VOTE LIONELD JORDAN FOR MAYOR!

Again, thats why I like Coody. He seeks positive growth opportunities for our city, and tries to harness it to make our city better, not just bigger.

I see Coody as a midpoint between Jordan and Clark and I still think he is what we need.

Jordan’s profession to be everybody’s advocate sounds nice, but it isn’t realistic. If every NIMBY gets their way, we will stagnate. My viewpoint isn’t complicated by development issues. I live right smack in the middle of the city, near commercial, near apartments, near industrial, and near schools. I like our neighborhood, and we’re all developed up. NIMBYism is kept to a minimum here.

But avoiding growth leads, in almost every case, to decay. It starts in the loss of businesses, and jobs, and then leads to the loss of shopping and dining options, and inevitably to losses in property values, a shrinking tax base, declining schools, and a host of other ills.

I also think it is a false to say that if we grow, then we become Springdale. I would argue that it would take quite a bit of neglect on behalf of the local government to allow that to happen.

Steady, coordinated, well-planned growth is the answer. Keep the best of Fayetteville, but bring in more so that we have even more options, more jobs, more cultural events, increasing property values.

I just express that as a person who loves Fayetteville and doesn’t necessarily think bigger is better. I don’t think its realisitic. Just a nostalgic point of view.

No, I don’t think Fayetteville staying as it is now or as it was 10 years ago is part of the Coody vision. I don’t think he’ll turn us into Springdale, either.

Yeah like that one that has a Comet cleaners in it and nothing else over by Lowes and Wal-Mart. Okay, I said I wouldn’t post anymore but I CAN’T STOP MySELF. To forgive is divine, remember that.

The outlying areas of town don’t have the same kind of design standards that the city has put on the downtown core. Correct me if I am wrong.

I would like to see some consistency in that respect, too.

What good is it if we make downtown look better and better while we grow a generic crappy surrounding landscape?

To labor a point again, I don’t see what is planned for South Pass in this same light. Every rendering of the plan I have seen shows well-designed buildings, mixed uses, and quality materials. Heck, I even like Lindsey’s Town Gateway or whatever it is called, I just hate the location.

I think Coody sees the development of South Pass like that as well. It appears to be high quality. The parcel will develop in the next 10 years, might as well have it develop quality.

I hated it when the city approved Lindsey’s The Links project on Wedington. It needed to be looked at closer. Still, some of the changes we got by Lindsey were an improvement. Better than rubber stamping crap like they do in Springdale.

There has to be a happy medium. While I think everyone would prefer higher designed structures, Fayetteville doesn’t have an employment base and income levels to support a lot of very high end development. Quality takes money to build, which translates into higher rents for businesses and residents. We aren’t there yet.

In order to get there, we need to develop more industry with better jobs and higher incomes. Of course, if we were to get there, we could have higher-quality structures being built, but then people would complain more about the cost of living in Fayetteville. Either way, someone is not going to be happy.

In summary, higher design standards, more regulation, more impact fees, the higher it costs to build in Fayetteville. Either the builders go somewhere else, or they must charge more for rent or for sale on the properties built. Higher design standards correlate directly with higher property values, and in the end, a more exclusive and costlier community in which to live and do business.

As a property owner, I don’t exactly hate the idea of Fayetteville property values rising, or of Fayetteville becoming more exclusive. Why should I care? I already own a home here. Plus, I’m a bastard.

Obviously, to your point, a lot of development has happened in Fayetteville that hasn’t either sold or leased out. Well, unless we want to restrict that kind of development further, its basically left to the free market. We can restrict it, but our city becomes more exclusive…Developers get into business to make money. Not everyone in development is smart, nor do they wind up successful.

Its all so circuitous. 1) Make devleopers follow stricter rules. 2) Development becomes more expensive 3) Rents go up. 4) Fayetteville becomes more attractive and exclusive 5) Developers want to do more business in Fayetteville. 6) A segment of the city cries foul about how expensive it is in Fayetteville and demands change.

Unless we go back and “unzone” a whole lot of property in our city, I don’t really know what the solution is to prevent development on the fringes altogether. CityPlan2025 is brand new. Some of these developer people have owned commercially zoned undeveloped land for decades. A lot of it is “use by right” and unless the city wants to be sued, they can’t just outright say no. Regardless of how little sense the development makes to the people in the neighborhood.

I do think we could do better with some of our design standards, though.

I am really interested in the answer to this.

Is this to what you believe Coody’s vision would lead? If so, in what manner?

****. I don’t know what to even THINK anymore!! Ahhh!!

You may have noticed that I’ve changed my name so as to be taken more “seriously”.

Thats the other side of the issue. Thanks for pointing it out. For every NIMBY, there’s a landowner who has certain rights attached to their property.

There HAS to be some middle ground, not just people interested in squashing development, period.

Thats why I like Coody. He sees both sides. Including the “evil” business, money-making side. You know, the part that actually pays for all the trails and parks etc.

And Mr. Bastard. I know the people who fought off the selfish neighbor who preferred an extra giant yard not owned by him to the nice building that houses Ye Olde King Pizza. Don’t you like that taste of Olde Fayetteville? Isn’t that more important to most people than one couple losing their pasture view? They could have bought the land, but AHTD changed the best use of that land not long after the road was blazed by the Butterfield Coaches in about 1840. We taxpayers have made it a five lane road and increased the value of the adjoining land.

I could get 200 signatures in any neighborhood against any development. It’s the “I Got Mine, you **** off” attitude. Also, people are so ****ing stupid you can scare them by telling them about the dangers of Dihydrous Oxide. A lot of people died from it during Hurricane Ike.

Well good ****ing work on that. The fewer strip malls, the better.

I’m sorry our bastard mayor tried to **** all the families and young children over.

Where are the “propers” for Mr. Cat (his middle name’s Fire, so’s I’m not using it anymore) and Ms. Sutton? If I may paraphrase- These people may be young, but they’re not stupid. And, ****, they may not be that young. I mean, Total Bastard seems like he’s sixty. And drunk.

I’m gonna go call my grandpa.

Why?