On Tuesday this week, South Carolina Governor, Henry McMaster issued a new executive order. He cut the legs out from the tyrannical city mayors and councils and school districts across the state with their silly mask mandates. It literally was CHECKMATE on the tyrannical actions of local schools and cities. It was brilliant.
There was immediate pushback from some places as seen on various posts on Facebook. Greenville County Schools which has been a huge proponent of the mask, was not going to give up their masks quietly. They issued a statement to the effect that they weren’t sure if McMaster’s EO was legal and their lawyers were taking a look. I believe it was then the next day that South Carolina’s School Superintendent issued her own statement saying they would drop the mask mandate due to to the Governor’s EO. I believe it was after that that Greenville County Schools succumbed to the dropping of the mask. However, I believe students need written permission on the specific state form in order to show up maskless. Then one by one, the mask mandates were dropped…cities and schools started to fall in line. The biggest one was the City of Greenville had to finally cave as they had no standing any longer.
All of this just shows me that this was all theater and there was no benefit to the mask. It just finally took political courage and leadership from our Governor to finally stand up to this nonsense. The maskers are ticked off of course. I’m sure the school districts are besides themselves and panicked as to what to do now. I like to say that Greenville became the Mask Capitol of the South. Good riddance to the mask but something tells me this isn’t over yet.
Apparently it’s still a Federal rule that school children must wear masks on buses. Good luck enforcing that. Businesses can still require masks so I’m sure there are plenty of restaurants in downtown Greenville who will leave their mask signs up and require their employees to be masked. But really, how silly is it at this point to require masks? Costco won’t give them up, that’s for sure. Put Best Buy in to that crowd as well. If they ever do give them up, you will know that the “pandemic” is truly over.
Earlier this week, a crowd of parents and students gathered outside of where the Greenville County Schools Trustees were having their meeting. They were calling for an end to the mask. Many of the maskers on Facebook were ridiculing these parents and kids for their efforts. However, the next day, the Governor dropped his Executive Order.
Now it’s on to continually reminding the voting public that these people put in the mask mandate. Every mayor, council member or school board member who voted for the mask must be voted out. Oh, and particularly for those in leadership at Greenville County Schools who are making it difficult just to drop the masks, I do hope you will continue to wear your mask until the last mask on a child is still showing up to school.
The City of Greenville, SC City Council has once again extended the ridiculous mask mandate for all public spaces and retail establishments within the city limit. The mask has been in place for months now with no end in sight. The council has once again demonstrated that they are against the people and prefer the heavy hand of government. This is yet another outrageous overreach by the Greenville City Council including the much loved Mayor Knox. They all need to go. None of them should be re-elected. It’s time to clean house in Greenville.
Here’s the link to the Greenville City Mask Mandate signed 4-8-21 document they all apparently agreed to unanimously. Remember, the City Council is supposed to be mostly “conservative” but that is not the case. While the Upstate is generally a conservative area, the City of Greenville has moved more leftward in recent years and appears to be well on it’s way to becoming a Democrat city just like Columbia and Charleston. The unfortunate thing for the rest of us in the Upstate is that the City of Greenville has a pretty significant impact on the rest of the cities and counties. It’s just comical at this point that these elected representatives and their health advisors whom they do not name, besides the CDC and the dreadful SC DHEC, believe that masks are going to save us from a virus which has a 99.97% survival rate.
It’s my opinion that if an elected official was involved in voting in a mask mandate anywhere in the country, they should not be allowed to hold elected office ever again. They also should not be allowed to be hired in any kind of government job as well. If city managers and staff are also on record as having supported the mask mandates, they should be replaced. I realize it’s not that easy to fire people and most of the people who work in government likely support the masks but if we ever get elected officials again who believe in the US Constitution and individual liberty, they need to make a point to clean out the leadership and ranks of those who wish to subvert our freedoms.
The City of Greenville, while a spectacular place to live work and recreate, has elected officials that continue to disappoint in a big way. All of you moving to the Upstate, you have been forewarned.
I think we can mark Greenville County as one of the beneficiaries of the changes sweeping across the country given the Covid-19 pandemic.
Greenville County saw a record capital investment commitment of $631 million in 2020 according to the Greenville Area Development Corporation (GADC). This blew away the previous record of $476 million in 2014. The investment is coming from a broad range of companies in various industries. The biggest investments are coming from manufacturing and distribution which remains huge here in the Upstate. But we are also seeing other investments starting to percolate from other industries such as information technology.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that Greenville, SC is going to be hitting a lot of peoples’ radars over the next decade. It certainly has come a long way but it’s time to shine is here.
I know people get tired of growth of Greenville, but you are either growing or dying. You can’t have it both ways. Greenville stands to benefit both in terms of manufacturing growth but also in the transition to work from home (WFH). The area is beautiful. The weather is better than much of the rest of the U.S. Cost of living is still relatively low and there are lots of amenities…shopping, the arts, sports etc. I think the schools are still seen as a bit of a weakness but they are working on that. There are plenty of private school options in the area as well. Living here so close to the mountains and just 3.5 hours drive to the beach…it’s just a great place to be…and many others are coming to find that as well.
If you’re thinking of moving here, don’t hesitate to reach out. I’d be happy to talk. If you want to look for homes, please check out my site at GVLHomesandLand. — John Murphy, Broker Associate, eXp Realty 864-276-1448.
#greenvillesc #greenvillerealtor #GADC #UpstateSC #greenvillebroker #greenvillerealestate #greenvillehomesforsale #greenvilledevelopment #greenvillecounty #cityofgreenvillesc
In South Carolina, when land is reclassified typically from agricultural land to other designations for residential and commercial development, there has been a rollback tax going back 5 years.
As ag land, the taxes are significantly lower. But if you sold your land to a developer, they would have to pay taxes going back 5 years as though that land had been fully valued lets say as commercial property. That’s a big number especially on large parcels of land. The new law, H.3596 Rollback Tax Reform, reduces the rollback tax from 5 years to 3 years effective January 1, 2021. I would indeed expect some transactions might get pushed to close after the 1st of the year.
South Carolina Association of Realtors has an excellent article discussing the impact of the rollback tax reform for 2021.
The City of Greenville, SC just released the draft of GVL2040 which is the 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
Key points that the City wants to focus on:
- Maintain Open Space – want to reserve 35% of the remaining land that is still to be developed remain greenspace.
- Affordable Housing: require that 10% of all new development be income-restricted.
- Transportation and Mobility: create other options besides cars.
GVL Today has a nice synopsis of GVL2040.
This week, both the City of Greenville as well as Spartanburg extended their mask mandates another two months. This means they will expire mid-December just in time for the final 10 days or so of Christmas shopping. Don’t hold your breath that they are going to drop their mask demands.
The City of Greenville took the mask mandate a step further. Whereas the previous mandate required masking in grocery stores and pharmacies, the new dictate is for ALL retail establishments across the city. The mask mandate carries with it a $25 fine if charged. This is for retail establishments just within the city limits. This does not pertain to the rest of Greenville County. The citizens seem to have mixed feelings about the latest mask ordinance based upon comments on the City of Greenville’s Official Facebook Page.
Greenville continues to get recognition as one of the best small cities in America. Coming in at #6 this year, that’s an improvement by 3 positions from last year. Number one of course was once again, Charleston, SC.
The rankings of the cities by Conde Naste Traveler’s readers are:
- Charleston, South Carolina
- Sante Fe, New Mexico
- Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
- Laguna Beach, California
- Alexandria, Virginia
- Greenville, South Carolina
- Aspen, Colorado
- Savannah, Georgia
- Jackson Hole, Wyoming
- Key West, Florida
Feel free to reach out if you have real estate questions. You might be looking to relocate to the area and need an agent. I’d be happy to talk – John Murphy, eXp Realty.
Check out GVLHomesAndLand.com to search for homes in the greater Greenville area.