Back to Madonna

Riff Raff, by Michael Tilley
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More than a few folks I’ve talked to in recent weeks fear the electoral beat down of the 1% prepared food tax in Fort Smith is a sign that those against any form of progress have been emboldened and will now carry the day — or, to be more precise about the fear, will carry Fort Smith back to yesterday.

Certainly, the Fort Smith Board of Directors and city staff and A&P leadership mishandled this 1% deal. While I reject a great majority of the knee-jerk, anti-tax, anti-government reasons to oppose a 1% hospitality tax, it was easy to see why people espoused such views.

However, I also reject the notion that in Fort Smith the Loud will always prevail over Logic; that the discordant few will kill attempts to improve socio-economic quality of place plans.

But it is reasonable to believe that, in the near-term, those with a vision for what is possible will be shouted down by those who possess a narrow and angry view of the role of local government. This is possible because our alleged leadership programs in the region have, as noted previously in this space, have proven feckless against about 20 — my rough estimate, give or take another 10 or 20 — hellraisers who instinctively reject any notion that government at any level has a role in advancing Fort Smith’s quality of place.

In March 2010, I posted an essay on this fear of municipal progression v regression. Unfortunately, nothing has changed. Read for yourself.

THE MARCH 2010 ESSAY, “FINDING MADONNA”
There he was, Anthony Bourdain, visiting with a French vineyard owner about what makes the grapes in his field taste different compared to the same class of grapes growing just a hillside away.

“Magic,” was the teasing explanation from the vineyard owner. The more detailed answer was that the soil and the weather and sunshine and even the rocks contributed to create the essence of the grape. Like the man said, magic.

Indeed, there are many factors involved, but at the end of the day the seed must be planted, the vines must be carefully nurtured, the grapes must be harvested at the right time and the blending and distilling process must be closely monitored.

The other challenge facing Bourdain was to prepare a meal for the locals (French) that would impress. His best advice was to not prepare a traditional meal, but to whip up something different that would challenge, if not surprise and impress, the local palate. He did and they were impressed.

A few glasses of wine, a recent conversation about regional leadership, the potential for good things to happen in the Fort Smith region and watching an hour of Bourdain mix it up with the French resulted in some internal philosophizing that, admittedly, may approach the silliness of folks who see The Madonna in a half-eaten piece of toast. Where others see images when none exist, maybe I’m on and on about analogies that are thin, at best.

With the silliness disclosure aside, let’s consider that it’s about timing. It’s about being in the mix; about pressing grapes (preparation) and letting them ferment (preparation combined with opportunity mixed with time) so that when it is uncorked it pleases the sommeliers and the warms the soul (creates kick-ass commercial gain).

It’s about being different. It’s about cooking up something unique that sets us apart from what is becoming a homogenous economic development pattern. It’s about needing leaders who aren’t afraid to plant grapes on rocky hillsides and who aren’t afraid to prepare a non-traditional menu.

We’ve tasted the non-traditional a few times. That Joel Stubblefield fella got a wild hair one day and began the push to convert a community college into a four-year university. We bowed up to a powerful commission to keep a military mission for the 188th Fighter Wing. There is the U.S. Marshals Museum. A handful of folks created a regional intermodal authority that required the approval of four disparate government entities in Crawford and Sebastian counties.

Those tastes of success, however, were responses to threats or targeted opportunities.

It’s uncertain we’ll creatively and constructively fill voids. Our leadership programs and leadership culture stress that we understand and respect and work within the system and not make waves. Those are good ingredients, but the recipe lacks the seasoning of respectfully challenging the system. We’ve been taught that it’s often not polite to ask the simple questions; questions like, “Why?” Or, “Why not?” Or, “Says who?” (And, by the way, simple questions may be asked without the unnecessary television drama of yelling at or asking civic leaders loaded rhetorical questions.)

It’s about not being afraid to fail.

Fearful leadership protects its low self-esteem by micromanaging the present using past prejudices. Bold leadership pulls a community together and forward by visionmanaging the present using future possibilities.

And we have a boatload of positive future possibilities. It’s been noted before in this space and it will be repeated again: What’s wrong with the Fort Smith regional economy is no match for what’s right with the area. Within our people and within our many public and private entities, we have the potential for great things; we have the potential — through better leadership — to direct overwhelming people-power on whatever problems and obstacles we face. We are a great people, in a great place, and we are capable of great progress.

As Bourdain reflectively ends each TV hour, maybe I should note here that all the above likely was a selfish and cathartic disgorging of an underlying, unshakeable and possibly unreasonable fear that somehow we’ll screw this (future possibilities) up.

That fear is schizophrenic in that it possesses a glass-half-full approach to our future prospects and a glass-half-empty belief in our ability to reach our potential.

Or maybe I just need another glass of magic.