The doctor is in
In many ways, Dr. Dean Kumpuris is the institutional memory of city government in the state’s largest city. He was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Little Rock Board of Directors in January 1995 and then elected to full terms in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. For more than 20 years, he has been at the forefront of the major issues affecting the capital city, taking a lead role in the revitalization of downtown.
Dean Kumpuris graduated from Little Rock Hall High School, Washington and Lee University in Virginia, and the Emory University School of Medicine at Atlanta. Clad in his trademark bow tie, Kumpuris, a gastroenterologist, recently sat in his office just off busy University Avenue and talked with me about the future of Little Rock.
“We have to give young people ample opportunity to have a say in what direction the city is going,” he said. Kumpuris wants the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce’s young professionals’ organization, which is known as Create Little Rock, to lead a planning process to focus on economic development, transportation, public safety and education. At the end of the 15- month process, efforts will begin to implement recommendations.
While praising the chamber’s leadership training initiative, which has had more than 1,400 participants since the program began in 1985, Kumpuris lamented the fact that too often those who go through Leadership Greater Little Rock aren’t asked later in life to help make decisions that affect the city’s future. “What should we do to help make this city better and how should we finance it?” Kumpuris said. “We ought to be asking those who are in their 30s and 40s to answer those questions, not just those who are in their 60s.”
As a man who views the glass as half- full, Kumpuris thinks that young people generally are excited about what’s happening in Little Rock. He noted that someone gave him an article to read about the growth of Nashville, Tenn. The article examined the role that Vanderbilt University has played in Nashville’s growth. Kumpuris said that a priority in Little Rock must be to make the University of Arkansas at Little Rock “a truly great urban university” while also strengthening the city’s historically black colleges, Philander Smith and Arkansas Baptist.
“If you don’t provide opportunities for young people, they’ll stay in places like Nashville and Austin,” Kumpuris said. “The good thing about Little Rock is that you can make a difference in a city of this size. It’s incumbent on all of us to ask young people why they live here and what we can do to make life better for them. I think you’ll find that the biggest issue we have in Little Rock is still race. The only way to address it is to give people in every neighborhood a chance to have a say and then work together for common goals. Most places only address these issues when there’s a crisis. Fortunately, there’s not a crisis right now. Let’s not wait for one to occur.”
Kumpuris listed Little Rock’s biggest assets as an abundant supply of water, a decent climate and a low cost of living. He said Little Rock has less traffic congestion than larger cities while still boasting amenities that larger cities have, such as fine dining, an art museum and a symphony orchestra. The city must do a better job of packaging its assets and promoting them, Kumpuris said.
“We tell companies that they’re going to have all the water they’ll need for decades,” he said. “Water availability is becoming a huge issue across the country, and we’re in an enviable position. This is a nice place for people to live, but we have this inferiority complex in Arkansas and don’t sell ourselves hard enough. Look at all of the things going on downtown. Look at what we’ve done with the bridges and the bike trails. We have to package all of that and then sell it.”
Kumpuris was involved from the start in the development of the River Market District and has pretty much adopted Riverfront Park. He was the city’s liaison for the selection and planning of the Clinton Presidential Center and worked to establish the adjacent Bill Clark Wetlands. His efforts also have led to more than 60 sculptures being placed downtown.
Now, he dreams of an initiative to clear Fourche Creek of obstacles, clean its banks, make it accessible for canoes and kayaks and then heavily promote it as an urban nature preserve. The key to every effort to move Little Rock forward, he believes, is inclusiveness.
“If you’re young or black or Hispanic, you often don’t feel that you can really make a difference here,” Kumpuris said. “We must hear those voices. We talk a lot about public safety. Maybe it’s time to try different ways of dealing with people when they get out of prison. It’s safe where I live. Let’s start talking to the people in the high- crime neighborhoods and asking them how to take care of the problems.”
During his two decades on the city board, Kumpuris has been an outspoken supporter of prevention, intervention and treatment programs for young people. In 1999, he led efforts to establish the Arkansas Commitment, a nonprofit organization that identifies academically talented black high school students and then helps them become leaders. Such efforts have marked the adult life of Dean Kumpuris, a man guided by the belief that Arkansas’ most valuable resource is its young people.
Freelance columnist Rex Nelson is the director of corporate communications for Simmons First National Corp. He’s also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.