By Natalie M. Zeigler
City Manager
“Beautification” has become a word you’ll hear very often in circles of city management and community development, and for good reason. The way a community is seen dramatically impacts recruitment and retention of people and businesses alike. We know that cities which allow their physical upkeep to fade away are degrading their constituents’ hope for the future, inviting everything from increased crime to lost business development. Appearance, in other words, serves as a concrete investment.
The City of Hartsville almost always has new examples of this in action. The forked intersection of West Carolina Avenue and West Home Avenue, for example, has shown an excellent improvement in the last couple of weeks. The triangle-shaped median at this location, made all the more visible by its location on a major entryway into town and its proximity to the front gate of the spectacular Kalmia Gardens, had gained a worn-out appearance in recent years. The Spring Beauty Garden Club partnered with our Streets and Grounds Department to plant it with ornamental shrubs, transforming a mild eyesore into an opportunity to subtly welcome Hartsville’s visitors and locals alike.
Of course, that project, located on two busy roads, is a vehicle-traffic-focused effort. Beautification gives us an excellent opportunity to turn drivers into pedestrians and invite them to explore. That’s why cities everywhere tend to focus on their downtown districts as the primary target of beautification. In recent years, we’ve given careful attention in our downtown to everything from standing urn planters filled with seasonally appropriate flowers, grasses and ferns to hanging baskets suspended from street lamps and decorative pole banners as well.
Several of the major infrastructure projects which the City has initiated this year have brought beautification improvements. We aren’t just repaving East College Avenue and its parking lots, we’re also completely reworking its landscaping and sidewalks and installing new decorative gateways and lights. On Fourth Street, we have not just created new downtown parking spaces, but also new downtown brick sidewalks, streetlamps and trees.
We often work with other organizations, too. The new fencing and landscaping which you have seen go up around the Butler Heritage Campus this year was made possible in part by the Sonoco Foundation, as well as the City of Hartsville using Multi-County Business Park funding.
Even holidays bring with them a need for beautification. For some holidays, including Veterans Day this week, our crews have lined the sidewalks of Fifth Street and Carolina Avenue with national flags. Christmas comes as another – soon downtown trees will be wrapped in lights and the City of Hartsville’s official Christmas tree will go up in Centennial Park. We’ve heard from many people who say that without these kind of touches, it doesn’t completely feel like Christmas has come to Hartsville.
Natalie Zeigler is the City Manager of Hartsville. For more information, call City Hall at 843-383-3015 or email info2@hartsvillesc.gov.