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More ideas discussed at ‘20/20’ meet

By Richard Duke/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Wednesday, June 13, 2007 4:24 PM CDT

Third verse was the same as the first — and the second.

Similar themes began emerging during the third installment of a series of public meetings about the future of Pine Bluff, which was held at Coleman Elementary School at 4600 W. 13th St. on Tuesday evening.

The overall theme of the gathering concerned cleaning the city. Most pinpointed the west side of Pine Bluff as well as condemned buildings and houses and overgrown lawns.

As with the first two meetings, education, new businesses and safety also became rallying cries.

Although not as diverse or populated as the first two, the meeting gave residents another chance to give their opinions on short and longterm goals, although one group neglected to list long term goals, stating that “many long term goals remained long term and are never achieved.” Instead, those involved were more interested in seeing the short term goals fast tracked into implementation.

“In older days, when communities gathered together to discuss problems, they would do it in the local school,” said Dr. Michael R. Hemphill of the Clinton School for Public Service, who helped facilitate the last two meetings. “It is important to involve the local schools in this event.”

Because the crowd of about 120 skewed toward those residents from the west side of the city, more attention was paid to efforts such as cleaning, patrolling and bringing in businesses to that area. One idea combined cleaning the city with punishment for those who break the law and usually receive fines.

The crowd was once again broken up into 10 smaller groups to give each participant a chance to speak. After about 30 minutes of discussion, spokesmen from each group laid out goals for the city.

In addition to the main areas of concern, other specific items included restaurants and parking at Lake Saracen, an overall theme for the city, a return of resource officers to area schools, a community festival and more lights throughout Pine Bluff.

One group thought a proper title for Pine Bluff would be “City of Champions.” The city would use it as a source of pride, and an annual parade would be an attraction to galvanize residents.

One belief was that the city needed to follow through with this project unlike others, which have been started “two or three times before” until nothing of consequence happened. Those who attended Tuesday emphasized they did not want a repeat of earlier attempts.

A town hall meeting for junior and senior high school students is scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.

Sponsors have added a fifth session for interested citizens, business and community leaders from noon until 1 p.m. June 20 at the Pine Bluff Convention Center. Participants are encouraged to bring a brown bag lunch to the latter session.

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