OT: Well, how are your little old Fireflies doing? Have they done all
- Thread starter Freddie.B.Cocky
- Start date
Well, it doesn't sound like it has worked out for you. So the little old Fireflies aren't living up to their billing, even in your mind.
USCBatgirl21
Well-Known Member
I wouldn't say that the team itself isn't, but the overall development plan for the area has certainly not lived up to expectations. Not in the slightest.
Hmmmm . . . I'm not so sure about that. USC owns a big chunk of property much closer to the campus core than the old mental hospital site . . . and they've been adding to it recently. Plus, USC wants to get into the AAU (American Assoc. of Universities) and that highly regarded group is real 'funny' about the location of 'on campus' med schools as in . . . that's where they want them to be
located. We'll see.
No, no you can't blame the city for poor area development, it's clearly the fault of the local minor league baseball team. There's so much violence in Myrtle Beach because of the damn Pelicans!
The on-campus space I've heard talked about is way too small IMO. (Area around Cornell Arms, the old Sandy's Hot Dogs, etc.) The Bull Street site has the advantage of being across from Richland Hospital (where USC has facilities) and it already looks like a college campus with 100 year old trees and such. You can't snap your fingers and get a site like that.
I haven't heard any chatter about us getting in the AAU -- I'd love to see it though. Pastides has certainly raised our research profile during his tenure.
USCBatgirl21
Well-Known Member
Aren't there already plans for that area too, which were in place before USC acquired it? I thought I read that, but the memory...(getting old sucks).
USCBatgirl21
Well-Known Member
There's a plan for stuff like streetscaping but it didn't have major building news in it that I recall. Can't find a pic of the map right now but what it showed was:
-Parking lot behind Wardlaw converted to green space
-Parking lot on corner near old law school/SC Bookstore converted to green space
-Byrnes building torn down and converted to green space
-Street narrowed, made better for bikes/pedestrians
USCBatgirl21
Well-Known Member
Gotcha! With all the new buildings they are putting up in what used to be parking lots, a parking garage (or two) might be a good idea.
At least they included one in the plans for the old Bates area.
it took a few yrs for fluor field area to take off.........liberty tap & mac's were nice anchors
Be glad you are not in Cobb County, Ga. Taxpayers there are on the hook for 30m a year for the next 30 years. As a result,the county has a huge deficeit this year(first year) and they are looking at closing parks and libraries. Last night the county commissioners voted to take $$ from the water department to make it up. By the way, all the revenue from parking, concessions and money from The Battery(restaurant, hotels and gift shops) goes to Liberty Media one of the richest companies in America. Some quip that the stadium should be named Cobb Taxpayer's Stadium.
Well if Bull Street ends up anything like that, I'm all for my tax dollars going toward it.
The rationale for locating at the Bull st site has to do with the close proximity to Palmetto Richland Hospital, which is the major partner to the Medical School where so much of its operations is located. Location wise it does not make much sense to locate the Med School on campus. Of course this is not good for the city as the university does not pay property taxes and this would remove yet one more piece of valuable property from the tax roles. The on campus property is already tax exempt so it would not matter to the City if it were built there.
NO, not the Cornell Arms or the current SCDOT building in the Vista, either, but it IS a nice location and is contiguous to the campus proper. We'll see.
I grew up on the corner of Bull and Franklin, believe it was 2229 Bull Street. As a child, the old state hospital was in full swing, and we had a lot of patients knocking on our door...LOL
My old home is now a lawyer's office and each time I get to Columbia I go by and let memories run. And It just doesn't seem right, without the hospital.
I do hope the city finally gets it right. That really is some good land.
My old home is now a lawyer's office and each time I get to Columbia I go by and let memories run. And It just doesn't seem right, without the hospital.
I do hope the city finally gets it right. That really is some good land.
That is the part I was referencing. Example, The Drive in Greenville have really contributed to the West End section.
Y’all really are some haters. I’ve been to several Fireflies games this season and I have loved it. It’s a beautiful park, even better than ours IMO, and the food + drink options are fantastic. The area around it is not a finished product, but businesses are slowly buying in (see Bone-In BBQ). As someone else pointed out, the area around Founders isn’t fantastic either, and the area around W-B was pathetic for years before it started getting some attention.
Believe it or not, you can be a fan of USC athletics and enjoy minor league baseball. Their seasons don’t even overlap by much. I wasn’t initially a supporter of the plan to build the stadium, I thought that money should be used to fix our infrastructure, but if this area takes off the way it’s projected to, it’s going to be a serious gem in the middle of our city. As a guy who works downtown and lives just outside, I see the momentum that areas like Main Street are gathering. Maybe some of y’all should visit. Good things are happening.
Believe it or not, you can be a fan of USC athletics and enjoy minor league baseball. Their seasons don’t even overlap by much. I wasn’t initially a supporter of the plan to build the stadium, I thought that money should be used to fix our infrastructure, but if this area takes off the way it’s projected to, it’s going to be a serious gem in the middle of our city. As a guy who works downtown and lives just outside, I see the momentum that areas like Main Street are gathering. Maybe some of y’all should visit. Good things are happening.
What projections are you referring to? I've seen no such projections. All I have seen is 5 years of malaise and a lot of cancelled contracts. They even fired the marketing firm headed up by a family member of the developer because they could not recruit tenants to the area. It may yet turn out to be something positive, but so far there are little signs that it will at the moment. I suspect if it does it will not be what they originally envisioned. I think it may end up being more of a commercial office complex, assuming there is a future demand for more office space in the downtown area.
It would be a shame for it to just turn into commercial office space. I am not in favor of the hospital being torn down anyway...too much history.
Fireflies games are definitely a good time, and the folks in their organization do a great job at the park. That said, the surroundings suck. It is a square peg in a round hole, and I don't see any change coming soon. You can’t force people to move there or to invest there.
I'm sure many pockets were lined in this deal, and I don't see a ROI anytime soon. It would take something drastic to change the fortunes of that area, and I hope it doesn't include another penny of taxpayer money.
I'm sure many pockets were lined in this deal, and I don't see a ROI anytime soon. It would take something drastic to change the fortunes of that area, and I hope it doesn't include another penny of taxpayer money.
USCBatgirl21
Well-Known Member
Exactly. They wanted families to move in there, but that wasn't going to happen with the schools the area is zoned for. I know they talked about a charter school being built to draw families in, but I don't see the community/tax payers supporting that idea either. If you're going to do that, why not use that money to improve the schools in the area? But that just makes too much sense.
Columbia should have a pro baseball team to remain competitive in attracting industry and service industry jobs. I am in a small western city and attended a Rookie league game yesterday. My wife, who enjoys the Fireflies, also enjoyed this game. Attendance was less than 1,000 but it was exciting. The teams play with wooden bats, and the beer was cold (same as the Fireflies). I will support the Columbia team as well as Carolina.
I am a fan of USC sports and I also enjoy the fireflies games. I think it is super easy to attend a game which is why I go. Good tickets can be purchased for my family of 4 for 5-10$ per ticket. Food and drink specials. Lots of things for the kids to do.
I do not understand the whining over the parking, for how cheap the tickets are, just pay the 4$ and walk 5 minutes. If you cant walk, they drive you via bus from your car to the front steps. The walk at the the fireflies games is shorter than my walk from my fairgrounds tailgate spot to my seat at WB. So what if the parking lot is not paved, it is not like it is a muddy mess. Guess some may be allergic to grass. I also think it is kind of cool that there is an abandoned mental hospital over the fence in right field. Half price drinks on Thursday causes the sports bar area in center field to get pretty busy. Not to mention the awesome fireworks on the weekends. Got a friend who works at the childrens hospital who told me that the kids line up to watch the fireworks.
"abandoned mental hospital".......abandoned?, not really, they just turned em loose n the city
......sorry, saw my chance & had 2 take it!Families in this area settle to Lexington County because the best schools in the State are there. US News had 2 of the top 6 schools in the State in Chapin alone with Chapin & Spring Hill.
It also happens to be the best baseball communities in the Midlands are in Lexington County. A ballpark near the lake would've done better and would've brought more development to a growing area. Of course the problem is the roads can't handle that growth in many Lex County Communities
Sir, what IS IT that makes us want to go back to the places we grew up? I do the same thing when I visit Greenville, (at least most times). There is something that all but makes me drive by the place where I spend most of my childhood years in Greenville. And I will usually stop and reminisce for a few minutes. Those were mostly hard times we lived in that section of town but for some reason I always have to ride by where we once lived.
