Arteries need care too
“The heart of any city is its downtown,” Rex Nelson often writes. Then came malls with free parking and air-conditioned indoor shopping. Downtown died.
Today there is a movement among a select group of our citizens, developers, and politicians to revitalize our downtown by making it the home for bars, restaurants, and tourist attractions. The Clinton Library was to be catalyst. I believe while most of our citizens don’t support the downtown area (even the Clinton Library), we are the ones who are subsidizing this revitalization effort: $745,000 to a private firm for a master plan, thousands more to another firm for the ambassador program, a substitute for street-beat police without guns. The city already contributes thousands of dollars each year to the Downtown Partnership. Let’s not forget the ever-increasing maintenance expense for the yellow trolleys no one rides.
Mayor Frank Scott has appointed committees/task forces to study the downtown area. I know firsthand how ineffective committees have been in shaping policies for this city. Mr. Nelson is advocating more money and attention to Capitol Avenue to create a “smoother street, improved lighting and extensive landscaping.” Meanwhile the roadway to Little Rock’s richest real estate corridor, Chenal Parkway, is full of potholes and patchwork repairs.
Before we spend millions more dollars and months of time studying the “problems,” consider this. If downtown is to be the heart of the city, then the surrounding areas/ streets are the arteries. The heart can’t function without clean and sound arteries; nor can a city. I believe most citizens do not share the opinion that the downtown area is the key to our economic success. They would prefer fewer city dollars subsidizing one area of our city at the expense of the remaining 95 percent.
It’s ironic that we dodge potholes and view board-ups and burnouts as we make that hypothetical trip to glorious downtown Little Rock where ambassadors will keep us safe.
DON SHELLABARGER Little Rock