Fayetteville, Arkansas

[cocothief]

Somebody should tell ANB that NWA is recession proof.

Make the majority of your loans to people and entities in the high-risk category, and NOWHERE is recession proof.

The NWA economy (and up to this point, the national economy) is not in a recession.

ANB's business practices REQUIRED a booming economy in order remain solvent. They screwed themselves trying to grow their market share too fast.

[Mith242]

Yeah while it wasn't heard of a lot, people went out of business even when things were booming here in the metro. Sometimes bad decisions are just bad decisions no matter how well the economy is doing.

In other news, the city is looking into possibly replacing it's street lights over to LED. I don't understand quite how this works but apparently it sounds like SWEPCO somehow has a say in it. They have seemed a bit hesitant about it. I guess they've got a deal with Fayetteville and they're responsible for our streetlights. SWEPCO says they aren't totally sold on how well the LED lights would perform. While a number of cities have switched over the stoplights over to LED not a lot of places have switched their street lights over. I'm wondering if SWEPCO has any justification in questioning it or if they just don't want to go to the trouble or expense of switching them over.

In some other Fayetteville news looks like the widening of Garland from North to Melmar is just in the very earliest stages. Sounds like they're just going to be looking into environmental and historical surveys before anything else takes place. It's sounding to me like no actual construction will probably take place till next year.

[jdevers]

In other news, the city is looking into possibly replacing it's street lights over to LED. I don't understand quite how this works but apparently it sounds like SWEPCO somehow has a say in it. They have seemed a bit hesitant about it. I guess they've got a deal with Fayetteville and they're responsible for our streetlights. SWEPCO says they aren't totally sold on how well the LED lights would perform. While a number of cities have switched over the stoplights over to LED not a lot of places have switched their street lights over. I'm wondering if SWEPCO has any justification in questioning it or if they just don't want to go to the trouble or expense of switching them over. next year.

The LED streetlight problem is at least partly a technical one. Stoplights are three colors of light which are easy to make LEDs for, green and red LEDs have a very mature tech and are very cheap and reliable. Yellow isn't much worse and to make matters better is that yellow is the color our eyes are most sensitive to so if a few of the LEDs burn out no big deal. To make white light from an LED though requires blue LEDs in addition to red and green and blue is a much harder LED to make, it costs more and burns out faster. Also, with a tricolor light to make white you have to replace the whole thing when more than a few of a particular color (in this case mostly blue) burn out. So you end up with a light that is more efficient power wise, but doesn't last nearly as long as one would think with LEDs. Probably a better idea to wait a few years on this one.

[Mith242]

The LED streetlight problem is at least partly a technical one. Stoplights are three colors of light which are easy to make LEDs for, green and red LEDs have a very mature tech and are very cheap and reliable. Yellow isn't much worse and to make matters better is that yellow is the color our eyes are most sensitive to so if a few of the LEDs burn out no big deal. To make white light from an LED though requires blue LEDs in addition to red and green and blue is a much harder LED to make, it costs more and burns out faster. Also, with a tricolor light to make white you have to replace the whole thing when more than a few of a particular color (in this case mostly blue) burn out. So you end up with a light that is more efficient power wise, but doesn't last nearly as long as one would think with LEDs. Probably a better idea to wait a few years on this one.

Thanks for the lesson on LED lights. I've had LED flashlights for a while and they seem to work well. But I admit streetlights are certainly more than a flashlight.

[Mith242]

Apparently another road project that might get started in the next year or two will be around the university. They plan to widen Razorback from 6th to Maple, then Maple from Razorback to Garland. I am curious though how a bigger wider road will make it harder for students to cross the street. Just seems like crosswalks on a 4 or 5 lane road don't tend to work very well.

[zman9810]

Apparently another road project that might get started in the next year or two will be around the university. They plan to widen Razorback from 6th to Maple, then Maple from Razorback to Garland. I am curious though how a bigger wider road will make it harder for students to cross the street. Just seems like crosswalks on a 4 or 5 lane road don't tend to work very well.

If I remember right, the state offered to widen that stretch through campus a few years ago and the university didn't take them up on it. I thought at the time it had something to do with losing some parking spaces in the lot directly west of the stadium. There are some high dollar donors and VIP's that park there and I don't think the school wanted to tell them they would lose their prime spots.

Seems like widening that stretch would also encourage more through traffic to use it and I know the school doesn't want that.

[CentralArkansas]

If I remember right, the state offered to widen that stretch through campus a few years ago and the university didn't take them up on it. I thought at the time it had something to do with losing some parking spaces in the lot directly west of the stadium. There are some high dollar donors and VIP's that park there and I don't think the school wanted to tell them they would lose their prime spots.

Seems like widening that stretch would also encourage more through traffic to use it and I know the school doesn't want that.

If there were many alternative routes, I think it might be a concern. But, if you are on 6th and want to get over towards the other side of campus, it's either down razorback or through the heart of campus. It may actually decrease through traffic on Duncan and the other roads behing Fayetteville High. Besides, it's on the edge of campus so I really don't think it's a big concern.

I just hope it is done with taste and maybe a nice median to divide the street. That is the first street 90% of visitors drive down when the come to campus, and it needs to make a good impression.

[Mith242]

Yeah I don't think the university is very happy about widening the road. But when it comes down to it technically I believe it's considered a State Highway and the state gets a say in what happens to it. I think the university wanted them to look for other options, but there's no easy fix to try to widen other roads not going through the university there. Widening Razorback will probably greatly help traffic for football games. But I"m still wondering what they're going to do with students crossing. Seems like students cross Razorback and Maple a lot when I'm driving through there. When they widened Garland inside the university they made it a boulevard. I'm wondering if they might do something along those lines.

[cocothief]

Yeah I don't think the university is very happy about widening the road. But when it comes down to it technically I believe it's considered a State Highway and the state gets a say in what happens to it. I think the university wanted them to look for other options, but there's no easy fix to try to widen other roads not going through the university there. Widening Razorback will probably greatly help traffic for football games. But I"m still wondering what they're going to do with students crossing. Seems like students cross Razorback and Maple a lot when I'm driving through there. When they widened Garland inside the university they made it a boulevard. I'm wondering if they might do something along those lines.

Speaking of Garland, the section of the street you mentioned on campus and down to North Street looks fantastic. I drove down it the other day and the Sycamore trees they planted in the median have really taken off. On campus, Garland has become a very shady, pretty, pedestrian-friendly street. I guess Sycamores are fast-growing trees.

I really hope N. College looks as good as Garland when its done. I wish ALL of our 4-lane streets in Fayetteville looked that good.

[Mith242]

Speaking of Garland, the section of the street you mentioned on campus and down to North Street looks fantastic. I drove down it the other day and the Sycamore trees they planted in the median have really taken off. On campus, Garland has become a very shady, pretty, pedestrian-friendly street. I guess Sycamores are fast-growing trees.

I really hope N. College looks as good as Garland when its done. I wish ALL of our 4-lane streets in Fayetteville looked that good.

Yeah I agree with you. I think they did a very nice job with that section of Garland. I do know the section of Garland between North and Melmar will not be set like a boulevard. But I think you just about have to do something like that to make a street bigger than 2 lanes pedestrian friendly. Although it would be an odd setup trying to do College Ave the way Dover Kohl recommended with two middle medians instead of just one, it would really make the street much more pedestrian friendly.

[Mith242]

There was an interesting article in the paper today about how Fayetteville is trying to lure Swedish companies to locate here in Fayetteville. Sweden is a leading producer of 'green' technology. But with Sweden being a small country population wise, it's hard on those companies to do well just focusing on their own country. This all relates to Fayetteville really trying to increase it's presence in this field. Having these companies locate here would be great. It would help push the movement and also locate good jobs here to the city. We do have some advantages for them locating here rather than other parts of the US. For one lower cost of living compared to the East and West Coasts. Also having a centrally located facility also helps cut down costs as well. Apparently people representing four Swedish companies will be visiting Fayetteville in the next month and a half.

[mzweig]

There was an interesting article in the paper today about how Fayetteville is trying to lure Swedish companies to locate here in Fayetteville. Sweden is a leading producer of 'green' technology. But with Sweden being a small country population wise, it's hard on those companies to do well just focusing on their own country. This all relates to Fayetteville really trying to increase it's presence in this field. Having these companies locate here would be great. It would help push the movement and also locate good jobs here to the city. We do have some advantages for them locating here rather than other parts of the US. For one lower cost of living compared to the East and West Coasts. Also having a centrally located facility also helps cut down costs as well. Apparently people representing four Swedish companies will be visiting Fayetteville in the next month and a half.

That is very interesting and would be great for our area. I really do think the sustainability thrust could be our future.

M

[Stormcrow]

There was an interesting article in the paper today about how Fayetteville is trying to lure Swedish companies to locate here in Fayetteville. Sweden is a leading producer of 'green' technology. But with Sweden being a small country population wise, it's hard on those companies to do well just focusing on their own country. This all relates to Fayetteville really trying to increase it's presence in this field. Having these companies locate here would be great. It would help push the movement and also locate good jobs here to the city. We do have some advantages for them locating here rather than other parts of the US. For one lower cost of living compared to the East and West Coasts. Also having a centrally located facility also helps cut down costs as well. Apparently people representing four Swedish companies will be visiting Fayetteville in the next month and a half.

Wow that's excellent! I think Fayetteville might be able to do very well in convincing some Swedes to relo. A lof of people in Nordic countries value their outdoor recreation very highly and I think they would appreciate NWA with the relative mix of urban-wilderness convenience. It seems like it could be a very good fit.

[Mith242]

Yeah I agree, this could be a very big step in getting our environmental sustainability movement going. I've also got some Swedish heritage so I find it interesting to have some Swedish companies located here. I do think they would find the area interesting. Although I've wondered if there might be some pull from up north where there's a lot more people of Swedish heritage. Although you'd have to go pretty far north and then lose the advantage of being more centrally located. I'm not sure what kind of factors they look into. Really if they were going to look into other aspects that have already been mentioned, they would probably look for quality of life for their employees. A good sign for Fayetteville because Fayetteville does very well in that category. Some people sometimes complain about we spend too much money on the trail system and such. But it's those very things that these types of companies look at. If it's a close call between us and another city, those little things could swing it to our advantage.

[Mith242]

Sounds like the Fayetteville Arts Festival is in trouble. It had it's funding cut by quite a bit. They're trying to raise the money through the public. I don't think it will be canceled but it sounds like things could be cut back quite a bit from last year.

[das450]

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/best-...laces-to-retire

Fayetteville ranked best place to retire - Short List

[Mith242]

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/best-...laces-to-retire

Fayetteville ranked best place to retire - Short List

Thanks for the link. I can't say I ever get tired of seeing us on these lists.

[Mith242]

Looks like they've moved traffic on Gregg to the east side of the street now. Guess that means all that's left is to add another layer of asphalt and Gregg will be finished. No idea though on when they'll finish it all up.

[zman9810]

Work has started on the College Ave. improvements from Rock to Maple. I read a 6 month schedule is needed so watch out for those traffic delays. I sat through 3 traffic lights to get to work yesterday.

[cocothief]

Work has started on the College Ave. improvements from Rock to Maple. I read a 6 month schedule is needed so watch out for those traffic delays. I sat through 3 traffic lights to get to work yesterday.

I heard about that. I have high hopes for this project. I am hoping that when its done, the rest of the city will demand that they complete it all the way down College Avenue.

Regardless, its a start on what is long overdue.

[Mith242]

I read about them working on College Ave between Rock and Maple in the paper. Can anyone refresh my memory on what all they're going to do? All it mentioned in the paper was that they would widen the road in some areas and maybe cut some of the corners so that it's easier to make some turns from the intersecting streets. But is this also going to be part of the beautification process they had talked about last year?

[shaddo]

Thanks for the link. I can't say I ever get tired of seeing us on these lists.

New ranking for Fayetteville...Ranked #7 in the nation for "Best Cities to Live, Work and Play" by Kiplingers Magazine. See link below:

http://www.kiplinger.com/money/bestcities/

[Mith242]

New ranking for Fayetteville...Ranked #7 in the nation for "Best Cities to Live, Work and Play" by Kiplingers Magazine. See link below:

http://www.kiplinger.com/money/bestcities/

Thanks for the link and info. Once again very good to hear.

[zman9810]

I read about them working on College Ave between Rock and Maple in the paper. Can anyone refresh my memory on what all they're going to do? All it mentioned in the paper was that they would widen the road in some areas and maybe cut some of the corners so that it's easier to make some turns from the intersecting streets. But is this also going to be part of the beautification process they had talked about last year?

Yeah, this is the project where they will add medians in certain areas and trees and new sidewalks. Should be really nice.

[cocothief]

Somewhere I saw a layout of the design and I remember that it showed a tree planted median just south of the Dickson Street intersection.

Does anybody know where we can see plans?