City’s long-range projects promise ‘exceptionalism’
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the third in a series of articles recounting City Manager David Frasher’s first year on the job. March 28 was his one-year anniversary.
Urban exceptionalism is municipal-administration speak for going above and beyond, doing more than making the buses run on time and picking up the garbage.
The buzzword is part of City Manager David Frasher’s lexicon. It can be expressed through the delivery of basic services, such as street crews steam cleaning downtown sidewalks rather than outsourcing the job to a contract service that was only passing muster.
It’s also manifest in keeping the community focused on long-term initiatives with prodigious potential, such as the development of the Northwoods, the Malvern Avenue Gateway Project and the transformation of the city-owned Majestic Hotel property.
Frasher said the community isn’t the only stakeholder. Hot Springs’ pride of place in the statewide consciousness gives every Arkansan an interest in the outcome.
“I almost think if Hot Springs were looking for a slogan, it might come up with something that says, ‘Hot Springs, Arkansas’ Hometown,’” Frasher said. “It seems like Hot Springs is different from other cities in Arkansas, in that the residents of the state all seem to have an interest and a stake in Hot Springs.
“They have memories here. They’re passionate about what we do, and they care about it, even if they’ve never lived here. That’s something I’ve not seen in other places.”
Frasher has said the Northwoods, a 2,000-acre tract of unspoiled woodlands the city owns north and west of Park Avenue, may possess the most potential of any of the longrange projects. The Northwoods is currently closed to the public, but with its pristine charms, rugged trails and proximity to downtown, it has all the elements to recommend it as a destination for outdoor and nature enthusiasts.
Finding the most minimally invasive means to realize that potential will be a delicate balance. Striking the right equilibrium between access and conservation would give the city something “truly exceptional,” Frasher said.
“We’re calling it an urban wilderness park,” Frasher said. “Just the name tells you there’s going to be a tension between usage and wilderness. We want to give people a wilderness-type of experience within five minutes of the city. If we can pull this off, it’s going to be truly exceptional to have something like that that feels like that this close to a downtown. I’m not sure it’s being done anywhere.
“Our challenge is going to be to develop that in a way and have a usage program that allows people to get access to it and experience it, and do so in a way that’s low impact that preserves the pristine nature of what you see when you go there.”
He’s planning on taking the Hot Springs Board of Directors on a tour later this spring and hopes the Northwoods’ potential will be as readily apparent to the directors as it is to him.
Frasher said the Malvern Avenue Gateway Project, a plan to improve the southern approach to downtown, could be the longterm initiative that can go from the conceptual to the actual the fastest. The collaboration of multiple players and a design that’s sensitive to historical and cultural nostalgia makes the plan “exceptional,” Frasher said.
The University of Arkansas Community Design Center will present a more detailed version of it next month, one with ideas on how to pay homage to the era when upper Malvern Avenue was known as Black Broadway: a destination for many of the most popular African-American musicians during the first half of the 20th Century. Input the UACDC solicited earlier this year from the city, business community and Gateway Community Association will be incorporated into the design plan.
Frasher said it has the potential to revitalize the area by providing a more inviting approach to downtown for motorists, pedestrians and bicycle riders.
“The quality and creativity of the design concepts, the place-making elements, the use of art, culture and history and the collaboration and respect between the neighborhood, the affected businesses and the city will likely lead to transformative and irrefutable improvements, reinvestment and dramatically improved quality of life for those in this part of the city,” Frasher said.
The Majestic Hotel site may present the most fertile ground for urban exceptionalism, Frasher said. He’s talked how it can be a venue for displaying the city’s namesake hot springs, a resource he’s said needs to be more conspicuous to visitors. Showcasing the thermal waters is one of the four guiding principles the city board is using to develop the 5-acre property.
“I think we need to be willing to embrace the challenge of providing some sort of thermal water experience on that property,” Frasher said. “It goes back to the roots of why this place was a community in the first instance.”