Mayor giving ‘State of the City’ address today

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Mayor Knox White will give a “State of the City” address today at the Poinsett Club at noon.

“Greenville, SC is once again named #1 Friendliest Cities in the U.S. by Condé Nast Traveler ~ the Mayor will give an update on all that is going on in our fair City,” Poinsett Club spokesperson Deb Sofield said in a press release.

We wanted to find out what neighbors would say if they were giving the speech. Lifelong Greenvillian Steven Smith said he’s excited to see so many people moving to his hometown.

The population grew by more than 12,000 over the last 12 years, according to census data.

“It needed to be just kind of updated, but it’s getting there so my opinion it’s in a great state,” Smith said.

However, Smith said he wants to see more development outside of downtown.

“I’m from one of the bad areas in Greenville. So I know how it is to live at that low point and now to kind of get to that high point, it feels good,” Smith said, adding he wants to see entire neighborhoods be able to make the transition like he did.

Jeremy Johnson, who works in downtown Greenville, said the city also needs to focus on including everyone in its growth.

Johnson said he sees firsthand how big the city’s homeless population is. According to the Greenville Homeless Alliance, there are more than 3,200 homeless men, women and children in the county.

“There’s so many homeless people out here now, especially veterans. We have too many homeless veterans,” Johnson said. “I would like to see a center or something open for them to get them off their feet and off the streets.”

We checked and the county does have one center specifically for homeless male veterans. It currently has 25 beds, according to the Greenville Homeless Alliance.

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