Votes in for North Little Rock plaza name

Online voters agreed that Argenta Plaza is the most obvious name for a planned public space in North Little Rock's downtown Argenta district.

A public vote that ended at noon Tuesday to choose from among six finalists gave 251 nods to the Argenta Plaza name, or 41 percent of the total 613 votes.

The plaza, according to a conceptual design announced in September, is to contain jetted fountains, a free-standing water wall and oxbow-shaped berms. Construction on the $4 million plaza on city property along Main Street between Fifth and Sixth streets is expected to start in April.

Mayor Joe Smith said Tuesday afternoon that he expects to recommend his choice for the name in a letter to the City Council at its next meeting Monday evening. The online vote wasn't to be the deciding factor, but Smith said the Argenta Plaza name makes "perfectly good sense."

For marketing purposes, Smith has said, his preference would be to have Argenta in the name. North Little Rock was called Argenta from 1906-17, and its downtown contains the long-established Argenta Historic District. Downtown is commonly called Argenta or referred to as the Argenta Entertainment District or the Argenta Arts District.

"There are so many people who refer to our city as Argenta, and everybody refers to our downtown entertainment district as the Argenta Entertainment District," Smith said. "It makes sense to use that. The [plaza's] location is immediately identified in the name."

A Jan. 13, 2014, City Council resolution for an initial design contract referred to the 0.66-acre site as "Argenta Plaza" six times, and the contract approved for Thomas Engineering of North Little Rock to do the design mentioned Argenta Plaza three times and "the plaza" six more times.

Such references could have well influenced the public's suggested names. Among 108 suggestions in the naming contest held last fall, 29 used some derivation of Argenta and 56 included "plaza." A committee of six narrowed the field to 19 names, then to six finalists.

"Of course, I didn't steer, or I didn't mean to steer, the voters that way, but we've called it that way for the last few years just for the lack of a permanent name," Smith said of the Argenta Plaza label. "I think it makes perfectly good sense."

Runners-up, with total votes, were: Argenta Square, 149 votes; Argenta Commons, 78; Silver Dog Crossing, 63; Main Street Plaza, 50; and, North Little Rock's Argenta Plaza, 22.

Argenta Square, if chosen as the plaza name, could have created confusion, because that is also the name of an apartment complex at 617 Maple St., just a block over from Main Street.

Receiving 613 votes in the contest, which lasted one week, was "much more public input" than hoped for, city Communications Director Nathan Hamilton said.

"It really shows the public is interested in this new downtown space," Hamilton said.

Smith said he was expecting "a couple hundred max."

"I was pleased that people are proud enough to spend a little bit of time to participate in our upcoming project, and I admire their selection," he said.

Metro on 02/21/2018

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