Saturday, February 9, 2013
Tech Park decision nears — downtown, the best site, will have opposition
Posted by Max Brantley on Sat, Feb 9, 2013 at 9:16 AM
I received notice this week of a meeting Wednesday of the board of the Little Rock Technology Park Authority.
Reports are coming on the review of the three finalist sites — downtown near the Clinton Library; at Asher and University, and in the John Barrow Addition. The consultant hand-picked by Authority board member Dickson Flake to guide this project back when it was merely a chamber of commerce dream for a way to siphon money off a city sales tax increase will also comment.
Here's what I think will happen:
* The downtown site is the obvious choice among the three finalists. Questions will be raised about additional land acquisition, but drive around down there. It's mostly warehouse wasteland that has lain fallow for years. Adjacent landowners should be thrilled to add territory to the committed parcels should the development be put there. Which it should be. To the degree any community can point to "synergy" for technical developments, they nearly always point to happening areas with existing relevant enterprise and an ambience that could attract the sorts of scientific and entrepreneurial sorts that make such a project work. That's downtown Little Rock, with Acxiom, new residences geared to younger people, entertainment, a presidential library, a thoroughly green international good works institution (Heifer) and lots more. Distance to UAMS and Children's Hospital is five minutes on the Mills Freeway; to UALR four or five minutes more. With telephone, computers, teleconferencing and the rest, I can't see four or five minutes more of driving as an impediment to meaningful cooperation.
* Mary Good, Bob Johnson and Dickson Flake of the seven-member board clearly oppose the downtown site (though Flake has said he won't participate in the vote). They favor the residential neighborhoods south of UAMS, particularly Forest Hills, which their consultant put into the mix at Flake's insistence at the outset. I count at least two of the remaining four board members in the significant lobby that has developed for the downtown site. Board member Jay Chesshir has friends on both sides and is in a tough spot. Heads of chambers of commerce always endeavor to keep their friends happy. One vote I couldn't guess.
* The consultant will continue to say none of the three finalists is as good as ripping up one of the poor neighborhoods south of UAMS.
* The city board sounds sincere when it says the residential neighborhoods are off the table. But trusting the city board — think Gene Fortson, who wasn't going to run for city board when he was appointed to an unexpired term, but has done so twice — is risky business.
* A neighborhood group will shortly announce its intention to sue at the barest whisper of use of eminent domain to take their residential property.
Lindsey and I discussed this at some length on our weekly podcast. I think tech parks are flavor-of-the-day wishful thinking with a mixed track record nationally. I think ideas and venture capital — not a taxpayer-financed office building — create new business enterprise, both far moreso than the precise location of the geniuses' offices. But if we are to proceed down this path — and that is a foregone conclusion — the downtown site is the obvious choice. The Tech Park board should accept the developing community consensus and move on. A political firefight is in the offing otherwise.
Speaking of Little Rock Technology Park
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Coalition wants formal disavowal of Tech Park use of neighborhood
May 14, 2013The We Shall Not Be Moved Coalition, formed to oppose location of the proposed Little Rock Technology Park in residential neighborhoods north of UALR, has written Mayor Mark Stodola to praise him for asking for a halt to Tech Park development until the board of the city-financed agency can figure out exactly what it thinks a tech park is supposed to be. /more/
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The Homeless and Wounded Edition
May 10, 2013The tech park's decision to hit the reset button, why Arkansas hospitals charge wildly different rates for the same procedure, the scandal that introduced the country (and me) to the town of Imboden, Arkansas—all covered on this week's edition. /more/
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Tech Park about to heat up
May 7, 2013I wrote this morning about the latest development on the woebegone Little Rock Technology Park — a rump effort to take over the site selection process because of factional divisions. /more/
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George Strait tops the morning report
April 13, 2013I'm happy to say I finished tax returns last night. You? /more/
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Tech Park Board member 'furious' over 'unilateral' decision-making
April 10, 2013I called Dr. Good about Duvall's complaint. She said her extended absence from town, in part because of the death of her sister, had made it difficult for her to be ready for a meeting this month, but she said it was also important that more information be gathered about the new sites recommended by Dilks. /more/
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Little Rock Tech Park: Authority won't meet as site review continues
April 9, 2013No meeting of the Little Rock Technology Park Authority this month. Chair Mary Good says the board continues to gather site information. /more/
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The Max is Back, But Depleted Edition
March 22, 2013The private option, tax cuts, school choice, voter ID, Big River Steel, the political impact of a Republican majority in the legislature, the governor's race, the tech park and delay tactics in the Lake Maumelle watershed — all covered this week. /more/
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