masons_dad1

I'm pretty sure the Regional Mobility Authority was going forward with or without Fayetteville and if they had taken an isolationist stance it would have damaged the city's image as a "green" city. There's a lot of metro just north of Fayetteville's city limits, afterall. Oil prices have broken several records this year with the biggest price jumps in history. Gas prices are expected to reach $5.00 per gallon on average and even with massive efforts by oil companies and our government prices are not likely to drop even a little, ever.

No dount it had to do with the rising gas prices and all the doom and gloom in the newsmedia lately. If Fayetteville is to be a leading edge city in the green scene then transportation is a major issue they'll be judged on. The competition is already building momentum to become the greenest city so Fayetteville can't get lazy.

I'm not sure I like it. There are a lot of merging lanes and those may actually reverse any benefit gained by having the criss-crossing through lanes, which don't look that beneficial either. But, I'm no expert and only time will tell if it actually works. It does look more affordable than flyovers, but more expensive than a traditional interchange. Another thing is it looks like a fender bender magnet.

Just my 2 cents: I can understand both sides of the "Fayetteville and not Arkansas" debate. While Fayetteville is an up-and-coming urban mecca in its own right, it still lies in the shadow of Little Rock. After all, no matter how much arts, culture and live music, or how much job diversity, racial diversity and range of demographics Fayetteville has or may have in the future, Little Rock is seen as the center of all these things in Arkansas (albeit, minus Razorbacks sports). Maybe not from the perspective of some people living in NWA, but in general. I can also understand why, knowing this, Fayetteville wants to distance itself from the state capitol which is only possible by distancing itself from the rest of the state. Unfortunately, Fayetteville faces even bigger challenges to its urban supremacy from Tulsa in the west and KC in the north. Maybe it would be better for Fayetteville to accept its position as younger sibling to Little Rock rather than be seen as an even smaller city in the shadows of Tulsa and KC. I like Fayetteville because its a city with a small town feel and some big city offerings, but if I was looking for a city that had everything one could want in a big city with plenty of small-town offerings nearby then Little Rock is the only option in Arkansas.

Well that bites. Its my favorite McDonalds. I like the little airplane museum display pieces they have inside. It would be nice if they could move the plane to a display on the ground.

I don't get the $180M pricetag. Even if construction costs have doubled since 2000 (which they haven't) that's just far too high a pricetag for a theater of this scale, as planned. I did a little shopping around and found a very nice theater that easily doubles the size of the planned new WAC, but also at half the cost (as of 2000)... oh and it's also one of the premier theaters in Hollywood, CA and is actually quite a work of art. Check out: Kodak Theatre (3,400 seat theatre opened November 2001 at a cost of $94 million) P.S.: It's also located in a similar location as the Pinnacle Hills Promenade (or at least what's envisioned for it). Maybe something the planners for the new WAC need to consider. Shopping, dining and entertainment destinations like the Promenade may draw more theatre-goers than a smaller downtown entertainment district... or maybe not. [Edit] Oh and sorry in advance if this post is negative in any way. Just trying to figure out where the $180M pricetag comes from? If anyone else could phrase what I just posted in a less negative or more inspiring way please enlighten me.

I want to apologize to everyone who was subjected to my negative posts, especially to cocothief, whose own posts have always been positive and optimistic even when others were not. I will continue to read these forums, but will not post unless I have something positive or at least non-disruptive to say. And thanks to Rod (Mith) for removing the negative portions of the Non-Profit thread, of which I was responsible for. Mike

I like that first pic... it looks so Planoesque! Thanks for those pics.

Were they cut down or just uprooted? Mature trees can be replanted so maybe they plan to return the trees that were there before. The main reason new developments plant new young trees is because it's cheaper. Since the square is not a new development they may have made prior arrangements for the mature trees. That may be the reason noone said anything, because they plan to put the trees back. I guess when it's all said and done and they do plant new young trees people can get upset about it, but noone seems to know what the city intends to do.

I agree. There should be a master plan for the Dickson Street Arts District to protect areas around the WAC for future land use. The city should be examining other city arts districts for ideas. There are some really good examples out there.

Doesn't even look close to being finished, so I'd be more optimistic that they will plant just as many trees as there was before when the work is done. More than likely there will be even more trees than before. When the work is done we'll know for sure.

What makes the aerospace/tech park even more desirable is that there is currently an aviation branch of NWACC located in the Regional Technologies Center in Fayetteville, called the Arkansas Aviation Technologies Center. The current offerings are an aviation maintenance degree and airframe and powerplant technical certifications. The bottom line isn't about creating jobs and increasing the tax base, it's about creating the opportunities to create jobs and increase the tax base. Steve Rust said it best about the aerospace/tech park: "The whole thing is you're not in the game unless you're ready to go. We are not ready to go. We are not in the game. Period. End of conversation."

Dickson Street is the ideal location for the WAC and the center for the arts in NWA. Dickson Street just has much more potential for urban growth than any of the sister cities and the arts require urban growth to sustain it. Crystal Bridges in Bentonville will be a great art museum, but it won't be a full blown arts center like the WAC. Besides, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville have small performing arts centers so they aren't exactly hurting because the WAC is in Fayetteville.

That's awesome news and at least it's not just local gossip since this is something the governor of Arkansas is endorsing which is why the grant is even available. Whether it becomes finalized or not it is a good thing to hear that our city officials are thinking about the future and not just sitting idle.

Poverty and public health and welfare has a lot to do with public transportation, so I'd say the discussion is on-topic. A city or metro that lacks public transportation and public housing for that matter is not against poverty or illness, but is against the poor and disabled trying to live there. I've heard claims about a war against poverty, but instead of attacking the circumstances of poverty like the lack of public transportation and affordable housing, these claimants are attacking the poor and disabled by not providing a means for them to better themselves. I guess its going to take a huge increase in gang-related crimes to wake some people up.

I agree that if cities like Fayetteville and Rogers keep declining some mergers may be necessary even if the idea may not be popular with most people. Springdale and Bentonville are already accustomed to not having much to lose. When the need is great enough people will change, especially when they start getting hungry. Fortunately the metro has done well to keep the poor and disabled out by catering mostly to the wealthier elite. In other words, it may be a long time before there's enough poverty and sickness in NWA to engage public concern, but anything is possible.

The lack of decent public transportation here is, like Mith pointed out, the lack of a true 'center' of the metro. There never will be enough money to reach all areas of the metro by public transportation so we just have to get learn to live with worsening traffic conditions. I can live with it if it means getting more places to spend money.

I couldn't find a topic for ORT, but due to lack of funding ORT has cancelled the Springdale/Lowell/Rogers route as of December 07. Lowell still has a Rural Paratransit, which is a huge step backwards from the regional route that was cancelled. Add this to all the doom and gloom that's been going on in NWA development news and it seems like this really is the end of the line for NWA. At least compared to the past several years of growth.

What I don't understand is why Fayetteville doesn't just build a new, bigger WAC across the street and then redevelop the land the current WAC is on. That would guarantee WAC stays there and make room for more redevelopment on the current WAC land. Seems better than building fancy hotel/condos across the street and possibly lose the WAC which would kill most developments on Dickson Street.

I can't tell from the picture, but won't all those power lines be raised much higher off the ground when they move them to the new poles? Seems to me that would make the streetscape nicer than the low hanging power lines. The new poles are much nicer than those wooden poles that are always leaning at different angles.

By no means did I suggest anything negative toward Fayetteville. I was just trying to add some clarification to the discussion. I think renaming 6th Street to a MLK street is a nice dedication that doesn't fit neatly into the typical MLK renaming process. Neither does 10% of the MLK's outside of Georgia. Fayetteville does seem to be an exception to the rule in many instances, especially concerning other cities in Arkansas. I would still like to see more African Americans calling Fayetteville and NWA home and if having a MLK Blvd helps then it should be a positive influence on the community. I also agree that it should have been done a while back as it may have made a big difference to Fayetteville's current diversity. Especially considering the importance of Fayetteville's past in racial integration and tolerance.

You got "arguably" right: Pine Bluff: Black (65.9%) / White Non-Hispanic (32.0%) West Memphis: Black (55.9%) / White Non-Hispanic (41.8%) Little Rock: White Non-Hispanic (54.0%) / Black (40.4%) Texarkana: White Non-Hispanic (65.0%) / Black (31.0%) Fort Smith: White Non-Hispanic (74.0%) / Black (8.6%) Hot Springs: White Non-Hispanic (76.5%) / Black (16.9%) Fayetteville: White Non-Hispanic (84.0%) / Black (5.1%) Fayetteville's tolerance can be attributed to the fact that no matter where you go in Fayetteville there are very few African Americans to be found. Some days none to be found. That tolerance would decrease as the African American presence increases. I got this information from African American friends that I've known who live/lived here.

While I think every diverse city should have a MLK Blvd (Street, Road, whatever) I find it forced and unnatural for Fayetteville to rename one of its streets in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King. To me it sounds like the city is just trying to advertise Fayetteville as more diverse in an attempt to become more diverse. There just aren't enough African Americans in Fayetteville to respectfully justify renaming a street in honor of Dr. King. I can only see it as an attempt by the city to make Fayetteville more attractive to African Americans. I wish it had been done many years ago so that it didn't seem like just an attempt to disguise Fayetteville's "whiteness." A tidbit from the New Georgia Encyclopedia: "A strong relationship exists between the likelihood of a city's identifying a street with King and the relative size of its African American population. On average, black Georgians constitute approximately 47 percent of the population in a location with a street named for King. In more than 90 percent of places in the state with a Martin Luther King Jr. Street, the black community makes up at least 20 percent of the population. This pattern is consistent with that in other states and predictable given the role of black activists in initiating the street-naming process." Source: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-802 Those stats by the New Georgia Encyclopedia, among other sources, support my opinion.

I doubt that the Promenade's newness wearing off had much to do with a decrease in Rogers' sales tax revenue because sales tax revenue was increasing in Rogers for several years before the Promenade opened. When the Promenade opened in October of 2006 there was a 21 percent citywide sales-tax increase over October 2005. It was expected that October 2007 would not top that. I agree with Mayor Womack that gas prices and the construction slowdown has a lot to do with the decrease. People are making less money and facing questionable futures this year. I don't expect that to change for quite some time in the future. I also heard that gift cards were the big thing this year so it's not just a problem in Rogers. December and January sales will probably show some increases, but restaurants and movie theatres may be the one's to see the biggest increases in revenue.

I expect that has more to do with the holidays than anything else and with so many people moving to NWA every month there are a lot more people flying home for the holidays.