Focus on Sprawl

Pickens County has a long history of manufacturing, with textile mills going back to the early 1900’s. Typically a student graduated, and if he didn’t go to college, he got a job in the mill, learned a trade and earned a living wage. Unfortunately, most of the mills closed and those jobs went away.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, manufacturing employment in Pickens County peaked in February 1978 at 14,622. It slid to 12,244 in 1989, to 8,974 in 1999 and to 5,069 in 2009. The latest figure was 5,378 manufacturing jobs in Pickens County.

Growing up in a manufacturing county, naturally our leaders thought, we’ll just get new industry in here. Unfortunately, the manufacturing landscape has changed over the past 100 years, and despite handing out very generous tax incentives, they’ve been unsuccessful in reversing the downward trend of manufacturing in Pickens County.

The other focus our leaders have had is tourism. A ton of money has been invested in building things like the Doodle Trail, the Pickens Amphitheater, rec centers, Liberty Auditorium and festivals galore. All have contributed to the quality of life of residents, but in total they have not pulled in the outside tourists as promised.

As I have written the past three years, we should try to lure manufacturing and grow tourism where we can. However, and whether we like it or not, our focus must be on what is surely heading our way -- urban sprawl from Greenville.

We must improve and expand residential infrastructure, beit widening roads, traffic control, sewer, water, power and trash pickup and disposal. The initial effects of sprawl are clear. Just drive at rush hour, up Highways 153, then Highway 123 to Highway 93 or 8. It’s becoming a nightmare.

According to Zillow, the average home in Easley in April 2012 was $125,000, today it is $180,000. Three bedroom, two bath homes in Pickens that were renting for $750 then, are $1,200 today, if you can find a vacant home. Our children will not be able to afford to live here unless the housing shortage is addressed.

I worry most about displacement, and how it will change the fabric of our county. Greenville first sprawled east to Greer, south to Simpsonville and then north to Travelers Rest. As the west side of Greenville is developed, it is displacing those there, and they are migrating west toward Pickens County where it is cheaper. For good or bad, what they have or lack, do, along with their morals, principles and values, migrates with them. It is not surprising Greenville’s inner city problems are heading this way too.

The council should focus on the problems sprawl is bringing and the solutions for dealing with it, instead of spending so much time on things like 150 year celebration festival or how they are going to personally solve the revenue problem at the Hagood Mill.