Arkansas Blog

Let's see if I have this right: There's hardly enough money in the city coffers to keep the zoo going, but there's plenty to hire people to tell us how to tear down War Memorial Park? Right?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If you're going to tear something down over there, tear down the stadium. It only gets used to full capacity a couple of times a year (yeah, there also are some high school games). I'm hesitant about tearning down Ray Winder Field because I have a feeling the rent is going to come due on the fancy new baseball park in North Little Rock and we may need it -- however, I agree that the space might be better used for something else, say a new symphony hall with decent acoustics or something like that.

Don't screw with the golf course. People like the golf course. Why is that so hard to understand?

Carrick Patterson is right about the War Memorial Golf Course--hands off! That golf course is a treasure, and there's nothing comparable anywhere else in the state. I cannot imagine that I'm the only person around who grew up playing golf at War Memorial at the cheap junior rate, played school matches there, and still enjoys playing it. Eliminating nine holes of the course--or even the three holes that run near the stadium--would be a mistake. Besides, what would be built in place of any holes eliminated? The park already has pavilions and playgrounds, and the city can barely maintain the pathetic zoo at its current size (plus, should zoo expansion be needed, the space occupied by Ray Winder Field and its parking lot would provide ample space for expansion, as would the parking lots to the west of the zoo where the old entrance used to be).

Don't touch the golf course. Turn the zoo into a skateboard park. Provide an entitlement to every public school third grader for a free trip on Amtrak to St Louis to see one of America's greatest zoos, free admission every day, instead of paying an outrageous amount to see zoo animals kept in a style Michael Vick would approve.

Be kind to animals. Get rid of the zoo.

Take out all 18 holes of the golf course. Tear down Ray Winder. Expand the zoo south of I-630. Guiding principle should be the greater good. War Memorial Park has the potential to be a central city jewel, right now it is just an amalgamation of incompatible parts. Absolutely no synergy. Dream big good folks of Little Rock.

LR and its blessed Task Forces. I recall it was this same TF that was mulling over what to do with the ballpark while NLR and its duly elected government, not a task force, went and did something decisively. How fitting this occured in the DJD "Fitness" Center. I believe there will be DJD-appointed task forces meeting and mulling for years to come. Ms. Hurst is wonderful but she is not mayor of WM Park....figure out whats broke, LR, and take some action. ANY Action. If you're wrong, the voters will let you know.

War Memorial Golf Course is unique in the United States. Name another city in the United States with an 18 hole golf course located four miles from the downtown/Riverfront area, three miles from the capitol and adjacent to two commercial malls. It is a unique asset to Little Rock.

Most larger cities do not have anything comparable and especially not in the heart of the city. So let's not be idiots and rip it out to create a larger parking lot for the zoo or St. Vincent's. It already serves as an overflow parking lot for the stadium on special occasions.

I have played with visitors from New York and New Jersey that were envious of our city's municipal park system with War Memorial Golf Course as the central feature of their admiration. So let's keep our unique jewels and find better ways to utilize the Ray Winder Field to enhance the city's central park and recreation site.

Are minutes or any other transcript of this and the other meetings available online or offline anywhere??