Visions for Arkansas

[Mith242]

Hey, they're just making up for all the Arkies that left for California back in the 1940s.

It's funny, I just read that article in the Arkansas Business, and was going to post about it. According to the article, a diesel/electric train would produce only two percent of the pollution of a single automobile! I like the sound of that. Interstate congestion in NWA is certainly a problem, and it would be great to actually see some foresight alleviate it, before it's too late.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually you might be closer to the truth than you think. Quite a few Californians I met are descendants of some of that generation that left during the dust bowl. But yes I would like to see something like this happen. They might have to do some work on the bus schedules. I still think some areas are too spread out to get to many areas without a vehicle. I could see Fayetteville doing a better job in that area. Recently we've been having a bus feud going on up here. Two companies competing with each other, especially in terms of federal and state money. Razorback Transit of course focuses a lot around Fayetteville and the university. The other travels around more of northwest Arkansas in general. I think Razorback Transit carries a huge amount of more people than the other, but then again it doesn't cover as much area. Instead of both getting 50/50 split of the money now Razorback only gets 40%. Which of course it isn't happy with. It would be nice to maybe see something worked out between the two along with a possible light rail.

[Mith242]

Visions for Little Rock:

5.Complete the North Belt Freeway. Its been talked about since the 1940's and the last word is that it is still 10 years away.

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I haven't kept up real well on some of the Little Rock news in the past. A while back ago there was a study on the possibility of toll roads in Arkansas. The study said there were only two options that would be worth trying. One was a bypass around Bella Vista. There was also a possibility of one around the Little Rock area. Is the North Belt it?

[Mith242]

I noticed today in the Ark Dem_Gaz there was an article about Arkansas 8th highest rise in personal income last quarter. While this is good news it's simply one step in the right direction because Arkansas still is pretty low. Nothing to get too excited about, but hopefully this will be a sign of things to come.

[Khashbaatar_Tsagaanbaatar]

Me want education to git better so me kids can get learned better.

[Khashbaatar_Tsagaanbaatar]

I seriously see some major education overhauls in the distant future. Distant, maybe, but I hope that they are reshapings of the very structure of the school system. Something new, something groundbreaking.

Something controversial.

Something effective.

[johnnydr87]

I seriously see some major education overhauls in the distant future.  Distant, maybe, but I hope that they are reshapings of the very structure of the school system.  Something new, something groundbreaking.

Something controversial.

Something effective.

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No Child Left Behind Part II?

[Khashbaatar_Tsagaanbaatar]

No Child Left Behind Part II?

Maybe, so long as this one works.

[sleepy]

I agree on the gambling.  I have no interest in it but would like to see the money not leave the state.  Although I'm not sure what locations you would pick.  I have often heard Hot Springs and West Memphis mentioned.  I also think Pine Bluf could use something like this.  I also don't know if people from other parts of the state would want all the money spent mainly in one area.

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But the state would get the tax proceeds regardless of what particular locality the gamblers spent their money in. Aside from setting up some state gambling enforcement agency--which would be funded from the additional tax revenues anyway--the state wouldn't spend a nickel.

I'd say West Memphis would be ideal. Something like 1/3 of the gambling revenue in Tunica comes from Memphis. And Tunica is the 3rd largest gambling center in terms of revenue in the US. West Memphis would take a big chunk of that.

[Mith242]

But the state would get the tax proceeds regardless of what particular locality the gamblers spent their money in.  Aside from setting up some state gambling enforcement agency--which would be funded from the additional tax revenues anyway--the state wouldn't spend a nickel.

I'd say West Memphis would be ideal.  Something like 1/3 of the gambling revenue in Tunica comes from Memphis.  And Tunica is the 3rd largest gambling center in terms of revenue in the US.  West Memphis would take a big chunk of that.

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I agree West Memphis would make a good candidate and they have also had more of a history of gambling with the greyhound park nearby. I could also see Pine Bluff, maybe even Helena. All of thos locations could use a boost in their economy and would help keep people from spending all their money in Tunica. But I'd also like to see some located in other areas of Arkansas. Hot Springs, El Dorado, Texarkana, Ft Smith would also be interesting locations.

[johnnydr87]

Some more:

-More major technology companies like Alltel in Little Rock

-More state public residential schools for state's brightest (one based in Little Rock would be nice)

-some form of national sports league team: NFL, MLB, NBA, whatever

-Major League Soccer sports team- MLS is growing pretty fast....War memorial would do..

-I-69 spur manafacturing plants along Arkansas route

-Little Rock land more national/international conventions

-It's already known that NW Ark. and LR are the major metro anchors of the state. I would like to see Jonesboro as a future one, and maybe Hot Springs or Conway too (quite a stretch). Unfortunately, Jonesboro is one lone city growing at NW arkansas speeds, while NW Ark has several cities growing at...well, NW Ark. speed.

-A MAJOR SKYLINE AND URBAN CENTER in northwest arkansas. just the thought of the growth excites me. imagine that place in 20-25 years; it will be huge! Arkansas will slowly be pushed from its backwards status.

-The Delta revitalized. Somehow, some way. Become the hope for other states' "deltas." I already mentioned I-69.

-Scenic mountain vistas on I-49. Haha, that's a personal fetish. I-49 is the LAST place I would have thought a highway was going to be built (Ouachita mountains) in the state. It cuts through the Ouachitas and hits up a few good sized towns and cities.

-Education education education. probably mentioned a couple of times.

[arkansas_buff]

johnnydr87... I like the idea of NEA getting some more attention. However, it's not just J-town growing up here. Paragould is also moving right along. Currently at about 27K residents. Greene and Craighead counties combined have a population of over 125K.

There are already some good projects in the works for NEA...

1. The Mall At Turtle Creek (750K sq ft mall)

2. Hotel & Convention Center

3. I-555 (Formerly US 63), which makes for 1hr commute to Memphis.

4. Airport expansion in Jonesboro.

5. Widening of US 412 in Paragould

6. New 8-screen movie theater in Paragould

7. Awesome new community center and park in Paragould

[johnnydr87]

johnnydr87... I like the idea of NEA getting some more attention.  However, it's not just J-town growing up here.  Paragould is also moving right along.  Currently at about 27K residents.  Greene and Craighead counties combined have a population of over 125K.

There are already some good projects in the works for NEA...

1.  The Mall At Turtle Creek (750K sq ft mall)

2.  Hotel & Convention Center

3.  I-555 (Formerly US 63), which makes for 1hr commute to Memphis.

4.  Airport expansion in Jonesboro.

5.  Widening of US 412 in Paragould

6.  New 8-screen movie theater in Paragould

7.  Awesome new community center and park in Paragould

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Very cool. Are there any plans for the MSA to acquire other counties in its MSA?

[Mith242]

I have a question about the Jonesboro area. I while back ago I thought I'd heard something about Jonesboro annexing a lot of land. So just how much population growth is going on there? I imagine there still has to be some even if you take out the annexing, but is the area actually growing as quickly as it sounds?

[Rural King]

There are already some good projects in the works for NEA...

1.  The Mall At Turtle Creek (750K sq ft mall)

2.  Hotel & Convention Center

3.  I-555 (Formerly US 63), which makes for 1hr commute to Memphis.

4.  Airport expansion in Jonesboro.

5.  Widening of US 412 in Paragould

6.  New 8-screen movie theater in Paragould

7.  Awesome new community center and park in Paragould

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I heard about the Hotel & Convention Center on 90.7 NPR Memphis/Dyersburg the other day when they ran the Memphis nightly news. It sounded very impressive.

[Mith242]

I heard about the Hotel & Convention Center on 90.7 NPR Memphis/Dyersburg the other day when they ran the Memphis nightly news. It sounded very impressive.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So this is actually making news in western Tennesee? Interesting, like I said before it's nice to hear something good going on in the eastern part of Arkansas. It's seems to be one of the few highpoints in that area of the state.

[johnnydr87]

Well.... Memphis local news covers eastern arkansas :-) . I know this because i've been living in memphis the past 2 weeks.

But they don't only cover eastern arkansas, the fairly often cover arkansas in general. The news programs here (memphis) tout themselves as news for the "mid-south." The airplane crash in Canada of a Fayettville Arkansas stuntman was mentioned here.. There was another thing mentioned recently about Little Rock's "all-day Kindergarten" program getting praise by some organization. Still, Little Rock news stations cover all of central Arkansas and more.

[Mith242]

Well.... Memphis local news covers eastern arkansas :-) .  I know this because i've been living in memphis the past 2 weeks. 

But they don't only cover eastern arkansas, the fairly often cover arkansas in general.  The news programs here (memphis) tout themselves as news for the "mid-south."  The airplane crash in Canada of a Fayettville Arkansas stuntman was mentioned here..  There was another thing mentioned recently about Little Rock's "all-day Kindergarten" program getting praise by some organization.  Still, Little Rock news stations cover all of central Arkansas and more.

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I guess it makes sense. The Ft Smith tv stations tend to have a lot of news of eastern Oklahoma. Not necessarily to Tulsa but some of eastern Oklahoma.

[Rural King]

Where I live in Northwest Tennessee I get news from 4 states. I get NO major cities on my local cable. I get Jackson (TN) ABC affiliate (covers part of Ark and MS), Cape Girardeau (MO) CBS-Fox-UPN [this station covers part of ARK), Paducah (KY) NBC, and Marion-Harrisburg (IL) ABC. Its really odd but true. I get my only big city news from NPR 90.7 Memphis via a relay in Dyersburg, which runs the local ABC newscast at night. To make a long story short I get local news on 5 states on a daily basis which is really nice, but on the downside I get no Nashville or Memphis affiliates (Jackson ABC is pretty weak news IMO) which I kinda of dislike since most other towns in NWTN get at least 1 Nashville or Memphis affiliate.

Anyway - I get hear about alot of stuff. Mainly by being a NPR junkie.

[johnnydr87]

Where I live in Northwest Tennessee I get news from 4 states. I get NO major cities on my local cable. I get Jackson (TN) ABC affiliate (covers part of Ark and MS), Cape Girardeau (MO) CBS-Fox-UPN [this station covers part of ARK), Paducah (KY) NBC, and Marion-Harrisburg (IL) ABC. Its really odd but true. I get my only big city news from NPR 90.7 Memphis via a relay in Dyersburg, which runs the local ABC newscast at night. To make a long story short I get local news on 5 states on a daily basis which is really nice, but on the downside I get no Nashville or Memphis affiliates (Jackson ABC is pretty weak news IMO) which I kinda of dislike since most other towns in NWTN get at least 1 Nashville or Memphis affiliate.

Anyway - I get hear about alot of stuff. Mainly by being a NPR junkie.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Haha...that's really weird.

All I get are:

KATV ABC- Little Rock

KARK NBC- Little Rock

KTHV CBS- Little Rock

FOX 16- Little Rock

WB42- Little Rock

And if WGN counts, Chicago...

[Rural King]

If that counts I do get one major city then, WGN Chicago. I don't mind getting all my news from small and mid-sized cities, but I wouldn't mind having access to a Memphis affiliate, or even a Nashville one, just for some quality in-state big city newscasts.

[Mith242]

Haha...that's really weird. 

All I get are:

KATV ABC- Little Rock

KARK NBC- Little Rock

KTHV CBS- Little Rock

FOX 16- Little Rock

WB42- Little Rock

And if WGN counts, Chicago...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well you are close to being in the center of a state. It's a bit different than being near the state line. It seems like our cable has been slowly trimming out others. We used to get one Little Rock affiliate. We used to also have several Tulsa affiliates. Although thats been cut down to just one now. We also don't get any Missouri stations Springfield or Joplin. But I believe Benton County just to the north of us gets them. Because our area used to be much smaller most of our stations are still based out of Ft Smith. We have one NBC station that's totally based out of Fayetteville. The Abc station has studios in Fayetteville and Ft Smith but it still seems to lean a bit to Ft Smith and the CBS station is still mainly just Ft Smith. All of our 'other' network stations are based out of Ft Smith. We aren't big enough I guess to have news yet on Fox.

[johnnydr87]

Warwick Sabin, a journalist for the Arkansas Times, came out with an article for this week's Arkansas Times about urban development. It seemed to hit many of the themes we discussed here, as well as some new ones. At the end of the article he makes a lists of developments he would like to see. (It's almost as if he saw this thread and decided to write a similar article!)

Some highlights:

The intersection between urban planning and psychology is well charted. Modern Paris was designed because Napoleon III wanted to prevent future uprisings and inspire pride among his countrymen. So his lieutenant Baron Hausmann tore down the cramped medieval neighborhoods and replaced them with wide boulevards, lots of green space, and monumental architecture. It worked: citizens felt liberated because they had room to breathe, and they felt more at peace because they had beautiful places to retreat.

[...]

[Mith242]

Those are interesting ideas. Although it is a little hard for me to follow all of them because I'm not that familiar with Little Rock. But I agree with many of the ideas. I always thought it would be interesting if Fayetteville would put in some fountains and such. Because of the hilly terrain many of the roads are not built on a grid network and at least in my opinion make the city feel at least a little more European. A couple of years ago they finally finished the Dickson Street Improvement Plan, which looks nice. But for all the trouble they went to I wish they would have done more. I wish they would have went ahead and made the whole street paved with bricks or maybe even something a little like cobblestones. But everything that was done I am pretty happy with. While I want Fayetteville to become more urban I do want Fayetteville to be able to keep as much greenspace as possible. I don't know if anyone is familiar with College Ave up here in Fayetteville. It is also Hwy 71 and is considered the main strip in the area. Decades ago long before it was a 5 lane road it used to be a 2-3 lane tree lined road. It was once a very beautiful road that poastcards were made of. There has been talk in the past of trying to do some work on it. Do at least some little things like putting all the phone and power lines underground. But after they mentioned the price tag, the discussion went away. Although it has been criticized and some businesses decided not to build in Fayetteville and go elsewhere. I do like the fact the Fayetteville has rather strict building codes and have tried and that the city is trying to steer away from the typical cookie-cutter business and housing development. All businesses have to keep a certain percentage of the trees on their land and also plant new trees to make up for what was destroyed to put up the building. You won't see much in the way of business signs. Fayetteville has a sign ordinance that has run off one business and looks like might be running of another potential business. But I do like the fact there are outrageous business signs and there aren't billboards around either. This and other things I think will help Fayetteville as we become more urbanized.

[johnnydr87]

Haha....I should have put Warwick's response up here a long time ago. He emailed me back on the 15th:

Thank you very much for the kind words. And I am especially glad you

passed

along the website address for the development visions around the state.

I

originally intended to expand my column by recommending that every town

in

Arkansas consider their own improvement initiatives, but I only get 800

words maximum a week, and ultimately I needed to restrict my focus to

make a

stronger point.

I would like to get the regular feature going, and I appreciate the

encouragement. Thanks again for taking the time to read my column and

give

your feedback. It means a lot to me.

Warwick