Harvey Peeler

Cross-county groups will more effectively represent our region

The Upstate grows or declines as a region. Spartanburg’s future is not independent of Greenville’s and vice versa. That’s why it makes so much sense for leaders in the region to work together to represent the entire Upstate.

Business leaders took that direction this week when they announced the Upstate Chamber Coalition, an alliance of 10 chambers of commerce in the region. The group will work together to lobby state officials and the General Assembly on behalf of the region.

Such an effort is crucial, particularly to Spartanburg, which lost much influence in Columbia in last year’s elections.

Spartanburg has not had a great deal of clout in Columbia in decades, and Spartanburg institutions have suffered, getting less than their fair shares of state revenues.

The University of South Carolina Upstate is a good example. The school has historically been shorted in state higher education funding. But the university is a regional asset and should have advocates across the entire region.

In the past, that has not been the case, but progress is being made. Leaders are starting to recognize the degree to which the counties in the region are connected — their economies and their futures.

This year, lawmakers from across the area started to form an Upstate caucus that will focus on representing the region in the legislature. This is an absolutely critical effort. Other regions have more representatives in higher leadership positions. The speaker of the House, the Senate president pro tem and the governor are all from the Lowcountry. Upstate lawmakers must work together to push this region’s interests.

Now, the business community has joined the push by creating the coalition of regional chambers. The Upstate Alliance is a separate but similar group that markets the entire region.

This kind of cooperation is necessary in the 21st Century. Our economies are intertwined. The BMW plant is located in Spartanburg County but draws its labor from several Upstate counties. Suppliers for the automaker are located across the Upstate, and the new automotive research center is located in Greenville County.

By themselves, our communities don’t have the selling points that our region has as a whole. Marketing the Upstate as a great place to do business will be much more effective than selling a single city or county.

Local chambers can no longer afford to spend their resources competing against regional neighbors. Lawmakers will be ineffective if they focus only on the area within their legislative districts.

A growing Upstate lifts every community in this part of the state. More efforts like the Upstate Chamber Coalition are necessary.

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