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So.. curious... Does anyone on here actually live in florence... Cheers

Not if I have anything to say about it (sadly, i have no say in it, but one day... MAYBE!!! Just MAYBE!!!!) I know it isnt Jacksonville, or Columbia, or any other city, but it is a nice place. I think the biggest problem there is that it does produce a lot of well educated people in Florence, more so than it can handle. It is trying to shake its image as a low class farming town... And people are slowly starting to see that, but it takes time. Personally, i think florence is a great investment opportunity. Things are turning around. Its slow. but its happening. My Hope is, if My wive decides to do the move, that the idea of someone in my field looking to move TO florence will help... Cheers

^ Sadly, I fit into your catagory. Born and Raised in florence. Went to College at FMU. Ended up in Jax as a Computer Programer. However, My wife and I are thinking about moving back in July. Dont know How easy t will be to find a programing Job in Florence, but we'll see Cheers

I wonder if this is the Washington Mutual deal. A few months back, Jacksoville's Times Union ran an article about WaMo looking at adding about 600 employees to the pay roles. Jacksonville was one fo the Locations. It also mentioned the Florence was one of the places it was considering for this expansion as well.

Flornce attempting Revitalization Plan for Downtown http://www.cityofflorence.com/news/index_news.html Hopefully some movement will come of this and Downtown can get cleaned up a little Cheers

Yeh, sorry spartan, didnt mean to jump down your throat... I guess that while it appears to be shaprly divided, the thng about florence is ther are 3 areas realy. Southside, westside and eastside... I know they work hard at trying to keep the schools balanced. Wilson High is still a little off, but i believe that is also where the Magnet program is. The city is trying to keep racial equity and it is getting better. Anyway.. jsut my thoughts Cheers

I think if you look at anyc city, you will find large clusters of mostly white and large clusters of mostly black. I dont know if you are trying to say that to support the claim the florence is dead. but if it is being used, it realy doesnt help. Keep in mind, flornece is still a small city, arent too many areas for people to 'move' to. Im here in Jacksovnille Fl, I bet if you looked at a similar map, you woudl the North Side looking very heavily black, the west side being a mix, mandrin area be mostly white, so on and so forth. But you would definitly see a 'split' in the city where a majority of white people live, and a majority of black people live. Is this bad, in my opinion, yeh, but it is a problem in EVERY city. trying to say florece is a segregated city realy isnt true. I reiterate... this is a problem in EVERY city in EVERY state. Peace

I Strongly disagree that florence is finished. 1) Land values are on the rise. 2) Medical Environment is increasing at a good pace 3) Big name stores are moving TO florence, not away 4) Florence is being considered for Washington Mutual Expansion (why expland there if it is dying) 5) Many many efforts through out the city to make it cleaner and more attractive 6) Roads are being rebuilt and widened 7) Decent sized Rail industry 8) Two major highway 9) Suprisingly busy airport for its size I could keep going, but you get the point. I Wish i still lived in Florence and could get on there Economic Devleopment Commitee, sadly, I dont, and thush cant, but all they need are good people on tstaff with vision. All it takes is one guy to start, sadly he passed away, but the bug is in everyones ear there now too... Florence is not a dying blight. It is a town finally starting to emerge from Puburty. (did any of us realy look all that great at puberty? ) She has some things to clean up. She has areas that need mroe support She ahs a downtown that needs revitalie. But the She knwos this, and is trying. If a true developer came in , you would see some serious and positive changes to the Landscape because the potential IS there... Anyway, I digress Peace

Always nice to see what companies are doing well in the area... http://www.morningnewsonline.com/servlet/S...ath=%21business Cheers

Heres the thing. There has been almost ZERO developement done to DT in years (excluding the new library). Even though the new projjects are Government. It still adds to the people downtown. With these comes higher paying jobs DT. Which can result in an increase in commercial developement and spending DT. It may be gevernemtn, but its a good thing no matter how you paint it. Cheers

Have they completed the Mcloed expansion yet? last time I was up, I didnt get a chance to go downtown and check it out. I remember back in march seeing it at what looked liek being toped out, but dont know if its opened yet...

Pretty Neat idea. (another example of Why I keep saying florence is a Medical Town http://www.morningnewsonline.com/servlet/S...&path=!news Anyway... Florence realy isnt a bad place.True down town could use some work, but they are getting there. (ie the9 story building that wacamat spoke of) Im realy crossing y fingures on the one. Cheers guys Josh

I know it may not look like much, but florence does have a lot of potential. If it is ever utilized, downtown has some great street level interaction [potential]. Almost every single building downtown has some sort of retail facing the street. Evans has a very nice layout in downtown. Problem is, DT has a bad reputation that it is trying to shake of being slumish. N one realy wants to move their businesses downtown, and they wont until DT is properly cleaned up. But there is a GREAT dealof potential for a real DT environment. Liek i aid, it jsut needs to shake its image. The twon itself is not a dump though. You go to areas like southside, and over near west florence, and its prety nice. Ther are ALOT of VERY nice houses at a fraction of the cost that you would spend in say Miami or Atlanta. Its population is prety well educated too. So, jsut because the DT is having issues, fortunantly, it doesnt reflect the rest of town... Cheers

Alrigt Guys.. So, if youve ever been to florence, you knwo ts not a bad city, just sorta hanging out though. So, What do you think would be some good ideas to spur some real developement in Florence. I mean, if you think bou it, its the only city of any size in the NE portion of the state (dont includ the beaches because thats mostly tourism), Its got a vast medical complex, it has acces to major highways and rails. So, What can be down to give florence a good kick Cheers

If you jsut include timmonsville, no more than 2000 ild say. Florence has been steadily growing in that direction along highway 76 that you dont realy notice youve left florence. Its been run down for many years, but its starting to come out of it. I keep hearing romours about FLorence incorporating it into their school system, which would be a very good idea, but Its jsut been rumor as far as Im concerned. My mom and dad grew up there and they botht hink they should just go on and consolidate T-ville into Florence. If they can get some real moeny flowing in there, t-ville could be a very pretty area... From erpsonal refrence, If they ever got the Downtwon cleaned up, it would look alot like San Marco in Jax Fl. There are so many large, and old (in a good way) houses in timmonsville, that if they ever incoorporate timmosnville, landvalue would sky rocket there. There is a subdivesion of florence not 3-4 miles away called Oakdale. Its one of the more expensive neighborhoods in Florence. The only diferance who 'owns' the town Anyway, i ramble... I miss Florence and jsut want to see her start to grow up a little. Cheers

http://www.morningnewsonline.com/servlet/S...&path=!news Personally, I think this is a perfect chance for things to start to turn around in Timmonsville. It is currently beingovertaken by florence, so, this would eb a perfect site to build some kind of office complex or something there abouts at a much cheaper rate than in florence. It would give the local economy a shot in the arm as well. One day, Ild love to see them revitalize there downtown though and this would be a good jumpstart. it has the perfect sorta small town downtown charm about it, but since there are so few tenants, it jsut looks beat (my dad is one of the few tenants there) Anyway, if they use that land wisely, they might be able to start to revitalize it some as Florence starts to over take it. Just my thought though Cheers

Somehting to consider for a cool october night... http://www.morningnewsonline.com/servlet/S...d=1128767739599

Right now it looks like Jackosnville might get it, but I wanted to post it here... Washingtonm Mutual to expand... florence is in the running http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stor..._19997890.shtml

Agreed Metro... I think We have FAR to much reliance on the car in the U.S. part of the reason there is so much sprawl. If there was an effective Mass transit system, I would prefer that any day over my car... Seriosuly though.. Americans are VERY lazy in general when it comes to stuff... Not america bashing, jsut an observation.. walking isnt an issue in almost every single other country.. for some reason, it is here.. (hell, we cant even get people to walk in wal-mart anymore... freakin' mart carts...) Cheers

Thought... If JTA is smart, now would be the time to push for more money for a Mass Transit system. $4 a gollon comming soon? Geez, Im thinking about taking the bus to work.. and I hate buses... Anyway,,, Just a thought Cheers

Skyway - Failure? I think we have yet to see the last of the skyway. Once all of the residental towers start coming on line, I have a feeling this will change... Waterway - Skeptical at best for the reasons Captian said Communter Rail - Cool.. lets jsut hope we can get usage out of it... Hub - Crossingmy fingures we aill see mid 206 ground breaking. I also think this will be a great shot in the arm for Lavilla, however, i doubt we will see anything until after the courthouse issue is atleast solved... maybe 2017? Cheers Josh

Riverside does have a point though. I don't think it will be supported by the right demographics. How is making a nice building going to imporve ridership on the skyway/buses/train. Until they start implimenting some sort of more expanded mass transportation like light rail that goes from the Airport to avenues. You need to have the destinations for you to have a hub, and right now, we dont have the right destinations to support wider ridership. cheers Josh