EYE ON ARKANSAS
Editorial n Though there may be unsavory types hanging around on occasion, state Capitols aren’t hideouts; they’re meant to be seen. Arkansas has erred in the past by allowing private development that partially blocks the view of its Capitol. Let us learn from our mistake. The Capitol Zoning District Commission is considering an application to erect a five-story office building on Sixth Street opposite the Capitol. The project would require the Commission to amend its current regulations, which permit a building no taller than three stories on the chosen site. The Commission has received about 130 communications in support of the proposed construction, including letters from contractors and others with a vested interest in such matters. Many of the letters are form letters, and in many cases, multiple letters were received from one address – 17 in one instance, 11 in another, 3 or 4 in a great many. More than 90 communications opposing the plan have been received, some from neighborhood improvement groups and community activists. A couple of legislators, Reps. Kathy Webb and Darrin Williams, both Democrats from Little Rock, are among the opponents. The application is on the agenda for the Zoning Commission’s Aug. 25 meeting. The Capitol is the seat of government, and a handsome building in its own right. It should be flaunted, not hidden.
Griffin’s way n Like Richard Nixon, Ed Bethune, and of course his old mentor, Karl Rove, Tim Griffin is a devotee of dirty tricks. Straightforward, ethical behavior seems beyond him. Some genetic defect, perhaps. The U.S. representative from the Second Congressional District held a town hall meeting in Little Rock last week at which staffers handed out materials that included a list of Florida activists who’ve been critical of Republican politicians. Photographs of these activists were included, and hostile questions for them, about their personal and professional backgrounds, were suggested. One of the Florida activists, Tamecka Pierce, said the distribution of the materials was intended to encourage harassment of activists who’ve already spoken up, and to intimidate other citizens from doing so. Jonathan Samford, the communications director for Griffin, told the Huffington Post (Griffin’s office has little to say to the Times) that the distribution of the divisive material was intended to make Griffin’s town hall meetings more civil. In his job, Mr. Samford will have a lot of far-fetched responses to make. It was in Florida in the 2004 presidential election that Griffin was caught in a scheme to keep blacks and other potential Democratic voters away from the polls. His tactics haven’t changed.
201 East Markham Street, 200 Heritage Center West, P.O. Box 34010, Little Rock, Arkansas 72203 Home page: http://www.arktimes.com • E-mail: arktimes@arktimes.com PUBLISHER Alan Leveritt EDITOR
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16 AUGUST 17, 2011 • ARKANSAS TIMES
BRIAN CHILSON
Let us see it
BROOMS FOR THE BLIND: Melvin Watkins, also known as Broom Man, walks down Kavanaugh Boulevard in Little Rock selling brooms. Watkins sells brooms to benefit the Arkansas Lighthouse for the Blind.
Back to work n After two weeks of vacation, I prepared to go back to work with a speed reading of accumulated newspapers. These stories stood out: • Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola’s desperate defense of his $500 million sales tax proposal. Tens of millions are being sought to pay for services required for western reaches of the city annexed in the last 20 years or so. Yet Stodola, in answering criticism of the city’s failure to charge meaningful development impact fees, claims developers pay an impact fee by installing streets and sewers. That’s at best misleading. Stodola is parroting the tired growth-pays-for-itself baloney long served up by city leaders. If that were true West Little Rock would already have a fire station, adequate parks, sufficient police coverage and all the other city services taxpayers are now being asked to finance. This latest tax proposal takes developer-friendly sophistry to a new level, however. Now taxpayers must pay for growth not only after the fact, but also beforehand. Stodola is asking taxpayers for a $38 million slush fund, much of which will essentially be controlled by the unaccountable Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce. Free market capitalism is passe in Little Rock. Now taxpayers must pay bribes to entice businesses here. Build the Little Rock economy? Stodola could start by insisting that only local vendors be used in the work on the pro-tax campaign. • Tyson and Walmart money will support the University of Arkansas’s new Center for Food Animal Well Being. It is to be a “voice” on animal production issues. The new leader of the center stressed that the program would be “pro-agriculture.” What she meant was that the university will serve as an advocate for the industrial food supply business against those working, if not for an end to the killing of animals for food, for laws requiring more humane treatment before and during slaughter. It doesn’t seem to have
Max Brantley max@arktimes.com
occurred to the university’s Tyson-endowed expert that more humane practices and being pro-agriculture need not be mutually exclusive. Perhaps the new Center will surprise me with scientific research endorsing, for example, more room for penned livestock. But I expect it to be more like the Walton-financed School of Education Reform, where nearly all the faculty enjoys enriched pay courtesy of Walton endowments. I’ve been assured that tenure (something the Waltons hate in public schools) allows this faculty to research and report without fear of angering Waltons should the school’s research discover fallacies in the charter school/ school choice/anti-teachers union agenda the Waltons favor. But the fact is that this rarely happens. There, as with the new agriculture researcher, faculty members make it clear their thinking is in line with their benefactors and they are at work to validate it. You’d be hard-pressed to learn from their public pronouncements, for example, that national research has yet to prove the superiority of alternatives to conventional public schools. Similarly, I don’t expect the new food experts at UA to be issuing stinging reviews of Tyson animal practices. I’m just saying: We don’t allow judges to hear cases involving parties from which they receive financial benefits. I’m not sure tenure cleanses the practice for academics. • Tell me again how we justify paying $326,000 to Ernie Passailaigue, director of the Arkansas Lottery. Did Ernie P. really say that the IRS misunderstood its own deadlines for paying taxes, deadlines which the lottery has missed for two years running? Couldn’t we hire someone of equal competence for about half the cost?