Michael Tilley's Riff Raff

Most folks who speak during meetings of the Fort Smith board of directors talk much and say little. Including the members of the board. Especially members of the board.

David Kerr stood before the board July 9, held up his copy of the city’s newest historic preservation plan and said simply, “It’s about time.” Kerr attends most board meetings and has for many years lobbied the city to do a better job encouraging and supporting historic preservation. He was (and is) most pleased with the new plan.

The board voted to formally adopt the new historic preservation plan, and Mayor Ray Baker reiterated Kerr’s “It’s about time” statement. Mayor Baker said he was especially impressed with the possibility of acquiring state and federal financial incentives described in the plan. (Odd, it is, how The Mayor likes state and federal tax dollars to connect us to our past, but criticizes the attempt to pursue state and federal tax dollars to plan or build for our future.)

The “It’s about time” statement with respect to historic renovation is indeed about time. Because Fort Smith places history at the forefront of its tourism marketing efforts, what we “sell” is about time; the time during which the city was nothing more than a small collection of civilians catering to a U.S. military fort; the time during which homes were built and neighborhoods began to evolve; the time during which we fought with Native Americans, outlaws in Indian territory and each other; the time during which our economic success pushed east the boundaries of a city resulting from the manifest effort to push west this nation; the time during which many of those early homes and neighborhoods were neglected in that push east.

It’s about time to reverse the neglect. It’s been said a society can be judged by how it treats its elderly citizens. Smarter people than I (and that’s a lot of folks) might say that doesn’t apply to how a city treats its “elderly” structures, but I say it should. Like senior citizens, many structures now neglected supported the evolution of a city we now enjoy; they provided comfortable homes to citizens who built this city; provided places where those citizens could buy necessary goods and foodstuffs; provided places where those citizens could meet for worship or to plan for the future citizenry.

To be sure, we aren’t collectively neglecting our historic structures and areas out of a wholesale lack of respect or concern — although results are often the same irrespective of the cause of neglect. Such work requires serious money, and that serious money requires a government process that not only facilitates such work (tax incentives, grants, etc.), but provides measures to protect the investments. Who wants to invest a few hundred thousand dollars — if not millions — in a historic property knowing the local government has neither proven plan nor proven interest in protecting such investments?

It might be instructive to note that proper and/or adequate attention has found some of our historic structures and neighborhoods. The Belle Grove Historic District — home to the Clayton House and the Bonneville House — is an area where individuals, non-profits and the city of Fort Smith have attempted to preserve a wide spectrum of historic structures. And Paul Giuffre and his partners at The Brunwick Place were the first many years ago to place their financial bets on historic preservation in downtown Fort Smith.

It’s about time we maximized the fiscal and physical support faithfully invested by the thousands of generous souls connected to the Clayton House, Bonneville House, Brunwick Place and other important historic renovations in the city.

There are many solid socio-economic reasons to consider that it’s about time we support smart plans to encourage and protect historic renovation. But there is nothing to be written here that improves upon two simple sentences set forth in the executive summary of the historic plan: “If Fort Smith is to develop an economically viable, livable and sustainable urban core, its downtown neighborhoods must be rehabilitated and protected. With work, Fort Smith can reclaim a unique, colorful and livable downtown where people live, work and play.”

And that’s the Big Dang Point. People are going to live, work and play somewhere. And the really smart, young and entrepreneurial folks will live, work and play where they damn well please. We, as a region of communities, should seek with much passion to be a reasonable option for a large chunk of those go-where-they-damn-well-pleasers.

There are many ways this could all go wrong and we lose more time. City bureaucrats could engage rules that, while well-intended, make historic renovations cost-prohibitive or, ironically, time-prohibitive. Each hoop we add to the process adds dollars, time and the associated frustration resulting from requiring more time and dollars. Historic renovation is a marketplace. If we make our marketplace too difficult, state and federal incentives and private dollars will seek restorative projects in other towns and states.

Also, more time could be lost if the city talks about the plan and does little to walk it. We must hope and/or demand that this plan doesn’t end up like many other city development plans, which is to say a document with good ideas on the inside, layers of dust on the outside and located in a place not even Robert Ballard could find.

Not all will agree with all provisions of this new preservation plan, but it’s about time we get behind a plan and aggressively monitor the city as it attempts to engage the plan. And it’s about time we bring patience to this effort and, more importantly, an institutional memory to remember why it’s about time we take time to preserve the time captured in stones and porches and windows and doors and high-ceilings and magnificent stone and wood craftsmanship of structures that brought us to this time.

It’s about time we better capture the pieces of yesterday for tomorrow.

The City Wire was able to obtain an advance copy of the more than 1-inch thick document outlining Fort Smith City Administrator Dennis Kelly’s proposed changes to city government policies, programs, personnel and any other category you can think of that begins with the letter “P.” (Keep it clean.)

Kelly has said the document will be released to city directors, city staff and the media after the Fourth of July holiday.

Based on our review of the advance copy, following are the top 10 most interesting changes proposed by Kelly.

10. At the beginning of each board meeting, the mayor of Fort Smith and at least one city director must perform at least two minutes of non-stop dance moves from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video.

9. All city vehicles are to be painted like the General Lee car from the “Dukes of Hazzard.” (And yes, they’ll all have the same horn sound.)

8. A city uniform required for all city employees is patterned very close to the uniforms in the original Star Trek series. (This has raised a serious objection from Mayor Ray Baker who said he doesn't look good in the Lt. Uhura uniform.)

7. To reduce fuel costs, as many Fort Smith transit buses as possible will be pushed by those serving community service and that know-it-all smart-ass at The City Wire.

6. An expansion of city operations will include a second office for the city administrator to be placed in a skybox at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium.

5. The “Pride and Progress” motto on Fort Smith Police Department cars will be replaced with “Put the phone down and drive, ass*&%@!”

4. Facilitator for the 2010 city director annual retreat: Paul Harvey   Marilyn Chambers Jack Kemp  Dom DeLuise   Ed McMahon   Billy Mays   Regis Philbin(?).

3. About $500,000 a year will be pulled from collections of the one-cent street tax to pay rock stars to appear in Fort Smith promo commercials. (proposed text: “Hey, I’m Angus Young with AC/DC, and if you’re not traveling to Fort Smith, then you are definitely on the Highway to Hell. So if you’d like to get shook all night long, I’d recommend attending some Big Balls in Fort Smith.”)

2. Lions and other large cats at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in Eureka Springs will be brought to Fort Smith to “encourage” improved results on the new annual physical fitness test for city employees.

1. New city song? Funkytown

In this space last week we asked the question, “What now? As a region, as a people and as a collection of cities, What-Fricking-Now? What are the collective goals of the region? What do we all want to be when 2020 rolls around? What!?”

The genesis of the question was the setback in being named an All American City. The city of Fort Smith applied for the All American City status based on efforts of those in the Fort Smith region to keep the 188th Fighter Wing based in Fort Smith; to successfully recruit the U.S. Marshals Museum; and to supports the Community Services Clearinghouse and its amazing work to feed the poor children among us.

In considering the question we noted the writings of James Burke and Robert Ornstein, who told us that things (plants, animals, people, cultures, communities, etc.) “go the way of anything in nature that stands still or doesn’t adapt: they die.”

At the conclusion of the previous commentary in which we pondered “What now?,” it was suggested we further ponder the simple but provocative interrogatory at our next gathering.

Well, here we are.

So ... what now? There are a wide range of intriguing and doable possibilities. Conversations with concerned citizens and Kind Readers (often one in the same) in the past 15-plus years have resulted in the compilation of too many good ideas to list here. Also, we know that our region of 300,000 folks is limited in its resources (and political will) to engage at one time a long and broad To-Do list. With that in mind, let’s briefly consider a few options possessing the potential of transformative socio-economic change in our metro area.

THREE OPTIONS FOR TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGE
• Small business development
The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith has proactively revamped its small business support structure to provide “an information-rich environment for start-up businesses, potential entrepreneurs, existing companies and family-owned enterprises and collect, analyze and disseminate information related to local and regional entrepreneurial, economic and business activities.” This is a tremendous and positive move by UAFS Chancellor Dr. Paul Beran and his staff.

However, the one thing we aren’t doing well as a region is aggressively pursuing teams of individuals who take their business ideas to national entrepreneurial competitions and/or matriculate out of incubator organizations at hundreds of universities around the country. And it’s been a few years since UAFS had teams competing in the entrepreneurial competition sponsored by Arkansas Capital Corp. That’s unfortunate, and shame on us if our regional economic development officials won’t better support local entrepreneurial upstarts and formulate a proactive plan that let’s the tens of thousands of brilliant entrepreneurial minds around the country know that we welcome their ideas to our fertile grounds.

If the world’s largest retailer and the world’s largest meat company could find success in out-of-the-way small Arkansas towns, then please don’t tell me the Fort Smith region is incapable of supporting a wide range of new business ideas. Please keep your defeatism to yourself. (Please note David Potts commentary about the recent UAFS developments and the importance of entrepreneurial support.)

• Tourism/sports venue growth
Sure, we’ve got the Marshals Museum on the hook, but it could be 10 years or more before the first tourist buys an overpriced plastic badge (made in China) in the museum’s gift shop.

Look, folks, we’ve got to quit kidding ourselves and get serious about bringing in thousands more folks a year who spend money in our stores, restaurants and hotels. We must demand that city of Fort Smith and Sebastian County officials remove their gray matter from their dark places and get serious about building a city/county sports complex at Ben Geren park that would rank within the top 20 among the nation’s 363 U.S. metro areas. We Fort Smithians also must demand that city officials bring some sanity into our tourism efforts by combining our tourism recruitment (advertising & promotion commission) with our convention center management — as is done in most cities enjoying success.

Here’s the plan. Get voter approval on a 2% restaurant tax that, combined with the existing hotel tax, would generate close to $3 million annually. We’ll need about $2 million of that to keep the convention center going and pay salaries and operating costs of the broad tourism effort. We’ll return to the remaining $1 million in a few sentences.

The voters also would be asked to redirect 25% of the street tax for a 10-year period to fund construction of a regional sports complex and to develop basic infrastructure for continued expansion of riverfront development plans. This redirection of tax money would generate about $40 million during the 10-year term, of which about $25 million would be used for the sports complex.

Of the remaining $15 million, $5 million would be placed in a reserve fund for future sports complex maintenance and capital improvements (generating $150,000-$200,000 a year in interest), and $10 million invested in a clever program that physically ties the Fort Smith Museum of History, Fort Smith trolley system, downtown Fort Smith and the riverfront area, the National Historic Site and the Marshals Museum into an “historic campus” that includes infotainment opportunities for a wide range of ages and interests.

At the end of the 10 years, the voter approved plan would include a provision to permanently (or as long as the street tax is collected) direct 5% to the maintenance and operation of the sports complex. The 5% redirection would generate between $800,000 and $1 million annually. Combine this with the about $1 million a year from the restaurant tax, and we’d have about $2 million annually to invest in park amenities (walkways, bike paths, riverfront expansion, etc.), upkeep and sports complex operations.

Is this a perfect plan? Probably not (primarily because it doesn’t account for financial input from Sebastian County, grants from state and federal agencies, and doesn’t mention possible financial support from businesses/individuals interested in naming rights). But it’s a plan, damnit! A plan from a guy who’s thought about this issue from several different angles in the past 15 years. And it’s a plan, damnit, from a guy tired of watching the city board of directors take small steps in hopes of obtaining big results — all because collectively they are afraid of their own shadows when it comes to proposing bold and transformative ideas.

• Regional council
The Fort Smith region could use a well-financed business-sponsored “council” focused on big picture improvements and/or lobbying.

“You want a bunch of shadowy overlords calling the shots in the Fort Smith area?” responded an acquaintance after my attempt to explain this concept.

No, this is not a suggestion to create and/or restore the Good Old Boys network. Maybe we consider the details in a future essay in this space, but the bottom line is that we could use a small staff (no more than four people) supported exclusively with private-sector funds.

“Oh, so you mean something like the Northwest Arkansas Council. Right?” the acquaintance responded after further explanation.

Yes. Very much like the Northwest Arkansas Council. In fact, our council might initially affiliate with the NWA Council in an effort to create collaborative bonds with our neighbors to the north and better ensure we don’t spend time reinventing the wheel.

Financial support from our regional council would come from businesses and individuals interested in SIGNIFICANTLY better connections in Little Rock and Washington, D.C., securing CONSISTENT and PROFESSIONAL efforts to obtain Interstate 49 funding, and interested in pressuring municipal and county governments to be PROACTIVE in regional infrastructure enhancements (water supplies, intermodal operations, parks and recreation, maximizing Fort Chaffee development, etc.).

And please know that better connections to Little Rock means this proposed council would actively seek out Arkansas Legislative candidates more interested in progress than liberal and conservative political agendas. Left-wing tree huggers and right-wing bible thumpers won’t get us a seat on the Highway Commission; won’t get us more funding for UAFS; won’t obtain leadership positions in the Arkansas Legislature; won’t give us a voice in state agencies that oversee important aspects of state government; won’t do anything but continue to prove that narrow political agendas are the offspring of small minds that use unproven science and untestable scripture to obstruct the practice of proactive, results-oriented politics.

OTHER IDEAS
This essay is too long, so let’s simply list other ideas, including those posited by Kind Readers.
• Aggressive beautification campaign that might include an attempt to bury utilities (expect more on this in a future essay).
• Regional healthcare coalition that might financially benefit doctors, hospitals, clinics, businesses and patients. Especially patients. (Can we do this and avoid anti-trust laws?)
• Reformation of county government.
• Get serious about recruiting movie production to western Arkansas.
• Get serious about investing in the restoration of the Belle Grove Historic District.
• Develop an innovative model to reform public education and test it in Fort Smith.

You’re right, if not constructive, to caution that the devil is in the details with respect to all this talk about transformative change. But might we consider that if we fear the devilish details we’ll have economic and cultural hell to pay if we allow a fear of transformative change to diminish our ability to make the most of our opportunities.

Please forgive the repetition of a statement previously issued in this space, but it seems a fitting close to this rambling essay: What’s wrong with the Fort Smith regional economy is no match for what’s right with the Fort Smith area. Within our people and within our many public and private entities, we have the potential for great things; we have the potential — through better leadership — to direct overwhelming people-power on whatever problems and obstacles we face. We are a great people, in a great place, and we are capable of great progress.

During a March 2000 speech at the University of Ozarks in Clarksville, popular English author, science historian and television producer James Burke told the crowd that in matters big and small facing groups as large as nations or as small as the individual, past and current success can be a trap in that it creates a box of accepted rules in which to operate. Which is to say, if using XYZ approach to successfully overcome Problems #1-#5, then we commonly presume XYZ will work for subsequent problems, and woe be to the cad who suggests otherwise.

Such linear thinking is responsible for the phrases, “Because we’ve always done it like this,” “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it,” and “After we get this rebuilding year behind us, we’ll have a helluva football team next year.”

Let’s now jump more than nine years forward to this recent attempt to be recognized as an All-American City by the Tampa, Fla.-based National Civic League. The city of Fort Smith was notified in March that it was one of 32 cities selected among hundreds of applicants to compete for the 10 All-American City designations handed out each year.

According to the NCL, an All-America City has “a proven capacity for community-based problem solving, grassroots civic engagement and cooperation between sectors (public, private and nonprofit).” Tracy Winchell, who admirably served as the point person for the city of Fort Smith in seeking the award, said the application focused on how the community came together to keep the 188th Fighter Wing based in Fort Smith, successfully recruit the U.S. Marshals Museum, and how it supports the Community Services Clearinghouse.

Despite the hard work of Winchell and others and the truly compelling stories they told, Fort Smith was not named an All-American City at the June 16-19 competition. Such rejection in no way diminishes the remarkable accomplishments encapsulated within the salvation of the 188th, the capture of the Marshals Museum and the compassion-driven action of the Clearinghouse.

Instead of wondering why we didn’t win or finding fault with the effort to tell such wonderful stories, our energies are better served in recognizing that communities smaller and larger than ours have recorded accomplishments equal to or greater than ours and do so on an annual basis. To analogize using our common ground of sports, the baseball Razorbacks didn’t lose at the World Series because they were a bad team with bad coaches, they lost as a strong team in stiff competition with other strong teams.

Let’s keep with the sports analogy. The football coach during my high school days had the philosophy that it doesn’t matter if you win or lose (although he was not much fun to talk to after a loss), it matters how you take the lessons from the win or the loss and improve the chances to win the next game.

And therein lies the real value of the All American City competition. No, this is not a suggestion that we somehow practice better for the 2010 competition. It would seem inappropriate, if not desperate in a tired sense, to compete again with the same stories. Instead, this is a written wondering about what stories we might use to compete in 2012 or 2013 or 2015. (Although the Mayan calendar says the Big Show ends Dec. 21, 2012.)

Which is really a larger question of, “What now?” As a region, as a people and as a collection of cities, What-Fricking-Now? What are the collective goals of the region? What do we all want to be when 2020 rolls around? What!?

Burke told the Clarksville crowd on that chilly March night that Rule #1 in a standard operating procedure should be that having a standard operating procedure is “no longer a good idea.” What worked yesterday may not work today. The leadership skills required last year may fail in future years. Failure is a matter of when, not if, for leadership stuck within a standard operating procedure, Burke suggested.

In his book, “The Axemaker’s Gift,” Burke (and co-author Robert Ornstein), provided numerous examples of “the double-edged history of human culture” in which innovation forced a change in human interaction that resulted in more innovation spurring more interaction and then more innovation and now here we stand with our iPhones and our Twitter and our GPS and our YouTube and our Facebook and we don’t know the family that lives across the street.

Burke argued in “The Axemaker” and other literary efforts that adaptation and the ability to figure out “What now?” is the key to success, whether on a grand evolutionary scale or within minute generational changes of sparsely-populated cultures.

“In this kind of constantly changing environment, an organism only survives if it can take energy where it can get it. So the successful types evolve to take advantage of the form of food available where they happen to be. The others go the way of anything in nature that stands still or doesn’t adapt: they die,” Burke and Ornstein noted in the book.

Replace “The others” in the above with “Communities” and this gets interesting — “Communities go the way of anything in nature that stands still or doesn’t adapt: they die.”

And so that we don’t get too high falutin’ with the science and philosophy of a learned Englishman, the point of all this Riff Raff boils down to the age-old question asked by Janet (Ms. Jackson, if you’re nasty) in 1986: “What have you done for me lately?”

Pardon the incivility of agreeing with myself, but this is all a damn fine point to ponder. And ponder we will. Beginning next Sunday evening. Same place. Same channel. (Hints on pondering points: Obstacles v. Opportunities; Counterintuitive approaches at leadership.)

(With apologies to serious poets, poetry lovers and/or the wide world of literature.)

Here in this valley where the wide river rolls
we live and we love and we laugh and we die.
Here in this valley where the wide river rolls
we work and we plan and we think and we try.

Through buildings people come and flow
following streets and rules of the day.
Through buildings people come and flow
abused by the rules and losing their way.

In the kaleidoscope woods the winds cajole
pushing the land to the edge of the light.
In the kaleidoscope woods the winds cajole
pushing the noises back into the night.

Amongst truth and lies of those who know
the people hope for a planted seed.
Amongst truth and lies of those who know
history waits for a better read.

Off lakes and streams reflections glow
shifting light on a millions-mile path.
Off lakes and streams reflections glow
shifting light birthed in nuclear wrath.

In office and plant the closing bell blows
setting minds free til another day dawns.
In office and plant the closing bell blows
marking the lines twixt rulers and pawns.

Atop these hills see the smooth valleys roll
time rushes in and blind shadows chase.
Atop these hills see the smooth valleys roll
time ushers in a new seasonal face.

With teachers and classes the lessons unfold
of cosmic construct and rules of the thumb.
With teachers and classes the lessons unfold
rote memorization and societal numb.

Within this historic loam is a weary old soul
reaching to play not knowing the game.
Within this historic loam is a weary old soul
reaching for new but fearing the same.

Calendars call reds and greens and golds
natural medicine easing our minds.
Calendars call reds and greens and golds
a photosynthetic tie securely binds.

Fresh minds with new dreams seek to extol
of a valley of progress field upon field.
Fresh minds with new dreams seek to extol
to masters of old will new visions yield?

It’s nature and life cycling the stop and the go
beauty surrounds the cities inside.
It’s nature and life cycling the stop and the go
with ups or downs for us to decide.

Here in this valley where the wide river rolls
we live and we play and we laugh and we die.
Here in this valley where the wide river rolls
we work and we plan and we think and we try.

At some risk of redundancy, what follows is a repeat of points made in a past essay. The 10 items are a broad set of parameters intended to guide yours truly when analyzing events/issues of potential importance to Kind Readers — a checklist, if you will, to ensure the musings in this space contain some measure of consistency and, dare I say, objectivity.

The hope (and/or minor arrogance) in the reposting of these 10 items is that they may offer some similar baseline of constructive consideration to Kind Readers of The City Wire.

The 10 points, in no particular order:
• Smart people can have valid differences of opinion, and members of the majority opinion are not necessarily the smartest people in the room. Arenas and fields are wonderful places for team players. In our legislative bodies (city, county, state & federal), however, we should prefer independent thinkers who strive for selfless objectives through professional political discourse.

• Let’s keep our focus sharp and our whining to a low-decibel whimper. And more importantly, each of us needs to encourage our public and private regional leaders to squash provincialism and seek partnership.

• Finding good leaders isn’t easy. It’s important, however, to know with certainty that leaders don’t appear in systems and/or cultures unable or unwilling to demand results. President Lincoln fired more than a handful of properly credentialed generals until he stumbled upon a former Illinois storekeeper who had a drinking problem. The military establishment laughed at Lincoln’s choice, but Grant wasted no time in splitting the Confederacy geographically into thirds and ending the war.

• Our existence as one people is now as it was that first July 4 — tenuous. This country is held together by words on paper and by our faith. External enemies have and will continue to blatantly attack our physical mettle and subtly attack our basic faith in God, government and each other. They underestimate our resilience. We should not underestimate theirs.

• The marketplace of ideas and commerce should be more sacred to us than that of the various crusades of organized religion and/or zealous liberals. A faith in God and set of values does not require the approval and/or subjugation of any individual, group or government. And our property, whether real estate or intellectual, should not be beholden to the whims of developers, do-gooders or dogma.

• Perhaps it is time as a community/region we begin talking about professional economic development attainment and how we find and enable passionate leaders who possess and can communicate a bold vision that in turn raises our collective socio-economic expectations for the Greater Fort Smith Region. That’s what a can-do community/region might do.

• Leadership sincerely interested in results doesn’t fear the creative fury that can accompany an all-ideas-on-deck process. Leadership interested in positive change creates an atmosphere in which everyone understands that results matter more than personality, politics or past prejudices.

• We as a region (community leaders in Fort Smith, Greenwood and Van Buren, for starters) must actively pursue open, non-partisan and proactive relationships with political and bureaucratic (agency and organizational) leaders in Little Rock, Washington and Northwest Arkansas. If we don’t learn to play the game, we’ll never be in the game.

• Being active in your community often results in serious headaches and/or setbacks. But don’t take it too serious. Let a few suns set before any direct response, because this too shall pass.

• Let’s be clear: What’s wrong with the Fort Smith regional economy is no match for what’s right with the Fort Smith area. Within our people and within our many public and private entities, we have the potential for great things; we have the potential — through better leadership — to direct overwhelming people-power on whatever problems and obstacles we face. We are a great people, in a great place, and we are capable of great progress.

It was hard to stay focused.

The important folks around the table were talking important things about how to greatly improve the way in which businesses and industries ship their stuff in and ship their stuff out of the Fort Smith/Van Buren area. And these were important folks; decision makers in Crawford and Sebastian counties, decision makers in Fort Smith and Van Buren, and business decision makers.

Almost two decades of talk and wishing and hoping and almost-action have swirled around this necessary idea of improving the freight transfer into and out of the Fort Smith region. And here and now in this steak restaurant in Van Buren some important folks were conducting some No-Fooling leadership to create a freight transfer environment in the Fort Smith region that might possibly be the envy of all but a handful of the more than 360 U.S. metro areas.

These people were eating big salads with grilled chicken, sipping tea and literally moving years of obfuscation to the attic so they could do what alleged past leaders wouldn’t do because of fear, ignorance, self-interest or a sickening combination thereof.

And unless turf-protecting dillweeds on either side of the Arkansas River win the day, it appears that within 10 years (possibly less) the Fort Smith/Van Buren area will possess a system that beneficially reduces the costs and headaches involved in shipping things out and shipping things in — preferably shipping more out than in.

The folks in the Memphis area did this about 30 years ago, and today you can’t shake a half-eaten pork rib without sprinkling dry rub on someone gainfully employed in a good-paying logistics job or freight management job or someone who knows someone who is paying the bills because of a job in the transportation sector.

Let’s stop here to admit that freight management is boring, boooring and booorrrrrrinng. The official Yawn Factor is off the charts. On a bottle of Advil PM it should note that the medication NOT be used if attending a discussion on regional intermodal/freight management for fear of overdose.

Let’s now consider that the Grade A Certified Boring-ness of a practical and innovative regional intermodal/freight management system is matched only by the Grade A Certified Importance-ness in the effort to A) protect and enhance jobs now in the region, B) improve our ability to recruit new jobs to the area, and C) add another important point in the argument to fund and construct Interstate 49 through western Arkansas.

We might in the near future add, with little fear of overstatement, this recently renewed effort to create a regional intermodal network to the Top 10 list of important things that have happened to the Fort Smith/Van Buren region — University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority, Lake Fort Smith expansion, Marshals Museum, retaining the 188th Fighter Wing, etc. — in the past 15 years. Handled correctly, this intermodal effort could be positively transformative.

Therefore, you’d think I’d be damn grateful to the point of complete satisfaction to witness this event; this breaking of the petty chains that bind; this potential discovery of a way out of the swamp. And I was grateful, to be sure, but it was hard to stay focused. There are those among us afflicted with an inability to stay focused on the right-fricking now because we can’t quit thinking about right-fricking tomorrow.

In the midst of this great intermodal leap forward, the imagination decided to go play with possibilities.

“What if,” the imagination rudely interrupted, “the energy and political will the movers and shakers are now using to better manage stuff within boxes was also used to better manage the stuff within brain boxes? Dontcha see? We could pursue a ‘Mentalmodal Management’ system that directs regional physical and fiscal resources to retain and recruit entrepreneurs and small businesses. We can ship in the smart people and keep more of our smart people from shipping out. Dontcha see? The same importance we denote to freight we could also denote to potentially lucrative capitalist ideas? Remember capitalism? We can grow our own high-tech, high-wage businesses! Dontcha see?”

It was hard, as noted earlier, to stay focused. But imagination had a point.

Maybe some day in a steak restaurant in Van Buren some important folks will conduct some No-Fooling leadership to create an idea transfer environment in the Fort Smith region that might possibly be the envy of all but a handful of the more than 360 U.S. metro areas.

It will require focus.

Editor’s note: This column was written by Michael Tilley in January 2005. Link here for the original post.

There comes a time to sell stuff long ago tucked away in closets, kitchen cabinets, the attic, garage and in the back yard. A time to part with items not seen or used in years. A time to see how much you can sell those odd and useless trinkets gathered from weddings, birthdays and Christmases.

There is a time to buck up and have a garage sale.

Many of you have endured this event. A few oddballs out there enjoy having several garage sales a year. And what follows will be wasted reading for those of you for whom a garage sale is entirely beneath you.

What follows are a few pieces of info for those who have yet to operate a market of motley merchandise where a nickel difference in price could be a deal killer.

• Time doesn’t matter to professional garage salers. If your newspaper ad clearly notes that your sale will begin at 8 a.m., don’t be surprised when you wake at 6 a.m. to discover folks waiting in your driveway or peering through your front windows. And they will be exasperated to see you unprepared at 6 a.m. for an 8 a.m. sale.

• If you don’t want it carried off, tie it down or put “not for sale” on it. And for some folks, “garage sale” is to be understood in an unwavering literal sense. If you don’t cordon off the garage — and for such crowd control, a good suggestion would be concertina wire and water cannon — people will help themselves into your garage and plunder through its contents.
“Hey, how much for this lawn mower and that door?”
“The lawn mower? That’s a good lawn mower. I just bought it. Cost me about $250. And the door, well, sir, that’s the door into my house.”
“OK, I’ll give you $15 for them.”
“The mower and anything attached to the house ain’t for sale. In fact, nothing past those two tables intended to keep you out of the garage is for sale.”
“OK, how ‘bout the power drill you still have in the box and the plastic container with your family pictures for $5?”
“Go away!”

• People will haggle ferociously over 25 cents. It’s possible a Web site somewhere exists that gives a “blue book” value for items ever found or ever to be found at a garage sale.
“Just can’t do a buck fifty for this here cookie jar what looks like the old Elvis. But I can give you a buck twenty-five.”
“Well, sir, it’s early in the day, in fact a full hour before our newspaper ad said we’d open, so I think I’ll wait for other offers. Now if you’ll kindly go back outside and let me finish my shower, I’d appreciate it.”
“OK, but it just ain’t worth a buck fifty.”
What it’s worth? It’s not worth throwing away, but people ...

• ... will buy ANYTHING.
In fact, it’s easier to sell a piece of junk for $1 than to give it away. Compare the following conversations.
Conversation A:
“Whaddya want for that old tire?”
“You can have it.”
“For free?”
“Yep.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s an old tire with a hole in it.”
“Can it be patched?”
“Don’t know. Don’t care. Take it if you want it.”
“Not sure I want it if it can’t be patched.”
Conversation B:
“Whaddya want for that old tire?”
“One dollar.”
“OK.”

• People come in waves. After the initial rush of professional garage salers have picked through your stuff a full hour before your official opening, there will be periods of inactivity. Then a car will pull up. About 10 seconds later, five more cars will pull up.

• People leave in waves. About 15 minutes after the wave arrives, the folks who washed up in the wave will want to haggle and pay for their stuff and leave all at the same time. These people must meet and plan their garage sale assault.
“Susie will hit 1545 Peckerwood Lane at approximately 8:16. Joe, you and Betty come in 25 seconds later. Bert, bring your family in straight up 8:17. Donna Jane, you come up with your kids 32 seconds after Bert arrives. I’ll show up 20 seconds after that. OK, let’s synchronize our watches.”

• Don’t leave early. They are watching you. Although the professional garage salers don’t care to honor the official start of your garage sale, they will wait and force you to conduct your garage sale until your announced closing time. They know your garage sale is not supposed to end until noon. If at 11 a.m. you start to load up the rest of your stuff for the dump or a local charity, well, remember, people come in waves. It’ll be Susie first. About 25 seconds later, Joe and Betty. Then Bert. And so on.

And finally, the Elvis fan will return. He’ll have a buck twenty five at the ready.
And you’ll know then that the market, that unseen hand of which Adam Smith noted, has determined the supply and demand price point for the cookie jar is indeed $1.25.

Lt. Commander Francis Queeg — played by Humphrey Bogart in the movie, “The Caine Mutiny.”: (Rolling steel balls in his hand while testifying) “Ahh, but the strawberries that's, that's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with ... geometric logic ... th-that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox did exist, and I'd have produced that key if they hadn't pulled the Caine out of action. I, I know now they were only trying to protect some fellow officer ... Naturally I ... I can only cover these things from memory. If I've left anything out, why ... just ask me specific questions and ... I'll be glad to answer them ... one by one.”

Fort Smith Mayor Ray Baker offered yours truly a little more than 30 minutes of busy mayoral time to answer a few questions.

After outlining a long list of things he was proud of starting and/or promoting (Good Neighbor program, Spirit of the Frontier Awards, etc.), The Mayor said: “You know the whole thing (local efforts) has been directed toward quality of life. Now when I try to get into or make comments in regard to economic development, or you know businesses, trying to get different kinds of businesses in here instead of just the same kind we have, I’ve met with resistance on the part of people, they say, ‘You shouldn’t be in those areas.’ Well, I’m not trying to tell them what to do, I’m just trying to build a fire under them. Because we are notorious for talking and studying and then going to these meetings, but nothing ever comes of it. And other communities move very rapidly on things. So, you know, we ought to be right now out luring some of these big companies into this area who want to get out of the places that they are. ... We have all the resources that any company could possibly want.”

QUESTION: So you don’t think economic development efforts in the past few years have been as effective as they could or should have been?

“No. Not like they should be. Do you?

QUESTIONER: I’m not here to interview me.

“No. I don’t think that we’ve done what we could have done. I mean, I’m not going to be critical of the things that have been done. I mean, they brought some things or reestablished companies in different locations. ... No, I think they could be much more aggressive than they are. And I think we are going to have to get away completely from a manufacturing base. They are going to have to have high-tech. They are going to have to get some high-tech companies and things so our young people don’t desert us. ... There’s thousands of people, according to the news media, in our area that aren’t employed. What are we doing to help them? Are we encouraging retraining at the university? Are we trying to find jobs, are we, you know, are we trying to get businesses in here that will give them some kind of livelihood? I think we should be active in those areas. At least be helpful. We (city of Fort Smith) have an economic development department, you know, I can see that they should be just wheels humming there. ... But you see, the problem comes with this form of government. And the problem comes in the fact that the mayor’s role is ceremonial, and yet the citizens want to blame the mayor for everything, or lay it at his doorstep, or her doorstep. And it’s not always the mayor’s fault. I’m very frustrated with so many things, you know, over the years, because they haven’t moved like I thought they should have. And yet, the thing about it is, it’s the (City) administrator who is head of government, and who they go to. I mean, I don’t even get invited to chamber meetings. You know, when Bill Dooly was there, Bill and Janie (Glover), they would say there is going to be a meeting. But I haven’t been invited to a chamber meeting in years, since Tom Manskey came. ... I don’t know why they did that.”

(Later in the interview, The Mayor noted: “It’s always been told to me ever since I first started this business that it was the chamber’s job on economic development. I mean that was [drilled] into our heads that you don’t cross the line. Well there has to be a partnership in this. I don’t know what the new man is going to do (Paul Harvel, new chamber president beginning May 26). Frankly I don’t there’s going to be great changes, but anyway, we’ll see.”)

QUESTION: You talk about your frustrations about things not happening and you talk about Fort Smith losing its prestige, but what are you doing? What do you do personally to promote or extend relationships with people in Little Rock or Washington, D.C. or Northwest Arkansas?

“The thing about it is, it goes back to what I said. I’m not supposed to be doing that kind of thing. The administrator is supposed to be doing that.”

QUESTION: But you’ve been mayor for 18 years and, with all due respect, I’m not sure you can hide behind the fact that all you have is ceremonial power. After being mayor for 18 years, would you not at some point feel the obligation or responsibility to the people who vote for you to get out there and make things happen? You say you don’t have power, but you have a very powerful bully pulpit. So what are you doing to stem the loss, so to speak, of that prestige?

“My big thing has been to push the administrator and his staff to be involved in that. I don’t cross the line into their areas, and I take any opportunity that I can to promote Fort Smith. I don’t think a trip to Little Rock is going to promote Fort Smith.

QUESTION: One trip to Little Rock will not, but a series of trips that build foundations and build connections will help. So are you saying that in your ceremonial role you don’t have any responsibility for this loss of prestige of which you speak frequently?

“No, no, no, I do have responsibility, but I think I have to be careful how I do it. I’m constantly writing letters, you know, or talking to people around the state, but that’s not the way the form of government is set up.”

QUESTION: You lay much at the feet of the city administrator, but at the same time, you recently rejected giving the city administrator hiring/firing authority over department heads who are there to help him run city government. He apparently has the responsibility but none of the authority. How is that healthy?

“Why is it suddenly a problem, that particular area? Why, with all the things, all the problems and things that need to be taken care of does he zero in on something like that? ... Department heads come and go and the board’s never asked their approval for any of that.”

QUESTION: Then why not have the ordinance reflect reality?

“Well, I think the police and fire chief are different things. Different. And I think there is a motive there. But I’m not going to go any farther on it.”

QUESTION: But help me understand. Most business owners, most CEOs, if not all of them, have the ability to hire and fire their department heads. If we want city government to run as efficiently as possible, explain why that doesn’t make sense at this level in our form of government?

“I think coming so close after the mess we went through a year ago with the police thing, I just don’t think we need to get into that area again. Most of the time the board won’t challenge. I mean, I just got through telling you in 20-some-odd years we never had anything brought to us until we go that police controversy. We haven’t had it. So, why? He’s (Dennis Kelly) been put up to it. He didn’t come in here and know that stuff. He’s been put up to it by some directors. And the thing about it is, let’s just drop it at that. But what I’m saying is there’s more than meets the eye to this and it needs to be left alone. It needs to be left alone.”

QUESTION: So you don’t think Kelly was able to look at the system and make an independent assessment that the hire/fire authority needed to be changed so that city government could be more efficient?

“Why would he look at that particular thing when there’s so many other things. ... The thing about it is, why should he have control over everything? I mean, the directors are the elected representatives and they ought to have final say, I would think.”

QUESTION: So if a department head behaves poorly or does something bad, who fixes it?

“Well, let him take care of it.”

QUESTION: Let who take care of it?

“The administrator.”

QUESTION: How does he take care of it without complete authority?

“What are you talking about? Well then how are these department heads come and go all the time and the board’s never asked about it. I think he’s misinterpreting what he’s saying. And then he wanted certain positions exempt from his authority. How do you single those people out? ... I know he explained it (reason for exemptions), but if you want that kind of authority, then why do you single certain departments out on the thing? I think it’s a trivial thing that doesn’t have anything to do with what we, we have bigger fish to fry than that.”

QUESTION: Before you so publicly challenged Kelly at the May 12 city study session about his proposal to alter the hire/fire ordinance, did you ever consider first visiting with him privately about your concerns?

“I don’t like to do things like I did, but sometimes I think it needs to set the record straight for people to back off. ... I wanted to make my comments an example.”

QUESTION: The other recent news is the Freedom of Information Act issue in which the city has been sued because Kelly spoke individually to city directors about the hire/fire authority prior to the public discussion. The suggestion that Kelly violated the FOIA because he spoke to a director about a city issue could be problematic if it greatly restricts or prevents non-public conversations between directors and the administrator. What are your thoughts on the matter?

“I think what he (Kelly) was doing was talking about whether they (directors) would support that change. And then some of them said they would or they wouldn’t. ... But he (Kelly) never talked to me about it so I don’t know that was going on. ... And you see, that’s another thing, because the mayor doesn’t have a vote, because the mayor is, he’s outside the loop, he’s outside the loop so many times. I could have helped him avoid every bit of that problem had he just come talked to me about it.”

QUESTION: Do you think it’s time to review our form of government?

“I think who ever runs your city should be elected. I feel strongly about that.”

QUESTION: So the answer is “Yes.” Is that what you’re saying?

“Well, I’m not saying no. No, no, I’m not pushing for any, I’m just saying the fact that they say there is no politics in this form of government, that’s not true! You have to please only four directors. ... But there is politics. And the problem is there is a lot of maneuvering and stuff that goes on with some directors.”

QUESTION: You’ve expressed many frustrations about the job and what is happening in the city. Are you going to seek another four years in this capacity? Are you going to run for re-election?

“I haven’t even thought about it.”

QUESTIONER: Now, mayor, c’mon!?

“No, I’m being very (honest), I’ve not even though about it. ... I have done the job that was laid out for the mayor under this form of government, because when the people that wrote this form of government, and I think they did a disservice, but anyway that’s OK, they made a weak mayor strong administrator because of what they had gone through under the commission form of government and those three men fussing and fighting. ... But that’s not going to stop that kind of thing, you know. My first and foremost thing and always has been is what is best for the citizens of Fort Smith, and I think I’ve done the job as it was supposed to be done. It’s ceremonial, and the public realizes it’s ceremonial.”

INTERVIEW OBSERVATIONS
• More often than not, The Mayor comes at issues from a simple, or uninformed angle. He suggested Fort Smith should have done more to recruit Hewlett-Packard; that not only should HP and its 1,200 jobs have come to Fort Smith instead of Conway, but that Fort Smith had more to offer than Conway. That belief fails to acknowledge economic development realities that could fill a small book. Also, he questioned if the community was doing enough for the thousands of unemployed in the area — which presents the alarming possibility The Mayor is unaware of the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services, the Governor’s Dislocated Worker Task Force, various other state and federal agencies and programs and worker retraining programs at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and Arkansas Tech University-Ozark campus, just to name a few examples.

• There are people in Fort Smith who accept The Mayor’s argument that the form of government allows him only the capacity to cheerlead. These folks suggest Ray Baker fits the bill as mayor because a mayor in our form of government is not allowed a more formal leadership role. But is that a false choice? Can we assume away any chance that a mayor could be a cheerleader and a leader that creates and maintains productive internal efforts and external connections?

• The Mayor noted prior to the formal interview he was disgusted with what is going on in Washington, and blamed the disconnect in Washington on politicians who are in office too long. Mayor Baker has been in office 18 years. If reelected in 2010, he will have served almost a quarter of a century.

A lot has changed in Mom’s world. The world in 1949, the year of her birth, was a crazy place. Europe was rebuilding its continental economy, the Soviets were rattling their nuclear swords, the U.S. economy was in a wobbly transition from a wartime economy, new Communist governments threatened the alliance of western democracy and a relatively inexperienced former U.S. Senator from middle America was finding his way around the world stage.

A lot has not changed. The world in 2009 is a crazy place, with Europe trying to restore its continental economy, the Russians (and Iranians and Koreans) rattling their nuclear swords, the U.S. economy in a wobbly transition from a boomtime economy, new Islamist movements threatening the underpinnings of democracy and a certainly inexperienced former U.S. Senator from middle America finding his way around the world as his stage.

Mom has changed, and has helped change people.

She still helps folks. Always has. Volunteers at her church. She works with young women struggling to make good decisions during an unplanned — and often unwanted — pregnancy. She works to protect children caught between family problems, the legal system and government bureaucracy. She and Dad have helped people start businesses. She’s opened up her home to foster kids. She worked as an around-the-clock caregiver when Lupus began to eat away at Grandma Tilley (her mother-in-law). Took care of her until the end.

For a few years she was active in politics, and ran for school board in a community that wasn’t yet ready for a female to reach that level of decision making. And considering the quality of decision-making, Mom indeed had no business on the school board because she was overqualified, and likely wouldn’t have been able to accommodate the men’s level of competency without first suffering severe head trauma.

And people have changed around her.

Grandma and Grandpa Evans (her parents) both struggled with and died from Alzheimer’s. Possibly the only thing more horrible than being of sound body and losing your mind is watching your parents suffer through that reality.

She changed her two children. Molded them, really. She tells of waking her 18-month old boy and holding him up to the television to watch historic episodes of the Apollo program sending men to the Moon. Am sure I welcomed the historic events by filling a diaper. (“Mom, we have a problem.”) Whether 18 months or 18 years, she never stopped fueling an interest in the world around me.

Sister has proven a capable and effective family leader with talents inherited and learned from Mom. We children were fortunate Mom’s tough-love style was never infected by the touchy-feely parenting the educated folks and Dr. Phil advocate. Punishment was consistent, certain and, judging through the more-focused lens of today, fair.

Her children were encouraged to read. Books were plenty and library trips were wonderful parts of the summer. We came together often at supper and had lively discussions about the world around us. It was made clear to her children that our calling in life was to be givers and not takers; to attempt to make better the world around us.

The aforementioned lessons learned were delivered through example rather than lecture. The example of doing more and talking less was indeed the most useful lesson.

Mom fights through the limits of life and tries to stay positive in the midst of her own health issues. It’s the genetics. She’s from the line that believed in hard work, personal accountability, responsible charity and strong faith. They mind their own, laugh when they can, cry when they can’t, love who they trust and trust who they love.

Her children aren’t perfect. They don’t have to be. They’re hers.

Mom’s not perfect. She doesn’t have to be. She’s Mom.

And I’m fortunate beyond the average, and well beyond what’s deserved.