When we first launched the Spartanburg City Podcast in 2012, things were a bit different in our city. Having recently emerged from the worst effects of the Great Recession, downtown's redevelopment was just starting to regain some its lost momentum, the Northside had only recently approved its transformation plan, and while work the leadership in City Hall was working diligently to move Spartanburg forward, the local landscape didn't provide the kinds of obvious signs of progress we all see today. Moreover, local media hadn't picked up on a turnaround that was too early in its evolution to bear much tangible fruit. The people in the trenches sensed what was coming, but getting people to pay attention was another matter. The City Podcast was part of our attempt to fill the information void in those days, telling the story of Spartanburg's transformation and talking with the people within local government and beyond who were making that transformation possible. We cast a wide net, discussing not just downtown and neighborhood redevelopment, but also history, arts and culture, the nonprofit community, health and wellness, trail development and active living, and just about anything else we felt wasn't getting the attention it might deserve. For years, that model was successful, and many episodes became reference points for residents looking for information about a specific local topic or development. Also over those years, we got some company in sharing the good news. Partnering organizations beefed up their own marketing, local media began to pick up the story of Spartanburg's rise, and what had been a kind of information vacuum was filled with the buzz around our city's trajectory and its bright future. Recognizing this, late last year we put the City Podcast on hiatus until we could commit the staff time and energy into figuring out a viable path forward for it, and now we think we've done that. Put plainly, we're taking the City podcast back to its information gap-filling roots, refocusing the show on local government specifically, doing deep dives on topics that are meant to equip listeners with the tools they need to become more engaged residents and participants in their community's future. For this first episode, we're exploring the basics of local government structure in the City of Spartanburg, looking at how the Council-Manager form of government works in South Carolina. We'll discuss how this structure functions, the responsibilities of City Council, the Mayor, and the City Manager, and what the advantages of this system are for you as a resident.
