Walls99

I had been wondering when that area was going to finally get developed. I recall there being a big deal being made about all of the stuff that was going in that center, and yet years later all that is there was a Cane's (which I love) and a bank (as if we needed more of those). Hopefully this will spur further development on that property.

Delta will finally be adding a long-awaited second destination to LIT, however it will not be a Western gateway as had been speculated. LIT will see daily flights aboard a Delta Connection E-175 aircraft to New York-LaGuardia beginning in May of this year. In the span of only a few months, LIT has gone from zero daily flights to New York to two on two airlines. An interesting development to say the least. Additionally, Allegiant is returning seasonal service to Los Angeles (LAX), Destin-Ft. Walton Beach (VPS), and St. Petersburg-Clearwater (PIE) beginning in late May and early June. No information regarding aircraft type or daily frequency, but based on Allegiant's business model and patterns at LIT, these returning routes will likely be two or three flights per week on A319 aircraft. Although only seasonal, Allegiant had indicated in the past that these three routes formerly served at LIT would not be reinstated after their last seasonal round had ended. This is a nice change of heart from Allegiant.

I'm sorry, but the fact that they felt the need to blame "lack of parking" as a reason for their demise is laughable. I agree that if they want 50 spaces readily available at the front door, they would be much better suited for a suburban location instead of an urban one. And not to mention that like half of downtown was decimated for surface parking lots that sit mostly vacant (a horrific use of space; infill projects are greatly needed downtown), so it's not even like downtown lacks parking spaces.

I agree. Now it's time to start actually illuminating the streets downtown at night. It's one of those things I've always noticed about LIttle Rock is how dark our downtown is in most places. Street lights, when done well, create a sense of place and beauty that lacks in many parts of downtown. Not to mention many people will feel safer with the extra light on their evenings downtown. Not that I think downtown is unsafe, but like Rex said in the column about lighting the bridge "perception is reality."

Looking at the airport Wikipedia article (yes, I do that...don't judge) and noticed many route changes that I had not heard anything about previously. According to Wikipedia, Allegiant has canceled all routes out of LIT except for Orlando-Sanford, although it is being downgraded to seasonal. This means no more flights to Los Angeles, Destin-Ft. Walton Beach, and St. Petersburg-Clearwater. I also noticed that AA will be terminating the seasonal service to MIA in March, just a few months after it begins service to LGA. Can anyone confirm these changes?

After all this time, the return of non-stop service to New York has arrived. AA announced daily non-stop service to LGA beginning in November. The route will use the E175 aircraft. This will bring AA’s destinations out of LIT to seven! (DFW, ORD, CLT, MIA, DCA, PHX, and LGA) Meanwhile, Delta continues to underserve LIT with only one route! Unthinkable. http://clintonairport.com/airlines-flights/new-york-city/?fbclid=IwAR0VqhzaqYebgGQtsS4FKLfx-zZb3cQS0imDIg6_T3_JoxftKvSaFDykccQ&fs=e&s=cl

Based on the recent light shed on their severe undercounting in the state of Arkansas, how reliable are these numbers? Why the sudden population decrease?

The vacant lots that plague downtown are simultaneously an eyesore and a travesty. Downtown Little Rock, while seeing dramatic improvements in crime rate in the last 20-30 years, still has a long way to go with regard to living up to its potential. The River Market and South Main districts are a start, but they seem to only be active and vibrant at nights and on weekends. Downtown Little Rock just seems sort of dead elsewhere even during the week. I recently took a trip to Knoxville (comparable in size to Little Rock and with a downtown along a major river), and I was blown away with how active and lively their downtown was on a Thursday night! Now Knoxville does have other factors going for it like the fact that it is a college town, but I never saw a single vacant lot anywhere in their downtown area. Every lot was used with a purpose whether a parking deck, mixed use buildings, offices, apartments, hotels, and parks/green spaces. I want that so badly for Little Rock, but I am not sure how or if we will ever get our downtown back. It seems as though many in the metro are too willing to stay out in Chenal, Maumelle, Sherwood, Conway, Cabot, and Saline County, than invest in having a booming central business district. For so long, the culture of the city was to avoid downtown that despite the efforts to revive parts of it, it might be too late.

There will be a temporary new non-stop route between LIT and PHX on American Eagle. According to the airport website, the route will only be operated from December 17 thought January 4. Not even one month! Not sure if that could imply a future permanent, or at least seasonal route, would happen once the uncertainty due to Covid-19 is over.

Grub’s has closed their Rodney Parham location according to their post on Facebook. However, in that same post, they announced that Gusano’s would be returning to Little Rock at that Rodney Parham location.

Nike is consolidating their locations in the central Arkansas market to the location at the Outlet Mall. The store in the Promenade was technically an outlet store anyway; no sense in having two outlet stores 15 minutes away from each other, especially given the trajectory of brick-and-mortar retail that was going on before the large shutdowns and economic downturn of the last three months.

I don't know if it's because I don't want it to happen or if I simply cannot fathom it, but I have a very difficult time seeing Faulkner County becoming its own MSA along with Conway County (at least not anytime in the near future). Anecdotally speaking, I think the city of Conway is too closely related to Little Rock and Pulaski County in terms of commuters, economy, distance, etc. to be considered a separate entity. The addition of Conway County into the LR-NLR-Conway MSA would be a welcome addition, and I could definitely see that happening. White County seems like a bit of a stretch at this point, but I would not complain if it happened. Adding Jefferson County would be a short-term population gain, but they are shrinking so quickly that I do not even want them because they would drag our numbers down.

I've always gotten that impression that people tend to compare Little Rock to Jackson and Shreveport rather than to the better comparisons that you mentioned. I would be all for a combined city-county municipality, however reuniting with NLR and annexing Sherwood (which is basically NLR anyway) would be a fantastic start and I for one would never complain if that happened. There are little drawbacks to this, as it would "instantly increase" Little Rock's population from 200,000 to almost 300,000. This would be much more attractive to businesses that see a larger central city and fewer competing smaller municipalities as well. I do fear, however, that there would certainly be a large push back to this, mostly from the north side of the river. They would be hesitant to give up that "identity" and local control on the north side of the river (one example of this I can think of is the "Pulaski County" branding of Simmons Bank Arena since technically it is in North Little Rock). Are there any active people with proposals talking about this? Would Mayor Scott be on board? I interact with several people from around the country who visit Little Rock fairly frequently. They do not understand why Little Rock and NLR are separate cities (and I agree with them!) and they usually just refer to everything as Little Rock, and I do as well.

KATV is reporting that the Little Rock Club on the top floor of the Regions building will be closing permanently. They cited never fully recovering membership after the 2008 crisis and now not being able to meet as reasons for closure. Another one bites the dust.

I would be shocked if La Madeleine closed but Genghis Grill wouldn't come as a shock at all. A source tells me that the Genghis Grill in Birmingham closed not too long ago as well.