (they are two different cities with different situations), it is inevitable that our fellow Spartans will make the comparison. Perhaps people are jaded at the fact the Spartanburg is not catching up to Greenville? It's difficult to put our advances in perspective when Greenville is already where we'd like to be and it's so easily accessible. The thing is that when you look at Spartanburg 10 years ago, we've made tremendous progress. And even Greenville didn't really "pop" until their new Falls Park and the ballpark opened up. At least not in my opinion.

I certainly mean no disrespect to Ms Bunch's or Ms. Stoke's efforts, but there are a lot of organizations out there doing good work, and sometimes I wonder if its too much, and that one combined group may be able to do more good than several smaller ones. Perhaps a disproportionate number compared to the population. There are groups like the Hub-Bub, Hub City Writers Group, SPACE, The Preservation Trust, Spots of Pride, and now the Spartanburg Educators for Empowered Communities and Spartanburg Guerilla Optimism Team, (etc) that are all on a mission to improve Spartanburg either in terms of the physical or cultural environments (sometimes both). Those are the one's off the top of my head, but there are plenty of others.

My final thought is that I'm glad that people who come to Wofford from out of town care about Spartanburg. It's also great to see people being proactive about pumping up Spartanburg. It's going to take more and more people these to create change in order for Spartanburg to get where it needs to be.

[tdreamweaver]

The pep rally is actually being planned from folks associated with some of the groups you mentioned. We're not a new organization on a mission...we're just a group of people trying to boost the spirit in our community by rallying together and having a good time in the middle of an economic recession. We're not promising jobs or to fix the problems, we were just hoping to give those folks that do care and are active in our community a little boost because, I, for one, have been pretty depressed since the collapse of the downtown master plan among other things and I'm just ready to move forward and be optimistic instead of wondering where I can move.

[Spartan]

Thats good to know.

Though, you do realize the downtown master plan is moving forward again, right? Or do you know something we don't?

[tdreamweaver]

I am aware there was a meeting last month to move forward with the urban code that supports the master plan. Which is great and maybe one of those things that lit a fire to be more peppy. A little promise. Because I must say...6 months ago, when the realization that the plan had stalled...it was a kick in the gut. After attending those meetings where I really felt like my input and time mattered and arguing with people that THIS plan would not be put on a shelf...it was a lot to take when I thought it just might end up there.

So we're taking the positive route. We're reinvesting. We're saying we're here and believe in this community. Because we do. Some of us here, who are lucky enough to have professional jobs today want this to be a place where people like the posters here can find good jobs and come home and help us! We need it. Spartanburg deserves it because it is a great community. So y'all come to the rally. We don't know what it's going to end up being...we've never done anything like it. But, I figure if people can spend tons on supporting sports teams and such...why not show a little community support for a change? It will be nice to feel good. So y'all help us get people there.

[Spartan]

In re-reading my post, I hope I didn't come off as too negative. I hope this event is a success, and at the very least, it gets the right people networking to make bigger and better things happen in Spartanburg.

[Spartan]

Here is a link to the event's website: http://www.showupforspartanburg.org/

[hub-city]

Did anyone go? I wanted to but couldn't get out of work.

[roads-scholar]

Did anyone go? I wanted to but couldn't get out of work.

[Spartan]

Along these lines, Im guessing this group- Citizen Spartanburg- came out of this event. I like their MO. This will be an asset so long as it gains momentum.

]Citizen Spartanburg