Possibly moving to NWA

[masons_dad1]

I'd check your stats on diversity. Rogers has slightly less of a percentage of white people than Fayetteville, with almost the entire remainder being hispanic. Fayetteville by far has the highest measure of ethnic diversity, with more representation nearly across the board. Bentonville is nearly completely white, with nearly the entire remainder being Hispanic. (2000 Census data, which is going to change with the special census going on around here.)

I've checked my stats and according to the 2000 Census:

Races in Fayetteville:

White Non-Hispanic (84.0%)

Black (5.1%)

Hispanic (4.9%)

Two or more races (2.4%)

American Indian (2.3%)

Other race (2.0%)

Chinese (0.9%)

Other Asian (0.6%)

Races in Rogers:

White Non-Hispanic (76.9%)

Hispanic (19.3%)

Other race (9.4%)

Two or more races (1.8%)

American Indian (1.7%)

Vietnamese (0.8%)

Races in Bentonville:

White Non-Hispanic (87.9%)

Hispanic (6.1%)

Other race (2.7%)

American Indian (2.2%)

Two or more races (1.8%)

Black (0.9%)

Vietnamese (0.8%)

Asian Indian (0.6%)

You may note that although Rogers has a much higher percent of Hispanics Rogers also has a slightly higher percent of "other" races and about even Asian percentages. Bentonville is quite a bit less diverse than both Fayetteville and Rogers... according to the 2000 Census. But as many people who live and work in Rogers and Bentonville a lot of different ethnic groups have been moving here since the 2000 Census. The 2010 Census will really shed a lot of light on the very dim statistics that NWA has been judged by. Even with the special census's statistics will be much different come 2010.

While it's true that my thoughts on urbanism are my opinions, I'd be hard-pressed to find anyone educated in the realm of urban planning who thinks that areas like Pinnacle, or S. Rogers are "urban." I'd recommend reading the wonderful timeless work of Jane Jacobs in "the Death and Life of Great American Cities." It's about NYC, but the concepts apply across the board. (Suburban Nation by Andres Duany is also a fantastic read.)

One of the "visions" of Pinnacle Hills is to have two 20-story mixed-use towers in the middle of what I consider to be one of the most walkable new developments in Northwest Arkansas. Rogers second walkable mixed-use is going to be Park Central located at the intersection of Pleasant Grove and 71B. Bentonville's biggest mixed-use development got rejected due to the traffic problems already existing on J Street... the development was to be named Cottonwood Village in South Walton Plaza. Other than that Bentonville is soley concentrating on making downtown walkable whereas the rest of Bentonville is very much dependent on vehicles.

[masons_dad1]

Not all that is "urban" is built upwards. The only reasons New York City has the most tall buildings in the world is because when you steal a tiny island from the natives and decide to build a metropolis on it you have no choice but to go up. If the idea of vertical growth versus lateral growth defined an urban city then major metros like Dallas wouldn't be urban except for their downtown and a few splotches here and there.

[Mith242]

Okay let me just start off with the original post. Sorry I'm getting a late start here but I've been out of town for a little while. Several have posted some info already so I'll try to post info not mentioned yet. First of all I'm not sure if apartments here are quite the same as a bigger city's apartments like Toronto. One thing I'll mention is you might be a bit wary of apartments close to the university. Sometimes you're really not getting what you're paying for. But for students wanting convenience and closely to the campus you have to pay more I guess. Of course prices here might seem rather cheap compared to a city like Toronto. At the moment I think Fayetteville is probably the best choice if you're wanting to not have to rely on having a vehicle. Although be warned there are still large areas of the city that are obviously oriented for vehicles. I will say that other areas like Bentonville seem to be coming along with a nice trail system. I'll try to read through the posts again to check out all the other things mentioned. Feel free to ask any other questions FiZZ.