Back in December, Tom Reilley, the man behind Pine Bluff's $229 million Highland Pellets plant, spoke at a graduation ceremony for Southeast Arkansas College.
Reilley and his efforts to transform Pine Bluff are the focus of a story on the cover of this section. He talked at the graduation ceremony about how he had come to love the city and its people during the months it took to get the wood pellets plant up and running.
"I learned that this plant was more important to many people than it was to me," Reilley said that evening. "Almost 1,000 indirect jobs will come from cutting and hauling 1.4 million tons of pine pulpwood. I had caring emails and letters asking for jobs. I was in awe of what this could mean. . . . Something special happens when you lose yourself. You get out of the greed, get out of the vanity, get out of the false promise and you focus on what's real. I promise you there were some moments between permitting and contracting time when I feared that things would not work out. I fought like I've never fought before so the other side knew this was not just about a contract or a permit. This was about lives.
"We won. We got it done, but only because of the strength and fellowship that this community gave me. It has been the most impactful thing I've ever done, and I've learned so much. I have you to thank for your gift and your grace. I'll forever be in your debt."
Reilley's efforts go beyond the plant. His Pine Bluff Rising organization is working to reopen the Hotel Pines and soon will begin other developments downtown. His timing is good because there are additional initiatives coming together that could lead to an economic rebirth in Pine Bluff.
For the first time in my life, I can make this statement with a straight face: I'm bullish on Pine Bluff. Arkansans who have spent years making jokes about a place they called Crime Bluff likely don't realize that reported crime has dropped in seven of the past eight months when compared to the previous year. They also don't realize that tens of millions of public and private dollars are being raised for future developments.
Current efforts include:
• The Go Forward Pine Bluff initiative. In June, a sales tax increase passed by more than a 2-to-1 margin. Proceeds from the five-eighths-of-a-cent sales tax will produce about $4 million annually for the next seven years. Go Forward Pine Bluff officials hope to raise another $20 million in private funds (Pine Bluff-based Simmons First National Corp. is expected to be a major supporter of the effort). That will give the city almost $48 million to implement Go Forward Pine Bluff recommendations. During 2016, dozens of Pine Bluff residents participated in a planning process funded by the Simmons First Foundation. Earlier this year, a 27-point plan for city revitalization was unveiled.
Tommy May of the Simmons First Foundation and Mary Pringos and Carla Martin of Go Forward Pine Bluff wrote in the introduction to the revitalization plan: "Our community has been the talk of Arkansas, and the conversation is not flattering. The media have used words and phrases to describe Pine Bluff such as 'war zone,' 'a town full of crumbling buildings,' 'the worst place in America to live' and 'identifying towns or cities facing years of neglect, despair and desolation as the Pine Bluff syndrome.' . . . It's time to put up or shut up. We truly believe that change is not only essential; we believe it is our last real chance to turn things around and to begin recovering from two decades or more of a downward spiral."
• A new library. In November of last year, Jefferson County voters approved a three-mill property tax increase to construct a library in downtown Pine Bluff while also improving existing facilities at White Hall, Altheimer, Redfield and the Watson Chapel neighborhood of Pine Bluff. It's hoped that a new downtown library will be the same kind of catalyst for development that the Central Arkansas Library System's main branch was for the River Market District in Little Rock. Last month, the Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Library Board of Trustees voted to hire the Little Rock architectural firm Polk Stanley Wilcox to design the building. Polk Stanley Wilcox has done extensive work for CALS. Taylor Eubank, the interim library director, said: "We've got a chance for the Pine Bluff library to be transformative architecture."
• A $6.5 million aquatics center near the city's civic complex. Pine Bluff voters approved a bond issue and a five-eighths-of-a-cent sales tax for the aquatics center and other projects in a February 2011 special election. Reilley is hopeful that the next step in the neighborhood after completion of the aquatics center will be a renovation of the Pine Bluff Convention Center and the hotel adjacent to it.
• Construction of a walking trail around Lake Saracen along with a playground along the lake's shores that will be accessible for children with disabilities. Joy Blankenship, executive director of Pine Bluff Downtown Development Inc., said: "All of the trail funding has come from federal highway grants. Students from UAPB, retirees, families wanting to have a healthy lifestyle and downtown employees walk or bike the trail for exercise and for the beauty of the lake." Blankenship's organization also restored two downtown murals this year. A $4.5 million downtown beautification plan is expected to be completed in early 2019.
Last month the Pine Bluff City Council voted to re-activate a long-dormant urban renewal agency with the power of eminent domain and the ability to issue bonds. Pine Bluff first created an urban renewal agency in 1961 and disbanded it almost a decade later. The reactivated agency is expected to play a key role in the revitalization of downtown Pine Bluff. Should all of the above efforts come to fruition, I have no doubt that the rebirth of Pine Bluff will be considered one of the great Arkansas success stories of the next decade.
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Rex Nelson is a senior editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Editorial on 10/08/2017