Mountain View

[Arkansas Student]

Anyone ever been to Mountain View? Know anyone that lives there? What are your opinions?

I'm from there (but say what you want, I won't be offended), and I'm working with the new mayor on some ED/CD initiatives, along with getting the city government moved in to the 21st century (the last 10 years under the old mayor were stagnant in terms of planning and development). We've got a lot of ideas, and we think Mountain View could really develop it's tourist destination image further, while also increasing the quality of life for citizens and maybe even attracting some new business. It's all about rural development.

So, do you have any thoughts on the town itself? If not, what kind of CD/ED initiatives should we look in to? We're not trying to become the next NWA; the goal is to develop a nice sized community (7k - 10k) with adequate ammenities, culture, and a stable economy where people of nearly all ages and education levels can find work. Think of this as real-life Sim City: we're starting from the bottom and working our way up.

Thanks for your input -- this project and your thoughts mean a lot to me.

[Mith242]

Ive never been. I've thought about checking it our sometime because of the Ozark Folk Center nearby. It's hard for me to speak about Mountain View since I don't know too much about it. But I'd be worried about changing it too much. I wouldn't go visit it because it's overly developed but because of the rustic aspects of the Ozark Folk Center. I'd still try to focus things around it. I realize you probably shouldn't put all your focus there, but I might go for some historic appeal. Are there many older buildings or much of an old downtown area? I don't think I'd go as far as saying that you should make new buildings look like they were built at the turn of the previous century. But you might try to make sure new developments accent some of the older buildings. Try to keep some of the 'Old Time' charm.

[Arkansas Student]

Ive never been. I've thought about checking it our sometime because of the Ozark Folk Center nearby. It's hard for me to speak about Mountain View since I don't know too much about it. But I'd be worried about changing it too much. I wouldn't go visit it because it's overly developed but because of the rustic aspects of the Ozark Folk Center. I'd still try to focus things around it. I realize you probably shouldn't put all your focus there, but I might go for some historic appeal. Are there many older buildings or much of an old downtown area? I don't think I'd go as far as saying that you should make new buildings look like they were built at the turn of the previous century. But you might try to make sure new developments accent some of the older buildings. Try to keep some of the 'Old Time' charm.

[Aporkalypse]

That's one of those Ozark towns I've always wanted to visit but it's never been "on the way" to anywhere and it's a long daytrip. I'll make it up there one of these days.

Isn't Blanchard Springs nearby? I've been there.

[Architect]

Anyone ever been to Mountain View? Know anyone that lives there? What are your opinions?

I'm from there (but say what you want, I won't be offended), and I'm working with the new mayor on some ED/CD initiatives, along with getting the city government moved in to the 21st century (the last 10 years under the old mayor were stagnant in terms of planning and development). We've got a lot of ideas, and we think Mountain View could really develop it's tourist destination image further, while also increasing the quality of life for citizens and maybe even attracting some new business. It's all about rural development.

So, do you have any thoughts on the town itself? If not, what kind of CD/ED initiatives should we look in to? We're not trying to become the next NWA; the goal is to develop a nice sized community (7k - 10k) with adequate ammenities, culture, and a stable economy where people of nearly all ages and education levels can find work. Think of this as real-life Sim City: we're starting from the bottom and working our way up.

Thanks for your input -- this project and your thoughts mean a lot to me.

[Arkansas Student]

That's one of those Ozark towns I've always wanted to visit but it's never been "on the way" to anywhere and it's a long daytrip. I'll make it up there one of these days.

Isn't Blanchard Springs nearby? I've been there.

[Arkansas Student]

A couple of items that some of you may or may not be interested in:

This coming weekend (April 19-21st) is the 45th Annual Ozark Folk Festival in Mountain View. If you've never been, I'd encourage you to attend this great festival. http://www.ozarkgetaways.com/folk_festival.html

Also, it looks like I'll be changing jobs again. Sometime in June or July I'm leaving NWA (gasp!) to go back to Mountain View to be the city's Community Development Director. I'm going to continue working on my MPA @ UALR. I think it will be very interesting & fun to go back home for a little while.