Spartanburg City News

It's been years in the making and still years to go until the 32-mile network linking disconnected trails throughout Spartanburg is completed, but now the vision has a brand, The Dan. The eventual network will link popular trails such as the Mary Black Foundation Rail Trail, Cottonwood Trail, Glendale Shoals, and Wadsworth Trail together into a system that will allow users to travel across our cit...

For those experiencing homelessness, even a minor criminal charge can have a major impact, leaving individuals trapped deeper in a cycle of poverty and addiction that becomes even more difficult to break. Spartanburg City Municipal Judge Erika McJimpsey has a plan to offer some of our community's most vulnerable members a different path by starting a homeless court in our city. Homeless courts wer...

Today on the podcast, we've got an overview of the City's upcoming Comprehensive Planning process. Replacing the City's current Comprehensive Plan, which was crafted in 1999, the new plan is expected to govern the CIty's path for the next 20 years, guiding our strategies on areas as wide-ranging as racial equity, housing, economics, health and wellness, parks and recreation, public facilities, inf...

The City of Spartanburg and its partners are inviting the public to join us at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church (502 S Daniel Morgan Ave.) on August 13, from 6-8 p.m. for the first public meeting to help create a new transformation plan for the Highland Neighborhood. The Highland Neighborhood Transformation Plan will create a vision for the growth of the community, and this is the first of mult...

If you're a longtime City Podcast listener, you've heard us talk for years about the growing momentum in Downtown Spartanburg. Those of us who spend our working days and leisure-filled evenings walking Main Street have been noticing the increased company for a long time now, and even a cursory glance at the storefronts in our central business district would show you that this isn't the Downtown Sp...

At their last meeting, Spartanburg City Council voted 6-1 to approve a $4.3 million purchase of the former Integral Solutions property at 450 Wofford Street with an eye towards converting the structure into a new central fire station. Initially included as part of the proposed fiscal year 2019-2020 city budget, Council voted to remove the fire station proposal along with a millage increase meant t...

Pedestrians in Downtown Spartanburg will soon have a safer, more visible walk across some key intersections thanks to some unique crosswalk mural installations planned for the intersections of Main St. and King St., Main St. and Spring St., and Main St. and Magnolia St. Each installation is being designed and painted by a different local artist or artist team with Michael Webster painting Main St....

Today on the podcast, we're talking with City Manager Chris Story about the most critical piece of policy produced by our City every year, the budget. Some of the highlights of the upcoming fiscal year budget include a projected four percent growth in overall revenue and a five percent growth in property taxes revenue. That property tax growth represents the biggest gains for the City in more than...

Another summer is upon us here in Spartanburg, and along with the usual complaints about the heat (a more longstanding Southern tradition you will not find) and the questions about where we're all going for vacation this year (somewhere cooler if you're a pragmatist, hotter if you're a masochist) conversations tend to come down to how best to the long days and humid nights we've got coming these n...

It started with a simple question posed in the Spartanburg Herald back in 1919: "Do you suppose it is possible for the world to be different a hundred years from now as our world of today is different from that of a hundred years ago?" A new library exhibit puts context around that question, with panels covering such diverse topics as race relations, downtown and neighborhood development, and how...

Earlier this month, the City and its parters in the United Way of the Piedmont, Spartanburg Interfaith Hospitality Network, and Catholic Charities of South Carolina announced the a pilot program for a new homeless day shelter, the Spartanburg Opportunity Center, to be housed in the Northwest Recreation Center. Beginning in July, homeless people in Spartanburg will be shower, wash clothes, store pe...

One person's trash is another person's treasure, right? A traveling interactive art project with roots in Spartanburg is in Downtown Spartanburg through May 5 to test that theory. Barter Boat, a project of Radar Art, a group formed by former Hub-Bub Artists-in-Residence, Anna Abhau-Elliott, Robin Schwartzman, and Desiree Moore, is set up at Fr8yard and will be encouraging passers-by to trade whate...

At a recent City Council meeting, City Manager, Chris Story gave an overview of Hello Family, a proposed collection of support systems that would seek to improve outcomes for young children and their families by providing a continuum of evidence-based services for all children born in the City of Spartanburg from prenatal care through age five. Designed to significantly improve child wellbeing, bo...

It's the oldest home in the city limits of Spartanburg, and for for most in town, that's all they know about the Seay House—if they know anything at all. However, there's a lot more to this old farm house than meets the eye, and the Spartanburg County Historical Association is hoping that the home can shine a light on the stories of women and their lives in 19th century Spartanburg. Originally bui...

It's an event that grows in popuarity each year, and on April 13, Spartanburg Soairing returns to Barnet Park in Downtown Spartanburg. The free international kite festival fills the sky with hundreds of colorful flying works of art and features live music, food trucks, and a makers market with wares from local artisans. The event also features a "rokkaku" kite battle, where teams battle to down th...

It's the latest and by far the largest development along Magnolia Street, creating new residential and commercial space from the bones of a long-vacant former Social Security building and adding two floors in the process. 142 Social is the latest renovation project to add to Downtown Spartanburg's residential and commercial boom, bringing an additional 18 apartments and more than 7,500 square feet...

A recent reorganization of Spartanburg Urban Mission CDC with Ruth's Gleanings healthy food rescue—in partnership with FoodShare South Carolina in Columbia and funding from Mary Black Foundation—has created an innovative approach to tackling problems of access and affordability for healthy, fresh produce. Foodshare Spartanburg has recently launched its affordable bi-weekly produce box service targ...

One of the hottest new trends fitness trends in America is about to have a home in Downtown Spartanburg. CycleBar, a premium indoor cycling fitness center, plans to open this spring at 120 W. St. John St., near the newly opened, renovated Montgomery Building. Featuring premium amenities, stadium-style setting, and instructors that the company calls "equal parts DJ, drill sergeant, motivator, and f...

Plenty of people in Spartanburg believe they know the story of our city's Highland community. Long one of the most challenging areas of intergenerational poverty Spartanburg County, the struggles of Highland and its residents are seemingly well-known by locals but most often completely misunderstood. Lost in the decades-old local narrative of crime and poverty are the stories of the people who cal...

Plenty of people in Spartanburg's believe they know the story of our city's Highland community. Long one of the most challenging areas of intergenerational poverty Spartanburg County, the struggles of Highland and its residents are seemingly well-known by locals but most often completely misunderstood. Lost in the decades-old local narrative of crime and poverty are the stories of the people who c...

Back in 2013, Spartanburg City Council passed a plan to improve key streets in Downtown Spartanburg, widening sidewalks and enhancing the pedestrian experience in some of the areas that City Staff then believed would be keys to driving future growth and development in our urban core. So now, four-plus years after the plan was passed and after nearly all the proposed streetscaping projects have bee...

Among last year's dizzying number of fantastic Downtown Spartanburg announcements was a plan to create 28 new homes on a long-vacant parcel behind Barnet Park. Located next to another planned downtown residential project—Florida-based Forge Capital's 200-unit apartment complex—the Silver Hill development will feature 18 single-family homes and 18 townhomes on the long-vacant 4.5 acre parcel. Const...

Last fall, we met HUB-BUB's latest pair of artists-in-residence, Ambrin Ling and Marisa Adesman and had a great conversation about the residency, Spartanburg, and what they planned to do with their time while here. Today on the podcast, we're here to find out how it's going so far and to get details on a wonderful new project they'll be working on during the remainder of their time in Spartanburg....

Are you a dedicated Dowtown Spartanburg visitor looking for a way beat those post-holiday winter doldrums? This week's podcast is very much for you. For the first time ever on the podcast, we've got the entire City Communications Department team here to tell you about a pair of social media projects that might just make this January and February a bit more exciting. First in January, thanks to an...

As we head into the holidays and many of us prepare to enjoy family, friends, and fellowship, what better time to take a look back at 2018 in Spartanburg? It's a year that saw the completion of the largest historic renovation in Downtown Spartanburg's history, cap-stoning yet another year of unprecedented growth in our city center. It's a year that saw leadership changes for City Government, with...