 Bill Ragan, center, talks about enhanced rescue service in a small group meeting at a citizens’ summit Tuesday night at Benton Municipal Complex. Discussing the issue and other city needs with him, clockwise from left, are Jennifer Ring, Travis Kersh, Roger Norman and Mike Culp. (Courier photo by Lynda Hollenbeck) By Lynda Hollenbeck
Courier Staff
The need for a local youth center, enhanced public safety, more attention to code enforcement/city beautification projects and increased transportation opportunities emerged as top concerns among Benton residents attending a citizens’ summit Tuesday night.
Roger Norman, a member of the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council, said safety at Tyndall Park is a concern among teenagers.
“When it gets dark, it turns into a different place,” Norman said.
He described an incident in which he observed vandals breaking into a vending machine near the tennis courts.
“The park needs better lighting,” he said. It’s a really dark place.”
He also said police officers sometimes are unnecessarily unkind in their interactions with teenagers and should use greater courtesy.
Norman’s group, along with some other groups, addressed the fire department’s rescue service, which no longer includes advanced life support.
He and others said residents want paramedics to be allowed to provide the lifesaving services they are trained to give. Noting that fire department units routinely are first to arrive at an emergency, Norman said, “People don’t want to have to wait for an ambulance with a paramedic. This is a concern.”
Youths and adults at the summit addressed the need for a youth center to offer social opportunities for teenagers.
Katie Holland, speaking for one of the groups, said all that is available to young people are parking lots, and loitering regulations limit the time they are allowed to gather at these sites.
“We get in trouble if we stay too long,” she said.
The same scenario occurs at local businesses, where teenagers must make purchases if they stay beyond a certain amount of time, she said.
Frank Large, a local developer, agreed with the youths, saying there should be a facility that is available to the teenagers where they can gather and listen to their music and enjoy being together.
The building that previously housed Cafe Santa Fe was mentioned as possibility for housing a youth center if funding could be acquired.
Jordan Fletcher, a member of the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council, addressed beautification efforts in the city.
She noted that better drainage is needed along with a recycling facility that would accept glass and plastics.She also said that Tyndall Park should become “more child-friendly.”
Don White addressed concerns at Tyndall Park, saying there is a need for more parental involvment and increased police patrol after dark.
“We need more lights around the skate park and the tennis and basketball courts,” he said. “And we need to get the funding back for a first-responders unit [advanced life support] at the fire department.”
Equal improvements in the Ralph Bunche Community Park also are needed, several people noted.
Scott Hunter mentioned eliminating graffiti on a closed restaurant and also stressed the need for enhanced public safety.
He said increasing the fire department’s rescue service is important. In reference to the fire department unit normally arriving first at an emergency, he said, “I don’t want to wait for an ambulance to come put out a fire.”
Andy Moon, another Youth Council member, said scholarship opportunities should be increased to enable young people to further their education.
Emily Noles, also a member of the Youth Council, spoke about recreational development of the Saline River.
She noted that this is a special concern for her since her father, the late Don Noles, operated a canoe service on the river. “We need to invite people to come see it [Saline River], to experience what we have,” Noles said.
She also mentioned the possibility of establishing a light rail service between Benton and Little Rock.
Noles and others pointed out that teenagers struggle to find money for gasoline and said increased transportation opportunities would benefit all ages.
“This would be a good service to help people travel back and forth [between Little Rock, Bryant and Benton],” she said.
Increased utility rates were mentioned as a negative factor in the community. These discourage people from moving to the community and do not encourage young people to want to stay here after they graduate from high school, Noles said.
Marsha Guffey, the city’s director of community development, presided at the summit and explained at the start what topics would be “taken off the table.”
These included broadband Internet/improved cable service and work-force education, which she said are being addressed through local task forces.
Guffey apparently angered a delegation from a local Public Safety Committee by telling the group that public safety also should not be emphasized at the summit.
When members objected, she said she thought the issue could be handled better in a separate meeting focusing strictly on that.
Bill Ragan, a retired Benton firefighter who was instrumental in establishing the city’s first rescue service in the early 1970s, also objected to Guffey’s decision, saying, “I don’t want this taken off the table. These people have been working hard on this, and I want to hear what they have to say.”
Dave Mattingly, who chairs the public safety group, said he spoke with Guffey on Tuesday morning to inform her that several members of the panel would attend the summit because they wanted other people to know what they are doing, and they desired feedback from residents.
Just before leaving City Hall, Mattingly said he asked Guffey why she had not told him in the earlier conversation that she was not planning to allow his group to interact with others. He said Guffey’s response was, “You didn’t ask me.”
When the residents divided into small groups, the Public Safety Committee members did not stay at the summit. Mary Kay Mooney, who is part of the committee, said she and others “felt rebuffed” by Guffey.
Before Mooney left, Guffey said she expected the public safety issue to surface along with other concerns — and it did — but she said she had not wanted it to be the dominant topic since the committee was already working on the issue.
“This may not necessarily emerge as the top issue,” she said. “Everyone has a main focus.”
Near the close of the session, Ragan commended the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council members’ participation in the summit.
“I’m really encouraged tonight to see all these young people,” he said. “It does me good.”
Just before the session concluded, Don White issued a statement to Mayor Rick Holland, who was absent because of illness.
“If you have the spine, you’ll fire [Police Chief] Gary Sipes,” White said in response to recent news accounts of improper behavior at the department, including the demotion of a female officer.
Responding to his comment was Patricia Ashley, who said, “There is not a consensus to fire Chief Sipes.”
|
Razorbacks
