SoMplsGuy

All I can say is that whoever said that nothing was going on in fort Smith and everybody goes to NWA to do stuff was right on. I guess things don't change that much in 20 years. I've been back in the Fort now for a couple of days and there's plenty of new developement and still nothing to do. Unless you dig giant chain stores and fast food, there's just not much here. If I lived in this state again, I'd leave Back-to-the-Future like streaks of fire behind me getting up that hill to Fayettville. Whoever else said that this place doesn't take full advantage of it's history is also spot on. This place with all it's old west history and heratige has no personality whatsoever.

I know the Fort is comming along - certianly the tornado a few years ago didn't help - so I hope that one post of mine wasn't too negative. Of course, a town of it's size will have a few things going for it . Like I said, the downtown has a lot going on. I've eaten at Bella Italia (REALLY nice victorian mansion), checked out the river ampitheater and toured the Hanging Judge's court. My personal problem is that my parents live way on the other side of town among the never ending sea of parking lots and chain stores along rogers ave. So when I'm in town I don't spend as much time as I'd like in the part of town that is cool. It certianly was a tough place to go to high school - there was nothing at all to do (we'd actually hang out at the McDonnalds because there was nowhere to go). Good thing Fayettville was close by and we could go up the hill to see bands. Oh yeah, one thing you guys in the Fort can take a lot of pride in is that new (may not be new, but it's new to me) Library. Here in Minneapolis, we're building a new library which will open next spring. The one it is replacing - the one that was downtown for 40 years - couldn't hold a candle to the Fort Smith library. I was amazed the first time I saw that thing because it dwarfed the minneapolis library at the time and we have 3 million people in this town. Impressive.

I went to high school in the Fort (southside) in the late 80's and I have to say I wasn't a big fan of the place. I've since been back many times (Parents live there) and well, I'm still not a big fan of the place. They have made big strides in the downtown area which is the only part of town that I like. My only real problem with downtown is that Garrison avenue is so wide as to negate any feel of density or urbanity that the place might otherwise have. But there are many neat little resturaunts and bars and that's good because as soon as you get to the top of that hill and head towards that mall it's all over - ugly sprawl for miles. It's like a giant suburb of what - Barling? The one thing that just amazes me every time I'm back there is that unless you are downtown or on that new U of A campus is that there are no sidewalks in that town. None. My parents look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them I'm walking somewhere that is a mile away. I hope this doesn't sound too negative - I'm not one to diss people's towns - but the best thing about the Fort is it's proximity to a major interstate.