Riff Raff: An attitude adjustment assessment, part II

The Fort Smith metro area has good bones. We’re a great people in a great place capable of great progress. We’ve recently seen bubble up a “shift in attitude, in what we expect of ourselves … the marvel, the vision, the ‘what could be’ and ‘what should be’ for our people, our city.”

That was Steve Clark’s way of saying that in the past few years folks have stepped up to put muscle and skin on those bones. Consultants and their conventional wisdom would have us believe a regional turnaround requires a regional plan with a unified vision and a unified leader. But as we collectively reconciled last week, we’ve had a lot of cool stuff – new jobs, quality of life amenities, public art, clean interstate interchanges – in the region pop up organically. (This second essay makes more sense if you’ve read the first.)

At great risk of sillying up the analogy, it seems we’ve acquired a small dose of Mick Jagger swagger with a Steve Jobs jobs focus. We know our economy has seen better days and we need to get serious about being fertile ground for innovation and what’s-next, but sometimes you have to let it loose, knowing that sometimes we get what we need rather that what we thought we wanted. I was one of those folks who preached for that unified plan with unified leadership. That stuff works, but it’s not the only path. And the way those damned Millennials (and younger) think and work, sometimes trying to get everyone behind one thing is like herding cats.

So here we are with this positive vibe in the Fort Smith and Van Buren regions. Again to the questions that began this two-part essay: Is this real? What am I missing? What do I not know about what I see?

John McIntosh, who was close to giving up on Fort Smith, sees a revival of spirit.

“The level of positive energy throughout the community continues to impress me, and perhaps amaze me. We’re not dwelling on the past as much. We’re saying (and demonstrating), ‘Why Not?’ I’m hearing ‘Let’s Just Do This’ much more often, especially in downtown. When those with substantial financial where-with-all see the 20- and 30-year-old somethings actually involved and committed I believe that is starting to have it’s own positive impact,” he said.

Investment guru and long-time community supporter John Taylor is seeing “better regional cooperation marked by less battles over ‘territory.’” While painful in the transition, he also believes the region is diversifying the “economic and jobs base resulting in less reliance on purely manufacturing activity.”

And although many respondents said positive things are happening without city of Fort Smith leadership or in spite of city leadership, Fort Smith developer Lance Beaty believes the city is trying to evolve.

“Fort Smith now has, for the first time in recent memory, an evolving municipal government that is changing its perspective, focus, and attitude. This is happening rapidly at the administrative/departmental level and incrementally at the elected level,” Beaty noted. “One of the reasons I feel this evolution will continue and accelerate is because there are new faces in the shadows quietly offering fresh ideas, perspectives, support, and guidance to those within who see a need for and are willing to embrace change.”

Fort Smith banker Sam T. Sicard called 2015 a “transformative year,” with momentum continuing into 2016. He also sees a desire to improve local government.

“We have City Directors and other citizens who have stepped up to the challenge of reforming our city government to improve efficiency, efficacy, and accountability.  At the School District level, the business community has pushed for change that has led to an expansion of concurrent credit for our students, and discussions are happening on the need for internships. Much more accountability is now expected from our School District, with a focus on results. We now have Directors of the Board of Education who are not satisfied with the status quo,” Sicard said.

Dr. Paul Beran, University of Arkansas at Fort Smith chancellor, says what is happening in the region mirrors what he sees at the university. And the positive changes, he says, are grassroots.

“(W)hat is happening at UAFS is indicative of what is happening in the the greater Fort Smith region – the positive change is not about murals on buildings, not about a new building on the UAFS campus, or about the DO (osteopathic) school building, or about the new ArcBest building, or about trails being built. The ‘positive things about the Fort Smith Regional future,’ as you have said, really is about people,” Beran said.

Like any good professor, Beran rattled off a long list of reasons for his people power belief. The list included the following points.
• “The young leaders – 30 to 50 years old – who are stepping up to real leadership and putting their money – if they have any – where their positive attitudes are.”

• “People who have pushed the boundaries of the community in positive ways – trails, healthcare, business, manufacturing, industry, education.”

• “A school board who stood up to the outdated latent racist symbolism at Southside, took the heat, and held firm.”

• “A (Fort Smith Regional) chamber Board and a FS Regional Board of CEOs who look for opportunities and who move important issues forward.”

• “Millennial leaders who are stepping up to talk about child abuse and food scarcity and other social ills that are hard to talk about.”

Things that are hard to talk about bring us back to banker Sicard.

“It isn’t hard to see that the status quo is no longer acceptable. Change is hard and sometimes painful, which is why it only happens when people decide they can no longer accept the status quo, and when they accept that they must do something to change the narrative,” he said.

Beaty ended his response with a comment that seamlessly picked up where Sicard ended: “I think the takeaway is this: While many good things have been accomplished in recent months and years, the city now has a core group of private and public sector eyes looking through a single lens seeing a shared vision of what Fort Smith can and should be. In this context much can be accomplished.”

Maybe the best way to boil all the comments down into a less silly analogy is that we again like the person in the mirror. Or, as John McIntosh said he has heard from many people: “Fort Smith is starting to love itself again.”