Yahoo Movies The future of SC: 7 cities will shape us. Are they ready to meet major challenges?
South Carolina has never been a big-city kind of state. Reputationally speaking, we punch above our weight with modest size and big personalities, from the ambitious halls of the State House in Columbia to the bustling business hubs of Greenville to the tourist-scattered coastline stretching from Myrtle Beach to Hilton Head.
Quaint though we may sometimes seem in the eyes of the nation, South Carolina ranks among the fastest-growing states in the union. People are pulled here. And as we grow, life in the Palmetto State increasingly gravitates toward and revolves around our urban (or urban-ish) centers of business, government, tourism and pleasure.
Seven cities hold the power to shape the future identity of South Carolina: The understated but increasingly praised capital, Columbia, and its smaller but faster-growing neighbor, Lexington; the Upstate industrial mecca, Greenville; the world-class Lowcountry gem of Charleston and its genteel, lower-country cousin Hilton Head Island; the flashy tourist hub of Myrtle Beach; and Rock Hill, nextdoor neighbor to one of the South’s largest cities.
Each of these cities holds enormous potential to sway the character of South Carolina.
But for each city, one big question looms that will make or break its success over the next 20 years. They must answer those questions starting now; their future is in the hands of their present. Are they up to their challenges?
COLUMBIA: A capital city that talks a big game but moves at glacial pace
Columbia’s got big dreams. It talks a lot about who it wants to be and what it wants to do as a city — from taking full advantage of its beautiful riverfront to landing destination-worthy businesses to finally fixing Finlay Park. But Columbia’s future hinges on whether it can get past talking about so many of its long-held dreams and actually execute on them.
Will South Carolina’s capital progress at a snail’s pace? Or can talk turn into action and turn Columbia into a Raleigh or an Austin, Texas? As one young resident who’s working to make change put it, “We have dreams, but ... are we going to work toward our potential, or will we continue to see some things we’ve seen in the past?”
OPINION: Columbia’s key to a bright future? Education is the equalizer and must be prioritized
CHARLESTON: A crown jewel that could lose its authentic sheen
Are you a “come’yah” or a “been’yah”? More and more, people living in Charleston are “from off,” while many people who grew up in and around the Holy City can’t afford to stick around, or don’t want to.
In a city whose popularity is built on the authentic soul of the South, leaders and residents fear “Disneyfiction.” But as out-of-towners flood here to find new homes, locals can’t help but wonder if anyone actually will be from Charleston in the future. As the population shifts, in 20 years, will this Southern destination be little more than a seersuckered caricature of itself?
OPINION: Charleston’s future lies in eliminating the wealth gap for African Americans
GREENVILLE: A city that has blossomed, but not for everyone
Greenville will spend the next 20 years fixing what the last 20 years have wrought. The Upstate city has grown its way to a lively downtown, a hub for big industries and an increasingly popular reputation. That’s the widely told Greenville Story.
But the consequences are an increasingly less diverse population and increasingly unaffordable neighborhoods threatened by commercial creep. Now, the city promises to listen to the voices it ignored in the past and right some of those wrongs of progress. Will it? Or will Greenville continue to grow into a city that’s only great for some of its residents?
HILTON HEAD: A carefully manicured island facing an identity crisis
The secret is out about Hilton Head, a small-ish town with a big reputation and, now, bigger problems to tackle if it wants to maintain that reputation.
Behind the pristine gated neighborhoods, lauded golf courses and glowing travel magazine reviews, the Hilton Head way of life is tainted by a slew of festering concerns — from crumbling infrastructure to at-risk beaches — that threaten its carefully manicured identity. Those problems are complicated by a growing crush of visitors, drawn here by the island’s own relentless efforts to market its upsides. Will Hilton Head’s popularity be its doom, or can a new generation of leaders step up to create a sustainable “Hilton Head 2.0”?
READ THE STORY: Proud Hilton Head fights change of any kind. Will these 5 issues force its hand?
OPINION: Hilton Head is home, not just a place to play. Let’s preserve it while welcoming newcomers
LEXINGTON: A once-small town that’s growing too fast for comfort
While neighboring Columbia is trying to keep up with bigger cities, Lexington is, in some ways, trying to keep that kind of growth and development at bay. But the town might be failing.
Lexington and the surrounding county — one of South Carolina’s fastest growing — are grasping to hang onto the perks of a small town while increasingly grappling with big-city problems, from traffic and city infrastructure to school quality and housing density. Can Lexington have its cake and eat it, too, or will Columbia’s western neighbor grow too big too fast and leave residents fleeing for wide open spaces somewhere else?
OPINION: For prominent CEO, moving back to Lexington County ‘was the best decision of our lives’
MYRTLE BEACH: A fun place to visit, but not for young people to live
Low taxes and the beach have lured a lot of people to the Grand Strand — tourists, yes, and also older workers and swarms of retirees. But not new industries, and not young people, many of whom are moving away from Myrtle Beach in search of better jobs, better wages and more affordable housing.
Myrtle Beach’s economy is a house of cards propped up by tourism and not much else. Will it survive another generation, or will the local economic engine sputter before this region finds a way to support more than just retired transplants?
ROCK HILL: A border city that doesn’t want to be swallowed by Charlotte
The Rock Hill region has always been adamant: This place is NOT Charlotte. Got it? Not Charlotte!
But as the Queen City continues to sprawl, Rock Hill gets more crowded, more expensive, and, well, it’s looking more and more like the big city that people here said they didn’t want to be. In 20 years, will there be anything that separates the identity of this place from Charlotte? What does it mean to be Rock Hill, and what does the community need to do right now to keep that identity distinct 20 years from now?
READ THE STORY: Will Rock Hill emerge from Charlotte’s shadow or be absorbed by Queen City sprawl?
