Hanging out at Greenville’s Reedy River Falls Park has fast become a favorite way to spend a lazy weekend for thousands of Upstate residents.

The redevelopment of the old park and its waterfalls has got to be the city’s most dramatic success to date, helping transform the once-trashy West End into a hipster haven.

The soaring metal-and-glass condominiums and the majestic footbridge are stunning visual icons of Greenville’s newfound confidence and prosperity.

Andersonians are probably tired of the incessant comparisons with Greenville and the pressure it brings to provide comparable big-city amenities and culture to what remains a small town and, for some, still an ideal one.

But as the city of Anderson continues a series of public meetings to update its recreation master plan this coming week, I’m hoping the Reedy park project can inspire city officials and residents alike to give the idea of downtown greenspace more attention than it has received since the original parks plan put forth in 2000.

That has been talked about from the beginning of the downtown revitalization initiative a decade ago.

But it took $100,000 in private funding from 100 local — and no doubt impatient — philanthropists to build the first “pocket park” on McDuffie and Whitner streets to honor the Electric City’s pioneering history.

The courthouse square location that serves as the focal point of the Soiree, Downtown Sounds, the Chili Cook-off and other city events isn’t a very inviting gathering spot, although we’ve made the best of it.

No one really wants to lay down a blanket on a brick plaza, although I’ve seen it done. And it stinks as a venue for performances, with trees, planters and a railed-off Confederate monument obstructing views and cramping crowds.

For all downtown’s progress, Anderson still seems to lack a vision of how to remake into a true center of community activity on days, nights and weekends, rather than just a street lined by good-looking buildings.

Creating a park-like attraction or gathering space — perhaps even pedestrianizing some of downtown and linking it by walking paths to downtown’s various amenities — could be part of the answer.

If it’s a little off the beaten track, it could actually serve as the momentum-shifter that expands redevelopment into surrounding areas and neighborhoods.

Among the obstacles are railroad tracks, an overpass, several main roads and brownfields. And there isn’t a natural wonder such as the Reedy Falls to plan around.

But there’s no shortage of empty lots or crumbling buildings to make space for something.

The city of Anderson’s greatest shortage isn’t money. It’s imagination.