An admirable standard of quality

Heard through the grapevine: Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. spoke to staff members and others recently at Old State House Museum, where he stirred up an undercurrent of mild controversy.

The mayor was talking about the need for Little Rock to develop a senior center for the use of “our age-friendly brothers and sisters.” Leaving aside for the moment that unique description of central Arkansas’ older residents, he apparently used Patrick Henry Hays Senior Center in North Little Rock as an example of what he’d like to see on the south side of the Arkansas River.

Here’s the contentious part: Funding for it and other proposed qualityof-life projects like Little Rock Zoo improvements, updates to Jim Dailey Fitness Center and War Memorial Park, and expanding bike trails would come from a new one-cent sales tax that would raise an additional $50 million annually.

Good luck with that, Mayor. Your goals—particularly where seniors are concerned—are admirable.

“They should be jealous of this place,” a Hays Center member mentioned while in the process of lowering himself into the center’s lap pool on a recent Saturday morning.

The 60,000-square-foot center, with thousands of members and a lengthy list of activities and programs (mostly staffed by volunteers), opened in February 2003 and doubled its size (which included the addition of a second pool) in 2007.

“You can thank Rachael Davenport for the pool,” he added. “She absolutely insisted on it.” As part of her work on the senior center’s formative task force, she considered getting the pool built as one of the proudest accomplishments of her life (she died in 2009 at the age of 85).

Seniors (the word is used loosely; memberships are available for those ages 50 and up) take full advantage of the Hays Center’s second-floor fitness facility, with an indoor walking track (13½ laps to a mile), treadmills, recumbent and stationery bikes, elliptical trainers, rowing machines, two sets of pneumatic strength-training machines (it’s much easier to change the weight loads on these than it is on machines that use pins), and plenty of TVs to keep up with news and sports and whatever else anyone wants to watch.

This is where members gather. Few of them sit on the machines and chat. Although a friendly camaraderie is evident, many members show up almost every day to actually use the well-maintained workout equipment and participate in water aerobics and volunteer-led classes in tai chi, yoga (hugely popular despite its gentle pace) and line, ballroom and Zumba dancing. Oh, and there’s pickleball— everybody has pickleball now—played indoors at a remarkably competitive level.

Along with fitness, the center offers billiards, table tennis, games, puzzles, a computer lab, a library, a craft studio, classes in everything from Spanish to painting to hand stitching to home repair basics for women, and group travel opportunities.

These attributes could be duplicated in a Little Rock senior center. If the funding becomes available. The tricky part will be constructing the convivial yet very human atmosphere that pervades the Hays Center.

The front desk volunteers are helpful—some more than others—but not robotic professional customer-service types who always mention how sorry they are for whatever distress you are experiencing, while trying to upsell you the solution. There are signs in the locker room forbidding the use of hair dye in showers and requesting that members please not make off with rolls of toilet tissue. The line is long at 8 a.m. to claim one of 25 CareLink breakfasts available at no cost to members ages 60 and over, but nobody complains if the supply runs out before they get one.

There’s a canteen with Westrock coffee ($1 donation requested; free refills) where folks gather at all hours to talk about cars, home improvements, rotator cuff surgeries, grandkids, and the like. And membership is open to all Arkansans of age.

Little Rock used to be home to CareLink Fitness and Wellness Center in the former YMCA off 12th Street; it closed in June 2018 for lack of financial support.

The closest the city comes to duplicating the Hays Center now is Jim Dailey Fitness Center, with offerings that include two pools (one is outdoors), tennis courts, indoor track, weight machines, pickleball, table tennis, children’s activities, aerobics and aquatics classes (some are dubbed “seniorcise” and cater to Mayor Scott’s so-called age-friendly population), and a gymnasium.

I used to be a member of Dailey back when it was known as War Memorial Fitness Center. It suited me fine until I exited one day to find someone had let the air out of my car’s tires.

So I moved on to Little Rock Racquet Club in Foxcroft for a while, then to what’s now called Members Fitness Club in Riverdale. It was tough to get there from my new home in North Little Rock in the early morning because of traffic, so I searched for something on the north side of the river.

After a Sunday afternoon tour of Hays Center, I was all in. I can’t recall the last time I took a weekday shower at home, as I ride my bike there almost every morning—swimming, lifting weights, practicing yoga, shooting pool, and meeting all sorts of people.

Lots of others are there too. Little Rock would be wise to try to duplicate its success.