Agency relations

Editor, The Commercial:

I call your attention to a story on June 9, 2023, Pine Bluff Commercial, under the byline of Byron Tate, headlined “Taggart gets law license paused.” The story’s last paragraph states: “The Urban Renewal Agency is a subsidiary agency to Go Forward Pine Bluff and is funded through the Go-Forward-sponsored 5/8-cent sales tax.”

May I point out that the Urban Renewal Agency is an agency of Pine Bluff, and Go Forward Pine Bluff is a nonprofit corporation with no organizational ties to the City of Pine Bluff. The verbiage, “The Urban Renewal Agency is a subsidiary agency to Go Forward Pine Bluff …” is simply not the truth.

An urban renewal agency is a public agency created to transform blighted urban areas into productive property. Historically, Pine Bluff created an Urban Renewal Agency in 1961 and dissolved it approximately 10 years later.

As of 2017, more than 100 blighted properties were in the three areas addressed by the urban renewal plan, and more than 500 condemned units were within Pine Bluff City Limits. Given these conditions, State Representatives Vivian Flowers and Kenneth Ferguson co-sponsored a bill in the 2017 legislative session enabling urban renewal agencies to be revived. The Arkansas General Assembly approved the bill, and it became law.

In August of 2017, under the provisions of the new law, the Pine Bluff City Council unanimously approved Resolution 4041 declaring the need for an Urban

Renewal Agency, reviving the dormant Agency, and authorizing the Agency to exercise the powers and conduct its affairs as provided by law which included five board members. Initial members of the board were Rita Conley, Jimmy Dill, Lloyd Franklin Sr., Travis Martin, and Kirby Mouser.

Subsequently, the Pine Bluff City Council approved Resolution 4100, which defined three areas in the city as targets for action by the newly created Urban Renewal Agency. The resolution states in part, “there exists in the City certain blighted areas, which, among other things, constitute an economic and social liability imposing onerous burden which decrease the tax base and reduce tax revenues, substantially impair or arrest urban growth, retard sound economic development, aggravate traffic problems and substantially impair or arrest the elimination of traffic hazards and the improvement of traffic facilities; and that by prevention and elimination of the same, property values will be strengthened and that this condition can best be remedied by cooperative participation of private enterprise, municipal governing bodies and public agencies.”

Yes, as provided by the resolution, there is a cooperative relationship between Go Forward Pine Bluff and the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency. Cooperative is the operative word since there is no organizational relationship between the nonprofit corporation and the Agency of the city. That cooperative relationship exists to implement the blight removal and redevelopment sections of the Go Forward Pine Bluff plan, an activity considered beneficial to the city in reaching the Go Forward Pine Bluff’s general goal of increasing the city’s tax base. Demolitions made by the Urban Renewal Agency are paid for with proceeds of the 5/8-cent tax.

One definition of a subsidiary reads: “a company controlled by a holding company,” an indication of a direct line of relationship from the controlling organization to the subservient one. That line does not exist between Go Forward Pine Bluff and the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency.

I am convinced that you had no intention to publish misleading information and that, given the facts in evidence, I am requesting that you print a retraction and correct the published misconception. If I can be of any help in providing information, don’t hesitate to contact me.

RYAN WATLEY, CEO, GO FORWARD PINE BLUFF

EDITOR’S NOTE:

We normally let letters from readers stand as delivered, but considering your request, we felt obliged to respond. Webster’s Dictionary defines “subsidiary” as 1. “something of lesser importance, having secondary importance, or occupying a subordinate position,” and 2. “in supporting role, serving to aid, supplement, or support something.” Considering the close association between Go Forward and the Urban Renewal Agency, we stand firm on our characterization of the relationship between the two. Anecdotally, when one Googles Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency, up pops a landing page for Go Forward, and when one searches more specifically for the agency’s phone number, up pops a phone number for Go Forward. The connections between the two entities are undeniable, in our opinion.