Election 2012: 10 questions for Mayor Lioneld Jordan and former mayor Dan Coody
Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan (left) and former mayor Dan Coody are the only mayoral candidates in 2012.
With the Nov. 6 general election fast approaching, it’s time to take a closer look at the two candidates for Fayetteville mayor.
One one side, there’s the incumbent Mayor Lioneld Jordan who officially announced his plans to run for a second term in March. Jordan became mayor in 2008 after winning a runoff election against former two-term Fayetteville mayor Dan Coody.
Coody hinted on several occasions early this year that he was considering another run at the mayor’s seat. He officially kicked off his campaign in May.
There are two mayoral candidate forums scheduled for this week, but before the two duke it out in person, we thought we’d ask a few questions of our own.
Here are each candidates’ unedited answers:
1. In 2008, you each listed several of your favorite restaurants in town. Have there been any new additions to your list in the past four years?
Lioneld Jordan: I am a regular at Rick’s Iron Skillet on South School, and I would add such recent additions as Tanglewood Branch Tavern, Brick House Kitchen, and Union Kitchen in the new Chancellor Hotel.
Dan Coody: Fresco Café, Arsaga’s Trailside, Aquafire, Emelia’s and Mojo’s.
2. Name your top five places around town that best embody the unique spirit of Fayetteville.
Lioneld Jordan: It is difficult to limit to only five, but I would have to include Old Main, Wilson Park, the Farmers Market on the Square, Nightbird Books, and our wonderful Fayetteville Public Library.
Dan Coody: The Square/Farmers Market, the University campus, the Trail system and Botanical Gardens, Dickson St. (before pay-station parking). The Pavilion in Mt. Sequoyah Woods (I can count, but I can’t stop at just 5).
3. What is the biggest challenge Fayetteville faces as a result of the unprecedented growth in enrollment at the University of Arkansas?
Mayor Jordan gives the annual State of the City address during a January 2011 City Council meeting.
Todd Gill
Lioneld Jordan: The challenges are virtually the same as with any population growth in our city. We must reach out to all new residents to make them feel welcome and offer opportunities to become involved in our community. I have held an annual Mayor’s Town Hall Meeting on campus to share information about City programs, services, recreational facilities, and volunteer opportunities, as well as to answer questions and address the concerns of students, faculty, and staff.
Another issue is providing adequate parking, since most students have cars. The University has three parking decks on campus, and the City is planning a new deck in the Downtown Entertainment District. We adopted the same kiosk system used in two of those decks on campus, except ours are solar powered and offer credit card, pay by phone, and text reminder options in addition to bills and coins.
The third issue is adequate and affordable housing for new faculty and students. The City does not construct homes and apartments for the general population, but we can assure that new construction complies with our city code and is compatible with surrounding neighborhoods and City Plan 2030.
We have an excellent partnership with Chancellor Gearhart and the University, and we recently established a Town and Gown Advisory Committee that includes local residents, city staff, and university staff and students to work together in planning for future growth and addressing these and other related issues in a proactive fashion.
Dan Coody: The City should have planned for the foreseeable explosion in student population after the lottery passed in 2009. Even though several enormous student housing projects are already approved, the City should work with the University to plan an overlay district for off-campus student housing that does not add more stress to our existing neighborhoods and traffic congestion. The City and the University should merge their master plans for a comprehensive growth plan that complements the campus and our community.
However, the biggest challenge Fayetteville faces is a lack of a clear vision, direction, and drive. There is a lack of understanding about how to seize existing creative and innovative opportunities to take Fayetteville to the next level in our quality of life. Expanding our art, music, film, and theater builds the foundation for an expanding technology/creative class economy for which Fayetteville is primed.
4. A cover story in a Little Rock publication last year claimed that Bentonville has “the kind of momentum that might threaten Fayetteville’s status as the queen city” of Northwest Arkansas. Do you agree with the author?
Lioneld Jordan: No. Northwest Arkansas is the fastest growing region of the state, and new opportunities for jobs, recreation, and entertainment benefit all area residents. Fayetteville’s leading role in establishment of the Razorback Greenway, a trail system that will stretch from Walker Park to Bella Vista is one example, the opening of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is another wonderful development for all area residents and their families, and we are in discussions concerning passenger rail service in the area. I don’t see this as any threat. The University’s continued growth expands the cultural and educational opportunities that have made Fayetteville unique for more than 140 years. Razorback Stadium and Bud Walton Arena have no plans to move anywhere. Where else can one walk from Nightbird Books to the Dickson Street Bookshop and find equal indulgence?
One indicator of Fayetteville’s prominence is that our hotel and restaurant sales exceeded the combined total sales for Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville for the first six months of this year–even after the opening of Crystal Bridges and before the opening of our new Chancellor Hotel.
The Walton Arts Center is planning a multi-million dollar expansion of its Fayetteville facility, including additional theater and performance space. New events and festivals in the last four years are making our city even more vibrant – Artosphere, First Thursday, expansion of the Arkansas Music Pavilion, Fest-of-All celebrating our diversity, the annual Block Street Party, a Cheese Dip Festival, Fayetteville Roots Festival, Offshoot-Seedling Film Festival, the growth of craft breweries, opening of The Iceberg center for entrepreneurs and startup businesses, the successes of numerous green businesses from the University’s Genesis Business Incubator facility, and the new downtown home for studio artists at Fayetteville Underground. Fayetteville is the best place in Arkansas to live, work, and play, and it will continue to be the “Queen City” of Northwest Arkansas.
There is so much happening I can’t remember them all.
Dan Coody speaks to supporters during a campaign kickoff event near his Mount Sequoyah home in May.
Todd Gill
Dan Coody: Obviously, the author didn’t think that four years ago when Fayetteville was showing leadership nationally. What’s changed? We have been coasting on the legacy of my administration’s initiating the trails system, improving our infrastructure, beautifying our Square and College Ave., advancing sustainability, securing 700 acres of parks and greenspace (in the past four years less than 12 new acres have been added), cleaning up our watersheds, and building excellent amenities that we now take for granted. But we are quickly losing our momentum. Bentonville has a vision, a plan, and some serious drive. They are rapidly developing a first-class entertainment infrastructure based on art, livability, good restaurants, excellent parks, and beautification that no one can deny. When the growing community college becomes a four-year college, they will begin to get the feel of a young, hip, exciting town with an incredible future. Fayetteville has already begun losing small technology and business startups to Bentonville. While Bentonville recruits and nurtures new businesses, Fayetteville has developed the reputation of being less than welcoming. NWA, indeed, the country, once looked to Fayetteville as the leader in new ideas to copy. Now they look at our deeply unpopular parking program, back-in parking, going $10 million in debt to build a parking garage for a performing arts hall that is going to Bentonville, and they scratch their heads. Bentonville and Rogers tell all our unhappy business owners and our young, creative, innovators, “Y’all Come! This is where your future lies.”
If Fayetteville’s recent trend and Bentonville’s current trend continues, the author may be right. My plan is to build Fayetteville’s future on an entrepreneurial, innovative, and creative foundation that meshes perfectly with Fayetteville’s historically progressive vibe. We have to think regionally and recognize the synergy of the retail industry (Wal-Mart), logistics (J.B. Hunt), food production (Tyson), and research technology (U. of A.). We don’t need to compete with Bentonville. We need to chart an exciting course that is uniquely ours while becoming a full partner within our family of cities.
5. Are there any specific types of businesses that Fayetteville should be actively recruiting or working to attract?
Lioneld Jordan: Our community and economic development strategy has focused on Green Jobs that pay a living wage, specifically targeting the Knowledge Economy, the Experience Economy, Clean and High Tech Economy, the Creative Economy of Arts and Culture and the Medical and Healthcare Sector. The Fayetteville Forward plan was developed by hundreds of citizens who participated in the visioning process and continue to drive policy in Action Groups on the Creative Economy, the Green Economy, Local Foods, the Education Economy, the Health Economy, Inclusion, and others. We secured the Northwest Arkansas campus for the UA Medical Sciences, created the Green Jobs Training Centers of Excellence, secured the relocation of Delta Electronics (the first new manufacturing plant in decades), and added more than 1,060 new jobs in the last year, despite a continuing national recession. My staff and I will continue to work closely with the University of Arkansas Research and Technology Park to incubate innovative green businesses and offer support to secure their future success in our area. In addition to attracting new businesses, we have worked to assist with the expansion of existing industries and support our existing retail businesses with efforts ranging from new state funding through our improved relationship with Governor Beebe and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to the “Find It In Fayetteville” campaign to developing a manual on How to Do Business in Fayetteville and streamlining the approval process to address the previous frustration and reputation for being “business unfriendly.” Business Week recently named Fayetteville among the Best Small Cities for Startups, and Forbes named us No. 4 in Best Places for Business and Careers for 2009.
Dan Coody: Absolutely! First, we need to repurpose the Tyson Mexican Original plant to become a home for the creative community. It is prime land with good access, services, and visibility. It is paid for and we have almost no money in it. When we fired it up for what became a “national model” for disaster relief after Hurricane Katrina, it was a 129,000 sq. ft. building on 10 acres ready for anything. Over the past four years it has been left to deteriorate instead of being recognized as the unique resource that it is. Sadly, it sat idle after the Joplin disaster.
When I was in office, I worked with Marlon Blackwell and the Community Design Center to create a concept for a facility that could house a wide range of activities, from art and theater, to small technology businesses. If you want to have your socks knocked off, go to coodyformayor.com web site and look at the design that was conceived. When I presented this concept to former Alderman Jordan and the rest of the Council there was too little support to pursue it. I think things may be different now. The concept was just ahead of its time.
6. With two years of paid parking on Dickson Street behind us, are there any changes that could or should be made to the program?
Lioneld Jordan
Todd Gill
Lioneld Jordan: There was paid parking on Dickson Street for decades until the meters were removed for aesthetic reasons during the Dickson Street Improvement Project a few years ago, so the arguments against the concept are nothing new. We were encouraged by local businesses to seek more public parking, and both business owners and the Walton Arts Center expressed support for a parking deck as a solution. We held more than 16 public meetings before implementing the current system, met with local business owners, offered numerous opportunities to comment at Council meetings, and made many changes to accommodate the concerns of citizens. Most importantly, we added the residential parking plan to protect neighborhoods that had been requested by the Council in 2005 but never offered by the previous administration.
We chose the kiosk system for several reasons, including the aesthetic advantages over adding 400 parking meters, but also because it was the same familiar system used by the University of Arkansas for its Garland and Stadium Drive parking decks with numbered spaces and a payment kiosk. The differences are that City parking rates are lower than campus parking rates, have employee discount rates, use solar powered kiosks, and offer credit card and pay by phone options to provide more convenience in addition to coins and bills. I brought the plan to the City Council, which unanimously approved the initial program and the suggested changes.
One source of complaint has been that the privately owned lot owners tow vehicles or place boots on cars, something that does not happen to customers in city-owned lots, so we have posted signs informing patrons. We are currently in discussions with private lot owners about the possibility of managing those lots, so that is one possible change in the future.
In 2005, the Coody administration recommended that paid parking hours in the Dickson Street area be enforced for 17 hours from 7:00 a.m. until midnight. The current plan is for 12 hours from 2:00 p.m. until 2:00 a.m.
My opponent also has been saying the current $15 fine for overtime parking is too high; however, Mr. Coody and his Director of Operations, Gary Dumas, previously proposed in 2008 that the overtime parking fines be $40 in the Dickson Street area.
Mr. Coody has also made public complaint that enforcement for violations was too aggressive; however, the facts tell a different story. For example, in 2007 with only paid parking in the Downtown area, the City issued 16,912 citations and voided 823 tickets. Within the last twelve month period, for both the Downtown area and the addition of 431 paid parking spaces in the Dickson Street Entertainment District, we issued 18,801 citations and voided 2,839 tickets. So, even with doubling the number of spaces, the net citations issued were 16,089 in 2007 and in the last 12 months it was only 15,962 net citations.
Dan Coody: The answer “yes“ is an understatement. We need to negotiate a management agreement with all the private lots that will end the towing and booting. This is hurting our reputation and businesses in the District. I realize City Hall thinks everything is fine because HMR revenues are climbing, but that situation has to change.
We need to simplify the program with one enforcement time for the Downtown and Entertainment district. My administration enforced parking for 50 hours a week and tickets were $5. Mayor Jordan’s program enforces parking 126 hours per week and increased ticket prices to $15. ($70 for residential). My plan is to go back to a reasonable standard of enforcement, say, 8-5, Monday through Friday. Free after 5 and on weekends.
The Jordan Administration spent almost $900,000 on this new system. Instead of scrapping it and wasting all that money, my plan is to have the best of both worlds. We could add relatively inexpensive meters, like those around the Square, for plugging nickels, dimes, and quarters (they are made in Russellville, AR.). If someone wanted to use a credit card, cell phone, or folding money, they could use the kiosks. Fayetteville already uses the technology to make this hybrid system work.
Point of interest: According to the City’s police website, between 9/16 and 9/23 (that’s 8 days), 329 new warrants were issued. Of those, 277 or 84% were for parking violations. Welcome to Fayetteville!
7. Do we need a parking deck near Dickson Street? Why or why not?
Lioneld Jordan: Of course we do. The Walton Arts Center study in February 2012 identified the need for a parking deck as a priority, and we must provide parking for visitors who drive to enjoy other locations and events in our Downtown Entertainment District if we are to continue its expansion. With the looming loss of 170 private parking lot spaces to the construction of the new apartment complex between Lafayette and Watson, such a facility is even more necessary.
The previous administration first proposed in 2005 to build a $19 million, 640-space deck on the University Baptist Church lot, but they were unable to finalize that plan. In 2007, the Coody administration proposed a public/private partnership to build a 200,000 square foot structure including a parking deck with a minimum of 500 spaces adjacent to the Walton Arts Center, but there were legal questions about that plan, and no final proposal was ever submitted to the City Council for approval.
We now have a plan that will work, a proven revenue stream from those who choose to use it, and a Mayor and Council that worked closely together to enact a feasible plan that is both affordable and constitutional.
My opponent also has been making claims that the proposed 350-space deck is not compatible and is too large and unsightly; however, the Council has not yet approved the specific site and no architects have been retained to design the deck, so such politically-motivated complaints are totally unfounded. There will be numerous public sessions for citizen comment before approval of a final design by the City Council.
Dan Coody
Todd Gill
Dan Coody: Not the way we are going about it now. During my second term, we studied a comprehensive parking, commercial space, and deck project. Three companies proposed to build new commercial/retail/live-work space, a museum or performing arts hall, with all the requisite parking, plus 500 more public spaces all at their expense. It was designed to reflect the Downtown Master Plan. The numbers didn’t work without a paid parking system and the Council said they “did not want to be in the paid parking business.” That was then.
Concerning the current project, there is very little open public discussion of whether to build it, how to build it, where to build it, what it should look like. There is no discussion about how it should be paid for, if there are other options to increase parking, or if locking in this current parking program for 25 years to repay the debt is the best approach. Almost all the “public meetings” were held during working hours, and even that limited input has been discarded. There has been no “designing in public” for what we are gong to get, much like Block Ave. and the unpopular parking program. All that is needed to commit $10 million to this less-than-transparent project is the mayor’s signature. Fortunately, the mayor has stated he will wait until after the election to sign the papers. Here is the approach I will take if I am elected:
- Put this $10 million debt on ice.
- With serious public input, implement a simple, convenient, uniform, customer/employee/business-friendly paid parking system.
- Re-adopt the progressive, citizen-driven Downtown Master Plan to make downtown safe, well lit, attractive, and walkable.
- Collaborate with Dickson/Downtown businesses to fund simple, fun, hop-on-and-off small electric shuttles on busy nights and establish convenient routes to access the many existing, underutilized downtown lots and decks that are already built and paid for.
- Negotiate with private parking lot owners to create a more uniform and fair downtown parking system.
Concurrently, we need to look ahead to bring new life, diversity, business opportunity, and beauty to our city center. If I win the election, I will:
- Bring together everyone who is interested to help design and plan for a “remodel” of the sea of asphalt around the Walton Arts Center. It should include new commercial/retail/live-work space, some greenspace or small park that could house public art, and civic event space.
- Get it done.
Those who say, “We can’t do it. We can’t afford it.” do not know how to create and leverage the incredible opportunities and assets we have. If we accept a “we can’t afford to invest in our future” mindset, combined with a lack of understanding for what is possible, Fayetteville will continue to stagnate and miss unique opportunities to fulfill our potential. The author referenced in question #4 will be very correct.
8. What do you think is the single most important piece of legislation you were involved with during your time as mayor of Fayetteville?
Lioneld Jordan: There were many important ordinances passed during the last four years, from low impact development to residential energy standards to streamside protection, all of which we were the first in Arkansas to enact; however, nothing was more important than restoring our city to a sound financial position and passing the city’s first balanced budget in more than a decade. We must be realistic and be responsible stewards of the taxpayers’ money, and that is my record.
Dan Coody: Initiating the Fayetteville Trails system. Adopting a citizen-driven 129 mile trails plan, pushing for the funding and the in-house teams to design and build them, and getting the Council to fund it was not easy, but we got it done. Now the Trail system has developed a life of its own. I’m still a huge proponent for the city master plans and sustainability program, but I think that the trails have had the most significant impact on how we feel about our city. It attracts the creative, innovative people that will help us add depth to our quality of life and our economy. I believe that the overwhelmingly positive reaction to our trails system paved the way, so to speak, for the Razorback Greenway. When it’s finished, it will have an amazing effect on how we view our region. If I am elected, I plan to accelerate the east/west corridors of our plan to connect up with more neighborhoods, schools, and business centers.
9. There must be something you wish you’d handled differently while in office. Let’s hear about it.
Lioneld Jordan: I wish I could have taken more time to be with my family – my wonderful wife, my four adult children, and my five grandchildren. I come to the office before 7:00 and often leave after 5:00 to attend other community events, and most of my weekends are spent supporting local organizations that make this a great community. I love this city, and I love this job, but I miss the chance to go camping with my family, spend a quiet weekend at home with my wife, or read a book to my grandkids.
Dan Coody: I always think about how I could have done things better. I asked the Council to consider hiring an engineering firm to oversee the enormous Waste Water Treatment System Project. The Council agreed and, after interviews, hired a firm. Later, after much complication, we agreed to let the company go and bring project management in-house. In retrospect, I should have pulled together our City staff team of Jurgens, Hyke, and Bell at the very beginning to oversee the project. That would have saved us a lot of time and headache. The construction bids came in higher than early estimates predicted but once construction started it was executed smoothly (it came in $7 million under bid) and the system has worked perfectly from the start. We have stopped raw sewerage overflows into our drinking water supply and improved both the White and Illinois River water quality. This investment in a much cleaner environment will last for decades.
10. We saved the hardest one for last. Say something nice about your opponent.
Lioneld Jordan: My opponent hired John Coleman as the City’s first Sustainability Director, and John did an excellent job.
Dan Coody: Lioneld is devoted to his family and he cares about the City. He works as hard as he can to do what he thinks is right. He and I may have different perspectives on what to do, how to do it, and why, but that’s life. He’s a decent guy.
I notice that Mr. Coody took the opportunity of almost every question to say something negative about Mr. Jordan. This speaks volumes about him as a candidate and a leader, and not in a good way.
Excuse, me, that should have read “Mr. Jordan or his policies”.
Agreed. If we as a city move the direction our leadership and their energy take us, I do not want to go down that negative route. Bitterness is not productive. I like the high road that Jordan takes.
…”compatible with surrounding neighborhoods”…
Mayor Jordan can’t be talking about the Sterling Frisco complex. There isn’t a single design aspect of that monstrosity that will be compatible with the surrounding neighborhood.
Mr. Coody,
I like just about everything you have to say except for the parking meters on Dickson St. I like the idea of simplifying the enforcement times, reducing the fees, working with the private lots to reduce boots and towing. I just absolutely hate the idea of adding an ugly parking meter at every single space up and down Dickson.
I hate it, too, but the kiosk system is the problem. Free parking would be great but the exploding student population and the high cost of parking on campus would swamp the streets just like what is happening in Wilson Park neighborhoods. Meters seem to be the best answer. One consolation is that there can be two heads on one pole to lessen the visual impact. If there is a better option to fix this mess, I’m all in.
Since you mention it, do you have any proposals regarding the street parking in Wilson Park neighborhoods? We try to be patient neighbors, but there are more and more houses with 5 and 6 cars per parked halfway down the block. Thanks!
So just to clarify your position, as I am having a hard time keeping track. Paid parking is not the problem, it’s only the kiosks that are the problem? and the only difference you would make is to add parking meters?
If so, what exactly is it about the kiosks that is problematic? I’ve never had a problem with them – they are simple to use and have step-by-step, on-screen instructions, AND they are solar powered. Alternatively, if you have a hard time following the instructions, pay-by-phone is an even simpler option.
To me meters are a bigger problem – i don’t always have coins with me to put into them.
Used a kiosk last night, easy and no problem.
Mr. Coody, I’m not understanding why meters are a better alternative to kiosks. Could you elaborate on the reasons why kiosks are the problem with the paid parking system?
Thank you Fayetteville Flyer for posting this article. This feature is the most helpful thing I have heard or read to help me learn more about the two candidates’ personalities and their approach to the issues in our city.
It appears as if the Lioneld Jordan campaign is placing campaign signs on the old main lawn from that first picture. Really? signs on public/state land? I guess I can throw up some advertisements on the old main lawn as well?
Nice try, Dale, but if you’ll go and look at Old Main Lawn today, you’d figure out the sign was only there for the photo.
I can’t afford to park nearby so I’ll have to take your word on it
If you can’t afford to park, then you probably can’t afford advertisements, either.
my PAC handles my advertisement associated expenses
Dear Lord in heaven, Dale Peterson… you’re hilarious!
Just don’t be stealin no signs, sir, after all the fuss you raised about people stealing YOUR yard signs…
If you actually think that the sign was a permanent fixture and not for the photo, then I think your comment is an advertisement in itself. Luckily for you, few people on here will be voting in Alabama.
Easy this ISN’T Alabama…I learned the hard way…
Sure you can! Parking is free during the day. I would be more worried about gas prices. Must be quite a drive from Alabama!
1. I would like to add a comment for both candidates that in most cities, even small ones, there are no meters for handicapped parking and NO TICKETS ARE ISSUED for cars with handicapped stickers or hangtags in ANY parking space metered or not. This is just the way we cut some slack for our neighbors for whom it is hardship enough just to get to a parking place at all. No one is a fan of parking tickets, and I do agree that is a problem that needs work. There should be some consideration for part time workers for whom it makes no sense to buy a full time hang tag and for businesses for whom deliveries are an issue. Many businesses that deliver are not able to get their deliveries to the outlying lots and must either double park, or risk a long walk with a fragile product in order to get to where the van is parked.
2.I do like the idea of parking structures being multi use.
3.I also am dismayed that there is still no Town/Gown committee and seemingly no Town/Gown connections. I would like for the School Board, the CIty and the University to be intentionally working together rather than at odds or as an afterthought.
Judith, I’m not sure if you missed the announcement earlier this week about the people appointed to the Town and Gown Advisory Committee. There is one, and it is staffed by city employees, UA students and Fayetteville citizens.
I did miss that… thank you. It’s about time! I would like to see a school board member or two on that committee too.
No handicapped parking on the streets is a problem I have heard that complaint from folks who cannot walk far or at all. It seems fair that employees have a place to park for their shift for free. This situation is overly complicated and does not accommodate for anyone very well.
Thanks for your concern, Mr. Coody. This is important to me personally. I think the ADA requires that handicapped spaces be on level spaces. The WAC lot is one of the few places on Dickson Street that can accommodate handicapped parking, as the more distant street side spaces are mostly on grades. Please let the city parking office if you have specific qualifying spaces in mind in front of businesses that should be designated. To make changes, that would be more effective than posting on the comments section here.
There’s no handicapped parking on the streets? Of course handicapped parking is hard to incorporate on streets with parallel parking, and, as FML points out, ADA guidelines limit the amount of overall slope and cross slope for handicapped parking. It would probably be a good idea to provide individually-metered or free handicapped parking in the city lots, and for the private lots to be equally accommodating.
The parking system is complicated in part because the Jordan administration responded to public outcry and modified the cost and time structure, making it more complicated while making it less expensive for many users..
Always the parking, huh? Parking on dickson at any time is a breeze compared to the nightmare on campus. As far as making changes to the system, simple always seems to be a good thing. However, I’m not sure that changing the enforcement times would be an improvement. For Dickson Street, 2 pm to 2 am is a good enforcement time. I know a lot of people who leave their car on Dickson after a night out and take a cab home, returning to get their car the next day. Making the enforcement time too early could discourage this practice. It also does not seem to make sense to make parking on Dickson free for nights and weekends if generating revenue is the objective. Business on Dickson is slow enough from eight to five – why not improve business with free parking?
Next thing, Mr. Coody has a point about finding ways to use the existing parking decks and lots. The easiest way to do that would be to make sure that every lot has sufficient lighting. I do not mind a bit of a walk as long as my route and destination are both well-lit as safety is an issue.
Wow, I have been really torn about this race until I read Mr. Jordan’s answer to #10. What a total jerk.
You’re being sarcastic, right? Coody’s responses sound petty and juvenile to every question but the last one. While Jordan hardly ever went after Coody’s record and instead stood on his own. The last question is open to interpretation, so I think Jordan just interpreted it as a policy/record question and not some venue for anything personal. I’d be more worried about the tone Coody takes throughout and how he seems to see the last question as some way to atone for his overall pettiness.
I feel like Dan simply compared and contrasted his term with Jordan’s. The comparison isn’t favorable.
Takes one to know one?
Thanks Flyer. Good information.
I don’t view Dan Coody’s answers as being condescending or petty. He states facts. The city added 700 acres of greenspace during his tenure. 12 acres in the past 4 years. The list goes on and on. Fayetteville has lost momentum relative to other parts of the metro because we downgraded our leadership.
Cities get what they deserve, though. There’s a guy with a clear, coherent vision and the intelligence and motivation to keep moving Fayetteville forward asking for the job.
I like Petty, and I like Coody. I think they both bring what Fayetteville needs to the table.
Seven hundred acres of green space, even if it was already there, is a lot. Is there a list somewhere of this new city property and the dates it was acquired?
Mr. Coody deserves a lot of credit for his leadership in developing our trails program.
He didn’t initiate the program however, we already had some multi-use trails before he was Mayor. I don’t believe he funded 129 miles of trails as is implied in his response to question #9. I wish he’d be accurate when talking about what he considers his most important achievement as Mayor.
Mayor Jordan also deserves much credit for continuing progress on trail building, as well as repairing some sections that were poorly engineered.
Dan started advocating for the trail system prior to being elected mayor the first time. I know that it took many people working hard to make the trails possible, but I personally believe he deserves a ton of credit for our trail system. The vision to bring it to fruition was mostly his, IMO.
He also positioned Fayetteville as a leader nationally in sustainability practices during his term.
I hate that this city seems fine with throwing all of that leadership ability away to assuage the Hurt Feelings Club.
The only “trails” were loops inside a couple of parks, like Gulley or Wilson. There was no trail to connect parks or anything else. The $750,000 grant issued to the City before my term was being recalled when I took office because it had sat unused for years. I talked the AHTD into giving me a chance to get the work done, they agreed and that was the beginning of our trails system. The 129 mile plan was for location of trails, not funding. The project was scheduled to be built out over a couple of decades with funding approved annually. There is no way it could have, or should, have been funded all at once.
The sewage treatment plant didn’t come in under budget! Good grief, is the former mayor counting on collective amnesia? Read, watch, and remember voters.
http://ecoarkansas.com/files/TMN082908.pdf
And there’s this: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2712878632084864981&q=&hl=en
Mr. Coody–
RE “(I can count, but I can’t stop at just 5).”
That’s the complacency of somebody who was able to depend on a good economy for success.
RE “The City should have planned for the foreseeable explosion in student population after the lottery passed in 2009.”
Even the University didn’t foresee such increases in enrollment, so I see no reason for the city to have anticipated them. Further, there are other factors besides the lottery scholarships at play: the increased numbers of students with high test scores (scholarships based on academic performance and promise), higher numbers of continuing students, and higher numbers of advanced-degree and “non-traditional” students caused by the economy. How do an overlay district and cooperative master plan address whatever unspecified problems you blame on Mr. Jordan? If nobody’s building, then nobody’s building, and it doesn’t matter where they’re not building.
RE “Obviously, the author didn’t think that four years ago when Fayetteville was showing leadership nationally.”
Did the author write a more complimentary article four years ago? Of course, that was before Crystal Bridges was built. Is it really Mr. Jordan’s fault that the wealthiest family in the United States has ties to Bentonville? Hundreds of millions of dollars buy a lot of momentum. Do you have a sugar daddy in your back pocket?
RE “improving our infrastructure, beautifying our Square”
Those were initiated by previous administrations. How do you claim these as achievements, then deride Mr. Jordan for continuing work on the trail system? (He’s done a good job of continuing it, by the way.)
RE “I worked with Marlon Blackwell and the Community Design Center to create a concept for a facility….The concept was just ahead of its time.”
And the economy, which had begun to slow down, had nothing to do with anything. It’s probably a good thing the city didn’t get locked into paying off an expensive project that likely would not have been immediately useful due to the recession. (Again: Fayetteville and the University need to develop an incubator program for food-truck cuisine. The Mexican Original plant would be a possible location for such a thing.)
RE “Initiating the Fayetteville Trails system.”
Obviously Fred Vorsanger (who is said to have laughed at the idea of a trail system) and Fred Hanna were easier acts to follow than you were. No wonder there was so much public agitation for a trail system by the time you became mayor. It is my understanding, however, that Fred Hanna actually initiated work on the downtown section of Frisco Trail.
RE “I believe that the overwhelmingly positive reaction to our trails system paved the way, so to speak, for the Razorback Greenway.”
“The Northwest Arkansas Razorback Regional Greenway is a project that has been years in the making. The concept of a regional greenway project has been a goal of regional planners, cities, and residents of northwest Arkansas for more than two decades. This vision was supported by the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission (NWARPC), which in 2000 began a long-range planning process that included regional trails as a key component. A task force formed by the NWARPC conducted public meetings and facilitated a coordinated effort among the communities of northwest Arkansas.” http://www.razorbackgreenway.com/history.html The City of Rogers has been developing its trail system since the mid-1990s, and the only real holdout until relatively recently was Springdale.
It’s a shame that your vision, expertise and overweening humanity are available to the city only when you are the mayor. Fayetteville could have benefited from your insight and guidance over the last three-and-three-quarters benighted, desolate years.
For whatever reason your comments remind me of the “missionary position”
That’s nice. For whatever reason, your comments usually remind me of the “downward-facing dog” position.
You’d never know it from your comments.
Highly accurate responses. Mayor Jordan has kept the city going and growing through some of the worst economic times our nation has ever seen. I look forward to seeing what he can do with a growing economy.
Ah, and so we remain victims of ‘sound bite’ politics.
Mr. Coody is the master of the disingenuous. Sure during the 8 years of his administration there was a lot of park acreage added. But what he doesn’t tell you is one of the first things Mr. Jordan looked at (after dealing with the ice storm disaster, anyone remember any of that?) was how was the City going to MAINTAIN those 700+ acres? Park maintenance costs continue to go up and up. Mr. Coody can brag all he wants about how many acres of parks, but remember, a good percentage of those acres are not developed and usable recreation space. Which is what most people think of when they hear the word ‘park’. But the City still has to maintain ALL those acres. The City cannot continue to add park acreage without the financial means to maintain it. Mr. Coody knows that.
As for Mr. Jordan’s environmental record:
A stream side protection ordinance. Becoming the first recognized Community Wildlife Habitat in the state. Financial support for community gardens. Strengthening building codes for energy efficiency. Finally taking care of the old R&P Electroplating site.
Mr. Jordan had to deal with the biggest natural disaster to hit Fayetteville in decades, immediately after he took office, along with an economy that had tanked. His commitment to the environment resulted in the fact that Fayetteville did NOT just pile up all the destroyed trees and brush and burn it. There wasn’t one piece of ice storm debris that was burned by the City. Not so in other NWA cities. AND almost all of the cleanup costs were reimbursed by FEMA, because of sound financial management of the cleanup effort.
And for a very specific and eye-opening example of Mr. Jordan’s commitment, watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UFP_JcfJhA&feature=share&list=PL624F1F352E6F0D61
Pay particular attention to the before and after pics.
Yes, the City added a lot of park acreage during Mr. Coody’s administration. Yes, he hired the City’s first Sustainability Director. I’m trying to remember what else. I’m sure there were other environmental things he did, but I can’t remember.
Mr. Jordan does have vision. He will be glad to share it with anyone who is willing to listen.
jmo
Mr. Coody’s environmental record was mixed as Mayor. He vetoed the Hillside Protection Ordinance and went with a much more developer-friendly plan for developing the Wilson Springs area than his citizen’s task force recommended.
On the other hand he established John Coleman’s position and, um, did some other good environmental things that I can’t remember right now. Oh yeah, trails, very good on the trails.
The Sierra Club gave him either a B or B+, not sure which.
The fire department used the Tyson building for office space for their Fire Marshals and Training divisions. They were forced out of that building due the the amount of black mold and the cost to maintain that building. It needs to be torn down and the land sold or reused by the city.
Am I correct in remembering that there is also a significant asbestos problem in that building?
I believe while sitting vacant it has been heavily vandalized and completely stripped of all copper–plumbing and electric. And the roof is bad. Many groups have considered rehabbing it but all backed away after cost analysis. It’s a tear down.
Thanks for the Nightbird Books support Lionel. Lionel has been to almost every event we’ve hosted at Nightbird. Not to campaign but to support local artists.
I think I know who’s playing the role of “Mitt Romney” in this local election.
Thanks flyer for posting this. Great information. And I sure like question number 10. Negativity is exhausting. It was a great way to end.
I like Coody’s parking/transit solutions and I like Jordan’s ideas for attracting business. Thankfully I’m outside city limits so I don’t have to choose.
No support for Dickson restaurants Mr. Mayor? Boy you just lost a lot of votes there. You should eat down there once in a while.
Brick House Kitchen had a small place in Nightbird Books for a while, and the owner of Union Kitchen also owns Theo’s, which probably counts as a Dickson Street restaurant. I’m sure Mr. Bowman appreciates the support for his new place.
I’ve heard that Tanglewood Branch brews better beer than Hog Haus does. And does any place on Dickson serve as good a breakfast as Rick’s Iron Skillet does?
Heresay.
Just to clarify, the question for each candidate was whether there have been any new restaurants added to their lists of favorites. Here are their original lists from when we first asked in 2008.
» Lioneld Jordan – “I proudly take first-time visitors to one of our many outstanding local establishments that reflect the facets of our community spirit — Hugo’s, Bordino’s, Herman’s, La Huerta, Powerhouse, Greenhouse Grill, Common Grounds, or Gaylord’s. Now, if it were an old friend back in town for the weekend, we’d have breakfast at Rick’s Iron Skillet, lunch at Brenda’s, and dinner at Mama Dean’s.”
» Dan Coody – “Favorite dish? Pa Nang Curry (#19, 4 or 5 star, extra peas) at Taste of Thai. Best coffee? Turkish (with Baklava), at Petra Cafe. Coolest design is Bordino’s, Best Post and Beam and beer is Haug Haus. Best Hole-in-the-Wall, Colombia Mex Mercado. Best Mexican Breakfast, El Camino Real.”
i love that our mayoral race is focused on which candidate is the “most” sustainable…that’s totally awesome for those of us who support sustainability initiatives in our community! my question is, who on earth will the republicans in our community vote for? former mayor coody was a great visionary in many ways but he kept us in the red with failed projects like the TIFF district and the huge cost overruns with the wastewater treatment plant., while mayor jordan kept us in the black during some intense economic setbacks… it seems to me like the republican vote belongs to mayor jordan for his ability to, literally, weather a storm and keep our city solvent by making consistently fiscally conservative decisions while also moving forward with effective, progressive public policy.
Sustainability benefits supporters of all parties, as well as those with no political opinions. Jordan and Coody choosing to focus on bike paths, sustainable/LEED certified housing developments and other green initiatives merely reflects the values of the community they serve.
Sustainability will not only benefit us in the short term, but will also benefit our children and future generations. Sustaining our environment, curbing pollution and minimizing waste should be a universal theme, not a Dem vs. Rep football.
Fact check. There was over $9 million in the bank when I left. If you think taking your tax money and hoarding it in the bank is good management, I disagree. We pay taxes to the City to have that money returned to us in goods and services. Pulling it out of the local economy, stuffing it in the bank in a recession and not putting it back out to recirculate is not good business. Letting the staff shrink randomly, not giving raises, not replacing people in the police department while our population grows and crime seems more common is not good business. initiating the crazy paid parking system in the recession that delivers a double whammy to local businesses is not good business. Spending over $10 million on a new parking garage to be paid for out of parking fees and tickets when the private sector had offered to build it for us at their expense makes no sense to me.
I made money for the taxpayers (making a $3.4 million profit from selling industrial park land, as one example) and saved money (having the 200 acres GIVEN to us from the private sector for a community park., as one example) without always dunning taxpayers for it.
Lioneld was one of the strongest supporters of the TIF.Watch the meetings, read the minutes. it’s all online. The TIF was supposed to do one thing: tear down the Mountain Inn and clean up the lot. That happened, the “failure” was the private sector fell through because of the economy. I am not running from the TIF and pretending I was opposed to it.
so on one hand you are suggesting that the private sector builds a parking garage, then you say that the failure of the TIF was with the private sector. Sounds like your are trying to have it both ways.
RE “I… saved money (having the 200 acres GIVEN to us from the private sector for a community park., as one example) without always dunning taxpayers for it.”
Did you actually get the deed for that land? There’s no gift without the deed. Didn’t the city assume liability for a toxic landfill and an obligation to build a bunch of infrastructure out that way? What would have been the net value to taxpayers? Not that it matters now.
See http://jonah-m-tebbetts.blogspot.com/2010/09/requium-for-southpass.html and http://aubreyshepherd.blogspot.com/2008/07/southpass-development-rezoning-gets.html for a glimpse of the angst caused by Southpass.
RE “The TIF was supposed to do one thing: tear down the Mountain Inn and clean up the lot.”
Apparently it was also supposed to convey the land to developers for a song, because it also did that.
RE “That happened, the ‘failure’ was the private sector fell through because of the economy.”
On the other hand, you won’t acknowledge that Mr. Jordan has done a good job despite the very economic downturn that makes people think that your own pants are down. To be fair, I will say that you– like the rest of us– seem to have lucked out on Southpass.
” when the private sector had offered to build it for us at their expense”
“200 acres GIVEN to us from the private sector ”
” the “failure” was the private sector fell through ”
And who bails out the private sector in case of “failure”? Fayetteville played its part in the recent global meltdown. Speculators offer, give, and enthuse (in exchange for official permissions and deals.) And every time the speculation bubble bursts, the rest of us pay for it in some way…. in taxes, in cuts in public services, in waste lands.
Mr. Coody, since you’ve returned to answer questions (and lecture all of us) I’d like to seize the opportunity to ask a question I addressed to you on a previous thread and Mr. Franks has also essentially posed in a far more poetic way. I think everyone would be interested to read your answer.
Here’s my version: “…There was an audible groan when you got up to take the mic at the most recent legitimate Mayor’s Town Hall meeting. If you have all of these brilliant ideas about how things could be done better, and if you really care about Fayetteville, where’ve you been for the last almost four years these meetings have been held regularly?”
That’s such a silly question, I don’t even….
The current administration built its support by being “anti-Coody”, yet have had no problem adopting Dan’s verbage and taking credit for things begun under Dan’s leadership. Dan, why don’t you show up and tell Jordan/Marr how to make things better in this city?
Does Jordan still say “takin a hallistic approach”?
Its comical…
The question is a valid and logical one and your um…response doesn’t quench my thirst for an answer, glutenfree. Nor does Mr. Coody’s avoidance.
Why is it a silly question? Mr. Coody cares about Fayetteville, laments a lack of vision, and claims to have vision, but he has not been at all generous with his vision since Mr. Jordan was elected– until recently. He might set out to blame hostility from the current administration, but it’s a hollow assertion, given the scant opportunities for the Jordan administration to show hostility to Mr. Coody or his vision. Indeed, since Mr. Jordan is continuing Mr. Coody’s vision, I see no hostility toward it at all.
Perhaps Mr. Coody has been to numerous City Council meetings, Planning Commission meetings, Town Hall meetings, and so on over the last nearly-four years. He might well have made his opinions known. It is entirely possible that I failed to catch it in the news.
I also appreciate the fact that Mr. Coody is here to address some of the questions from readers. I think this would be a good one to address.
Coody’s pants on fire. Yes, again.
http://www.lioneldjordan.com/Political_Fact_Check__2_with_References.pdf
He won’t frequent Dickson restaurants because of what he did to them and parking. The parking will eventually cost him the election. Prob don’t blame him for not dining down there. Nothing good on the street. @ Franks /The Union is just as Aweful as Theos and Brick House kiitchen is an absolute joke. Will Definetely try Tanglewood.
How much of that claimed 700 acres belongs to that “soccer park” fiasco that only resulted in the city taking ownership of a nasty former private landfill?
I can’t believe I forget to mention Tanglewood Branch as a new place I like. My bad. Sorry, Wamp!
A questions for the candidates : have you ever used illegal drugs and when was the last time you did?
Surely theres a better way to deal with paid parking than putting meters at every spot. The kiosk system is already in place on much of the downtown parking, how does it makes sense to spend money (a lot I’m assuming) to replace the kiosks when many cities, even in Arkansas, are moving to the kiosk system for paid parking? Fayetteville needs to focus on making our downtown more pleasing visually, putting meters at every spot is not the solution. What we need is more green space near or on Dickson and the square. A parking garage could replace spots lost due to building green space. Also why have neither of the candidates pledged to make College Ave./ Hwy 71 look better? New sidewalks, Trees and Street-lamps much like in the downtown area would provide a much needed facelift to one of the most traveled roads in the city. I think to much focus is put on downtown when in reality there are some very ugly parts of Fayetteville that need to be fixed ASAP.
I definitely agree. It would be nice to be able to walk from one business to the next on College without looking homeless.
College Avenue improvements are a part of Coody’s platform.
Well then maybe he should start talking about it more. All I ever see coming from Mr. Coody is how bad the parking situation is on Dickson, even though no one but him seems to see a problem there.
This is true, Coody did reply to me that he would plan to extend his beautification of College all the way North eventually. This is actually by a landslide my number 1 issue. Arkstudent’s response is dead-on. It shouldn’t look weird to walk down College.
He promised that before he was elected the first time.It took him almost two full terms to begin the section that has been done. He didn’t even manage to finish that section while in office.
What other needed projects would be shelved to attempt this miracle, and he’s going to pay for it with what pot of gold?
He will promise anything to get a vote.
If he devoted as much time and energy to this part of his platform as he does the parking situation, miracles could happen.
Most of Dan Coody’s plans for Fayetteville can be found on the Dan Coody for Mayor facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/coodyformayor or http://www.coodyformayor.com/ I’m particularly interested in the NWA Creative Center proposal by Marlon Blackwell and the UACDC on Coody’s site. http://www.coodyformayor.com/blogs/creative-center-proposal-for-the-tyson-mexican-original-property.html
The realities of a 40-mph commercial strip with driveways every fifty feet probably dictate that College Avenue will never be a tree-lined street. It might be possible if the speed limit were lowered and appropriate schemes for signage were developed.
Sidewalks on College Avenue will require a lot of cooperation among the city, the state (it’s a state highway), and numerous local, absentee and corporate property owners. A good design for College Avenue will provide ample sidewalks (probably accommodating bicycles as well), separated from the roadway. That would require concessions of parking space on most smaller properties (which will affect property values), and will require many property owners whose ugly wastelands were grandfathered in with the advent of more enlightened design standards to voluntarily upgrade their street frontage. Given these requirements, a good design is not particularly likely. A great design would additionally attempt to reduce the number of curb cuts by consolidating driveway access among separate properties, so a great design is probably not possible.
How does the speed limit prohibit a street having trees?
There’s already a section of College Avenue that has been rebuilt from Maple to Rock. Its a fairly good design, given the pre-existing conditions.
RE “How does the speed limit prohibit a street having trees?”
Among the criteria used for the determination of a speed limit is the length of time that a driver has to see his destination, cross traffic, entering and departing traffic, and pedestrians. In the case of College Avenue, trees would hide the businesses and signage on either side and make driveways more dangerous by constraining the view for all concerned.
RE “There’s already a section of College Avenue that has been rebuilt from Maple to Rock.”
The speed limit drops from 35 to 25 miles per hour along that stretch, and the trees on the sides of the street and in the median help to calm traffic by making it a little harder to see very far. There are somewhat fewer driveways than are found farther north, which makes it possible to have a planted median. That said, I rather like that section and I am eager to see how it looks as the trees mature.
Well, yes, but crossing it on foot is a nightmare. Surely we can do better, like with a crosswalk coordinated with the sidewalk & light from the VA into Evelyn Hills. That would be a good start.
David, it is not legal to ride bicycles on the sidewalk.
It will be surprising if the trees in the median live with so little root system available for nutrients.
Glutenfree, isn’t everything part of your platform?
If the sidewalks are wide enough to be shared as designated bike paths, it’s legal. I believe the city was looking at putting in such a shared sidewalk on West Center Street. It’s not ideal, but it’s probably the best way to make College Avenue a viable north-south route for bicyclists.
I am not running for office. Dan Coody has a plan for College Avenue. He implemented parts of that vision last time.
The problem with supporting a guy that can be controlled by a little clique of malcontents is that he doesn’t usually bring a lot of vision or smarts to the table. That’s the trade-off you make.
There is vision, and then there is making promises that can’t be kept without favor to a few while stepping on the majority and then not taking responsibility for those actions. How soon we forget…
Oh, you mean like forging ahead with a long-term bond issue for a parking structure for the benefit of the WAC?
This is an interesting discussion. Rehabbing College Ave is the biggest design challenge Fayetteville faces.
The section that Dan Coody got completed is a good start. It took a lot of work with the highway department to get anything at all approved and you can tell it required a lot of compromising. There are still too many curb cuts and in one section the trees/lamps are placed incorrectly (near the property line instead of near the curb). While any sidewalk is vastly superior to current conditions on College, we shouldn’t assume that replicating that project is going to be a silver bullet for College rehabilitation.
I’ve thought a lot about this challenge and I am increasingly convinced that it will be necessary to bring this street under full city control. It’s so important that I’d take it for free from the Highway Department, but they should really pay us a portion of the maintenance costs since we would be absolving them of that responsibility. If the City had control of the street we could talk about powerful interventions like a streetcar system (http://uacdc.uark.edu/project.php?project=57) or a “multiway” boulevard (http://bettercities.net/news-opinion/blogs/geoff-dyer/18260/subtle-differences-between-strip-mall-and-multi-way-boulevard).
That’s the kind of thinking I appreciate, Matt. Perhaps even if the city took control of College Avenue section by section over time, good policies could be implemented. College Avenue is in that awkward, in-between stage, not really a thoroughfare wholly for thoroughfare businesses only, and not really urban or walkable yet. It is a mix.
The focus shouldn’t only be on aesthetics, but also on creating an environment suitable for a wider variety of activities and businesses.
A streetcar would be great.
Good ideas! A streetcar or trolly from the square to the mall would be great, and Dan presented a good plan for one designed by the UA Community Design Center at the Save Dickson Street meeting he organized last spring. I could get behind that.
This is exactly the kind of thinking that has me convinced Fayetteville needs to keep Matthew Petty around as long as possible.
Why trees and trollies for College rather than MLK? I understand problems of getting either accomplished. Wondering how the choice would be made. There’s already a start on College. But MLK as main artery is newer and businesses are still being added, lots being created, so it might be easier to adjust.
@why – That’s a great question. Most people forget that West MLK doesn’t have sidewalks, too. I don’t think MLK should be excluded from conversations like this, at all. I think College inspires more discussion because rehabbing College is more challenging than rehabbing MLK. MLK is shorter in length and has more redevelopment (where private or institutional investment can be more readily leveraged for these kinds of improvements). Plus, in the sections where MLK could really use some work, the right of way is always wide with lots of room to work and there is plenty of overbuilt parking next to the arterial to utilize in the design. College, as a rule, is much more fragmented by smaller, disjointed properties and parking lots.
The new high school is fabulous, but we missed a big opportunity to transform MLK with its development. I wish the building had been closer to the street with the parking placed on the interior and with much wider sidewalks. I wasn’t involved in making those decisions though, so I can only make this statement in the abstract context of street design. I’m sure the school board had good reasons for choosing the building placement that they did.
Um, Mr. Petty…you don’t recall that Coody did not manage to complete that section? You were on the council then.
@FYI – Yes, I recall very well that it was built during the last four years. My comments are only about the project from a design perspective and considerations which should be taken into account when discussing rehabbing the rest of College.
Mr. Petty, so you are saying that Mr. Coody–not staff, not council, not street committee, not concerned and involved citizens–single-handedly conceived of and designed that section? And are you attributing all credit for the idea that College needed work to Mr. Coody alone? I would be amazed if he were responsible for the seed of this concept while still living in Texas and I know it was widely talked about here in Fayetteville 40 years ago, and probably before that. So do you believe the current administration deserves any morsel of credit for actually completing the job?
@FYI – No, I’m not saying those things. I made a comment on the technical aspects of those improvements in the context of improving the rest of College.
Why are you trying to pull me into your personal narrative of the mayoral race?
It’s exactly this kind of “gotcha” partisanship that turns so many people off about local politics. Both offline and online conversation is full of it in Fayetteville right now. I get how political fervor can affect our senses of identity, but trivializing each other like this fractures our community in ways that go deeper than politics and are difficult to repair. It’s an “us vs them” mentality and there shouldn’t be any “us vs them” in Fayetteville.
I respect that observation, and agree that sensitivities and emotions run high and hot during election seasons. However, since you have made a public committment to remain objective in the mayoral race I would hope you might take those heightened sensitivities into account before posting a statement such as “The section that Dan Coody got completed…” without the added qualifiers. Particularly in your position.
You cannot be held responsible for not knowing that these things have been discussed since before you were born. But the statement as posted did not ring true to the reality about the completion of the project you acknowledge. Better?
@FYI – Ah, I see. I meant to say “got started.”
Mr. Coody – Can you elaborate on which of the city staff members or council members that are supporting you? From the sounds you are making I wouldn’t suspect many business owners in the area would support Jordan, but I’m not seeing it or hearing it. For a long time the concern was over Jose’s (when Neal Crawford owned it), there is not a parking issue for Jose’s anymore, I think it was a food and service issue. Who have you garnered endorsements from at this point ?
Also, do you agree that private business owners should be able to do what they want with their property? For example, the owner of Dickson Street book store charges people to park in this lot, does he not have a right to do that?
At what point does the tax payer have to absorb the costs of parking for private business ? The folks on the north side of town have their own parking lots and they pay for them.
Do you support paid parking or not, in some shape or form? Simple yes or no answer.
Mayor Jordan did excellent at the debate tonight!
Hopefully Coody can keep his cool tonight after last night, wow that was shameful. I heard a rumor that some pictures are being circulated involving one candidate in an awkward position. How will he handle that?
So, the 57% who voted Lioneld in are “a little clique of malcontents” ? Sounds eerily close to Romney’s infamous 47%, but insulting to 10% more people. Good strategy for the Coody camp.
No, the little clique of malcontents are you and the others who were so furious at Dan Coody (for whatever reason) that you failed to see his leadership ability and what he brought to Fayetteville, and so created a mountain out of molehills.
Jordan says Fayetteville is more business-friendly than it was four years ago. I don’t really agree with that. If that means that lower-quality commercial developments are passed easier, then, yes, I agree with that. If that means that we are content to strip-mall the outlying areas of the city, I agree with that.
Do you prefer a non-descript WAC parking garage to a mixed-use garage with new retail and public space? If so, why? Explain it to me.
Do you prefer a College Avenue that stays the way it is today versus planning to improve it over time? If so, why?
All I hear from Jordanites is how awful and arrogant Dan Coody supposedly is/was. It all sounds personal to me. What I don’t see or hear is how Jordan has moved Fayetteville forward.
Lets have a press conference every time we build a roundabout, even though they’ve been built in Rogers for several years, with no fanfare.
Or, we could have a mayor with actual plans and initiatives on how to improve Fayetteville across the board.
Cities get the leadership they deserve.
We could call press conferences to announce that we were removing bottled water from city vending machines and leaving sugar sodas in them, or we cold announce that we were recruiting a bottled water corporation from Iceland to use the Mexican Original building in shared space with police and artists. There are many possibilities, so why stop with these?
For me it all comes down to the first time I met both of these men.
I’m a very active person in this community, have done a lot of really interesting things here and and helped put together some awesome things that Fayetteville residents have enjoyed and currently enjoy. However, I don’t always plaster my name all over my work, nor do I look like a traditional mover and shaker.
The first time I met Dan Coody was while he was still mayor and he had absolutely no interest in making my acquaintance and was very standoffish and, quite frankly, snobby.
The first time I met Major Jordan was also after he had been in office for a little while. When we met, he was friendly, pleasant and generally approachable with an interest in what the people in his community have to say.
Neither of these men knew who I was, nor did I fill them in on the things that I do. I like to get a better feel for people that way. I find that Jordan has a stronger sense of community and a sense of that while he is our mayor, he is also a resident just like anyone else.
I have met both men. I can’t say that either knows me personally. My impression of both isn’t all that different. I can understand how some view Dan as arrogant, but I interpreted him more as being a motivated, intelligent person with a quick wit. Lioneld is friendly and engaging. I’ll give him that.
It seems pretty safe to say that the vote for a lot of people honestly comes down to Coody being called arrogant or whatever and Jordan being a people-pleaser. I couldn’t care less which guy is nicer to me. I couldn’t care less what the unions think. I want Fayetteville to look nicer, be more pedestrian friendly, and less car dependent for stupid 3 mile drives out to the sprawl, and that is pretty much it. I don’t need the mayor to be nice to me while he gets it done.
Coody temper, negativity, superiority complex, and whiny defensiveness 101. Were you there last night (or did you just buy the spin) and did your guy make you proud?
Lioneld cited and can cite more factual numbers proving his assertions. He gave the numbers of new jobs and businesses that have opened in his first term, since you asked.
He can list collaborative accomplishments from his first term until the world looks level. Stark difference is that he doesn’t claim all of the credit for everything that turned out well.
Y’all keep slamming a parking garage that hasn’t been sited yet, much less designed.
Fantasies are all well and good, but the entirety of College Avenue being redone into disneyland would cost a fortune and take forever. The rest of the city infrastructure would be crumbling from neglect.
Press conferences? You must have slept through the era of Government Channel being all Coody, all the time. Who keeps holding press conferences touting much ado about nothing during this campaign? Mr. Coody.
Explain to me, if you will, Mr. Coody’s dismissal of the challenges that the economic circumstances worldwide have posed to Fayetteville. His total lack of recognition of the extra added strain that the ice storm threw at Lioneld and city staff. His denial of the role of mayor in proposing the city’s annual budget to the council and administering it throughout the year. Understandably he doesn’t want to own his irresponsible management. Or maybe he just can’t some out of that lofty visionary cloud to deal with such realities as budgets.
You really want to talk about personal attacks? Defend the phone poll implying that Lioneld wasn’t sophisticated enough to represent Fayetteville. Defend the relentless picking at his accent–which,by the way, is at least a local one, unlike Coody’s Texan one.
I know you have dismissed this question as “silly”, but where in the heck have he and his superior vision and innovative ideas been for the last four years? If he knows so much more than anyone else and gives even the slightest care about the greater good, why was he hiding that blindingly bright light under a bushel instead of saving us from ourselves?
Because it’s all about him. He makes it personal, not Lioneld’s supporters. I understand that it has to hurt to learn so late in life that the world doesn’t revolve around you, but the truth does sometimes sting. Losing an election as an incumbent by such a resounding margin is humiliating and should be humbling. That humility is invisible to the observer.
Fayetteville is doing just fine without his overbearing presence, thank you very much. Fayetteville is a wonderful place to live, and we have a leader who displays his appreciation for that and his determination to keep improving life for every citizen every day. We do have the leader we deserve, and his name is Lioneld Jordan.
Glutenfree, I would ask if the cat got your tongue or sat on your keyboard but I see you have posted many responses since I posted this. Care to respond to anything here?
Why does no one from Coody’s camp have an answer to that “silly” question? I would prefer to hear Mr. or Mrs. Coody’s response, but since you are acting as one of their most vocal surrogates here, you can fill in until they deign to answer. In case you’ve forgotten, “…where in the heck have he and his superior vision and innovative ideas been for the last four years? If he knows so much more than anyone else and gives even the slightest care about the greater good, why was he hiding that blindingly bright light under a bushel instead of saving us from ourselves?”
How about explaining why your guy didn’t even bother to vote on the Transit issue?
well, having spent an hour reading the comments here, it seems pretty simple to me.
We have Mr. Coody, former mayor who initiated a big vision for the future of the city, but then failed to follow the advice of some of the players who decided they needed a mayor who was less of a leader and easier to manipulate.
SO… Mr. Jordan who is a very nice man, a former facilities manager for the U of A and obviously a resident of our city is recruited to run. Yes, he certainly is a nice , friendly guy. No argument there. He got a couple of very smart guys (Don Marr and Steve Smith, for sure) to do the heavy lifting and we have skated along for the last four years. No pain, no gain.
But, I want (and fortunately have) “nice and friendly” for my next door neighbor. I want smart, focused, and visionary for my mayor. I want to not see another four years of status quo argument over parking, but another 20 year plan and a mayor who personally is committed to putting Fayetteville back on the map as an exceptional place to live. I am not willing to settle for second best, unless there is no other choice.
I will vote to bring Dan back.
Stated far more eloquently than I could have done. We need smart leadership that is pro-active and ahead of the curve with new ideas. Rogers is announcing a big new private recycling center tomorrow with new jobs for the city. What are we doing? Where are we going?
Do we have leadership that is out actively seeking to improve Fayetteville, or do we have leadership that is sitting around listening for complaints before acting?
id like to just say that im am upsset with the fact beebe just banned dogs from the city park for four years ive been taking my dogs to the park four years ive been paying city taxes that im sure funds the park right along with every other tax payer with dogs where else do they have a place take pets to run and play? nowhere im fed up with this town and i want to know a good reason!! why not banned registered sex offenders that live near schools and parks!! (” no lets just banned animals from the park that the city residents pays for but we get to make the rules”)
Sing it, sister!
LOL