Here are excerpts from recent editorials in Arkansas newspapers:
Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. April 1, 2017.
One could argue Fayetteville’s decision to deliver $3.1 million in taxpayer dollars to TheatreSquared for its new performance hall near Dickson Street had been foreshadowed for months.
For years, city leaders have talked of promoting the “creative economy” and investing in the arts as a driver of the city’s economic future. A town that owes so much of its successes over the last 25 years to the opening of the Walton Arts Center has come to recognize the value of such endeavors both culturally and economically.
Speaking in the abstract, however, isn’t the same as a specific dollar figure for a specific plan. In that regard, Mayor Lioneld Jordan and the Fayetteville City Council for some reason felt compelled and, apparently, quite comfortable giving their constituents one week’s notice before a vote to invest taxpayer dollars in development of the new performing arts venue downtown.
That’s odd for a city administration that has also made transparency and resident participation among its admirable goals. On many matters on which quick action conceivably might have been taken, Jordan and aldermen have been known to suggest slowing down to give the public a chance to evaluate information and provide feedback. Just last September, when the city received a study of possible new directions for its trash collection and recycling operations, the administration specifically set a date more than two months later for discussion so anyone interested could get up to speed.
For TheatreSquared, which had apparently been the subject of private informative meetings with the administration and individual aldermen, the rush was on. That’s not to suggest any skulduggery or any illegal meetings. Not at all. Rather, it suggests most of the elected leaders of the city got comfortable with spending that money for the theater but didn’t give the public a chance to do the same.
“I really felt it was a really good investment for the city and I had been talking with TheatreSquared for a while, and I felt it was going to be a success story for the city,” Jordan recently said.
It was not, however, the transparent way of doing the people’s business. Sometimes, elected leaders know about proposals or ideas well before the public. But a responsive government - one like Fayetteville often is - doesn’t forget to bring the public along, to keep them informed and to give them a chance to absorb what’s being asked of them.
Just a couple of months earlier, Jordan had stressed in his state of the city address that “the most important thing you do as an elected official is properly manage the taxpayers’ money.” And he’s right. Properly managing the resources provided by taxpayers means including them in discussions and giving them a real opportunity to reach the same comfort level almost all of the aldermen and Jordan had already achieved on this theater project.
Even with our discomfort over the public’s opportunity to be involved, we must credit Jordan for trying to hit that mark of money management. The nonprofit organization that runs TheatreSquared originally sought $7.1 million and even broached the subject of pursuing a property tax millage increase to build the performance facility, which will ultimately be owned by the city and will be built on city land. Wisely, Jordan reined in both ideas.
So, the vote has been taken. Now what? The City Council authorized Mayor Jordan to negotiate and execute the contract to put into effect the $3.1 million expenditure toward TheatreSquared’s project. It is our hope that Jordan negotiates well and, once the parties are comfortable with the contract, it is returned to the City Council and revealed to the public well before any final signatures are put in place.
Jordan has provided assurances the city won’t simply cut a check to TheatreSquared, but reach agreement on what the city’s money will be spent on. The contract will detail all the “deliverables” and expectations of the city and TheatreSquared. And Jordan said he will bring the contract back to the City Council for review and let the public know.
That’s good news, just as everything about the TheatreSquared project has the potential to be. It has all the markings of that success story Jordan expects it to be. The leaders of TheatreSquared have built a great organization and developed a beautiful plan for a performance facility Fayetteville can be proud of. They’re continuing to raise private donations to help pay for the $31.5 million facility. It’s an exciting project that will bolster Fayetteville as a place of the arts.
The requests for taxpayer support aren’t over. TheatreSquared has asked the Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission to match the city’s $3.1 million. The commission’s role is to promote tourism, to draw people to Fayetteville with the tax it collects on restaurant meals and hotel lodging within the city. A robust entertainment and arts district will no doubt contribute in significant ways to achieving that mission.
But the commission doesn’t have millions of dollars sitting in reserves like the city does. The dollars its appointed commissioners decide to put toward TheatreSquared’s project is money that will come out of the annual operating budget for the Town Center, the Clinton House Museum, advertising the city, spending on events through its semi-annual grants to external groups and other tourism related spending. The commission has a history of investing in facilities, from the Town Center and the building now owned by the University of Arkansas and housing its Global Campus on the square. Those projects required bonded debt. Doing so for TheatreSquared would require an election.
Advertising and Promotion officials are still researching the options and will next discuss the possibilities at an April 25 meeting, which is open to the public. Any contribution to the new performing arts facility will require a balancing act to ensure such a commitment doesn’t hurt the commission’s ability to respond to other needs and opportunities.
Even with such serious decisions to be made, the TheatreSquared project remains an exciting opportunity for Fayetteville to cement its role as a community that embraces the arts, particularly involving performers. The project will build on the region’s strong cultural offerings and create what unquestionably will be an awe-inspiring publicly owned facility that further enlivens the Dickson Street area.
Keep the public involved and informed and there’s no reason to believe that success story Jordan spoke of will become a reality.
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Southwest Times Record. April 2, 2017.
In June 2015, when the Fort Smith School Board decided to retire the Rebel as Southside’s mascot, it was done as an unscheduled discussion as part of its scheduled meeting. A month later, the board voted that Southside would stop playing “Dixie” immediately and would replace the Rebel mascot for the following school year.
It kicked off great debate throughout the community, one that continues to this day.
Whether the school board violated the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act in the process was recently put to rest when the Arkansas Court of Appeals said it didn’t.
“The Rebel and ’Dixie’ have been used as the Southside High School mascot and fight song since the school opened more than 50 years ago,” states a 2015 news release issued after the decision. “The board understands the challenges of changing what has come to be the tradition of the Southside High School community and will work with the student body and staff over the next year to name a new mascot and fight song for the school.”
We feel it was the right time to retire the Rebel and the “Dixie” fight song, but we remain unhappy with how the situation unfolded. The public should have been given more of a head’s up with regards to the issue. Community members, Southside graduates and others with ties to the school should have been given a chance to speak up before a decision was made.
If any issue called for public input, this was it.
The change itself was a long time coming. It had been suggested at times over the years, including by the Times Record, but nothing came of it. When a South Carolina man shot and killed nine black church members in 2015, there was a push in many parts of the U.S. to remove any connection to the Confederate flag and other symbols of the South’s past from government offices and schools, and the Fort Smith School District was no different.
The school district held an auction of “Rebel” items in March, which drew a large crowd, and everything that was up for auction was sold, totaling about $22,000. About 5,000 items sold, including everything from the football field’s logo to cheerleading uniforms. The school district was legally obligated to dispose of surplus merchandise in a manner designed to receive fair market value.
The great interest in the auction shows there is still public interest in the Rebel mascot, much of it sentimental among graduates and family members of graduates. Some people aren’t eager to see that part of their past gone, and that is understandable.
But now, we are at a point where the new mascot - Maverick - has been established and should be embraced. This year’s kindergartners will graduate as Mavericks in 12 years or so, just as this year’s seniors will.
Those who graduated as Rebels have the right to their memories and nostalgia, just as current and future Mavericks will. The changing of the mascot won’t change any of those memories, and it won’t impact the education or experience of Southside’s current students.
We hope that the recent court ruling on the school board’s actions helps to put the issue to rest. And we hope that the entire process served as a learning experience for the school board. Public knowledge is always best.
Although the “Rebel” decision was ruled proper by an Arkansas court, board members should understand why some members of the community reacted negatively. The board is facing another court date in another FOIA case and recently underwent training to help it stay within the law when making decisions.
We hope all of this helps the board in the future when issues come before it. Let the public have a say in the public’s business.
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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. April 2, 2017.
“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” - Elie Wiesel
If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, if it’s all the same to everybody, if nobody’s gonna miss something more important, perhaps our lawmakers at the state Capitol these days could vote.
Just vote.
Even if they vote the wrong way, and against the interests of Arkansans, it’ll put them on the record. But to just sit by and watch as the session rolls on? Aren’t they being paid enough?
Several times we noticed that the math didn’t add up in recent news stories. There was a bill to curb high-cost lenders that failed in the state House of Representatives 48-18. But there are 100 members of the House.
The bill was proposed because payday lenders by another name have been creeping back into the state. They were all but thrown out years ago, but some outfits here and there have been getting around the state limit on interest by calling its charges “fees.”
“It’s loan-sharking plain and simple,” says the well-named Doug House of the House.
But what, the state’s representatives worry about this loophole? Even when the bill eventually passed and was sent to the governor, it passed 68-6. Where was the other, oh, quarter of the chamber?
The same week, another vote was held in the House Revenue and Taxation Committee. The committee voted 9-6 to get out-of-state companies to collect taxes on online sales and turn over the much-needed revenue to the state. But the committee has 20 members, and legislation needs 11 votes to go to the full House. Five committee members didn’t vote on this important issue.
Do those members even want to be on the House Revenue and Taxation committee? It sounds like one of the more important committees in the House. Or are our betters neutral between (a) doing right by their state and their constituents and (b) continuing to allow faraway companies avoid the taxes local merchants pay? (The bill eventually passed late in the week, but on a voice vote. So who knows how many sat out the vote that time as well.)
We understand that some votes are more difficult than others. We noticed that the bill to designate a state duck caught lawmakers’ attention this same week. When the session first started, which seems like forever ago, both chambers passed a bill naming an official state dinosaur - unanimously.
Sometimes the votes are more difficult. That doesn’t mean our public servants should skip them without good cause such as emergencies and health problems. (We somehow doubt that one-third or one-quarter or even one-tenth of our state representatives had emergencies.)
If you’ll remember, Dante didn’t have enough respect for milksops to give them a special place inside hell. Instead, he had them running around outside the gates. Those who never saw good in this life and called it good, and never saw bad and called it bad, were chased around by bugs and generally hassled. At least they were moving. Which was more than they ever did while on this side of the River Styx.
We send our lawmakers to represent us in Little Rock. If they find voting too difficult, they should sit out the next election and let somebody else take a turn - and a stand.
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