mr. chips

See this article in today's NY Times about baseball stadiums: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/10/sports/baseball/baseball-anyone-anyone.html?hp&_r=0 "Attendance at ballparks can be pretty spotty this time of year, when it’s often cold and rainy in many big-league towns. But the first week and a half of the 2014 major league season has produced some especially bleak scenes…"

The worst part is the tacky white sheet metal siding on Assembly. And the weird combinations of colors and textures on that side.

Here are a few to compare it to - LOL: Columbia Business School in New York, USA Business School and Teaching Complex in Auckland IMI International Management Institute Kolkata in West Bengal, India FIU Chapman Graduate School of Business in Miami, Florida, USA Troyes Business School Business School and Chancellery Edith Cowan University. Imperial College Business School

Not just odd - it's downright ugly. This should have been an iconic building - but it looks trashy, with cheap-looking metal siding. The white metal parts that are now on the building, under the brown metal slabs that are supposed to look like wood, look like corrugated siding from a storage building. And compared to the Coliseum next door it looks like a trailer park.

It says something like "coming soon Stone River" and gives a telephone number.

I just noticed the sign on the old New Orleans River Front Restaurant (in West Columbia)- it seems to indicate that a new restaurant will be opening there. Has anyone heard anything about this, or is it an older sign that I just never saw before? What an ideal spot for a good restaurant, right on the river. Hope it has good food - it could be a real destination place to eat.

I think that the Moore Business School looks tacky with the aluminum siding. What a downer for what should have been a iconic building.

I don't intend to be "mean", but I hope that they teach you to spell better and write more grammatically. Your ideas will go nowhere if you can't communicate well in standard English.

Yes, but I would have hoped that there would be some kind of "master plan" rather than just a mish-mash. Consider how the Koger Center already clashes with the School of Music. And there is no continuity with the Health building next door to that. This is the gateway to Columbia, and the most important avenue in the city - can't they design something that fits with what is already there and helps to create the feeling of a grand avenue. Think of the spectacular settings of the Champs-Élysées with similar heights and similar building materials. Or the view down 5th Avenue in NYC. I don't mean that we should re-create those streets in Columbia, but this city has the potential to do something special - something with a unified design look. The potential is there - apparently just not the vision.

Is it just me, or is anyone concerned about how these two massive buildings will clash in style? The Coliseum (like it or not) is an iconic, stand-alone building. This Moore building is similarly big and dramatic - but the two of them together is like putting the Walt Disney Concert Hall next to the Parthenon. I love them both, but not together.

Let's hope it is on "permanent hold"! Or else that they get a better plan that fits the urban character that is needed in that location.

I noticed today that there is some digging going on here - has anyone seen what the plans are and how it will look?

This is UNBELIEVABLE - how can we allow this to take one of the prime locations in the VIsta? What a disaster for Columbia. Meanwhile, while Greenville and Charleston improve year to year, we fall behind. What a shame.

I didn't mean economic activity - I meant the fact that so many people in Greenville are so interested in posting and reading these comments is further indication of the pride and participation of those citizens in their community - i.e. the "energy" is reflected in the number of reader comments. I read recently that Providence, RI is going through similar changes - new riverwalk downtown, artsy place, good restaurants. Don't know about Grand Rapids, but I imagine that there is something similar going on there. My question is - why those places and why not Columbia as much?

It is interesting to compare growth in Columbia and Greenville. When I came to this state in 1981 I had to go to Greenville quite often - and hated going. Besides Furman and proximity to the mountains, I couldn't see anything attractive about the city. I was much happier living and working in Columbia. I figured that Columbia would become the next "in" place in the state, what with the university, and state government, and the fort. But over the decades Greenville grew and changed tremendously, and now it is a fabulous place to visit. Columbia has grown also, but not qualitatively as well. Grenville has a feeling of success and momentum. It is interesting to note the differences even in "energy" between the Urban Planet forums for Columbia and Greenville. The Greenville Forum has 1,086 topics going, while Columbia has only 487. The Greenville Forum has 58,419 replies, while the Columbia Forum has only 24,373 replies. Why did Greenville grow into such a nice place? Great leadership, the advantage of being on a major highway between two major cities, etc. And Columbia, by comparison, has had poor leadership, and is a very divided city - people from Lexington don't even like to associate themselves with Columbia, even though Columbia is the core of this region. Also divided school districts, as compared to Greenville and Charleston, which allows them to do some great things - such as their Fine Arts Center for the whole county. Columbia seems to be moving away from its core - witness Sandhills and growth in the suburbs. If Columbia is ever to get its act together as a great city, it needs to change this culture of division - it needs to unify governments, and people need to recognize that their future is tied to the success or failure of the City of Columbia.

That would be fabulous - and while we are at it let's get rid of all the railroads that go through the middle of town and turn the railbeds into trails and future mass transit arteries! It is ridiculous to have trains stop traffic on Assembly and not to be able to use all those acres of land between USC and Olympia. I know that this is wishful thinking, but we need real leadership in our city that would deal with things like this. By the way, who/what exactly is the Vista Greenway Committee?

Has anyone heard what is happening with the supposed construction of a bank branch at the corner of Harden and Blossom?

So far Gergel and Cromartie wrote back in support of having stores/restaurants/retail at the sidewalk level. Mayor Bob is out of town, but his secretary wrote that he would see my email and respond when he returns. I would suggest that you write to all the other Council members and show your support for having shops as part of this project. Apparently Mayor Riley insists on having new parking garages with street-level shops in Charleston - and it certainly helps to make Charleston a "people-friendly" walking city.

I wrote to all the City Council members, and have heard back from several now. I would suggest that you also write to them and promote the idea of having retail in the parking garage in order to create a more "people-friendly" downtown. I pointed out that if you look at the parking garages on Lincoln street across from the Convention Center, you see a cold and sterile environment, with no human activity at the street level. If we create that scenario in the heart of the downtown we won't have a vibrant Columbia for pedestrians. Even if the retail space is not filled for a few years, it ultimately will be - we must take the longer view in building the city. I asked them not to build a parking garage that is dead to the street. Here are all their emails, if you want to write. I would suggest that you ask your friends to write also if you agree with this! [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Sorry, but I think this idea is pretty ridiculous. Why would we want to copy another city, and pretend to be what we are not. Why not emphasize what we are, and what we do well (whatever that is...). That might be a more useful discussion. What should/could we emphasize that is unique to Columbia and the South that people might notice and remember? (By the way, it is "Times Square".)

Anyone know what is happening with Horizon II (corner Blossom and Assembly) - there was earth-moving equipment there a few weeks ago, but it is gone now and nothing has happened.

You are absolutely right. How sad, and frustrating.

I love a city like Bath, England where the entire old city has a similar look. Or Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The whole city is made from the same stone. There is variety in the details, and the subtlety draws you in. It is calming to the spirit. Even a city like Charleston has an architectural unity. I think it is nice to have common elements from one building to the next, rather than just a hodge-podge of styles, shapes and colors, like most cities in the US. Maybe that comes from our American desire to stand out, to catch your eye, to be "special". And the right to do whatever you like with your own property.

I actually like the fact that there is some "unity" in the color schemes and materials over a larger area - it is more calming than a mishmash of architectural styles and colors. Have you noticed that they changed the color of the Koger Center slightly - it is more beige and less white now, fitting the color of the new Public Health building on Assembly. But it contrasts with the stucco part of the School of Music building right next door - unless that will be painted soon also. I also don't like the horrible color on the top of the new Discovery Center building behind the Koger. That clashes with everything else around it.

Apparently the owner of the China Garden on Harden St. is planning to put up a new building there. The building will be four stories tall with retail space and a restaurant on the ground floor and three floors of office space. Parking will be on surface lots behind the building. The outside will be brick, and there will be some balconies and setback spaces. Although this new building will be much larger than the existing buildings around it, the plans do meet the new zoning overlay requirements for 5 Points. Also, since there will not be any public money involved, this project does not have the issues that were raised about the proposed project at the old Kenny's site that was to include a city parking garage.