Planning process begins with community input

Representatives from East Arkansas Planning and Development District, in partnership with Building Communities, kicked off a strategic planning process that will last for several days with community member focus groups on Monday.

The district has received grant funds from the Department of Housing and Development which is paying for consultants to help Blytheville create a comprehensive plan for the community's economic and quality of life development.

Community members representing a variety of companies, organizations and branches of local government were present at Arkansas Northeastern College Monday night for a town hall-style meeting in which residents were able to express what they think Blytheville needs the most.

The purpose of this planning process, according to facilitator Jennifer Watkins, is to first help the community to create a running list of all of its programs that can help citizens, so that underuse of existing resources is not a continuing issue. Second, the strategic plan will help local citizens and government to identify what residents truly see as problems, and then the EAPDD can help point the community toward funding which may help with developing improvement programs.

Ideas were presented to attendees on ways that the community can improve both its job market and its quality of life in the areas of business, sector specific business development, and the tourism market.

Blytheville residents present at the session expressed a number of concerns about programs or improvements that are needed in the community:

-- Jobs of all levels for skilled, unskilled and college educated workers

-- Activities for youth

-- A stronger workforce -- workforce improvement programs which would teach already working adults a better work ethic

-- Recreational opportunities

-- Cleanup and code enforcement improvement, better maintenance of properties

-- Public transportation

-- Crime reduction

-- More retail and restaurant choices

-- Drug traffic reduction

-- Attractive neighborhood development

-- Better support and boost of morale for what the community does have in place, better public relations work by the community on behalf of schools and existing programs; including ways to stop the export of some area youth into neighboring school districts

Carlock manager Thomas Reagan spoke up and said that what the community needs is more opportunities for retail spending.

"We need more retail to generate spending," he said. "Blytheville is the engine of the county, and if people start spending their money here, it will make the whole county run better. The average credit score of a Blytheville resident is 684, so overall we are not in bad financial shape here, and the people who spend money here drive in from a 30-mile radius all around the city -- we need to create more opportunities for them to spend money. Our economic development funding needs to be focused on helping smaller businesses and creating retail dollars."

Chiming in to agree on that point was City Council candidate Carol White, who said the county needs to restructure the way it spends the funds generated through its economic development tax, but also argued that the city needs a better legal aid system, loan programs for home owners, and a full-service community center, in addition to other things.

The planning process continues today (Tuesday), with focus groups from the community helping to create a comprehensive plan before applications for funding and new programs can be implemented.

sharris@blythevillecourier.com