Fighting back against the Bah Humbug of job losses

The shame with all these economic troubles is that one doesn’t have to be a skeptical ass like me to find the need to suppress the negative irony when hearing the phrase, “Merry Christmas!”

Especially if you’re one of the more than 2,000 folks — my estimate — in the region to have lost their jobs within the past six months. Merry Christmas? Happy New Year? As Illinois Gov. Blagojevich might retort, “What’s so f*^%#@g merry about it!?”

Things could be worse. You could be Blagojevich. And your hair could look as goofy.

Things will get worse. There were past national economic troubles that never filtered to our region. Folks once noted that the Fort Smith area doesn’t participate in national recessions. But this ain’t one of those times. We’re participating at a dizzying pace. We’ll be lucky to avoid an 8 percent unemployment rate before this mess gets better.

Which is all the more reason at times like these that we keep our chins up and keep our personal and community dreams alive. When times are tough, we should work harder to find avenues in which to work together to improve our regional socio-economic realities.

More important, as we remain positive and hopeful, we must demand more from our business and civic leaders. The fools with which we too graciously suffered just a few months ago need to be shown the door.

Now is not a good time to have to deal with elected officials who hold up dollars by focusing on nickels. If a city director wants to get hung up on where folks plant their clotheslines, place their speed bumps or yard park that third vehicle, let them do so on their own time. Not that we should have time for such petty “leadership” during good times, but we damn sure don’t have time for such nonsense now.

And if the leadership at the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce wants to fully ensconce that organization in the tar pit of negligent uselessness, so be it. But municipal and other regional bodies tied to public oversight shouldn’t be allowed such an atrocious waste of resources and opportunity.

Which brings us to the point of not losing sight of where we have resources for opportunity and the opportunity for resources. Which is to say, there are many points of possible progress in the region and many groups that continue to do good things. At great risk of not including a pet project of several Kind Readers, let’s consider a few things for which we should remain positive.

• There is the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. Show me a community problem and I’ll find a UAFS official or program working to fix it. Show me something neat happening in the region and I’ll show you how UAFS is directly or indirectly responsible for the neatness. UAFS: the University Aggressively Finding Solutions, the University Actively Fixing Stuff and/or the Us Aiming For Success.

• Just a few days ago, Wakarusa officials decided to move that music and camping festival to Mulberry Mountain Ranch just north of Ozark. This festival, which grows in popularity each year, could bring more than 15,000 people to the region. The folks in Ozark are excited as all get out. It might be safe to believe that responsible tourism officials in the region will find numerous ways to capitalize on Wakarusa.

• And the folks in Ozark continue to slowly but surely develop their downtown and riverfront areas. For anyone interested in watching a small town evolve, your gaze might be pointed toward this beautiful community tucked neatly next to the Arkansas River and twixt rolling hills. With a little luck in diversifying and expanding the local economy, the next five years should bring good things to Ozark.

• An excited take on downtown and riverfront development continues with Fort Smith. While we won’t make as wild claims of future growth as some city officials are want to do, there are reasons to be hopeful. The Marshals Museum, for example.

• Streetscaping continues to improve the look of Garrison Avenue. Folks like Rodney Ghan and Richard Griffin and Benny Westphal continue to put their time and energy and money into improving the area. Someone should tell Mayor Ray Baker to give one of his “He’s Really A Great Guy” awards — including the sprinkling of rose petals — to Ghan for a building renovation near Ninth Street and Rogers Avenue.

• We can’t forget what the folks at Second Street Live are doing, which is to spend a lot of time and money to provide a downtown Fort Smith venue for area citizens to enjoy a diverse group of national musicians. With just a few breaks, this place could become a nationally recognized hot spot for great bands and musicians — the kind of place, for example, that Lyle Lovett or Taylor Swift or Tenacious D or Lenny Kravitz or (insert your favorite act here) might consider playing to soft launch a new tour or album.

• Physical accomplishments are just part of the mix. The Fort Smith region is blessed with many community groups and volunteers who continue to pull together for charitable causes. We’ve featured a few of those at The City Wire. There was the recent performance of the Fort Smith Symphony during which the Single Parent Scholarship Fund raised money by hosting a pre-symphony dinner. The United Way each year holds a “Power of the Purse” event to raise money to fund a program that buys books for early elementary students who might not otherwise have a book in their home.

• The Junior League of Fort Smith each year sponsors the Holiday Market. The event, which brings unique area and national vendors under one roof for the purpose of Christmas shopping, generates money for the Adult Education Center, Buckle Up and Be Safe, Children’s Emergency League, Done in a Day projects and Kids-in-the-Kitchen.

Are times tough? Of course. Will we survive? Yep. Is there anything else to be said about all this? Certainly. Merry Christmas, and have a Happy New Year!