Benton County Leads the Way

While other cities and counties talk the talk, the Benton County Solid Waste District is leading the way for recycling and sustainability in Arkansas. Two good examples make the point and demonstrate what other local governments could be doing.

Electronic waste recycling. Earlier this year, the District held a no-fee week for recycling electronic waste--old computers, monitors, televisions, microwaves, VCRs, radios, cell phones, and other obsolete gadgets . Fourteen pallets of out-of-date computer monitors were collected and taken to Unicor Recycling in Texarkana.

Styrofoam recycling. Benton County has the state's first such operation. Working with Rogers-based Advanced Environmental Technologies Inc., the Benton County Solid Waste District is collecting and mixing polystyrene, commonly known by the brand name Styrofoam, into a big tub of Hydro-Sol, a liquid that almost instantly breaks plastic foam down to a reusable polymer. Currently, the district accepts plastic foam from businesses for $ 3 per cubic yard, and the Benton County Road Department is currently testing the polymer as filler for patching county roads.

Public officials in other cities and counties give lots of speeches about sustainability, but Benton County gets 'er done.

Bureaucratic Obfuscation Award

Susan Thomas, Mayor Coody's chief policy adviser and communications expert, should make a lot of money to use such big words in new and confusing ways. This week she was quoted as saying, “What I’d like to do is have professional economic development-type folks visit with the council on the basic fundamentals of how different policy arenas interplay with one another.” Have you ever heard anyone other than some oddball professor say "how different policy arenas interplay with one another?" Interplay is a verb? Can you guess what that means?

Here's what I think she was trying to say in a way she could sound smart without being understood. She meant: "With two or three exceptions, our alderman don't understand basic economics. They keep yapping about trails, green space, saving trees, overtime pay, affordable housing, and neighborhood integrity, all of which cost money and do not produce tax revenues or subsidies for business. I am smarter than them, and I want to make them listen to some professional business boosters tell them what the Chamber of Commerce wants them to do to help local businesses make more money."

Big Business Bobby Goes Both Ways

Ward 3 Alderman Bobby Ferrell pretends he believes in free enterprise, but he talks like a big government guy, saying that city government should take an active role in helping local business grow. How? Coming in and making wise management decisions for them? No, Bobby Ferrell is the latest in a long line of advocates for “Aid to Dependent Corporations” — corporate welfare with no strings attached.

Bobby Ferrell used to work for a big out-of-state corporation that had a near monopoly granted by the government and guaranteed an annual profit by the state. It seems he wants special city fee waivers for business and industry and giving them “incentives”—another word for giving your tax dollars to businesses and reaching into your pocket to make up the difference. It’s like the TIF project that gave land to a group of developers and put a cap on funds going to the public schools. Yummy.

Alderman Ferrell, who opposed city funds for preserving natural areas, lectures that “if you’re going to spend, you have to have money coming in — if you get right down to the nut-cutting. I don’t think everybody understands that you can’t keep having the amenities you have in Fayetteville and not grow the tax base.” So, his solution is to reduce taxes and fees on business? You’ll remember that Alderman Ferrell opposed impact fees on developers in the recent election. He supports increasing your sales taxes to improve roads clogged by commercial sprawl. You know, just like that 2% tax you pay at restaurants so the city can hire more bureaucrats, buy them a nice office, and spend your tax dollars on advertising to promote private businesses.

At least when Bobby Ferrell runs for Mayor, you'll know what to expect. Incumbent Mayor Dan Coody, who is up for reelection next year, said he will wait before offering any opinions about what Fayetteville needs to do in terms of economic development.

Quote of the Day

"That foul stench in the air in Benton County is the recent action of the Bella Vista Property Owners Association. Well, that and chicken litter. . . . Welcome to Club Nazi. The number of elected people who think proceedings that affect the public are better when made hidden behind closed doors never ceases to amaze me. . . . Who's running the show in Bella Vista these days anyway? Monty Python?"

--Bob Caudle, "There's No Telling What's Going On in Bella Vista," The Morning News

Quote of the Day

Light rail is a real possibility for the Northwest Arkansas corridor. An in-depth feasibility study is needed now, before further discussion of expanding I-540 to eight lanes and a new “western beltway” to bypass the I-540 bypass. But Congressman Boozman, stating that “the time is not right for commuter rail,” has not freed up any federal money for the needed study.

--Art Hobson, "Stuck in Concrete," Northwest Arkansas Times

Coody's Tax and Spend Policies Exposed

The City of Fayetteville, relying on the regressive sales tax instead of a diverse source of revenues, now finds itself in the hole. Bad assumptions at work here, as city staff ignored the impact of the new mall in Rogers. Even the greatly increased appropriation from the state legislature this year cannot pull their chestnuts out of the fire.

Mayor Coody and his chief ciphers Gary Dumas and Paul Becker projected a budget that is heading toward a $1 million deficit for the year. Rather than cut expenses by reducing the bureaucracy, they want to raise our taxes to fund their follies. In the past, Coody always pushed the regressive sales tax to fill the treasury. Now everyone knows that didn't work, because it can't even pay off the bonds on the Mayor's $60 million cost overrun on sewer improvements, so now Coody and Dumas have a new screw to turn.

It looks like Developer Dan and his merry band have found an even more regressive tax. They want to raise your water rates to pay for new water lines out in the sprawlville of Jim Lindsey developments, specifically debt financing bonds to construct high capacity lines out in the high income wards on Highway 265.

The sales tax is regressive because it causes lower-income people to pay a larger share of their income than wealthier people pay. The current Fayetteville water rates are even more regressive because it actually charges low-income people more than the wealthy business interests. A widow surviving on Social Security pays $2.81 per thousand gallons of water; industrial users pay only $1.60. There is no good reason why we charge retirees, students, and the working poor 75% more for basic necessities than we charge the Country Club to water the golf course; there are some bad ones.

Not only is this pricing scheme immoral, it also encourages waste rather than conservation of water. For all Developer Dan's fine speeches about sustainability, his policies put the lie to that idea. A flat rate for all water users would be more fair than the current rates; a progressive rate schedule would be even more fair and would encourage conservation. Let us hope that the City Council will consider this approach. It could lower basic residential water rates and also increase overall revenue, but it will take five votes to override a veto.

One and Done

Republican State Representative Aaron Burkes, a freshman from Benton County, announced yesterday that he won’t run for re-election next year. For the record when talking with a reporter, he said he wanted to spend more time with his family, and that's what was printed in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

More forthcoming when talking with the Benton County Daily Record, Burkes said it was frustrating being in the state legislature. He said some lawmakers just don’t care for the northwest region of the state, and "being a conservative northwest Arkansas Republican, I had a lot of strikes against me." It is tough being taken seriously when area Republicans vote against all new revenues and then complain about not getting enough funding for education or highways in Northwest Arkansas. It is even worse when many Northwest Arkansas Republicans seem obsessed with legislation about school prayer, intelligent design, school vouchers, abortion, gays, socialistic pre-K education, pornography, and immigrant bashing.

Representative Burkes was not among the reactionary Republican fringe like former Representative Jim Bob Dugger, former Senator Jim Holt, or the term-limited Representatives Eric Harris, Mike Kenney, and Daryl Pace. He appeared to be a thoughtful conservative. "When I got there, it seemed that many were out for themselves and getting credit than making decisions for the long-term interest based on logic and economics," Burkes said.

Burkes said "a number of the Republicans we have are not limited-government conservatives; they’re big-government conservatives, like Bush. I was down there to do some good. I realize that’s very difficult to do when you’re so hugely outnumbered. ” He said he'd just as soon not name names of lawmakers he described as big-government conservatives, at least at the moment. Benton County is presently represented by three GOP Senators and seven Republican state representatives.

Burkes' decision means that there will be six open House seats in Benton County. They could do a lot worse than Aaron Burkes and probably will.

Quotes of the Day

“There’s plenty of blame to go around in this whole sorry enterprise. . . . Coach Nutt and Chancellor White avoided some embarrassment that might have come from the lawsuit, but neither has come off looking good.”

--Editorial, "Offsides," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (NW Ed.)

“So, we’ve oddly given schools the task of enforcing a sanction on themselves.”

--Professor Jay P. Green, quoted in "Cited Schools Quiet on Option," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (NW Ed.)

Second Verse: Cell Tower Controversy

The Rogers Planning Commission approved conditional-use permits for two cell phone towers this week, despite residential concerns about property values and possible health impacts of the towers, and there are more to come. Verizon Wireless is building an independent northwest Arkansas network that will likely include new towers in Rogers, Bentonville, Springdale, and Fayetteville.

One planned 90-foot-tall telecommunications tower disguised as a bell tower behind the Rogers Freewill Baptist Church, was dropped after crowds of angry neighbors waved protest signs, filled petitions, and packed City Council chambers during three Planning Commission meetings. The tower might be moved a half block away to the Rogers Public Library, which could benefit from leasing income.

Pastor Randy Burris of the Rogers Freewill Baptist Church sounded disappointed about missing out on the anticipated earthly riches of a $900 monthly lease and said the congregation was still eager to locate a tower on church property. “If it didn’t satisfy the neighbors here, I don’t know why they’d put it a half block away,” he said. “We saw it as a service to the public and a chance to help our ministry.” Uh huh. Preacher Burris sounds like Mayor Coody.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Winston Churchill, sometime politician and art critic, said, “Beginning with audacity is a very great part of the art of painting.” The same might be said of art museums, and Alice Walton’s Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville is an excellent example. Although not scheduled to open until 2009, it is quite the buzz these days.

Last week, Crystal Bridges launched its new website. On June 16, Crystal Bridges at the Massey will open in conjunction with Bentonville’s ArtWalk. Director Robert Workman, who has a new blog, said, “If you are in the area, please join us that day as we open our exhibit space with photos and models of the construction project, as well as our opening special exhibition, soon to be announced.”

Today’s issue of the Arkansas Times has an excellent piece by Leslie Newell Peacock about Crystal Bridges and hints about what paintings the collection might hold. On first reading, I saw no mention of the special tax breaks the legislature handed to the museum or the critique of that largess that usually follows its mention in the newspaper.

I don't know nothing about art or art museums, but I know that Alice Walton, like her mother before her, is sharing part of her fortune to enhance the cultural experience in Northwest Arkansas. It is a far more worthy contribution than some others have made, like virtual charter schools and voucher programs.