Bottom to Top (Opinion)

It doesn’t take long in this business to figure out that for every piece of good news there is to report, a piece of bad news always seems to lurk right around the corner.

It’s a yin-and-yang kind of thing. Or should that be yang and yin?

Whatever, we here at the Business Journal were reminded of the good news-bad news dynamic in a big way over a recent span of six days. The bad news came first this time, as you most surely know by now, in the form of Brandon Barber’s late-March arrest in New York.

The former Northwest Arkansas developer faces a long list of federal charges and an uncertain future. It’s an ugly story, for sure.

At least one local attorney, though, believes Barber’s apparent downfall might be a good thing for Northwest Arkansas.

“With all that’s gone on around here, maybe we needed a bottom,” he said, “and this is surely the bottom.”

Indeed, just five days after Barber’s arrest, we honored some friends in the real estate industry at our inaugural A-List event. More than 100 brokers, bankers and others attended the limited-ticket affair, and the mood was positively upbeat as everyone agreed the worm seems to have turned.

“All of us have experienced hard times over the past few years, but individually and collectively, you have survived and persevered though hard work and a commitment to excellence,” Business Journal publisher Darin Gray told a crowded Dromborg Castle great room. “You are to be commended for overcoming the challenges of the past few years, and we are here to celebrate your success.”

In other words, we’ve spent much of the last few years reporting bad news. Maybe we’re finally in store for more good.