Dale Clark Day

Today was declared Dale Clark Day by Mayor Dan Coody. He was honored for over 30 years of service in the city of Fayetteville. He was the first director the Fayetteville Parks and Recreation Division as well as the first director of the Fayetteville Youth Center. People meet at the Boys and Girls Club where a few people reminisced about his work. I imagine he must have quite a few stories to tell. We also sang "Happy Birthday" to him. Yeah, they choose to honor him on his birthday. The halls of the Boys and Girls club had kids running around with Dale Clark t-shirts.


The city also named the park next to the Boys and Girls Club after Dale. I must say this is one of the nicest park signs I seen. The park is mostly the playing fields but it does have a nice walking trail around it.

The Saga of Red Oak Park Continues

Solving the erosion problem at Red Oak Park has been put on hold again. The Fayetteville City Council wants to hear more possible solutions to the erosion beside eliminating some trees. Dale Evans of the Game and Fish Commission has modified his solution to the erosion. It saves additional trees but a fair number will still come down. Carole Jone, Park Planner, said that of the proposed trees to be removed, 47% are already compromised and consider unsavable. The idea of having a retention pond at the south end was brought up but there isn't enough room for one and the erosion problem still needs to be addressed.
Aubrey brought up the idea of having the residents of all the neighborhoods put in a rain garden so that there would be little water draining into the park. It's a nice idea, but you can't force people to put in a rain garden. You have to get them to volunteer. That isn't going to be easy. It's hard enough to get people to mow their lawns. I can't imagine the problem of trying to maintain a rain garden. Another problem is the high number of rentals in the neighborhoods. The owners are not going to put in something that requires maintenance. The actually number of residents volunteering to put in a rain garden is going to be too few to solve the problem. However, it is worth it to help those residents who are interested in a rain garden. Any little bit helps.

Woodstock Community, Approved

Last night the Fayetteville City Council approved the Woodstock Community off of Wedington Ave. I would image construction will start fairly soon. Yuck! Hank Broyles did make some changes to accommodate neighborhood concerns. Building heights were changed on those directly facing Wedington and 46th street. Actually only half of the building heights were change, but it was the ones facing houses across the street that were reduced. There are a number of changes for 46th street. There are going to be 2 speed tables installed (really smart idea) and an extended sidewalk on one side. I really appreciate the changes Hank has made. I'm still going to save money to move. I still think I'm going to have a hard time living next a commercial, high density community. By the time I've saved enough money I'll know for sure.

Fayetteville, Raising Taxes

Fayetteville is considering raising taxes, again. The City Council met Saturday to discuss the budget. What the NWA News reported on Sunday really ticked me off. More specifically what Mayor Coody is reported to have said ticked me off.

Allen said people see the city is "trying to clean up the sewer debacle, " and just passed 1 cent sales tax for transportation projects, so many think city officials simply can’t manage money.
Coody took offense to Allen’s use of the word debacle when speaking about the $ 186 million Wastewater System Improvement Project, which was originally scheduled to cost $ 120 million and be finished in September 2005. Coody described being more than $ 70 million over budget and three years behind schedule as the project’s " only hiccup."

Mayor Coody may consider the excessive costs of the project as "only hiccup"; however, Fayetteville citizens consider the $70 million over budget as another bite out of their wallets. Then then was this utterly ridiculous statement,

Of course, residents also have a certain level of culpability, Coody said. " If they would just shop in Fayetteville we would’t have to have these discussions, " he said.

Good Lord! Was there a ordinance passed that said Fayetteville residents could only shop in Fayetteville? We have less spending money in our pockets. Our budgets are being hammered with increased gas and food costs. I received my letter from the Assessor and I know that I am going to be hit with higher property taxes in the next couple of years. In addition, the city is discussing how high to raise the water and sewer rates. I am not going to have a whole lot less money to spend.
It was expected as shopping opportunities opened up in other cities those residents would shop in their city rather than drive to Fayetteville. The Mayor and the City Council knew this, they've discussed it. While they knew they were going to lose some revenue to other cities they were anticipating to generate some revenue from the new Sam's Club and Malco Theater. I think it is utterly ridiculous to expect Fayetteville residents to pick up the deficient left by people shopping elsewhere, particularly with less money available to spend.

Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, Grand Opening

Finally, after a lot of hard work, the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks are going to be officially open. They will be celebrating from Saturday, Sept 29th through Sunday, Oct. 7th. There will be lots of activities to enjoy. Go here for the full schedule.

They've Seen the Lights

Thank God!

After trying multicolored lights last year as the Fayetteville Square’s holiday decorations, officials with the Fayetteville Parks and Recreation Department have reverted back to the traditional all-white light display.

Those multi-colored lights looked just terrible. I'm sure they had a lot of complaints about them.

Jeff Coles, maintenance superintendent for Parks and Recreation, said the colored lights did receive rave reviews, mostly from out-oftowners, but that ultimately he and his staff believed the white lights were a better scheme.

I don't know where they that got those reviews but the one I saw in CitiScapes suggested they never do it again.

From NWA Times

Fayetteville, Ribbon Cutting of Clabber Creek Trail

This afternoon the Clabber Creek Trail was officially opened. This is a very pretty trail. It follows Clabber Creek, so it has a good tree canopy and some lush undergrowth. It is a terrific trail for bird watching. I have been walking Casey and Trixie on this trail since the concrete has dried.


Casey is doing very well around other dogs. He's learning not to going lunging at any dog that passes by. Of course, he's very keen on having anyone pay attention to him.