Group’s vision for city seen as murky
Editor’s note: This is the first of a three-part series on the concerns, initiatives, responsibilities and resolutions discussed by Go Forward Pine Bluff.
Since the beginning of its existence in 2017, Go Forward Pine Bluff has been the talk of the town, some good and some bad.
Pine Bluff voters in June 2017 approved the five-eighths percent sales tax that drives much of what Go Forward Pine Bluff does. As reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, according to an unofficial ballot count, vote totals were 3,831 for and 1,708 against.
The tax is expected to generate $32 million over its life span of seven years. The business community also pledged an additional $8 million.
The new sales tax took Pine Bluff’s rate to 10%, the highest city tax in Arkansas. The sales tax is estimated to cost Pine Bluff households about $15 a month.
Go Forward Pine Bluff CEO Ryan Watley said the tax, from its inception, was meant to be in place for a minimum of 14 years, but he added that residents would make the ultimate decision.
“It’s our job to continue making sure there is undeniable progress,” he said. “As long as the majority of the citizens’ opinions align with the work that has been done, we will seek another seven years.”
In a May 2017 interview with Arkansas Times magazine, Watley was quoted as saying the group would also apply for $13 million in donations and grants.
In 2019, Watley told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette the economic plan for the organization is dependent upon the $32 million, seven-year goal and $19 million in private funds raised from the business community.
Watley said the completion of the recommendations would cost approximately $50 million over the next seven years.
“This is not just a waste of their tax dollars,” Watley said in 2017. “This is the best opportunity we have with the commitment from the businesses, and with our new mayor [Shirley Washington], who is very proactive to be able to get some things done.”
Thomas May, former chief executive officer of Simmons First Bank and a leader of the Go Forward Pine Bluff initiative, said during a 2017 City Council meeting that private donations would flow through the private, nonprofit organization, while tax money would go directly to the city.
Go Forward Pine Bluff projects are governed by an independent committee, of which Washington was a member before becoming mayor. After projects are approved by the committee, they then have to be approved by the City Council. But some council members said they felt powerless to affect changes to proposals and that projects would get the go-ahead despite their concerns.
“Once you vote and give that money to them at end of the year, all we can do is just bang our heads up against the wall and we can just complain about it all day,” Alderman Ivan Whitfield said.
While Go Forward Pine Bluff’s vision is to make Pine Bluff a city its residents are proud to call home by transforming it into a regional center and destination point and to make the city “grow and go,” some concerned residents are also not completely satisfied with the group’s initiatives and efforts.
Residents, according to Whitfield, want more clarification, accountability and transparency from the group, adding that they feel misled and misinformed. At the very least, he said, these residents simply do not understand Go Forward Pine Bluff’s initiatives or its comprehensive plan. Whitfield said he has opposed most of the initiatives, adding those citizens reach out to him regularly to express their frustrations.
A common complaint from Pine Bluff residents is along the lines of “what about us?” when downtown seems to be the focus of the revitalization project.
According to an unsigned 2017 column in The Commercial, a Go Forward Pine Bluff survey showed that the top issues for residents were downtown blight and the abandonment of properties, education, jobs, quality of life issues, and the actions of the previous City Council.
“By attracting visitors to Pine Bluff, we attract their money, which results in increased tax revenues for Pine Bluff and Jefferson County,” the group stated.
“The ever-present opportunities to improve our community are indeed operations of city government and non-profit organizations,” it added. “However, our city’s budget continues to shrink and many non-profits are significantly underfunded. Our ultimate goal is to assist in areas that will result in making our city financially self-sufficient.”
The column stated that previous proactive measures weren’t fully implemented because of a lack of financial resources to tackle major issues. Go Forward Pine Bluff’s plan is to build on those past initiatives and to gather the necessary financial resources to complete its plan. But after four years, some people just aren’t buying the plan anymore.
COUNCIL MEMBER CONCERNS
“Overtaxed.”
“Ponzi scheme.” “Non-existent budget details.”
Those are some of the many terms used by council members who opposed the five-eighths percent tax and continue to oppose the initiatives.
Early on, Alderman Steven Mays was very vocal about his views opposing the group. In 2017, Mays said he would not vote for the tax.
“I am 100 percent totally against it,” Mays told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “It sends us in the wrong direction. It’s actually creating a new government on top of our existing government. It’s not a good idea for our citizens, now or in the future.”
Mays said the plan amounts to businesses “taking money from the poor people and making the rich richer.”
Whitfield, who has also served as the city’s chief of police, also had reservations about the organization and has said when the tax was passed, it did not state what the money would be used for.
Council member Glen Brown Sr. said the ballot stated that the proposal was for a city-use tax, explaining the funds could be used for any number of city projects such as simply cleaning ditches.
In October 2019, Whitfield sponsored legislation that would divert almost half of Go Forward Pine Bluff money — $2.1 million a year — to the city.
Whitfield sponsored the resolution, wanting to spend the money on the police and fire departments, drainage needs, youth and community resources, and the Pine Bluff Convention Center.
Whitfield said he felt justified in trying to reallocate the money even though the sales tax was sold to voters in 2017 as being earmarked for Go Forward Pine Bluff.
“The ballot states a general use tax,” Whitfield said when he sponsored the resolution. “Because of that, everything that Go Forward is doing now, none of that was on the ballot itself. It’s imperative that we remember this: That when we are elected, even when the people say, ‘Let’s do A,’ they sent us to vote on their behalf. When we, as a council member, see something wrong, we are their voice. We are their vote.”
Council members Donald Hatchett, Bruce Lockett and Lloyd Holcomb Jr. joined Whitfield and Mays in voting for the resolution to move the funds. The vote was then overturned a week later, 5-3, after council members agreed to prioritize drainage and needs of other city departments with any additional funds the city received.
“Mayor Washington came back and put something in place to protect Go Forward’s money. That bothered me,” said Whitfield. “Here we are having issues in our community. We have great needs.”
In a statement released by Washington in response to the resolution vote, she said the City Council vote to reallocate significant funds from the plan “blatantly contradicted the promise” made to spend those funds on Go Forward’s 26 initiatives. Furthermore, it hindered the ability of the group to complete several projects and initiatives for which it had already planned.
Washington said she had identified alternative means to provide funding for city projects that did not extract money from Go Forward Pine Bluff projects.
“We cannot fix one set of problems by modifying and adjusting strategies and resources that are working to move our city forward,” Washington said in her 2019 statement. “GFPB should be allowed to complete the projects for which it has planned.”
Whitfield said then that he crafted the resolution because the city had too many unmet needs. To this day he said he feels the needs of the city are still unmet.
“I’m not against downtown improvement and I know people for years said it’s the heartbeat,” said Whitfield. “That’s the song that we sing, but the neighborhoods are the arteries and the arteries are clogged up. That heart is not going to beat much longer if we don’t clean up the arteries.”
Looking back, Whitfield said that, during the time when he was trying to get his resolution passed, the police department needed radios and firearms and the fire department needed a fire truck.
“We had to go borrow money to buy what they needed while we turned around and gave Go Forward $4 million,” Whitfield said. “To this day they have not gotten their fire truck because we’re giving Go Forward $4 million.”
COMMUNITY CONCERNS
Pine Bluff residents have also been trying to comprehend what they thought would be funds spent for their issues and immediate needs but were instead being spent in other areas of the city.
Carolyn Jackson, who has lived in Pine Bluff her entire life, attended the town hall meetings presented by the group when supporters were soliciting voter support. She felt the meetings were rushed and lacked transparency.
“It was somewhat misleading because the way it was presented was that anything that Go Forward wanted to do or perform, or projects that they were interested in doing, that they would then go before the full council and they would seek approval from the council,” said Jackson. “I don’t believe that has been the way it has been working.”
Jackson said as things progressed, it appeared to the community that some needs were going unmet and concerns unheard.
“The conditions of the streets are appalling. It floods when it rains, and people are injuring their cars and having to replace their tires due to potholes,” Jackson said. “They want to know, ‘Here I have this issue of brown water coming through my pipes but money is being spent downtown.’ There is some dissatisfaction with why are the citizens not being heard? Why are our needs being put on the back burner?”
Grant Williams, who lives in Third Ward, agreed. He strongly believes there are different things the city could actively pursue to make sure Pine Bluff as a whole is improving.
“I know the push is for the downtown area; I’m not a person against improvement, but that’s just a lot of money,” Williams said. “The city is in a struggle as the highest declining city in the country, and we as the people who reside in Pine Bluff think all wards in the city need a boost.”
Jackson said people want to see work being done within the entire community and not just downtown, which she describes as “frustrating to the citizens.”
“Maybe some of us don’t understand that the money is designated and the money can only be spent downtown,” Jackson said. “Maybe it’s a lack of education as well because of the rushed presentation. I haven’t spoken to anyone who is opposed to the work being done downtown, but they are asking ‘What about us?’” Next Sunday: Part two explains Go Forward Pine Bluff’s initiatives and their role in the community.