Quality of Life And More 

By Alex Saitta 

August 15, 2018 

 

My View: 

Upon seeing the pictures of the new mural near the Doodle Trail and engaging in that discussion on Facebook, it got me thinking about a lot of issues the city faces on this. Below is a brain dump on what can to mind.  

 

Overall, I think parks are good things — people seem to want more quality of life places in Pickens County and that has been a focus the past 10 years or so. I saw the plans for the park on the Pickens side of the Doddle trail. It looks like it will be nice. Murals are good too. However, I think they struck out on the design of the mural for a variety of reasons. 

 

If you have ever talked to any business owner in the city, he’ll tell you how restrictive the city sign ordinance is. Gosh, signs can be only so wide, so tall, only a few feet off the ground and they restrict the color scheme they can use. If a private business put up a sign like this mural or even painted something like this on the side of their building, the business would be fined a hundred ways to Sunday. The double standard by the council and city administration is a glaring as the rainbow color scheme on this wall. When it so restricts and then hounds businesses about their signage, and then the city does something like this and exempts itself from same ordinance in a variety of ways, I question the double standard. Anything goes for government and there is a different set of rules for everyone else.  

 

 

 

What Creates Businesses? Not The School Building Plan: 

One of the major problems we have in our county when it comes to attracting new and growing existing business, too many of our elected leaders and those running our governments do not know what creates businesses and jobs. For example, I remember in 2006 sitting on the school board listening to the administration and other board members say, if we borrow all this money and build all these new schools then the businesses, jobs and students will come. I remember the words like it was yesterday, “build them and they will come.” They said it over and over. I remember saying, if you want to upgrade our schools, great, they are run down, but all this will not generate the business boom you are predicting. Until businesses see Pickens as a place where they can make more money, they won’t come here or expand, and the job creation will be very limited. In fact, this massive school board hike of 39 mills (I voted “No”) for all these schools will harm business, not help it.  

 

What I said was ignored and the board passed the plan 6 to 2 in November 2006. The schools were built and have been up and running for nearly 10 years. Where is the economic boom they promised? 

Since then the total number of jobs within our county has fallen from 37,860 to 35,790. The number of business establishments has fallen from 2,462 to 2,190. During that time, school enrollment in these new and wonderful schools has fallen by 400 students.  

 

The schools needed an upgrade and it is nice to have new schools (my girls go to the new Pickens High School), but if new schools created new businesses and jobs, Pickens County would be booming now with its four new high schools, three other new schools and another 20-some fully renovated schools. The new schools did not create new businesses and jobs as was promised.    

 

What Creates Businesses? Not Quality Of Life Projects Either: 

Having lived in Pickens for 20 years now, I also heard the city’s arguments for years too. I remember the sales pitch for raising the sales tax to build the Rec Center in 2003. They said it was going to be a venue for all these new events the city was going to bring in. The Rec Center would draw in people from out of town and that would improve business. Most of the time I drive past the Rec Center, the parking lot is empty and it is closed at night. What events? People want more quality of life things they can do in town or the county. I understand that, but they never come out and say that because with projects like this that is a tough sale. So instead, they play the economic development card and say we must pass this project because it will create jobs. The Rec Center, Doodle Trail, Amphitheater, etc have not created jobs or businesses. If people want quality of life things, great, but just say you want quality of life things. The practice of deluding ourselves into thinking things create business and jobs really needs to end, because we desperately need to create jobs with a living wage. 

 

I remember in 2004 a county councilman telling me they had to approve the new Easley library because it would bring in business. I thought, I’ve been in business my entire adult life and never once went to the library for a business reason. Today most who are in the library are surfing on the web, checking out a CD or a book. The city of Pickens has focused on building quality of life projects in the name of economic development — like the Rec Center, the Amphitheater, an expanded museum, Playground of Promise, sprucing up Main Street with wider sidewalks and big trees and they’ve been here for a while now. If they created business and jobs, the city of Pickens would be booming by now. It isn’t.  

 

Likewise, Powdersville is booming business-wise and I can’t find quality of life things like bike trails or parks. Look at all the development on the lakes. It wasn’t due to the government building a park up there, but some private investor, investing hundreds of millions of dollars and then rich people moving in and spending their money. The government footprint up there is very small. In sum, as a councilman if you want quality of life things, just say you want more quality of life things. Don’t mislead the people or delude yourself into believing these things will create businesses or jobs. They do not. Plus the higher taxes and regulation they often bring, harm business formation and job creation.  

 

What Creates Business? Private Investment.  

By and large government programs do not grow business or create jobs. Don't get me wrong, it is nice to have new schools and the newer buildings (my girls go to Pickens High school) and quality of life things like the Jay-cee park are good too, but the notion they are business and job generators is simply not true.  

 

Business investment and the resulting job growth is what powers cities like Greenville or communities like Powdersville, not bike trails. If that was the case, Pickens County could be booming with the Doodle Trail, the bike lanes in Easley or on Highway 11, and the scores of trails we have in our parks. 

 

What has happened in places like Travelers Rest is there are massive employers starting up in Greenville. They hire people, who then need a place to live. Suburbs sprawl out in all directions, like upward to Travelers Rest. Those employers put money in the pockets of employees and on the weekend those employees go to the Swamp Rabbit Trail and spend money at nearby stores.  

 

The cause is the employer, the jobs created, and the pay doled out to employees. The effect is the employee and their families spending the money earned at a store near the bike trail.  

 

Another thing is the bike trail isn't causing BMW to settle in Greenville County. BMW is settling here because the business environment is attractive (access to the interstate, generous tax deals, low cost un-unionized workforce and readily provided utilities) and BMW sees an opportunity to maximize their profit here. If bike trails incentivized businesses to relocate, the Doddle Trail would be lined with new manufacturers or commercial businesses. Again, it is not.  

 

Doodle Trail: 

Now on to the Doodle Trail, its park on the Pickens side, and the mural. As I mentioned, I like the design of the park, the mural is a good idea, but gosh that color scheme.  

 

The Doodle Trail was sold to the public as a business and job creator that was going to attract tourists and the businesses would just follow. My guess is they've spent about $6 or $7 million on the trail so far. On the Pickens side I saw one new business was created, a part-time bike shop, but it seems to now be closed. Like I said, these quality of life things are nice and if the people want them, build them. However, things like the Doodle Trail or Amphitheater or Rec Center do not create new businesses and jobs. (Again, they have not and all have been around a while now.) We should focus on creating an attractive business environment that causes more businesses to come here, expand and create jobs. What creates jobs is businesses becoming more profitable, expanding and hiring more employees. That doesn't happen if government puts a higher burden or more costs on business, which we have during the past 10 or 15 years. 

 

 

 

The Mural: 

Like I said, I like the park design and having a mural, but I think they struck out on the design of the mural. 

 

If you don't look closely at the wall, just driving by it looks like an advertisement for gay pride month. Just replace the star with an undisputable rainbow flag and two guys holding hands, and you are there. 

I can’t get in the head of the designer, but I did graphic presentation for 10 years and there are a variety of messages in a presentation -- primary, secondary, mixed by accident or by design and even subtle messages. I used them. 

 

I would have used a more traditional color scheme and the one of the town — blue, red and white. This color scheme and the mural overall is way too loud and doesn’t fit in with the rest of the town.  

Do you know AR Lewis School? The one the likes of Phil Bowers, Brian Swords and Dr. Merck closed because they said 200 students wasn't enough, and they didn't have the $900,000 for needed upgrades? The school where a year later they then spent $1,000,000 on upgrades and reopened the school for another purpose for only 50 students? AR Lewis' murals in the lobby and cafeteria have a great theme (children's characters, as well as a color scheme that blends in with the school). Beautiful all around. 

 

Big Picture: 

The other thing that plays into this is the county leaders have this belief bid industry is going to come in and drive growth. That isn't happening. Look at the industrial park, I would bet most of it is filled by businesses within the county just relocating -- St. Jude, JR, United Tool, etc.  

 

What is going to happen is not industrial but residential. Residential sprawl from Greenville and those relocating from FL and the northeast to Pickens County. Residential sprawl coming from Clemson because of the growing university 

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So the focus of our leaders should be (but isn't) on beefing up residential infrastructure like the width of roads, water systems, sewer systems, getting another trash dump.