Barriers at state border

Border counties, like Polk, Spartanburg and Greenville, need to foster cooperation to optimize their prosperity.

Leaders from border counties across a three-state region gathered in Asheville last week to discuss a UNC-Chapel Hill business school study that looked at the barriers to economic success caused by political borders: physical systems disjointed, regional leaders not interacting, chambers of commerce not collaborating, political leaders competing. Conferees discussed a strong business case in which collaboration can be better for all.

N.C. Sen. Walter Dalton (D-Rutherfordton) suggested N.C. and S.C. might develop interstate agreements. Ideas included reciprocal tuition agreements that might allow WNC students to attend USC- Spartanburg, or Clemson and Landrum students to seek out UNC-Asheville. Industrial properties – at least in certified parks, of which Polk has none – could be jointly marketed.

The Upstate S.C. Alliance board already says it wants to extend its industrial site marketing across the border “to better reflect the regional economy.”

Upstate S.C. and Western N.C. are one economic region. We share employment, commuter patterns, utilities, media markets. It was always thus. In the past, Spartanburg textile mills recruited mountain workers, and built Lake Adger to power their plants. Howard Gap Road, just at the base, once provided hospitality for hog drovers resting up before heading home, back up the mountain.

Excursion train proponents have already asked Clemson to study the corridor that connects Asheville to Greenville-Spartanburg, I-40 to I-85. After last Thursday’s conference, Polk economic development director Kipp McIntyre is also helping to form a Mid-Atlantic, Southern Regional Collaborative. It is a pioneering effort for the patient of temper, but one that can bear fruit over the next 50 years. — JB