Fayetteville Apartments: Maybe we aren't asking all the right questions
"We get questioned a lot, 'Why do we have so many apartments in Fayetteville?' We have a university that provides a segment of the population for which purchasing a home isn't always the best option - they're only here for nine months of the year," Pate said. - http://nwanews.com/nwat/News/77034/
Oh, really? While that may be an obvious question, one that a lot of people have been asking for so many years is why are so many crap apartments in Fayetteville? Why are so many working class people living in third-world conditions in the city of Fayetteville?
Why are so many apartments literally falling down around their ears?
Of course, I’m not sure the reporter from the Northwest Arkansas Times is even aware that many apartments in Fayetteville are occupied by those we like to refer to as “working class” - when we refer to them at all, since they didn’t even merit a mention in the story.
Will these new apartments be restricted to college students? If so, would that be, oh, I don’t know, illegal? Or will it be more subtle, perhaps? “Sorry, your application has been rejected.”
Well, perhaps reporter Robin Mero doesn’t actually live in Fayetteville, or prefers not to pay attention to the living conditions within a few city blocks of the NWA Times? Certainly the NWA Times has long turned a blind eye to living conditions in certain parts of the city.
And while some neighborhoods may not be appropriate for some apartments, there are those who seem to think that we should just have some sort of fenced-off areas for apartment-dwellers in the city.
Hmm . . .
Fayetteville probably does have too many apartments; why not have some stories on the conditions of some of the older ones in our midst? Why not interview Paula Marinoni while you are at it?
I’m sure you can find folks who can give you a guided tour through some of the more interesting places to live, since you live in this alternate universe where all landlords are decent, hail fellows, well met, but they ain’t.
Some make Mister Potter look more Harry Potter, and that takes some doing, believe me.
And so, NWA Times, while you’re off doing this intrepid reporting on slum conditions in Fayetteville, give us the names of the property owners.
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Quote of the Day
You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note. - Doug Floyd
Comments
Drake says, "And so, NWA Times, while you're off doing this intrepid reporting on slum conditions in Fayetteville, give us the names of the property owners."
Very good advice. Let's see:
http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/streetjazz/2008/11/hell_by_the_week.aspx
No address, no landlord named.
http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/streetjazz/2008/07/time_to_take_poverty_and_lowin.aspx
One trailer park named in the story, two trailer parks named in the comments by someone else, no landlord named.
http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/streetjazz/2008/03/fayetteville_the_affordable_ho.aspx
No address, no landlord named.
http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/streetjazz/2008/06/driven_from_the_gates.aspx
No address, no landlord named.
This last one I remember from when I was editing your work. One of the big gaps I noticed in that four-part series (of which this is only one part) was that there weren't any landlords named. I do recall when I asked you about who you'd been interviewing, you telling me, "I don't know any poor people who aren't Republicans," which struck me as an odd comment.
Ah, well, before the series was finished, you became your own editor, and those questions stopped being asked of you.
But I do see you learned how to ask the hard questions of the local papers, something else we disagreed on at the time.
You just never learned how to ask them of yourself. A pity, that. I always told people you were a good, sometimes wonderful writer. I anticipated we'd be able to work with each other and improve each other's work over time. Live and learn. I sure did.
Posted by: John A Arkansawyer![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/streetjazz/nav-commenters.gif)
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June 4, 2009 07:17 PM