Little Rock has a policy of requiring developers to improve streets abutting their development to standards designated by the planning commission.  As in any development in most cities, developers are required to build streets to city standards and donate them to the city. Thus the city gets the streets without having to spend tax revenue.

     When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water.

     A bus is a vehicle that runs twice as fast when you are after it as when you are in it.

    Kanis Road at Shackleford                 Kanis Road exiting Chenal Pkwy.

      The problem with Little Rock's policy in that it creates dangerous transitions for traffic.  The photo on the left depicts Kanis after it crosses Shackleford as a five lane thoroughfare, traffic is funneled into a narrow, two-lane, substandard road with no shoulders. 
      The photo on the right shows a new developer-created "improvement."  West-bound traffic uses two left-turn lanes to enter a nice five-lane Kanis Road for one block. The photo shows how all of that traffic is funneled into a narrow, two-lane, substandard road with no shoulders.
      These piece-meal "improvements result in second class streets which are rough and look like patchwork quilts . . . not at all becoming of a first class city.  These are only two examples of too many to count.
    A proper solution, which is used in well planned cities, is to issue road bonds and let a contract on the whole project.  Assess the adjoining property owners with their share of bond retirement payments added to their property tax payments over the life of the bonds. If property is sold or improved, their entire payment becomes due and is simply plugged into the sale price of the land or the development cost.
      Little Rock's streets would then reflect the class of city we all could be proud of.                                                               Anonymous

St. Vincent-West
      St. Vincent Health System recently announced the purchase of a 37-acre site on Chenal Parkway on which it will build an innovative healthcare facility with qualities similar to a lifestyle center addressing a wide array of health and quality-of-life issues.
      The first phase of this innovative project will include physician offices, an urgent care center, pharmacy services, ambulatory surgery and diagnostic imaging. St. Vincent anticipates this project, which will break ground in May, will result in a $100 million investment and it will create 250 new jobs.                                                       Mayor Stodola Newsletter

Southwest Power Pool

      Southwest Power Pool, located in Little Rock since 1941, announced recently that it will build a new and expanded corporate headquarters in West Little Rock. The non-profit organization, which provides services to electric utilities in nine states, will add 200 new jobs at the headquarters, increasing its total employment to 600 by 2012.
      The organization's annual payroll will be near $75 million with an average salary of $83,500. The project includes a 150,000-square-foot LEED-certified office building and a 33,000-square-foot operations/data center, resulting in a $62 million capital investment.
                                                  ___________      Mayor Stodola Newsletter