Tag Archive

Sparkle City Headlines: City Council Weighs Bookstore-Cafe Grant

By Steve Shanafelt

Back in January, HubCulture (the parent organization of the Hub City Writers Project and the HUB-BUB) announced it would be opening a new downtown bookstore in the ground floor of the Masonic Temple on Morgan Square. Since that initial announcement, progress on the site has clipped along, and the current plan now includes an... »

Sparkle City Headlines: Former Bi-Lo To Become New Piedmont Community Actions Project

By Steve Shanafelt

If there’s one thing Spartanburg has more than enough of, it’s large, empty storefronts. Few things make a city look as desperate and run-down as a wealth of hollowed-out shells where businesses once lived. So, it’s hard to see the recent announcement that local non-profit Piedmont Community Actions Inc. has acquired the former Bi-Lo... »

Sparkle City Headlines: JournalWatchdog.com Gets A Makeover

By Steve Shanafelt

Several months ago, I reached out to Community Journals, the regional publisher behind the Spartanburg Journal, offering to help them turn their then-terrible website into something people might actually want to visit on a regular basis. Initially, there was some interest in the possible collaboration, but after I sent a list of simple, common-sense... »

Sparkle City Headlines: Kimbrell’s Furniture to re-open as downtown nightclub

By Steve Shanafelt

According to a story in the Feb. 17th edition of the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, a new nightclub called Rome will soon be coming to downtown Spartanburg. Local businessman Josey Wells recently signed a lease on the 28,000-square-foot building, which formerly housed Kimbrell’s Furniture. According to journalist Trevor Anderson, plans for the “upscale” club include “extravagant... »

Sparkle City Headlines: ‘Grain District’ Coming Soon?

By Christopher George

If you want to cite an example of Spartanburg’s progress in the last few years, particularly in the area of downtown renewal, the western part of downtown is perhaps the best example you’ll find. Now a group of residents and business owners from that area have a new idea, naming the newly bustling... »

Sparkle City Headlines: The Racial Divide Surfaces In District 7

By Steve Shanafelt

Just in case you haven’t been following it, there’s been considerable controversy over who will helm the Spartanburg District 7 school board. Considering the district has had plenty of headline-grabbing problems in the last year — a religious-education lawsuit, waffling about showing the Presidential address to students, and a failed attempt to spend $325,000... »

Sparkle City Headlines: SH-J’s Suprisingly Deep New Year’s Eve Coverage

By Steve Shanafelt

Seeing as how I gave the Spartanburg Herald-Journal such a hard time earlier this week for their top-down coverage of downtown’s new “vibrancy,” I thought I’d give them props for something they actually did right. No … better than right … for something they totally schooled the Spark on. Their coverage of the New... »

Sparkle City Headlines: SH-J Gets Optimistic About Downtown

By Steve Shanafelt

When the Spartanburg Herald-Journal published their story on the “new vibrancy” of downtown yesterday, my interest was definitely piqued. Downtown’s revitalization is a major topic here on the Spark, but the main reason I was interested in reading the story had to do with who the local newspaper felt was deserving of the credit... »

Sparkle City Headlines: Lawsuit Against District 7 Moves Forward

By Christopher George

From today’s Spartanburg Herald-Journal… A federal district court ruled last week that a lawsuit involving two local parents and Spartanburg School District 7 will move forward, despite motions for dismissal by the district. The plaintiffs argue that a religious education course offered to Spartanburg High students is unconstitutional, not because of the course itself, but because... »

Sparkle City Headlines: Is The Spartanburg GOP Finally Getting Back On Its Feet?

By Steve Shanafelt

Although it’s a “staff reports” story (that is, a press release that may or may not be edited), this particular piece about the new Spartanburg GOP office is interesting for a couple of reasons. It’s the first sign that the local Republican party is finally moving forward after their ousting of former Chairperson Rick... »

Sparkle City Headlines: County Looks At Tourism Action Plan

By Steve Shanafelt

This afternoon, Spartanburg County Council will be taking a look at the initiative being headed by Pacolet Mayor Elaine Harris to create a clear plan to encourage and foster tourism in the county. And thanks to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal’s Jason Spencer, we even get a little preview of what the County will be hearing. The... »

Sparkle City Headlines: Westside Annexation Woes And The 2010 Census

By Steve Shanafelt

Last week, Spartanburg City Council moved forward with plans to begin the annexation of more than 800 properties in the Westside area. They did so amid clear protest from many of those who own the annexed properties, many of whom are unhappy that a sewer agreement signed during the Reagan era is forcing them... »

Independent-Mail Gives RJ Rocker’s Brew A “BAD” Review

By Steve Shanafelt

Don’t let the headline fool you. Reviewer Jake Grove at the Anderson-based Independent-Mail is just playing a little word game in his recent beer review. See? I feel kinda bad about this review. Or, maybe I should say I feel “BAD.” Why? Well, because this week I am finally getting around to reviewing a member... »

Sparkle City Headlines: Municipal Election Year Shuffle

By Steve Shanafelt

When I ran across Jason Spencer’s story in today’s Spartanburg Herald-Journal floating the idea of changing the municipal and school board elections to fall on the standard, even-numbered years, I couldn’t help but crack a smile. After all, the Spark has been loudly promoting this discussion — more or less alone — for months... »

Sparkle City Headlines: Chocolate Milk Is Not News

By Steve Shanafelt

Since I generally don’t watch TV, I tend to forget about the level of non-news filler that ends up on the airwaves every day. Most of this stuff is harmless, if banal, so even when I run across a story that has been video encoded and posted to something like Google News, I... »