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Changing Landscapes: From "The ASU Story" to Modern A-State

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Downtown Revitalization Downtown Jonesboro has long served as an area vital to the city. It's the center for the city's government, and currently a central hub for local entertainment and small businesses. But the downtown area hasn't always been successful. In the past, downtown had been the center of banking and city government, locations that operated from nine to five and shut down on the weekends.[1] The area enjoyed the height of success pre-revitalization in the 60's and late 70's serving this function. But as the city expanded, and the nature of the city changed, downtown Jonesboro started to suffer.[2] By the 1980's the area was, as one life-long resident describes it, "maintaining," and had become a mere shell of its former self by the late 1990's.[3] Though officials with the city say that downtown did not boast high crime numbers in the late 1990's (largely because nobody really lived in the area), those who remember the downtown region say it was a place that didn't feel safe once the business day was over at sundown.[4] Buildings were beginning to suffer from disrepair, and the area was having difficulty staying competitive with the rest of the city at large. Downtown Jonesboro needed a change, and soon.

Hyett-Palma

In 1999, Jonesboro took on a revitalization plan from the Hyett-Palma group. The plan began by taking surveys from city residents and downtown business owners, asking them to rate the area according to various categories. When it came to matters like quality of goods, a feeling of safety, and the overall cleanliness of the area, the two groups differed greatly in their opinions. Business owners rated these categories lower by more than twenty percent than did residents.[5] Their studies also found that, while people would most often travel downtown to shop and eat, they still favored other areas of the city for these activities.[6] If the area was to attract new businesses or retain their existing ones, then business owners would first need to see that the area was worth investing in. It would also mean attracting consumers to the area by creating activities and a nightlife scene to make downtown more appealing.

The proposal went a step further by making plans to not only give the area momentum but maintain it. Doing so would mean leaving a group in place who could oversee revitalization efforts, and who knew the area well. This Downtown Partnership Board would be comprised of high ranking members of city government, prominent Downtown business owners, a highly ranked official from the University, and many more. The efforts would also require funding, which Hyett-Palma proposed come from a variety of sources ranging from individuals and local business owners to the federal government.[7]

Much of Hyett-Palma's plan was to involve the people of downtown Jonesboro and the surrounding city as well as residents in the immediate region. The basic concept was to make the area more accessible to pedestrians.[8]

Past and Present Efforts

If the city's success in breathing life back into the downtown area were simply to be measured in dollars, then Jonesboro enjoyed emphatic success. According to Kent Arnold, who works closely with Executive Director Lindsey Wingo, downtown Jonesboro in 1999 generated $750,000 in retail revenue. By 2017, that number had climbed to seven million dollars.[9] But the payoff ultimately has been larger than that. Downtown had become a place people wanted to be. What had previously been an area in which human activity died off at the end of a business day became a place people actively came to spend their time, boasting lively nightlife and event spaces. The Downtown Association has also collaborated with local artists to bring a splash of color to the area's aging walls. What's more, the number of residents living in both the central hub of downtown and the surrounding area had climbed as more investments were funneled into improving existing neighborhoods and building new lofts.[10]

One resident and business owner of the area perhaps said it best. In describing his perfect day, he imagined it as one where he could walk down Main Street and get everything done without ever getting inside his vehicle.[11] Downtown Jonesboro's true measure of success has been in what it can give to the people that call the community both a home and a haven. A place where they can live and make their living. Where they can come to enjoy the finest the city has to offer. And a place that urges them to take a break from the bustle of their lives and enjoy their community.

Sources Cited
[R1] Wingo, Linsey, Bill Presley, Kent Arnold. Phone Interview conducted with Jordan Carmer. 11/21/2018
[R2]
[R3] Herget, Ted. Interview conducted with Jordan Carmer. 11/20/2018
[R4] Borut, Donald J., Doyle Hyett, Dolores Palma, Jonesboro Downtown Action Agenda 1999. 1999. Accessed 11/12/2018