Back in 2013, Spartanburg City Council passed a plan to improve key streets in Downtown Spartanburg, widening sidewalks and enhancing the pedestrian experience in some of the areas that City Staff then believed would be keys to driving future growth and development in our urban core. So now, four-plus years after the plan was passed and after nearly all the proposed streetscaping projects have been completed, how did we do? With downtown's boom showing no signs of slowing down and with developments like the Aug Smith building renovation, Fr8yard, the Children's Museum of the Upstate, 142 Social, the Peddler, Farmer's Table, Miyako's/Bar 1884, and a slew of other openings and investment, we'd say the whole thing has been a pretty amazing success. Today on the podcast, we've got City Manager Chris Story on to tell us why the City believes in the idea of downtown streetscaping as both a way to improve the experience for downtown visitors but also as a means of fertilizing the soil for private investment.