Columbia Good & Bad

[Spartan]

This was an article in The State today, I'm just posting what I thought were the highlights. Here is the link to the full article:

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/business/9699563.htm

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BUSINESS IS GOOD BUT NOT GREAT

Columbia has a good business climate, the group

[krazeeboi]

This is an old article, but let me ask: how have things changed?

[Spartan]

lol, you sure dug this one up from the depths of the forum- back when posting this kind of thing was still ok to do...

I think its still about the same.

[krazeeboi]

^I don't think I'd say that. I'd say that there has been significant improvement since this article was written.

I think the city is coming to rely more on non-government jobs to help drive the local economy. For instance, from March 2006 to March 2007, Columbia experienced much of its job growth in the professional/business services and transportation, warehouse, and utlities industy sectors (7.9% and 4.2%, respectively). Government jobs only grew by 1.6%. Also, I think SCANA's departure is really lighting a fire in terms of actively recruiting firms and other businesses downtown. There's still more that the city can do, but I think we're beginning to see tangible results in this regard.

Regional cooperation, or lack thereof, is still an issue (particularly between the city and the county), but nothing demonstrates the improvement of town and gown relations better than the establishment of Innovista. Getting the Guignard family to sign on was also a very significant accomplishment.

The other issues mentioned are more related to our shortcomings as a state rather than of Columbia specifically.

[Spartan]

True. Perhaps the issues are the same, but I still think its "good but not great." Though I can agree its better than it used to be. My opinion comes from issues like SCANA's departure, the lack of regional cooperation in many instances (eg- CMRTA funding, the greenway), and issues like that.

I can agree that I think the state of things is beet in general form three years ago- especially if you look at what has happened downtown during this timeframe.

[krazeeboi]

True. Perhaps the issues are the same, but I still think its "good but not great." Though I can agree its better than it used to be. My opinion comes from issues like SCANA's departure, the lack of regional cooperation in many instances (eg- CMRTA funding, the greenway), and issues like that.