Non-Profit Community Improvement Groups

[cocothief]

I have been wondering about this lately, in light of what happened with the SWEPCO power lines.

I still hold out hope that at some time in the near future, the city will realize the detriment this is to the area and pay to have them put underground.

That said, I have also wondered if there are any local, non-profit, community improvement groups that might spearhead a privately-led effort to accomplish this and other aesthetic/quality of life improvements in Fayetteville.

With the amount of philanthropy going on in this area, it makes sense to me that SOME of that money could be used for stuff like that.

I know, its a different priority, but I believe these issues directly impact economic development in our town. IF we can improve our city, more companies will want to be here and more people will want to live here.

Anybody else feel this way? Anybody part of a similar group or heard of one?

[Mith242]

I have been wondering about this lately, in light of what happened with the SWEPCO power lines.

I still hold out hope that at some time in the near future, the city will realize the detriment this is to the area and pay to have them put underground.

That said, I have also wondered if there are any local, non-profit, community improvement groups that might spearhead a privately-led effort to accomplish this and other aesthetic/quality of life improvements in Fayetteville.

With the amount of philanthropy going on in this area, it makes sense to me that SOME of that money could be used for stuff like that.

I know, its a different priority, but I believe these issues directly impact economic development in our town. IF we can improve our city, more companies will want to be here and more people will want to live here.

Anybody else feel this way? Anybody part of a similar group or heard of one?

[cocothief]

I think overall there's certainly people interested in something like this. Perhaps the bad thing is that the people with the really big money are outside of Fayetteville in other areas of NWA.

[masons_dad1]

I doubt that any non-profits would even be able to afford going up against the likes of Swepco. Besides, when left to the state or city everything is for sale, even the soul of Arkansas' favorite college town.

[cocothief]

I doubt that any non-profits would even be able to afford going up against the likes of Swepco. Besides, when left to the state or city everything is for sale, even the soul of Arkansas' favorite college town.

[masons_dad1]

Swepco doesn't care about partnerships, it cares about money. Even Bike, Blues & BBQ couldn't raise enough money to go up against Swepco. There are non-profits doing good things in all the NWA cities. One of my favorite non-profit works recently was the Friends of the Library that raised money to build the new Bentonville Public Library and I'm hoping the non-profit in charge of building the Children's Museum of NWA in Bentonville is just as successful. I'd rather non-profits focus on real QOL issues than trying to prevent ugly powerlines from going up. Beauty isn't everything, especially when in need of basic amenities, like schools, parks and family attractions.

Its not about going up against anybody. Its about raising funds and providing partnership to businesses like SWEPCO to ensure that we maintain QOL in Fayetteville.

The point of the non-profit wouldn't be to fight SWEPCO, but to shoulder the load financially to see if we can do things like bury powerlines.

Bikes Blues and BBQ, for example, raises funds for non-profit purposes.

It may be too high a hill to climb to bury these powerlines, but there are other smaller things (like NeighborWoods) which could over time have a large impact on QOL. NeighborWoods was tiny, and yet their influence on parks and on streets like Gregg Avenue are still seen today.

As for the soul of Fayetteville being for sale, it may be by the state. By the city, absolutely not. In fact, the city government in Fayetteville is far and away the least "for sale" of any in Arkansas, aside from maybe Eureka Springs. Its not perfect, but its better than most.

[cocothief]

Swepco doesn't care about partnerships, it cares about money. Even Bike, Blues & BBQ couldn't raise enough money to go up against Swepco. There are non-profits doing good things in all the NWA cities. One of my favorite non-profit works recently was the Friends of the Library that raised money to build the new Bentonville Public Library and I'm hoping the non-profit in charge of building the Children's Museum of NWA in Bentonville is just as successful. I'd rather non-profits focus on real QOL issues than trying to prevent ugly powerlines from going up. Beauty isn't everything, especially when in need of basic amenities, like schools, parks and family attractions.

[zman9810]

Its not about going up against anybody. Its about raising funds and providing partnership to businesses like SWEPCO to ensure that we maintain QOL in Fayetteville.

The point of the non-profit wouldn't be to fight SWEPCO, but to shoulder the load financially to see if we can do things like bury powerlines.

Bikes Blues and BBQ, for example, raises funds for non-profit purposes.

It may be too high a hill to climb to bury these powerlines, but there are other smaller things (like NeighborWoods) which could over time have a large impact on QOL. NeighborWoods was tiny, and yet their influence on parks and on streets like Gregg Avenue are still seen today.

As for the soul of Fayetteville being for sale, it may be by the state. By the city, absolutely not. In fact, the city government in Fayetteville is far and away the least "for sale" of any in Arkansas, aside from maybe Eureka Springs. Its not perfect, but its better than most.

[Mith242]

Okay, I'm closing this topic for now. I know we have some differing views from our forumers. But we can't have this type of stuff going on.

I've done some editing and reopened this topic. Hopefully we won't have a repeat of what happened before.