EDITORIAL
EYE ON ARKANSAS
For progress
6 AUGUST 31, 2011 ARKANSAS TIMES
BRIAN CHILSON
I
t’s said that money can’t buy happiness, but it’s at least as true that lack of money can bring discontent. Whether one wants lunch or a firstclass city, one must pay. Little Rock has its charms; the Arkansas Times celebrates them regularly. Yet Little Rock could be more charming if its residents invested more in it. They can make such an investment by voting for a penny increase in the city sales tax. The Times recommends that they do. Early voting begins Tuesday, Sept. 6. Election Day is Sept. 13. The proposition is not perfect. These things never are. But it is the only proposition before us, and there’s no point in comparing it to nonexistent alternatives. The proposal from the Little Rock Board of Directors comes in two parts and requires separate votes. One part is a five-eighths-of-a-cent increase in the sales tax for operations. This would allow, among other things, the hiring of 52 new police officers and 36 new firefighters; an increased number of code enforcement officers and emergency-response staff; the creation of two new Central Arkansas Transit bus routes; continued maintenance of streets and sidewalks, and improved parks and recreational facilities. The other vote is on a three-eighths-of-a cent tax increase for capital investment. This increase would expire after 10 years. It would allow for two new fire stations, one in West Little Rock and one in Southwest Little Rock; two new police substations, one on 12th Street and one in West Little Rock; the replacement of an antiquated public safety communications system; expansion of the Little Rock Port, with the intention of creating new jobs; a UAMS/UALR technology research park intended to attract hightech businesses; new ballfields for kids; improved streets, sidewalks and drainage. Many of these needs are pressing, as anyone who’s driven around town on our battered streets can confirm. Little Rock has been cutting and postponing and laying off for some time now. There’ll be more cuts, and more public facilities will become less adequate, if the tax increase fails. A city is not just police and fire protection, essential services though they are (and both addressed in the proposal on the ballot). Cities have parks, museums, zoos, public transportation, swimming pools, golf courses, an appreciation of history and the arts. The Central Arkansas Library System is not funded by the city, but the library’s decision to put a new building in what had become a desolate part of town led to a remarkable revival in that area. CALS trustees support the tax increase. “We’re wedded to the well-being of the city,” the library’s director says. All of us who live here are.
THE WAIT IS OVER: Apple store employees greet customers Saturday during the store’s grand opening. The store, located in the Promenade at Chenal, is the first Apple retail store in Arkansas.
City Hall’s bias
E
lsewhere on this week’s editorial page, you’ll learn that the editorial board of the Arkansas Times decided after some debate to support the full penny worth of sales tax being sought by Little Rock City Hall. I’m not likely to go so far, though I understand the sentiment for the full penny. I’ll support the operational millage (5/8ths of a cent). It’s excessive, but in due course we’ll need the money, particularly if suburbs and the Internet continue to shrink the local sales tax base. The so-called capital millage (3/8ths of a cent for 10 years) won’t enjoy my personal support. City Hall hasn’t shot straight on its needs, for one thing. And I just can’t countenance the $38 million economic development slush fund for 1) a research park of dubious value 2) port land purchases that could be made as needed, not now, and a honey pot of money to pass out as insiders direct for corporate welfare, preferably to companies that hate unions, hate government health care, don’t care if their employees live in the suburbs and don’t fully support the local public schools. You may think I exaggerate. But I’ve done no more than lay out the politics of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, which kept its unaccountable $200,000 city welfare subsidy despite hard times for city employees and whose leaders already have been designated to oversee the bulk of slush fund spending. These fellows (and I do mostly mean fellows) have always called City Hall shots. Look at another small but telling example last week. Neighborhood groups and average citizens rose up to oppose a rule change to allow construction of five-story buildings across the street from the state Capitol. The existing three-story limit is meant to preserve views of the historic Capitol. But a land speculator and business community powerhouse, John Burkhalter, bought land at Sixth and
Woodlane where he wants to build a five-story building. Since he’s a major supporter of Gov. Mike Beebe, many thought he’d have little trouble bringing around the Capitol Zoning District MAX Commission on the rule change, BRANTLEY max@arktimes.com since most commissioners are appointed by the governor. But no. With the Commission set to vote last week, a head count indicated Burkhalter was going to lose. Up steps Little Rock city government with an urgent plea for more time for “study.” This has been studied to death. City Hall just wanted to give Burkhalter more time to turn the screws on commission members. City Hall joined lobbying for Burkhalter by the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and the Associated General Contractors for another. They give not a damn about historic preservation or the neighbors. Burkhalter is one of them and controls billions in spending as a highway commissioner. There’s a nice wrinkle here. Secretary of State Mark Martin, a Republican whose opponent got Burkhalter support in 2010, may have the swing vote through a commission seat he controls. An engineer, he has the training to be able to question representations Burkhalter has made about whether his building will block views of the Capitol. (It will, in some places.) Martin, of Prairie Grove, was strong-armed by a stream of special interest business lobbyists. But he and the Republican Party chair opposed the plan, making them more solicitous of neighborhood feelings than Little Rock City Hall. Maybe if everybody in the Quapaw Quarter took out a Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce membership they’d get more attention.