Sparkleman

I have lived in the Hillbrook neighborhood for 20+ years now and can only really recall 1 road being repaved in that amount of time (Hillbrook Dr) although there may be others. Since I grew up in Converse Heights and still have friends there, I can say that whole neighborhood has basically been repaved in that amount of time. I would not have a hard time being the last neighborhood to get paved because that's what it has pretty much been. I am not here to beotch, but to hopefully find some alternatives to the way the city has done business for the last 25 years or so. As everyone knows the roads in this city, county, and state are among the worst in the nation and no amount of tax dollars can seemingly fix it.

I am really looking forward to this. Most folks have no idea but this will provide a major boost not just to downtown but to the city as well.

I was thinking about this the other day as they one road paved in Hillbrook (Webber Way) is of such little importance I was shocked they even paved it as its a dead end road that houses some condos and townhomes. Surely Webber Rd would have been of more importance due to the traffic it receives but what do I know. If you look at the list closer it appears the city is trying to pave one road per intown neighborhood per year (of course Converse Heights gets 2 but that's nothing shocking at this point. To me wouldn't the smart play be to pave all the roads in one neighborhood one year and then do another neighborhood the next year and so forth and so on. Surely it would be cheaper as you wouldn't have to move all that heavy equipment all over the city and could concentrate it in one place. It would most surely cost less money as well. Just an idea but I am sure no one on council reads these boards.

The infra-structure is a complete afterthought. It's all about the Benjamins at this point. I almost feel sorry for the folks that move in here and find out the traffic scene has them screwed.

Holiday is decent but I think it helps that their atmosphere is pretty incredible. A brewery amongst other things in old Coke building would extend downtown and hopefully encourage further development in those empty blighted areas. Having that QT already is place is a nice building block and I never thought I would say that about a convenience store/gas station. I was in Greenville yesterday and the development around the old Judson Mill is mind boggling. That was as run down an area as you could ever find but is slowly being transformed. I feel Spartanburg can do the same with the right developers.

We could surely use another brewery as the ones we have now really suck. I mean all the other towns around us are adding at least 1-2 per year. We haven't added one in......

Looks like this might finally be taking off. Duke Power sub contractors have been out cutting down large trees as well as putting up new power poles some 10-15 feet behind the original ones as well as running new wire. There has also been new piping installed down near the end of Country Club Rd.

I just feel Spartanburg needs to move on from the past but not forget it. Duncan Park can be fine for SHS or little league or American Legion but its never gonna be a money maker. If we want a higher level of baseball, we are just gonna need a modern stadium with all the bells and whistles. That's the main reason our minor league teams kept leaving or being stolen as there were greener pastures to be had.

I am not gonna argue with you but if this is the best condition it has been in in years, why aren't they playing there this year? Oh yeah, no where to cook (really) and crappy bathrooms (they have been like that since the Phillies were here). I just don't understand putting more money into Duncan Park (for the however manyeth time) vs a state of the art stadium downtown that could attract a real team vs a bunch of college kids. The possibilities with a new stadium that actually generates money are endless vs an old one that loses it seems like a no brainer. There are solid financial reasons Greenville, Columbia, etc abandoned their old stadiums and built new ones in order to get a team. If you are in Boiling Springs and are going to one game a year, are you going to "Historic Duncan Park" or to see the Drive in Greenville?

I have said this for years and will say one final time. Please tear this eyesore down. God only knows the amount of city money and D7 tax money that has been wasted on this venue. Sometimes old stuff needs to be torn down and replaced.

Just curious why this is but why do Asheville, Greenville, Hendersonville and even Anderson continue to keep adding new breweries and we remain stuck at 4? These are the same 4 for the last 3 years. Those other towns add at least 1-2 per year or more and nothing ever changes here. On top of that some competition would be welcome as for the most part our breweries are horrible. Thoughts?

Actually the Local Hiker can't sniff the inventory and selection a Mast Store has and to even try and compare the 2 is embarrassing. I for one would be all in on a Mast Store even if it put Local Hiker out of business. The walk up traffic it would invite and positive energy it would create would far outweigh anything Local Hiker could ever do. Honestly I came away depressed the last time I was in LH. I am somewhat surprised they are still in business.

I guess the positives for the city are Drayton Mill Village & Vanderbilt Hills which sit just outside the city limits with get a fresh load of tar. Who knows the last time Drayton was ever paved.

This link is broken. Is there another or can you copy and paste?

I heard it also might become a QT which is slightly better but not much.

More news on Morgan Square: Sunshine on Morgan Square By Betsy Wakefield Teter Shady Morgan Nov 18 The future redesign of Morgan Square took some key steps forward this week when members of Spartanburg City Council met in small groups on Zoom with one of the most widely regarded urban planners in the country, Craig Lewis. Photo from Level 10 by Carroll Foster Spartanburg is indeed lucky to have a consultant of Lewis’s ability in its hip pocket. With clients all over the world, he and his Dallas-based employer, CallisonRTKL, provide global leadership on issues of downtown walkability, livability, sustainability, and landscape design. Lewis currently has a contract with the city to advise Spartanburg’s Design Review Board, and it’s nice to see City Manager Chris Story pull him in to initiate discussions about the future of the Square. Lewis, who lives near Charlotte, has always had a special place in his heart for the little city of Spartanburg. Word is, there soon will be an official Request for Proposals (RFP) for an outside urban planning firm to lead local discussions and to create a plan based on community response. It would be great to have Lewis as a partner to council all the way to the end. At this point, it’s worth talking about why the alarm bells went off for lovers of Morgan Square with the news that a redesign was coming. Over the past five years, there has been an intense lobbying campaign from prominent downtown developers and OneSpartanburg Inc. to increase the amount of hardscape on the Square, to create a space to serve thousands, to “leverage” it for more economic impact. This campaign, directed at elected officials, has included a questionable economic impact study, push polls about programming, the arranging of two flights for community leaders to view Sundance Square in Texas, independent pursuit of federal funding, and a suggestion to put the square into the hands of a non-profit entity. The 2019 economic impact study, co-funded by OneSpartanburg, the city and county, was a true source of concern. It indicated a “reconfigured” Morgan Square could accommodate up to 5,800 attendees at a public event. Think of the home-side grandstand at Wofford’s Gibbs Stadium at near-capacity—that’s how many people this study put into the Square. (An aside: I asked a downtown observer recently how you get 5,800 people into Morgan Square. He replied, “You don’t. You build crosswalks to Barnet Park.”) The concert venue at Barnet Park. Photo by Kevin Ruck That study also suggests a Morgan Square overhaul costing $9.6 to $12 million—something that could be disruptive to downtown businesses, not to mention putting some of the mature oaks and elms into the crosshairs. OneSpartanburg has been serving both as the city’s economic development department and as an impatient proponent of a substantial alteration of the Square. To its credit, City Council—despite an increasing propensity for discussing its business in private—has so far resisted the pressure to give powerful stakeholders what they have been pursuing. This is not to say we shouldn’t make adjustments to the Square. Bushes and mulch and fences need to come out. To take full advantage of the shade that’s been created, the Square should have moveable furniture so that when it’s not being used for public events like Music on Main, tiny clusters of people can find an intimate home there. A do-nothing fountain can become an interactive water feature. We don’t need massive events in the Square to activate it. Outdoor diners already have done much of that work. Now, white collar jobs are arriving, thanks to the hard work of local leaders. A growing residential population around the Square will do far more for bringing liveliness than any one-night giant concert will ever do. This week, a city board gave the green light to Greenville’s M Peters Group to design three residential towers along East Main. That may just be the beginning. On the horizon is a yet-unannounced Johnson Development project behind the AC Hotel reportedly with hundreds of residential units, retail and restaurants. This enormous project has been described as akin to the Drayton Mills redevelopment. (Can we get a food hall, please?) Just around the corner from that, Greenville’s Blackstock Development is said to be nearing an announcement of a big residential conversion of an old industrial site that now houses Cohen’s Clothing. Spartanburg residents care deeply about the future of their downtown. In these partisan times, it’s something that holds us all together. Meanwhile, it was good to see a recognition in the city’s new comprehensive plan that public transparency must be a part of the way forward. Lately, there have been an unprecedented number of City Council discussions in private. From 2016-2018, City Council meetings ended in executive session 44 percent of the time. From 2019-2021 (discounting Covid-related video meetings), sessions ended behind closed doors 82 percent of the time. This year alone, 95 percent of public meetings ended in executive session, all but one of them on the broad topic of “economic development.” Spartanburg residents care deeply about the future of their downtown. In these partisan times, it’s something that holds us all together. The more that discussions about downtown occur in private, the more distance the public feels from its elected government. And that brings us back to Morgan Square. Why am I so passionate about it? I believe that throughout its history Spartanburg has been too casual about its distinctive features. We have destroyed important historic places that could provide character to our city, and we have continually re-landscaped downtown streets that might today be enveloped in the shade of large hardwoods. I don’t want to see our city led down a path of compromising the intimate loveliness of the existing public square. In the five years since the lobbying campaign began, the Square’s graceful hardwoods have grown to impressive heights, revealing an enticing vision for this important common space. Let’s hold on to what we’ve got.

Not sure if its been mentioned or not but Star Lanes (a fixture on the east side since the 1980's will close at the end of the month for....a Circle K convenience store. Not sure that's what the doctor ordered but that's what we are getting.

Thanks for the info westsider. I guess I am just bitter about how and when my tax dollars are spent. I honestly don't mind being taxed, I just like to see results every now and then when it concerns infrastructure.

So if I am reading the tea leaves correctly, PAL is gonna put bike lanes in on Country Club Rd at some point as they have had all the trees that would be in the way taken down. I have to assume when this happens the road might possibly be repaved because God knows it needs it. However in the mean time the city decides to come out and patch the road AGAIN and makes the road even worse than it was. Who are the idiots that are in charge of this project?

I heard a medical outfit has leased the 2nd floor of the MB and is bringing 75 jobs with it. No idea who it is though.

Sophia's is the real deal especially when sitting outside now that the weather is cooler. The service is outstanding and the menu is very approachable and reasonable in cost. It's everything Renato's was not.

There is probably not a correct answer to this problem that was brought on by a pandemic that no one could foresee. I was around when the powers that be decided it would be a GREAT idea to make an outside mall out of downtown effectively killing it as djh1963 mentions. Is there any way the city could expand the sidewalks further out where the parking is now (basically eliminating it) to give them some more dining space and open the road to 2 way traffic? You wouldn't be able to park but you could still let folks out there and then go park wherever.

If the city or county are actually doing any real paving, I'd sure like to know about it so I could see where my dough is going. Growing up I remember see asphalt laying going on all the time by either the city/county. Now it must be subbed out or just not done and that's why people like me beotch about the roads all the time as there is little to no progress.

I haven't been since Wofford used Duncan Park for homes games and the Gamecocks came calling in 2001.

Yep, me too. I have been waiting for a big white collar project almost since these boards were founded. ESH was it for a while, then nothing.....