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By the way.... i know this isnt the best of sources, but someone i know emailed Chili's to see if they might be sowing up in florence any time soon. They responded with May-june. Dont knwo fi that means make an announcement in May june, consturction starts, or (less likly) opening, but according to the email, they should be here shortly. so.. YEHAW... ALSO... I never saw it on the web site, but i saw it in the paper. Aparantly, City council is begin the process of looking into better ways of Managing DT including types of tax breaks. They sound like they are in the initial stages and are looking for feed back. EVERYONE... IF YOU HAVE AN INTEREST IN FLORENCE, EMAIL RESPECTIVE COUNCIL MEMBERS AND LET THEM KNOW WHAT YOU THINK... trust me, our voices do get heard, but we have to speak up. If you want DT to be revitalized... ehre is your chance to take action... Regards

I've thought about the same thing too with respect to the new high way... Ive come to the following conclusion.. 1) It wont effect the daily traffic to and from florence very much. This is because.. say you are coming from dillon.. You can go your normal route and be in florence in 30-45 minutes... or you take the new shiny highway and be at MB in an 1:15 to 1:30. Still going to be a longer drive. Florence MAY loose soem traffic from towns that are along the corridor that are closer to the beach, but ti will probably pick up some traffic from areas that are along th corridor but west of 95, so, ultimatly it will be a wash. 2) When people come blazing through florence to get to the beach, IF they stop, they will stop right there at i-95/i-20 merger or the 53/i-95 exit. Once you pass the mall area, most of the restraunts are smaller family owned in general and typically would be visited by locals only. Due to the fact that there is an enormous amount of traffic that comes down 95 and 20 on a regular basis anyway. this wont be effected. Also, keep in mind that people that woudl be coming from the west and north along the new highway heading to say Miami, before, they woudl have probaly join up with i-26 around columbia or soemthing and would have popped onto 95 much further south. Now, those wanting to travel south along 95 will alos be popping out between the bennetsville and dillion exits. which means more people will be passing by our exits. Again, we will lose some, but we will probably pick up soem as well. Ultimatly, again, it will probably be a wash. 3) That being said, I do worry about towns like Marion, Reins and Aynor. This highway could put a serious damper on their economies... but then again, i could also be very wrong on all of this. Cheers

Well... that jsut bites... Well.. Im not going to complain about projects that increase density and bring more jobs, but i do wish it could have been more down town... oh well... still good news though. Any idea when they break ground? Cheers

have you heard where the bank is suppose to go and/or construction date?

Change subject... Any body have any good pictures of the various buildings going east to the end of evans starting at irby (trust building) I am working on an idea and need pictures if you got 'em Thanks

Well, in situations like this. Yes, you have to be careful with what the Poloticians do with those funds. But again, thats were we as the citizens come in. Our duties dont always end at the voting booth. If we dont want our elected officials to squander it, then we need to keep them accountable. Watch them and if it looks like they are abusing the funds... call them on it. There are things we can do to keep abuses from happening. it jsut involves us being involved to. Cheers

Off topic... Anyone know 1) The name if the 7-8 story building on the corner of irby and Evans. (I think its the Trust Building, but not sure) 2) If it is abandonded or currently occupied 3) Who currently holds it Cheers

Flo, I think you will find there are more educated peple in areas like Jvile and Lak city than you are implying. While I disagree with scoop on the fundamental reasons on WHY there is the disparity between Florence and Johnsonville, I do think many people (even in the lower part) will realize that this is (if done properly) a very positve first step in getting more developement to move in that direction. Personally (and this si jsut personally) I think an expressway that connects to i95 in florence would do better at bringing jobs further south than an expanded road, but i also understand that there is niether the demand, or the money right now. But this is a very good first step. Asking for services like this, and then not wanting to help pay for it is dumb. The local government is NOT a money tree. they get the money from two sources, state, and the county population. If WE wont pay for our own services, who will. That being said... i think that if it does pass, we need to keep an eye on it to ensure that the money is spent properly. Cheers

Let em ask you something. While, i agree, the physical dynamics of where everyhting is located can cause problems (i think Vic would agree with me on that), what would you change. As mentioned, there is realy only one road between florence and Johnsonville, and the county is making an effort with this bill to change that. What other aspect would you change? Do you recomend we expand many of the side roads as well that get very little usage? Expanding that road is an amazing FIRST step. I also seriously doubt the county will do just this project as the county itself grows. and the county is growing. Also, I ask you to consider the logistics of the project. the expansion of pineneedles from ebnzr to sthbrgh (.8 miles) is most assuradly needed. There are realy ony two entry points in or out of that area, and that area is where a very large chunk of the population live. that .8 miles probaly sees atleast as much traffic as pamplico highway (last night, the southborough stop light was backed up all the way PAST ebenezer, down old ebenezer, and to HWY 76. Simply put, there is a bottle neck there that needs to be corrected. Are you saying that a neighborhood that has probably twice the population of all of Johnsonville gets no improvment? I understand compeltely that the county cant just look at florence. Thats what this plan is helping with. But to deny services to other jsut as needed areas (like pineneedls and TV road) doesnt make any sense. Florence is the economic center of the county. I does suck that it si so far away, but like any other situation, if the economic center isnt taken care of, the surroundiung areas die as well. I want to see those areas grow, I realy do, (not to sound cheesy) but investments in the economic center are jsut as important in the long run as investments in outlying areas. Again though, back to the root issue, considering there really is only one road in or out, what would you do diferant abotu this... Cheers

Forgive me, but I fail to realy see what you are arguing against Scoop. Both of you agree that infrastructure is a problem Both of you agree that without proper infrastructure, no real progress will happen Why do you oppose expanding a road that will provide the very infrastructure that the area needs. Almost all of your business related traffic will originate in/out of florence. this means that there realy is only two roads that even truely matter in southern florence county. 52 has already been expanded and goes all the way to Lake City. 51 is the only other major road that will benifit from expanding and that is what is requested. Again.. i am jsut trying to understand exactly what you are aruing against... Cheers

Looks Like Johnsonville will be getting some jobs back... First for the Construction.... then for Operation New Santee Cooper power plant to operate in 2012 http://www.morningnewsonline.com/midatlant...10-24-0007.html As a note.... this will 1) require better infrastructure to the area (something desperatly needed) and 2) it will provide a significant numebr of High Paying Jobs. Cheers

While I tend to want to stay out of Scoops and Vics I would like to throw my two cents in.. Vic, in scoops defense, I dont think there is much of an argument that the Johnsonville area specificly is doing far worse on the economic totum pole. Scoop, in Vics defense, He is right about the lack of any real infrastructure in or out of that area. I dont think its so much a slight by the County Seat more than it is just a logistics problem. Lake city has decent roads in and out, and it is at a minimum holding its own. Expanding Pamplico HWY will absolutly help Johnsoville if i had a few billion to spare... and I were in charge, ive always felt that one fo the first things that i would do is take a freeway connector that goes from i95 @ florence, and loops down some how to incorporate Jville, Lake City, and Pamplico... dream i know, but just by looking on a map, you can see how issolated Jvilleis from good rail, and roads. On a differant (and good) note. Anyone notice the article in the Morning News abotu them reclassifying the Timrod area. Making it a historical distric of sorts. glad to see a focus on keeping and bettering the DT area... anyway... Cheers guys

I think its actaully really funny. Everyone wants to complain about 'how bad florence is' but offer somethign that can help and no one wants to go with it. Florence is a good place... Does it have shortfalls? A few.... BUT SO DO)ES EVERY OTHER CITY... if it isnt traffic problems, its amenities, if it isnt amenities its bad leader ship... if a tax is going to a very specified thing... AND IT WILL GO AWAY... as long as WE hold them accountable... you will see progress... dont complain about poor taxes in the past if you never followe dup on them and held the council accountable... cheers

More Jobs coming to Florence Auto products maker coming soon

Well, by adding the new FMU arts center, and by little theater apparantly moving downtown as well, this should give that significant boost. It wont fix everything, but it will be a big first step in the right direction. Some areas that the arts centers will help at? simly because arts are ussually visited by the more afluent on a whole, security concerns will be addressed on the days of shows. This will help that aspect some. also, people love to sit and chat before and after these types of events. Restaurants will come. the key here is what is florence going to do with this boost. like zach said, Foot Traffic is the key. no succesful city has a core without a large pedestrian city. we need to either clean up the buildings that are there, if if the city doesnt want to go that route, provide RFP's out the ying yang. Cheers

Center for Performing Arts slated to open in August 2008

More Signs of Movement towards Downtown... I know this was already mostly known, but atleast things are moving on it. whats even better is that it wont be too far from the FMU theater either... http://www.morningnewsonline.com/midatlant...08-24-0012.html cheers

http://www.morningnewsonline.com/midatlant...08-20-0008.html -------------------------------- While I can understand people being frustrated by changing dynamics of a neighborhood, It frustrates me when individuals automatically assume change is bad. Sadly, this is a very bad case of NIMBY. There are several issues that the 'association' brings up that frustrate me greatly. For starters, their 'concern' about the quality of individuals moving into the area is very telling. Are they implying that anyone that lives in a condo or duplex doesn’t care about their own property as well? If this is true, they should also be outraged when someone buys a house that goes up for sale in the neighborhood. You have just a good (or bad) of a chance to have a slob move into a house as you do a condo (call it what it is please... duplex has bad connotation that isn’t needed.). For this point, I am leery of their logic. Second point. If I were in charge of a neighborhood association, I would welcome this. Work with the developer. Have it so that if people move into the condos, they must be a member of the Neighborhood Association. More income to have more influence on the goings on in area. This also increases density which in turn increase the number of people that CAN be in their NA. Third, This neighborhood is literally 2 miles (if that) from the City Center. The city of Florence is growing and everyone that has lived here longer than a year can tell that. For a neighborhood that close to the core, you should expect changes towards indensification. If you moved into that neighborhood even 5 years ago, you should have known this would happen. Indensification helps cities, and neighborhoods alike over all in the long run. 4th and final, Calling a trend towards a denser core is exactly opposite of suburban sprawl, not a symptom of it. Saying that building denser projects is a sign of suburban sprawl shows these people have no clue what suburban sprawl really is. I say go developers, hope to see more of your work soon. Keep bringing people downtown. That’s what Florence needs. Cheers

Dont quote me on this, but i think i heard that if you include all of the developed area right around florence, the population would jump from 32,000 to about 65,000. I know thta may not sound like much to someone that lives in a city with 500,000, but if i city is trying to atract businesses, which looks more atractive, a large town of 32,000 or a small city of 65,000. These whole annexation laws are hurting all of SC because fo this. and as mentioned. it is actually causing more problems in rural areas than if they would jsut be allowed to annex in a normal fashion. Cheers

Yeh, I saw that. i dont understand why SC has to have such strict annexation laws. if you are effectivly in the city, surrounded by city property, or are so close that you basicly have access to all the city ammenities, you should be incorporated. its a rip off to those that live in the city and have to pay taxes so that YOU can get the same services and not have to pay for them. Anyway... annezation laws have always frustrated the mess out of me. Cheers

It seems to me that florence is growing much faster (albeit very quietly than many are realizing... Looks like things are fundamentally changing here for the better... as can be shown by this... http://www.morningnewsonline.com/midatlant...08-06-0003.html I know some will say great... its all low income type jobs mostly... well... how abotu some serious investments in the university... http://www.morningnewsonline.com/midatlant...08-06-0007.html Cheers Guys

Yeh, tend to agree the new website is a little on the poor quality side. but that withstanding, the information it is providing is still sound. I ussually corroborate the infomration if i can before posting it. Crappy as you may think it is, and it does leave a little to be desired, im not just posting it for people in florence, im posting the infomration for people who are well outside of the florence range. People in charlotte are now comenting on things said in the Florence Morning News ... Just trying to do my part to raise awarenes of a city trying to break out of its past.... Yeh yeh yeh... I know... Im an idealist.. Cheers

And in other good news... "Welcome to Moes!!!" (love that place by the way... very very excited) http://www.morningnewsonline.com/midatlant...08-01-0003.html And in other other news... http://www.morningnewsonline.com/midatlant...08-02-0008.html cheers

Nice piece of land jsut opened up for sale... Maybe we can get something other than a manufacturing type industry at the site. By the way, if they sell it, Pepsi is staying, jsut moving down 76 towards 95 some... They want to build a larger facility... larger facility = more jobs http://www.morningnewsonline.com/midatlant...08-02-0002.html Cheers

well, the area they are talking about is pretty run down overall so yeh, it will help. I love the idea that they will be putting a decent size park there. This will ceartainly help the area if nothing else. Also, the fact that very little has realy been built out there in a while (new home consturction) will help as well. Get some new faces.