FAYETTEVILLE — Getting Lioneld Jordan’s economic development team sitting around one table would require a pretty sizable room. It’s a crowd that would include the usual chamber of commerce folks, but also artists, environmentalists, historians and other Fayetteville residents.
“The tricky part is you put all those diverse groups together, and then have them all work toward one goal,” Jordan said Friday morning from his office in City Hall. “Everybody has got to be part of the team.”
Six months ago Jordan formed the Fayetteville Forward Economic Accountability Council, an advisory group established after the Fayetteville Forward Economic Development Summit.
The four-day economic strategybuilding work session attracted nearly 500 people to “dream,” discuss and envision the sort of community they wanted in Fayetteville. Thirty-eight ideas and projects rose to the top. The Fayetteville City Council prioritized the projects, giving 18 of them special priority.
Those 18 included eff orts such as having the city contract with an outside organization to develop a business-prospecting plan. The Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce received the contract in September and established a special department to lead the project.
“We’ve completed fi ve of the 18 (projects),” Jordan said. In a down economy, some of those 18 projects will be dift cult, he added.
Fayetteville Forward concluded the city needs a $5 million nest egg for economic development. The money could be used to finance an incentive package to lure business. However, going into 2010, the city is facing a $1.1 million deficit in its operational budget. The $5 million “quick-action closing fund” will not happen this year, city off cials said.
“We’re as far as we can get without having a lot of money,” Jordan said, remarking on the progress Fayetteville Forward has made.
In the meantime, hundreds of volunteers have assembled into 11 groups in areas such as transportation, economic incentives and job growth or the creative economy.
Some like Orlo Stitt, owner of Stitt Energy Systems, are not from Fayetteville. He’s from Rogers but is a regular participant in the Fayetteville Forward Green Economy Group. Members are charged with aiding the growth of so-called greencollar jobs in the area.
Recently, the group met with the Office of Human Concern in Rogers to see how they could help spread the word in Fayetteville about a weatherization program available to residents of Washington, Benton, Carroll and Madison counties.
The Fayetteville Forward Creative Economy Group is plowing forward with a public mural project and an “art walk,” which would produce a map outlining the locations of local galleries or public art.
“The biggest challenge is starting small so that we can complete these fi rst projects and have some successes under our belt,” said Sonia Davis Gutierrez, who heads up the creative economy group. “I would classify both the map and the mural as short-term projects with long-term aspects.”
What may be one of the most visible marks of Fayetteville Forward are the popular First Thursday events every month on the downtown square. The gallery and shop openings are intended to generate business, as well as a venue for free entertainment.
Not all of the Fayetteville Forward groups are harnessing projects in their fi rst six months. Some groups, like transportation or the green infrastructure groups, are more long-term in nature.
“Right now we’re at our infancy, and we may not know what we’re doing,” said Larry Driver, who heads up the Transportation Group. “But we’re finding our way.”
“My personal belief is to have projects that ultimately change behavior,” said Driver, a retired elementary school teacher who thinks about transportation issues as long-range planning considerations.
The Fayetteville Forward Green Infrastructure Group is also involved in the sort of big-picture planning that cannot be done quickly. But already, a “low-impact development ordinance” is being studied by the Fayetteville planning staff. Fran Alexander, who chairs the green infrastructure group, wants to begin recruiting expertise in geology, hydrology and other areas of natural science. There is much work to do, she says.
“Our policy types are researching or writing,” Alexander said. “We need more volunteers to research the materials we are fi nding on economic benefits — and costs — of green infrastructure planning.
“Yes, it’s huge,” Alexander said of the projects her group is taking on. “But like eating an elephant, we are taking it one bite at a time and trying to combine some bites that can be taken at the same time.”
Given the nature of group dynamics, keeping momentum over a time can be a challenge.
“I think momentum and side-trackedness is always a problem, no matter the size of a group,” Alexander said. “We are now down to a core.”
No one is saying the work of Fayetteville Forward groups is easy or for naught.
“This is a grand experiment by the mayor and who knows if they’ll show up,” Driver said of Jordan’s mission to have residents play a direct role in building their community. “He doesn’t want just talk. He says he wants action.”
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