First, a confession. Your correspondent has been known to participate in that sport known as "South Carolina bashing," wherein those of us in North Carolina, a place we feel is far superior to any other, sniff a bit and then trade barbs like: "You know what's in a South Carolina seven-course meal? A possum and a six-pack." Easy, easy. I got a million of 'em.

But a Greenville, S.C., turnaround last week to visit friends of long-standing has, I'm afraid, left this scribe jealous...of...a place in South Carolina, namely downtown Greenville. As we in Raleigh are in the midst of downtown revitalization and all excited about the newly reopened Fayetteville Street, I thought it might be a good idea to go into central Greenville and have a look-see. Turns out that downtown Greenville has been studied by some folks from Raleigh, and for that matter, by little groups from cities around the country. (Census figures are woefully outdated, but in 2000 Greenville was listed with a population of 56,000, Raleigh with 276,000.)

There's good reason for those visits. The place is spectacular, and a monument to public-private partnership (between some pretty gutsy city officials over many years and business types) and a measured but determined pace in developing downtown. How'd it all happen? For that, we went to Nancy Whitworth, director of economic development for the city.

"Some people said we were going to preserve downtown, but we really had to remake downtown," she said, noting that the downtown effort really has been going since the 1970s. Greenville had some of the same problems Raleigh and lots of other cities did -- malls came in, stores moved out, and downtown had too many vacant buildings in it. Not content to just let things deteriorate, some city council members and private business people noodled a bunch of ideas and then hired a landscape architect from California to develop a physical plan for downtown. At the time, it seemed downright daring -- diagonal parking on major streets, trees, and two lanes instead of four. (Locals who don't want to take that route have faster alternatives.)

And pay attention, you paid-parking addicts on the Raleigh City Council: There is no paid parking on the main streets. There are diagonal spaces with two-hour limits. Free. That's right. No meters.

Let's have the altar call right now, Raleigh councillors. Come on down to the front, brothers and sisters, and gimme an Amen.

Yes, Greenville has pay-to-park decks -- but...did we mention, no meters?

In addition to that no-meter, free parking idea, the council and the business folks also weren't afraid to throw a little imagination into the mix. There are very cool and readable signs directing people to the highlights of downtown -- they're informative and don't have that institutional look to them. There are seating areas outside restaurants, and little parks, and statues of notables from the area in casual poses. South Carolinian Shoeless Joe Jackson, one of the greatest hitters in major league baseball history, is posed swinging away in his prime near the minor league ballpark. (Jackson was a member of the infamous 1919 Chicago "Black Sox.")

"It's all been an evolving process," Whitworth said. "The statues have really been done within the last couple of years. First we were doing the basics, initially focused on getting people to work downtown. We wanted to make it a place where people wanted to be. Then restaurants started building up, and then people started wanting to live downtown. We're focusing on retail now. And we've done some other things...we have quotes in the sidewalks, and we've hung bells in some of the trees, just things that would entertain people as they come downtown."

It's true Greenville has a natural asset of the sort downtown Raleigh doesn't have, the Reedy River. But it's also shown some gumption when it comes to development, and a fearlessness when it comes to trying some ideas like bells in the trees. (In Raleigh, one wonders if such a proposal would have an appointed task force debating what music the bells should make and whether birds would alight on them...)

It is long since time Raleigh leaders stopped talking about all the things that can't be done and why and instead loosened up a little and tried to make downtown fun and a little zany, whether that means etchings on the sidewalks or a daring piece of art on Fayetteville Street or trying an idea here and there that -- gasp!-- not every single council member or resident might not like.

For now, let's start with pulling out all the parking meters, getting local artist Thomas Sayre (who's done projects all over the world) to offer some thoughts on jazzing up the cityscape, plant some more trees, maybe even hang some bells that'll ring when a breeze whips down Fayetteville Street. Really, it can be done. And do we really want the folks in Greenville to start telling North Carolina jokes?