No link available to D-G coverage, but the City Board made quick work of the Curran Hall controversy last night thanks to Skip Rutherford, dean of the Clinton School of Public Service. Rutherford withdrew an offer to lease the building for classroom space. Too much controversy had been engendered by those who’d worked to restore the historic home. They want it used as a Little Rock visitors center and nothing else, not a classroom building with a visitors’ kiosk.

It was a bungled deal from start to finish.

Advertisement

If the city really needed a visitor center, budget it and stick with it. If it didn’t, don’t.

If the visitor center isn’t working, don’t work out a secret deal to change its use, particularly not with someone, Rutherford, who’s done a lot of work with the city agency — Advertising and Promotion Commission. And, please A&P, how about observing bid laws?

Advertisement

Then, if you still screw everything up, let the public speak. Unlike the City Board did last night, when it refused to hear from critics of the Curran Hall plan.

Fat lot of good the protest did. The visitor center proponents seem likely to win a closed Curran Hall, or an obligation they must figure out how to fund. That’ll teach ’em.

Advertisement

And still, city officials wonder why city government has a bad rep.

 

Advertisement

Arkansas Times: Your voice in the fight

Are you tired of watered-down news and biased reporting? The Arkansas Times has been fighting for truth and justice for 50 years. As an alternative newspaper in Little Rock, we are tough, determined, and unafraid to take on powerful forces. With over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts, we are making a difference. But we can't do it without you. Join the 3,400 paid subscribers who support our great journalism and help us hire more writers. Sign up for a subscription today or make a donation of as little as $1 and help keep the Arkansas Times feisty for years to come.

Previous article It’s all bad Next article Minimum wage flip-flop