mzweig

I think you have asked some important questions here and your fears about this are valid. I dunno what the process is for creating this district but I served on a historic commission in Natick, Massachusetts, and yes--we pretty much stopped everything from happening and even dictated the color you could paint your building.... The question is always what era are you trying to preserve?

That closure is making a mess of traffic over there. Hope they get it fixed soon, Rod! M

Me, too. Too many curb cuts make the city unwalkable, something that is a primary element of our master plan. M

I bought one a few weeks ago. Neat book--has a few minor errors. I wish we had a similar book for Fayetteville overall....that would really be cool! I think everyone should get "Once upon Dickson" if they live around here. Mark

My vote is for Terminella first then Fulbright. Fulbright is already pretty much full--I hate to lose those people in the downtown area, spending money at lunch and all--and Terminella is empty. And while Fulbright is super-cool inside, Terminella, due to its more conventional floorplates and layout, would probably be easier to use. IGA would be a disaster. We cannot afford to lose our downtown grocery store! This is a prime location. Turning it into a county building would be terrible--!

That is very interesting and would be great for our area. I really do think the sustainability thrust could be our future. M

Right on. And even the real estate market is proving to be better than many thought..... M

Thanks, Z. It does seem like they are making rapid progress. I understand the first Farmers' Market is this weekend--I hope that's true and I hope they are ready! M

We are truly a unique place--the best of all worlds!

The only problem witht "midsouth" is that's what Memphis, Mississippi, and Little Rock consider themselves part of, all of which are a lot more "southern" in flavor than NWA. It's a hard one. M

It is a shame. I will say, however, that as a parent of a child at FHS, I am not thrilled with the administration. They are difficult to communicate with, talk down to people, and are in general, very unresponsive--a lot different from the high school my older daughter graduated from in Dover, Mass. M

We knew the project was going to happen. What we were not told was the trees would all be ripped out. That's not the same asthey might die later. The city will not let us normal folk tint sidewalks. I had to get special dispensation to not do bright white concrete in front of my house at 413 N.Willow. I wanted to do exposed aggregate (all at my cost) and they said "no." I finally conviced them to let me put a little tint in the concrete so it didn't look bright white and they didn't want me to do that! M

Let me add that several of my wife's friends have called to find out about the trees. They were all cut down and will be replaced with much smaller trees. The city says they were past their prime--I think that's crap and it was idiotic to cut down those mature trees where everyone walks! In fact, this whole revamping of the square seems like a dumb project we could have done without. I would much rather have seen them spend this cash somewhere else in Fayetteville. The Square was already nice! Goofy. M

But where else but Johnson can you count on getting a speeding ticket so easily? M

That has to be it. Having self-storage doesn't exactly upgrade this development but it might make it viable in this location. M

There are "haters" who just seem to be against everything. I will say that I can't understand what the developers are thinking--that this is an ugly market and it has never been easy to sell real estate in that part of town--but God bless 'm for trying and for doing someting! M

Those in the know claim it will be ready for FM. They seem to be working, even in not-so-great weather, so that's encouraging. M

Move it "all the way out there?," Rod? Where is "there" that it would be moved to? I hope they don't move it. My daughter lives down the hill from the station, on Church. M

They do suck, and also reflect a growing trend that everything isnt getting better here in Fayetteville every day like it used to. Businesses are going boke, tax revenues are down, projects cancelled..and now this? It's so idiotic and shortsighted, I cannot believe it!

Dang, Coco, you make some powerful arguments here.

I've been in there recently looking for office space. It is kind of a cool building, still a little scruffy. If my firm puts an office in Fayetteville I think we could end up there due to the pricing and configuration of the spaces. They already put new elevator cabs but will supposedly redo them again. They are also planning cafe space on the ground level. M

I would echo your comments and add that they like the schools, being near a university, the older neighborhoods, the downtown that's alive, the more liberal political environment, and less church-related influence than Bentonville or Rogers. Oh, yeah....and less traffic. My experience is people from outside NWA who move to Fayetteville are generally happier than people from outside NWA who move to Bentonville or Rogers. M

Good. This is one time the city council has done something right. M

Maybe the real estate around Crossover is simply more expensive? I dunno. M