For some reason, they find it more prudent?, profitable? to leave buildings sitting empty for some theoretical payoff in the future (that, in my opinion, will never come) than to make some income and build the character of the downtown in the meantime.

So, does anyone know any of the building owners downtown who actually care about the comunity? I’d love to get in contact with one who cares about the town, and doesnt have his or her head deep in the sand (to put it nicely).

Or a gourmet hot dog place?

I kid.

A nice, simple, REAL restaurant that serves REAL food, not just a ‘theme’ and packaging.

Eggs and biscuits, Burgers, Pizza, Rice-and-veggies, Beer, soup, wine–you know–*actual* FOOD.

People still like to eat REAL food, right? And there are still lots of farms in the area growing and producing actual food, right?

Look at downtown Asheville. To a large degree, it was the unique restaurants and shops that made downtown Asheville a draw.There are a few regional chains that have been there a long time, but for the most part, it was small places like “Salsa’s” that made the downtown. and that was becuase of local investors like Julian Price, who had enough vision to nurture the small and quirky and colorful enough for it to create a following.

From what I’ve seen, this is what downtown Spartanburg is missing, for the most part; local building owners who ‘get it’ enough to invest in projects that will pay off for everyone in the long run. Wild Wings and Starbucks might offer ore of an immediate payoff for a property owner, but they do little to make downtown Spartanburg anything ‘different’ than anywhere else in the area.

Rents seem unrealistically high for a small business owner to even make it in downtown spartanburg. Why is that? There are buildings *sitting empty*. Wouldnt it be better to have them filled, and have people *gasp* Using Downtown than to have a bunch of empty buildings not generating ANY profit?

Spartanburg needs more people with the vision to create projects that actually give Spartanburg a ’soul’, and a good Real restruant or two would be a great start. Obviously the old plan of ‘thinking big’ hasnt worked well for spartanburg yet, so what do you have to lose? Think Local. it works.

How about a simple, “Real” food restaurant, with an emphasis on relatively local food?

A place more unique than another national or even regional chain, like barleys or mellow mushroom or outback. How about something that actually feels like it belongs to downtown spartanburg?

Is it really that hard to think outside the “chain” box? Can we set our sights a bit higher than the so-called ‘middle-of-the-road’ over-priced mediocrity of another wild wings?

How about something along the lines of the down-to-earth, homey feel of Asheville’s “Rosettas”, but without the ‘vegetarian’ limitations?

You know, a Diner that serves Real food.