Why don't they plan on widening Kanis Road, any one been out that way lately? For the most part it looks just like it it did in 1960, with about 500% more traffic. Why don't they plan on fixing streets every where. Why don't they work on the dismal amount of park/green space in our fair city...it just makes me sick that UAMS is turning Ray Winder into a parking lot [What will the city do with that money?]
I'm with Max, Plan, plan, plan....but show me the money. Suprise! There isn't any.

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'tis a noble effort...OTOH how much will it cost and who will pay?

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>>Gas prices should go higher if we start swearing off oil . <<

I wouldn't worry too much about it happening. It's gonna happen in larger cities across the South where incomes are below national averages. Save some outlying space for industrial re development too. Why?

Please spend a wee bit of your evening and let Canadian economist Jeff Rubin explain why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYuLjGQQ-jg

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I don’t hold out a lotta hope for downtown LR. It’s just the way things are. Downtown Houston, Dallas, Memphis, St. Louis, Kansas City, OKC, and Canal Street in New Orleans (even before Katrina) are pretty sad, too. In fact, most of the once-glorious downtowns are long dead. The Magnificent Mile in Chicago is another bustling, refreshing exception to the decline of our downtowns. It should be remembered that Miss Norma has what she thinks is a great plan for downtown LR. Think she’s had trouble gaining the attention of the city fathers, though.

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I'm all for new urbanism but first you have to make sure people can afford to live closer to their jobs, to live in the city, etc.

I plan to move to a city that doesn't require me to have a car because I am personally sick of the costs of maintaining a car. Living in central Arkansas (heck, Arkansas in general) you pretty much have to have a car. ::sigh::

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I lived in Little Rock from 1957 until 1966, and the downtown area was still hanging on. One thing we had then was bus transportation that was fairly reliable so that you could ride the bus to work and home; therefore, there were not as many automobiles that had to be parked. As Durango said, there is not much hope for downtown, with the exception of special, subsidized areas such as the River Market. However, I can remember driving downtown to shop and parking on the street, running out to feed the meter when it needed it. I think the rate was a dime for an hour.

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Doesn't the mayor realize that the private interest(landholders) have coughed up money on Main. You know it cost a chunk of change to demolish building to turn them into vacant lots and parking lots.

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As long as LR growth is stagnant no development scheme can work, urban, suburban or rural. Commercial property downtown is of marginal value now held up by government subsidy at every level.

This can be only one thing. A cover to invest tax money in some fat cat's private development.

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You're right, Durango. I have, it's great, I did and they didn't. I'm talking about YOU, Jimmy and Rett.

But here's what's curious, Dur.

1) Planning for Main Street's "redevelopment," "revitalization" has been funded and paying salaries since way before I was born. Roughly 50 years. Locals now claim the "mall" concept killed Main Street, though at the time they reportedly welcomed it.

2) 50 years of planning. Committees. Salaries. Studies. Advisors. Meetings. PRs. Is Sharon Priest even that old? Has she been with the Downtown Little Rock Partnership since she's five?

I'm telling you, Dur, it gets even curiouser.

3) Arkansas is in the top ten religious (that is to say, Christian) states in the country. Surely pious movers and shakers and their church families all over town have been praying fervently for Main Street's revitalization all this time. Or even part of this time. 50 years is 18,250 days for Christ's sake.

4) What's it going to take for citizens of The Rock to realize that maybe, just maybe, God doesn't WANT Main Street resurrected? The Downtown Little Rock Partnership has to turn into a leper colony?

That's what's curious, Dur.

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Because I'm a nerd of long standing I attended a U-Dat or RU-Dat study session in Fort Baptist way back in 1973. This bunch of Yankees came and studied our downtown for a while and issued up a report.

First thing they said was that they never saw a city ignoring a river running around it like Fort Baptist ignored the Arkansas River. They said there were little towns with trickling springs who made a giant deal out of their puny little trickle. A few things have improved, but for the most part the Fort is still ignoring the 7th longest river in the United States.

The second thing they said would apply to all crumbling downtowns.....it won't ever look like the post card above until people are living downtown again. Places that become ghost towns at 5 pm everyday will never have a life of their own....will not thrive.

The seed of destruction for most downtowns in America was the invention of the automobile. I'm not an expert on LR's Main street but I'm betting about half the buildings pictured above are gone, replaced by hot black parking lots. No one wants to come downtown to see miles of hot black parking lots.

Tearing down more buildings to build more parking lots is a diminishing return for sure. Well placed parking garages plus a trolley system would save a lot of historic buildings. None of this is cheap, but except for our labor...what is cheap today?

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Do any of you live downtown?

Didn't think so.

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Sadly, Main St will never be the way it once was or is envisioned. America loves sprawl, big houses and rush hour traffic. I wouldn't live downtown because it is deserted after 5 pm. I would love to live in an urban environment where all I needed is a walk or mass transit ride away. That will not happen in LR just like it hasn't happened in any other city listed above. Dallas, Atlanta, Memphis...all a commuting nightmare.

Chicago and New York. 2 great cities that have the luxury of massive populations and history. Granted, Chicago has sprawl too...it just has millions of people. New York has the luxury of being an island. But even if LR had a 10 fold increase, all that would happen is outward expansion instead of concentration of the populace. Blame American desire for a front yard or the city for allowing uncontrolled expansion. Needless to say, it's all a dream that will never become a reality.

One other note - LR is all backwards by putting only very expensive condos on the downtown area. Why would anyone with thatuchoney choose to live where there is nothing to do, buy, walk to, etc. You can only go to the River Market so much. On the other hand, look at the history of say NY. Low cost tenaments were there for the masses, which necessarily brought in businesses, which then led to biggeroney coming in and buying those tenaments and pushing the masses out. It just seems logical that over time urban renewal will occur if there is some reason to bring in money (stores, restuarants, convenience, mass transit). Yes it takes time, but Chicago, Boston, NY didn't get to be the way they were overnight. Small towns trying to revitalize urban areas in this day and age seem to put the cart before the horse...it may take generations to get the desired result. Unfortunatley, no one in government seems to have a vision beyond the next election.

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Having seen an "over the store" space in a small town converted to an apartment overlooking the town's (quiet) main drag, I started eyeing all those buildings along Pine Bluff's Main Street as interesting. Thing is, just about the only thing around Main Street are the jails and the courthouse, and eight blocks away, the Civic Center and post office. Oh, and the Reynolds Center -- nice, but not helpful in my day to day life.
The just-about-dead mall is several miles away and Wal-Mart -- what else is there around here? -- maybe five miles away. Doctor's? Miles away, although there is still a pharmacy hanging on in downtown, I think. Grocery store? Two or three miles.
I know Pine Bluff's movers and shakers -- HAH! -- have no chance of revitalizing any part of Pine Bluff and I suspect that the situation, if not quite as dire, is much the same in Little Rock.
Soooo, if I have to drive that far, I might as well stay put and put up with mowing and raking and cutting hedges, and, and, and . . .
Although,considering the traffic on my once quiet country road, maybe downtown, trains and all, would be quieter.

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A friend of mine got mugged and pistol-whipped in the River Market district tonight. He's being treated at the emergency room now, but should be okay.

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Wow. So sorry to hear that radical centrist.

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Thanks Tap. The three victims were walking toward their car when they were accosted by the two robbers. Their stuff was taken, but it could have been worse, so they were lucky.

I'll be glad when this day is over in about 20 minutes, it's been one thing after another today.

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