Russell0931

Land is being cleared now for the new housing developments in Chaffe crossing. This will add over 100 new houses on the east side of town. Should be in the 150-200,000 range. As for the negative posters...I 540 is open in both directions and nobody is forcing you to endure your apparent misery here. I think if I were that miserable that I had to come on a message board and slam the city I lived in every chance I got, I would do something about it...like move

According to an article in yesterday's Times Record, Fort Chaffee is making a bid to become a full time Army National Guard Reserve post. If successful, Fort Chaffee will become home to 3,000 soldiers on a year round basis. This would mean not only 3,000 more people in our community, but also their families living, shopping, dinning, etc in Fort Smith. The article says the economic impact would be greater than landing a Toyota plant.

Well I have to admit that there are numerous restaurants in Fayetteville that Fort Smith does not have such as Noodles, Red Robin, Fudruckers, O'Charleys, and on and on...Ft Smith doesn't have all of the chains but tends to have a pretty good mix of locally owned and operated eating places. One of the most appealing aspects of NWA to me anyway is that there are areas that are asthetically pleasing, such as around NWA mall in Fayetteville and even more so around the new mall in Rogers...When I lived in Bentonville in 1997-1998 that area was a cow pasture...It is incredible how fast that area has changed. I am glad for NWA...Makes you wonder why all of this growth happened and how it got started. Geographically, it seems like Fort Smith is the city that should have taken off. i mean we are right here on the Arkansas River, I 40 goes just north of the city, we had the airport before Fay, rail, etc...What would NWA be like today if Sam Walton had been from Fort Smith??? I think it all goes back to city leadership from long ago..We focused on bringing in the factories which worked ok until companies started shifting production to countries with cheaper labor and now we are left with a loarge blue collar workforce that is running out of jobs and with no education. In other words, we put all of our eggs in one basket...We have fumbled away opportunity for at least the past 100 years in my opinion.