The Five Points business community is an asset. Let’s stop treating it as a scapegoat

If the Five Points business and entertainment district isn’t the heart of downtown Columbia, it’s without question one of the main arteries that determines the strength of downtown Columbia’s heartbeat.

The stores, restaurants and bars in the Five Points district arguably attract the most demographically diverse crowd in the city — from USC students to working-class residents, from young families enjoying an afternoon brunch to older couples sharing an evening bottle of wine.

And many of the district’s business owners are not only making major investments in Five Points — they’re investing in Columbia as a whole.

Business partners Jon Sears and Chris Davis, for example, own the popular Five Points spot Jake’s — but they also operate five other area establishments as well. And Steven Cook — who owns Saluda’s, a fine-dining restaurant in Five Points — has launched a carryout pizza and sandwich shop in the Forest Acres neighborhood.

They and many other Five Points small business owners give every impression that they are local employers who want to be a part of the district and the city for the long haul — and very little impression that they are mercenary short-timers operating with little regard for the neighborhood or neighbors around them.

So make no mistake about it: the Five Points business community is a valuable asset.

But too often it has been viewed instead as a handy scapegoat by its various critics.

That’s unfortunate, and it’s time to reset the relationship between the Five Points business community and those who view it warily.

Mutual distrust

In recent years it’s been easy for the Five Points’ critics to use isolated incidents that have taken place in the district — but far more often simply in the general vicinity of it — as a jumping point to label Five Points as some sort of petri dish for wanton debauchery.

And that in turn has often led to efforts, including the always looming threat of tighter curfews, that seem intent on tamping down business activity in the Five Points district.

Add the above together and you have a current relationship between the Five Points business community and other parties that’s driven more by mutual distrust rather understanding.

The business community fears that it is an easy target for disproportionate scrutiny and enforcement.

The outside parties — including some officials in city government — fear that too many businesses in the Five Points district only want to exploit their proximity to the USC campus and university students seeking entertainment and social activity.

Talk to each other

But here’s the main reason why these fears between the two sides continue to linger, simmer and fester:

They don’t talk to each other.

Seriously.

It really is that simple.

Given Five Points’ prominent place in the fabric of downtown Columbia, you would assume that members of the district’s business community and representatives of the city, USC and nearby neighborhood associations hold formal meetings on a regular basis.

You would be wrong.

They don’t.

You would think that there would be open lines of communication between the various parties to discuss any issues that arise regarding the Five Points district.

You would be wrong.

There are none.

It’s time for that to end.

Its time for the Five Points business community and those who often view it with suspicion to start talking to each other across a table — and stop talking about each other from afar.

This story was originally published September 15, 2020 at 7:36 AM.