Conference Gives Area Leaders A Chance to Dream

— Businessmen, educators, city and state officials gathered Friday at the John Q. Hammons Center to look into the future.

A Leaders Conference, hosted by the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce, gave attendees the opportunity to establish a “vision” for Rogers and Lowell for the next five years.

Officials began leading a visioning process in 1989, according to chamber representatives. The process has helped define almost every major initiative in Rogers and Lowell, including the 2011 bond issue in Rogers and the extension of the 1 percent sales tax in Lowell, revenue from which is used primarily for community improvements.

“We have the opportunity to create a kind of San Francisco along the I-540 corridor.” — Cindy Allgood, Rogers businesswoman

Friday’s session reviewed the goals set in the Vision 2025 report, and information gathered will be used to make adjustments as needed.

Transportation needs, new and improved roads, education, parks, trails and the role those factors play in job creation and growth for the area were among the topics discussed during the six-hour session.

Mike Harvey with the Northwest Arkansas Council, Rogers Mayor Greg Hines and Lowell Mayor Eldon Long led a discussion on job creation.

Group members agreed more jobs are needed for blue- and white-collar workers because it takes more than one skill to improve a community.

The quality of education, real estate, utilities and the quality of life are important elements attracting new people and industry to the area, Harvey said.

“Schools need to teach students to read, write and do arithmetic, we all know that. Schools should also teach comprehension, how to grasp new ideas. We don’t need to teach a high school student how to operate a single machine, we need to teach him or her how to comprehend the situation and learn how to accomplish a task,” Harvey said.

Hines said more needs to be done.

“We have way too many children on the free and reduced lunch program. That’s not just a school problem, that’s the city’s problem, the chamber’s problem and a business problem,” Hines said.

“It going to be hard for us to attract new people and industry if we allow this to continue. This is a problem we in this room probably never see, but we need to address it. It’s going to take every element of our city to improve the job situation so people can make a decent living,” Hines said.

Attendees also had a spirited discussion on the quality of life in Northwest Arkansas.

Paul Olinger, a local businessman, said he knows people who moved here with one company or another to serve Walmart.

“People may have been reluctant to come to Arkansas, but once they got here they discovered they loved living here. I know people who, when their time was up and they had to move for the next promotion, they quit rather than move,” Olinger said.

Harvey said he tells people considering a move to Arkansas they will “upgrade” their lives if they move to Northwest Arkansas.

Several group members said Northwest Arkansas has changed dramatically over the past 15 to 20 years. There is still a feeling of small town life, but there is also a cosmopolitan feeling because of the restaurants, entertainment and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

“We have the opportunity to create a kind of San Francisco along the I-540 corridor. There’s the college and entertainment in Fayetteville, shopping in Rogers, baseball in Springdale and the museum in Bentonville. As we continue to grow, we can add to the amenities we’ve begun to attract,” said Cindy Allgood, a businesswoman.

“We have the opportunity to think big,” Hines said.

“We need to think beyond the next year or even the next five years. We need to determine how we can not just make our area better today, but for our grandchildren. We want our children to be able to stay here, work here and build here. That’s the future we must plan,” Hines said.

Upcoming Events