Tie development to preservation
mall erected on n Sure, Little formerly prisRock has a land bank, By Christopher Burks tine woodlands, another walled special developsubdivision and ment districts, a another undersized tworenewed central focus, a board and lane road on the other. a purpose ad nauseam. But official Little Rock can grow smart words and deeds blend together into a blurred mess when you by utilizing transferable developcan’t see beyond the empty lots, ment rights (TDRs). Like cap and shuttered houses and the vacuum trade in carbon and emissions of urban decay on the one hand, markets, TDRs work as an exchange and the blandness of another strip where the right to build at a greater
Little ideas 1. More putt-putt. 2. More street food. 3. Urban horse trails. 4. Amenities at the Big Dam Bridge like food and other vendors, like the Chicago lakefront. 5. More street car lines, padded seats on the buses, air conditioned shelters. 6. Convert the golf course at the Country Club of Little Rock so that the number of right dog-legs equals the number of left dog-legs. 7. Sousa bands. 8. “When I lived in St. Louis back in the Teddy Roosevelt administration, AAA of Missouri had a huge shop where anyone with about 30 bucks could take their car to get a mechanical problem diagnosed and an estimate made. They didn’t do repairs themselves, but once you showed your repair shop that AAA had diagnosed the problem, your repair was done pretty much at what AAA said it should be. And you could take the car back to AAA for an evaluation of the repair.” 9. Legalize Arkansas pot. 10. A daily tossed on every front porch about 6 a.m.
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density, or intensity, than current zoning allows for is granted only after a section of another area of land is preserved. For example, what if much of the remaining property in downtown could be developed as prime commercial real estate without certain restrictions only if a dedicated amount of undeveloped land was granted to a park or nature preserve in West Little Rock? Instead of forcing one group
ike all long-lasting revitalizations, Central Arkansas’s traditional commercial core is amidst a slow renewal. But the process is discon-nected. We have separate By Cary Tyson groups working in the South Main neighborhood and downtown and in the River Market. Because we’re divided. I-630 separates our city. So tear it up and start over. Expensive? Sure. But necessary for long-term holistic revitalization? Absolutely. It’s not without precedent either. All over the country — in Oklahoma City, Portland and San Francisco — cities are in the process of destroying poorly planned highways. It could accommodate similar traffic (Really, name another interstate that flow, but at lower speeds; reconnect ends in a traffic light.) our neighborhoods, and spark new Build a boulevard in place of 630. revitalization. Every once in a while,
that wants to develop a highdensity area to also own land in an undeveloped area, TDRs create a secondary market where those who own land in either location buy and sell the rights to development. It’ll incentivize development for the common good. Chris Burks is a law student at the University of Arkansas who has worked in public policy and remains active in Democratic Party politics.
Tear down I-630
smart growth means starting over. Cary Tyson is president of the Park Hill Neighborhood Association.
Bocce bar
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ith alcohol as my only stimulation, I can’t spend more than an By Graham Gordy hour in a bar. People who do are called “alcoholics.” For the rest of us, we need games. Darts? Sure. Pool? Okay. Shuffleboard tables? Pingpong? Even air hockey? All great. But what about bocce ball? Dark woodpaneled walls, great beers on tap and vintage cocktails. Oh, and four or five bocce ball courts in the middle of the room with a sign-up sheet at each one. Put small tables around the perimeter and a bartender who knows the difference between a gimlet and a Gibson, and I’m not going home till they turn the lights on. Graham Gordy is an award-winning screenwriter and producer living in Little Rock. ArkAnsAs Times • nATives guide 2010 7