Starting with North Main, Columbia spends $250k to clean up city gateways
A smattering of Columbia leaders gathered Thursday on the side of US Highway 20 to unveil a quarter-million-dollar effort to clean up the city’s image and welcome travelers into the capital.
The big unveiling: a 12-foot welcome sign announcing to passersby that they are entering the city of Columbia.
The city has for years worked to improve various gateways into Columbia, which welcome tens of thousands of and visitors each day. Three other large welcome signs will be placed at other major city entry points.
The idea is that the signs make Columbia more cohesive and announces that the sometimes maligned capital is investing in what it looks like to outsiders.
“These new gateways are the beginning of our pride and our commitment to really inviting people into our community, really to … show our energy, show … the growth that we’re having,” said Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann at the sign’s unveiling Thursday.
Rickenmann also pointed to Columbia’s unique ability to welcome guests in this new way, with three major highways that direct millions of people through the center of the state.
City leaders for the last several years have been working on ways to rebrand Columbia and clean up those major entry points into the city. That work has included multi-million dollar contracts with a private security company that patrols the Elmwood corridor, and spending close to $100,000 to pay a design firm to create a new city logo and branding material.
Three other new “gateway” signs will be installed by the end of November at Elmwood Avenue and Huger Street, at Harbison Boulevard, and at Bull Street off of state highway 277. Those signs will be larger, measuring 20 feet wide. The total cost for the four signs is $254,000, paid for with hospitality tax dollars.
The first sign being located on US-21, otherwise known as North Main Street, signals something more than just a fresh-faced welcome to Columbia – It also shows an investment into a corridor that has for a long time been misunderstood, said Sabrina Odom-Edwards, executive director of the North Columbia Business Association.
North Main Street is more than an entrance to Columbia, it also connects many North Columbia neighborhoods to the city center. North Columbia has for decades been considered underdeveloped and under-resourced – with less access to grocery stores, fewer healthcare facilities and lower property values than other parts of the city, all exacerbating crime and aesthetic issues residents continue to challenge.
“I think everyone has had a misunderstanding that we have nothing going on, that this is a blighted area,” Odom-Edwards said. “We have great businesses here, we have new development here, we have great events.”
The new welcome sign is just one more way to correct those misperceptions, she added.
The appearance of the corridor is a priority for neighborhood leaders who say cleaning up how the area looks is one step toward improving the quality of life for residents who reside north of Elmwood Avenue.
“Beautification is very important for a business district,” Odom-Edwards said. “It doesn’t really matter what businesses they have on the corridor. People enjoy coming to clean, good-looking places, and if your corridor looks nice, people feel safe.”
The city has spent money to improve the North Main corridor, and Odom-Edwards said she recognizes that progress takes time. The city has spent over a million dollars to upgrade Hyatt Park, just below Monticello Road. And the city and Richland County have spent nearly a decade on upgrading sidewalks, traffic lights, landscaping and more on North Main Street
Councilwoman Tina Herbert, who represents much of the 29203 zip code, has also talked about creating a grant program in which businesses can get city money to help upgrade the outside of their businesses and storefronts. That program isn’t active in North Columbia yet, but years ago Herbert led a similar effort downtown that she says she hopes to soon be able to replicate along North Main Street.
