I rec'd an email in regard to this thread.
Born, raised, and most of my life lived in central AR. I'm looking to Leave.
I find it ironic AR, "Land Of Opportunity" is rated as the 49th State in terms of postitives and 2nd in terms of negatives. If it was not for Mississippi we would often be dead last or top these respective lists. No disrespect to Mississippi.
Irony in the "Natural State" - Well call the 800 number and most likely your call will be answered in TX to find out about our lakes, rivers, scenic routes ... Beautiful State, it is said build a fence around AR and it is self contained. We have Diamonds, gas, oil, timber, Rice and Duck Capital of the World, World Renowned Trout Fishing, and so many lakes and rivers to fish, so many areas to hunt....etc. Stephens Inc is the Largest Trade house off Wall Street.
Hot Springs has history, from Political Corruption, Mafia (Capone was here),Whores to Infastructre Problems. Hot Springs is a popular spot for Retirement. The reality is society is becoming a Geriatric Society, Hot Springs is one of - if not the biggest "retirement/geriatric" area of our state. AR is already economically poor and pooly run - Yes while the Tourist season draws monies to Hot Springs, with all the Retired folks and limited incomes - well, not much growth and monies to keep things really going. Ouachita Nat'l Forrest - beautiful, drive off the main rd and either in serious drug business or invading someone's personal space. Both groups know how to shoot very well.
Horse Racing: Oaklawn is one of the nicest tracks in the country. Many top horses and breeders use Hot Springs / Oaklawn, you will see these horses in the Kentucky Derby, Triple Crown. When the season hits - Traffic is unreal. Little Rock is "45 minutes away" - Well that 'might be" true again - I haven't driven it lately...The Interstate system is nutzoid. We call it the "Orange Barrel Rally". I used to live in Benton, and later Bryant. These are off I30 b/t LR and HS. I used to make it to LR from Bryant in 17 minutes. I moved back to LR. Still takes folks 30 minutes for the same drive now - it was 45-1 hr with all the Road construction , car wrecks and deaths.
I hear it took folks 2 hours to get to Hot Springs from LR and to attend the Races the past two seasons. Returning has always been fun - dodging the drunks...
I built a brand new home in Bryant for $53 a sq ft. Same house in LR ran $75 - in certain areas. In the Heights the older homes were selling for $175 a square foot. I don't even want to know what they get for the new uppity Chenal area out west.
I commute 20 miles to College , It took me 2hrs the other day, I literally sat on the I430 bridge for 1 hr. Construction, traffic another major wreck... Again.. b/t LR and Conway.Many folks attend UCA [Univ.of Central AR - good school] .
I was heading like one goes to Memphis, that is a total nightmare . Two days later it took me 1.5 hrs another major wreck along my route- I run the back roads to my college. I park off campus for a reason, I have twice in one week ran a red light ( right turn on red, left turn on red) to get out of a possible car jacking. Damn right I was armed. I have to get to and fro the Campus don't I?
Weather: Hot and HUMID! We have freezing temps, our snow is WET, we have ice storms which the power lines are allergic to. We have Tornado season. Tornados like to follow I30 and Hot Springs is "off" I 30. My last visit to the Horse Races, had Tornado on my tail coming home, I pulled off the highway as far as could and hit the ditch, tornado took a sharp turn about a mile before it got to me...my truck was 15 feet further down the gravel road from where I had parked it.
We have Skeeters that can stand flat footed and French Kiss a chicken.
Bring a job and some extras if you come. AR has 4 "regions" you might say. For darn sure none of the 4 corners like Little Rock the Capital City - Politicians and all. We have the poor Delta, no education, min wage so the rest of the state tax monies goes to support them. NW has Walmart Headquaters - no comment.
Education is a huge reason why AR is so poor and why Businesses do not come here. When a business considers moving into a place, Education, Religion, Utilities and Taxes are considerations. WE flunk on everything except Religion We have pretty good representation of most Religions. Why I even have a Koren and Islamic representative not far from me.
Little Rock lost the FedEx opportunity to Memphis, we have lost so many opportunities due to education, Taxes, Utilities.
If..if one comes to AR. North central part of the state has some nice areas, but you will have to check these out. Some folks do not want strangers. Bedroom Communities around Little Rock such as Bryant, Benton, Conway, Cabot ...have outgrown the infastructure, taxes going up, add the commute time and gas...some are moving back to LR . retiring, or leaving the state. Now if a person is not dependent on the big cities, there are some small towns that are great. Most folks there are Mom&Pop and getting by with Walmart putting these out of business.
Small town public schools were old fashioned and gave a good education. WE are under Federal Law to restructure so much of our schools. Our school dollars go to lawyers - not for the kids to get an education. Been this way for 50 years.
We had some really great Mexicans, Asians, come and establish some great communities. I mean really good folks that did contribute. Now We have some really bad Illegals - hence the reason I have been reading up on the MS13 gangs.
More than once coming in from my night class I have come in the back way. If I don't I am in a wall of traffic, with the bad elements on both sides of the road. I hear the gunshots all the time, I see new razor wire going up on new taller fences, If I do not hear the Sirens at least 4 times and hour...I think something is wrong with my hearing.
My last hunting around Hot Springs, well the property was adjacent to the Nat'l Forrest, I saw the trip wire and backed slowly away. We called the Sheriff...I had seen this same trick used up around Fort Smith when I lived up there - Drug Folks play for keeps.
Arkansas may indeed have some good points. I will not deny that. For me, the negative outweigh the positive - especially in Central AR.
