Quote of the Day

"Grandview Heights. Oh yes, that’s the one that the builders planned to put up on the shores of Beaver Lake, complete with high-rise monstrosities towering over the once pristine scene. We didn’t think much of the idea at the time....That was three years ago. What’s happened since then ? As it turns out, not much. The developers cleared the land, graded some roads, and put in a drainage system. Otherwise, the project just sat there. And started washing off into Beaver Lake. ...

"What’s left of Grandview Heights reminds us of the gaping hole in downtown Fayetteville that was supposed to be the site of a 200-room hotel. These days, the Renaissance Hotel is another of those projects that have run afoul of today’s economic slowdown. There’s a public interest in the project because it’s become such an eyesore. And also because public money was involved in it—in the form of a special tax district formed to finance the demolition of what once stood on the site, the crumbling old Mountain Inn.

"Public interest is just as warranted when it comes to Grandview Heights. There might not have been a special tax district set up to finance it, but Benton County went along with the plan. And now the source of drinking water for thousands of residents is being fouled by runoff from the unfinished—or rather barely started—condo project....

"It’s one thing for developers to take a beating. After all, they’re entrepreneurs. Risk is part of their job description. But it’s something else when a failed project affects the common good, whether it’s an ugly wound in downtown Fayetteville or runoff causing problems with the main source of drinking water for Northwest Arkansas. If the public’s going to get blindsided, the developers ought at least be required to make things right, instead of walking off and leaving their messes behind."

Editorial, Man-Made Mess," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette