Greenville Chamber Of Commerce: Greenville County Council Must Re-Focus On Prosperity

Press release from the Greenville Chamber of Commerce:

September 13, 2021

Greenville County’s success sometimes comes despite our local government’s headlines.

In recent years, our County Council has devolved from moving our county forward into a breeding ground for the politics of personal grievance. This month’s refusal to debate a crucial development issue – and the raised voices that followed – are the most recent dysfunction. Rather than focusing on the future of 525,534 residents of our county, our council members focus on one-upping each other over petty personal vendettas.

Our County Council should use its soap box as the governing body of the largest county in our state to lead local governments, schools, special purpose districts, and others toward common goals to increase income, raise educational attainment, and prepare critical infrastructure for the future – instead of generating headlines about bickering among its members.

Eighty-eight percent. Two hundred and twenty thousand. Forty-six percent. Our elected officials should be laser-focused on these three numbers.

Greenville is growing three times faster than the nation, but income continues to slip in comparison to the rest of the country. Twenty years ago, our per-capita income was nearly even with the national average. Today, we stand at 88 percent, part of a slow slide since 2004. National per-capita income is $56,490. Greenville County stands at only $49,801.

That difference is $3.4 billion in economic activity each year. That’s money in paychecks that could be supporting local Main Street stores, restaurants, music lessons, and small businesses. For families, closing this gap could allow for home ownership, quality childcare, and the ability to buy a car or save for college.

The income gap is but one unaddressed challenge. More than 220,000 new residents are expected to flood into the county by 2040 while our council focuses on exerting political revenge over inconsequential votes and proposing vindictive measures like a development moratorium.

What is County Council’s plan to ensure we have adequate infrastructure? What is their plan to ensure we invest now – when it is cheaper to do so – and not when we’re woefully behind?

To compete economically, we must address a big education gap – a key indicator that will help bring better jobs for tomorrow. Only 46 percent of our county residents have a college degree or high-quality industry certification. That number should stand at more than 60 percent. What is County Council’s plan to work with schools and economic developers to ensure we have an educated workforce (perhaps by improving public transit to get people to educational opportunities)?

We have immediate issues that the County Council needs to attend to. Successfully completing both the downtown Arts & Cultural Center and the University Ridge redevelopment – as well as creating plans for existing assets, like the Greenville Convention Center – will have a massive economic impact on the region.

Our community requires visionary plans for roads, sewer, broadband, natural gas, electricity, transit, education, housing, and healthcare. We are too big and growing too quickly to wait on our creaky state government to help. Other items such as the Unified Development Ordinance need our Council’s full attention and can’t be clouded by personal differences.

We understand our Councilors can walk and chew bubble gum at the same time, but they serve part-time. Massive community fights over insignificant issues and personal fights over perceived slights distracts from the visionary work that must be done. Never mind the distraction of one faction of County Council suing another faction that resulted in a massive budget hole for addressing our infrastructure challenges.

Printed on the top of every Greenville County Council agenda should be the delta between the Greenville County income and the national average. It should show the number of residents we expect to move to our county. It should show how many of our residents have secondary degrees or high-quality industry certifications against an ambitious goal.

The Chamber, and the business community, will do a better job of keeping these topics at the forefront of the discussion. We encourage other leaders to help reduce the temperature of our public discourse so that our elected leaders can focus on our county’s future instead of the past.

This press release was produced by the Greenville Chamber of Commerce. The views expressed here are the author’s own.