Spartanburg City News

One of the most overlooked ways a civic-minded Spartanburg resident can choose to get involved in shaping the future of our city is by serving on one of our City Boards and Commissions. Maybe you're a local architect interested in helping to ensure that new downtown developments follow the City's design standards or a local cycling enthusiast who'd like to have a say in expanding opportunities for...

If you've had the opportunity to view the three preliminary design options for the enhancement of Morgan Square, you've likely noticed that all of the proposals include an abundant amount of tree canopy. Owing to feedback from residents and stakeholders throughout the process so far, it's clear that the importance of natural shade and the welcoming feel provided by mature trees will certainly be a...

If you've walked down Wall Street in Downtown Spartanburg lately, you've likely noticed the new tree plantings installed earlier this year. While you may have admired the new trees and considered the shade they'll one day provide for visitors to one of Spartanburg's most picturesque pedestrian gateways, you wouldn't have learned the full story behind those hand-picked Chinese Pistache trees and ho...

It's been over 10 years since the last significant update to our website, which is something close to a century in website years, and while the launch of a new municipal government website isn't going to reach many people's threshold for important breaking news, we're pretty excited about it anyway. That excitement comes from all the new ways our updated site will allow residents throughout Sparta...

It began as a way to bring people in Spartanburg together and removing barriers to health care access, and after a hiatus of several years, Spartanburg's Community Health Awareness day is back this year and coming to the Dr. T.K. Gregg Community Center (650 Howard St.) on Saturday, April 22, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. The free community event will offer a wide array of health screenings and health education, a...

It's been a little more than a year since Hello Family—a unique collection of support systems for young children and their families—began operations in Spartanburg, and the capacity-building approach the initiative has brought to early childhood services in our community is already changing lives according to their annual report. The program is a first-of-its-kind approach aimed at significantly i...

If you're at all familiar with complex community redevelopment plans (or you're inclined to listen to podcasts about them) you know that an incredible plan without a strategy for implementation runs the risk of becoming little more than a document of empty promises, a recipe for disappointment and disengagement within a community. However, when a solid plan for sustainable community redevelopment...

It's been a number of years since the City Podcast has had a cohost to share the work of keeping our listeners informed on what's going with City government and the broader Spartanburg Community. As we ramp up our podcast production this year though, we're welcoming a new member to the City's Communications and Marketing team who will join us in bringing you conversations with leaders and communit...

It's a level of federal funding not seen for many years in Spartanburg, and for City Council and staff, that means the task deciding how to allocate our community's $16.5 million in American Rescue Plan: Coronavirus State & Local Recovery Funds takes on a generational significance, particularly for our low income residents. To give some structure to that discussion, City Manager Chris Story presen...

If you like to get outdoors to walk, run, or bike in Spartanburg, the coming weeks promise to be an exciting time as two popular local trails are set to see extensions completed soon! First, Spartanburg's most used recreational amenity, the Mary Black Foundation Rail Trail, is about to see its long-awaited expansion completed, taking the trail from its current terminus near the intersection of Uni...

Morgan Square has been the most important public gathering space in Spartanburg almost since its beginnings in 1787. Arguably the birthplace of Spartanburg County after having been selected by four state-commissioned judges as the county seat and site of the the area's first courthouse, the area that would eventually be named for the Revolutionary War general whose statue it houses today formed th...

Whether you're getting in some steps at the Mary Black Foundation Rail Trail or strolling through Morgan Square after dinner, it's fair to say there are more pedestrians moving in and around Downtown Spartanburg than at any point in living memory, and with historic levels of private development and accompanying new infrastructure showing no signs of abating in Spartanburg's urban core, the pedestr...

At their last two meetings, Spartanburg City Council took a pair of actions to move discussions of Morgan Square's future forward, first creating a committee to guide a public input process and make recommendations regarding upgrades and then voting to continue to keep W Main Street along the square closed to traffic for the next 24 months while the committee undertakes its work. The committee com...

At their most recent meeting, Spartanburg City Council gave final approval to the upcoming fiscal year 2022-2023 budget in a 7-0 vote. This year's budget includes no significant operational changes and no increases to City taxes or commonly applied fees, but as Spartanburg continues to see record growth and economic development, staff projections account for a relatively modest four percent revenu...

If you're a frequent user of the Mary Black Foundation Rail Trail, chances are you've seen Fretwell's construction progress over the past year near the trail's intersection with Marion Ave. Recently opened, the new mixed-use gathering space features a new headquarters for Little River Roasting and a concessions trailer selling sandwiches, specialty drinks, wine and beer, and snacks, along with a s...

In April, both Spartanburg County Council and Spartanburg City Council approved the site of the current City Hall on W Broad Street for construction of a new joint city-county local government complex. Expected to be around 180,000 square-feet and to stand 4-6 stories, the building will serve as a replacement for both City Hall and the Spartanburg County Adminstration Building on N Church St. Firs...

Last week, Spartanburg Police Chief Alonzo Thompson and department leadership gave a presentation on the latest report on crime statistics in our city. Mirroring a similar nationwide uptick in violent crime over the past year, Spartanburg saw an increase of 5.2 percent above our 10 year average, while the overall trend remains on a downward trajectory, dropping 14.5 percent over the past decade. P...

Last month, Spartanburg City Council approved a resolution authorizing the City to pursue $300,000 in federal Land and Water Conservation Fund matching grant for improvements to trails and clearing of invasive species in wooded areas of Duncan Park, an opportunity identified as an early opportunity by a new community steering committee working with the National Park Service, the City, and PAL: Pla...

At their last meeting, Spartanburg City Council gave approval to a property sale that could pave the way for Downtown Spartanburg's first-ever apartment development composed of entirely affordable units. Located adjacent to the Kennedy Street parking garage on the corner of Kennedy and S Converse streets, the 2.6 acre site will be sold to developer Blue Wall RE LLC for $4,500, well below market va...

We've been recording podcasts previewing the year ahead for the City and for the Spartanburg community for a long time now, but even a short glance at that list for 2022 would make it clear that this year will be filled with more significant decisions that will have more generational impact than any in recent memory. Whether it's welcoming a new Mayor for the first time in 12 years, a redistrictin...

With its restaurants routinely filled and its sidewalks bustling with activity, it's not hard to see these days that Downtown Spartanburg is on an upswing. Explaining just how large an upswing though takes some contextualizing, especially in a record-breaking year for downtown development that capped off with an announcement of the largest private development in Downtown Spartanburg history, a mas...

It's been on the City's priority list for years, and in January, an innovative, first-of-its-kind coordinated group of support systems that will seek to improve outcomes for young children and their families in Spartanburg will become a reality as the City and its partners launch the Hello Family program. Designed to significantly improve child wellbeing, boost future prosperity, and provide quant...

Note: Later this year, the Northside Development Group will mark its 10th year since it was founded to be a land bank to guide development and protect the community's interests on the Northside. The NDG partnered with the Northside Voyageurs, Northside residents and the City of Spartanburg to launch the Northside Initiative, the most comprehensive neighborhood revitalization effort in the city's h...

At their meeting on August 23, Spartanburg City Council voted to continue the closure of W Main Street to vehicle traffic in front of Morgan Square for 12 months, during which time the City will engage in a community-led planning process to consider more permanent physical changes to the space. The move came after Council heard an overview of downtown data collected by city staff, including an inc...

Nowhere in any community redevelopment expert's notes will you find "bring a medial college to your neighborhood" listed as a strategy to spur a holisic rethinking of an area plagued for decades by depopulation, decaying housing stock, concentraitions of generational poverty, and lack of investment, but on Spartanburg's Northside, that's exactly what happened. On today's second part of our Northsi...