Last March, an estimated 475 Fayetteville residents came together for the first ever Fayetteville Forward Economic Development Summit.
The event, which was intended to create an economic development plan for the City of Fayetteville, included a timeline for implementation and action items based on input received from Fayetteville citizens.
What resulted was the creation of the Fayetteville Forward Economic Accountability Council, the formation of 11 volunteer groups, and the identification of 38 city-led action items, each with a specific focus intended to improve economic development efforts and address quality of life issues in Fayetteville.
On April 17, the city will hold a second Fayetteville Forward summit from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. inside East Square Plaza to evaluate the progress made since last year, and explore new areas for improvement.
“We are hoping to continue what was started last year,” said Julie McQuade, Community Outreach Coordinator for the city, and one of the organizers of Fayetteville Forward. “We want to strengthen the colaborations that have already started, identify new groups that need to be formed, and to celebrate what has been accomplished over the past year.”
Bliss Browne, founder of Imagine Chicago, will return to Fayetteville to facilitate the follow-up summit.
McQuade said that a follow-up event to track the programs progress has been a part of the plan all along, and the city also wants to to continue to build on the accomplishments from the past year.
“I think a lot of the developments that have come about over the last year came about because of connections made, and discussions coming out of the action group meetings from Fayetteville Forward,” McQuade said. “It was a real catalyst for making connections, and a lot of positive things that have happened over the last year wouldn’t have happened without it.”
The city is urging all Fayetteville residents that can make it on April 17 to attend.
Fayetteville Forward 2.0
When: Saturday, April 17, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Where: East Square Plaza, Downtown Fayetteville
More: Fayetteville Forward Website
It’s too bad it’s not going to be at the Mall. That was the plan until a few weeks ago.
Can somebody point to economic development that actually happened as a result of this?
The first Fayetteville Forward was a political event put on by the mayor to fulfill a campaign promise- I’m sure this one will be the same with a lot of talk and back slapping about how good a job the administation is doing.
Honestly, can anyone point to any economic development in the last 10 years that a city-led team has accomplished?
Five bucks says that no one from the City Administration comes to answer these questions, even though they’re all reading them.
Jordan also said he’d support building a loop highway around the city. Haven’t seen anything related to that in a while.
In fact, I can’t say I’ve seen any real progress whatsoever in Fayetteville over the past 16 months. Paid downtown parking leading to a public garage would be a big one, but Jordan was vehemently opposed to that during his campaign.
All of the construction projects and infrastructure improvements are just Coody-era plans with enough inertia to keep rolling by themselves.
Don Marr and Lioneld Jordan have both significantly improved their wardrobes. I guess thats progress.
@Burgerboy – I think that’s a little unfair. We do have a Green Jobs Training Center on the way.
FWIW, the Mayor and I disagree about his highway-box idea. I think it’s sprawl-inducing, but I’m not sure there’s really any stopping it either. 265, 15th, and the south half of Rupple are all improvements that everyone should support. The north half of Rupple and an extension of Van Asche on the other hand… But I’m getting ahead of myself. Realistically, the discussions about these plans are more than a year away.
I think mpetty and burgerboy are the same person.
Haha… but no. It turns out I’m not the only person in town that cares about these things.
Nope, Matt’s much more handsome than me.
My comment is a little harsh, but its that way for a good reason. The loud, vocal Jordan supporters were extremely critical of Coody during the campaign and, in my view, totally took for granted all the good the man did while in office.
One only need look at the trail system to see what visionary leadership can accomplish. Sure, many people helped, but Coody was talking about (and never stopped talking about) a trail system back in the early 1990s. Without that visionary leadership, we would not have a trail system today. Period.
Jordan still hasn’t articulated a coherent vision for the direction of the city, in spite of his constant borrowing of Coody’s “holistic approach” catch-phrase. He’s all about taking a poll and reaching consensus (which is impossible in a city of 80,000 people).
More feel-good collaboration meetings are a big waste of time if nothing useful comes out of them.
Leaders are elected to lead, not to please everyone.
I also find it interesting that Jordan excortiated Coody’s use of outside consultants for planning at times, yet Bliss Browne is coming back to lead another wasteful kumbaya session which will yield nothing in the way of results.
I admit, I have been frustrated by a few things that I thought the administration could do little more leading on. With Garland and Block I felt like the goal was to reach the least painful consensus.
I do have to give kudos to the Mayor for how he handled Garland after he heard how the residents felt at our Ward meeting in July. Once he realized how much they wanted a median instead of five lanes he was willing to go to bat with the Highway Department.
Oh, and burgerboy, send me an email would you? I asked the Flyer guys to put us in contact but it’s against the privacy policy. I love this anonymous internet as much as anyone (I’m not telling you my old handles), but rapping about Fayetteville stuff face-to-face is so much more rejuvenating.
You know why? No eye strain.
Yo Petty – You get burgerboy, Mark Landry, and reed to run for council and I’ll put all your signs up.
One of you has to live in Ward 1.
I’d say it’s a deal, but no one can get someone else to run. You have to convince yourself.
[...] at the meeting, the mayor plugged the upcoming Fayetteville Forward followup on April 17. At the all-day event, participants will be looking at the accomplishment of the summit [...]
[...] told you guys about a month ago that the City of Fayetteville was planning to host a follow up to last year’s Fayetteville [...]