Was the mayor of Greenville finally unseated or did he win an 8th term? Here are the results
Greenville Mayor Knox White was elected to an eighth term Tuesday, defeating former city council member Michelle Shain.
White garnered 6,410 votes or about 57% to Shain’s 4,752 or 43%.
Around 9 p.m., Shain conceded and White told WYFF-TV he was gratified the voters thought the city was headed in the right direction.
“It’s a great honor,” he said.
White has served as Greenville mayor for 28 years and as a council member for 12 years before that.
He has been credited with revitalizing the downtown area, most especially envisioning a downtown park along the Reedy River, a slip of a waterway that the city had turned its back on for decades.
Falls Park on the Reedy covers 32 acres in an area called the West End, just beyond the central business district. It was an instant hit and brought shops, restaurants and hundreds of apartment units.
That was 2004. An award-winning stadium for a Major League Baseball affiliate — the Drive — was built in the West End. Last year, the 60-acre Unity Park, upstream from Falls Park, opened and is on the cusp of fostering more development, both residential and commercial.
White ran on a platform promising development of affordable housing and getting a handle on growth.
Shain, who served on Greenville City Council from 1999 until 2007, said growth has left too many people behind and caused myriad problems from traffic congestion to housing prices that are out of reach for many.
Shain calls it accelerated growth, adding it’s nice to be on so many top 10 lists and attract tourists, but it is more important to make the city a great place to live for all residents, not just the wealthy.
She said she wanted to stop the exodus of Black residents and decrease the out of area developers investment.
Since leaving the council, Shain has led various nonprofit organizations such as the Children’s Museum of the Upstate, YWCA, A Child’s Haven and the United Way.
White is a lawyer who specializes in immigration and is a scion of the Haynsworth family, a legal dynasty in Greenville.
Going forward he wants to tackle affordable housing and the development of a triangular piece of land at the entrance of downtown that once housed Greenville Memorial Auditorium. The land has been vacant since the auditorium was razed in 1997 when an arena was built, now known as Bon Secours Wellness Arena or The Well.
A Miami developer has signed on to build Gracie Plaza at the Arena District, an entertainment district with two buildings — 16 and seven stories for 294 apartments, 8,000 square feet of retail space, and creative studios.
White said there are two more spurs to come from the Swamp Rabbit Trail, an extensive walk-bike path through Greenville County.
White has said this is his last term.
