Fayetteville mayor gets Dickensian in his 2010 State of the City address

P.S. I promise to use a tripod next year. All apologies for the shaky camera work.

The text of this speech is available here.

By Christopher Spencer

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan repeatedly used this literary flourish from Charles Dickens’ “A  Tale of Two Cities” when describing the  city’s accomplishments and challenges during the last year.

Spoiler alert: The speech was much heavier on the “best of times” side (which got mentioned 10 times in the speech) compared with the “worst of times” (which got mentioned twice). Who wants to focus on all the negatives anyway, right?

Tuesday’s speech clocked in at about 10 minutes and name-checked many accomplishments during 2009.

Here’s an overview:

Leveling with the public - Jordan opened the speech by telling residents that it’s a challenging economy. Residents need realistic expectations about what government can do during a lean year like 2009. The commitment toward progress is there, but the resources are limited.

Fayetteville Forward - The multi-day summit held last spring was a success, he said. Residents charted a course for the city that is already “paying dividends for the city.” [Full disclosure: I'm a member of one of the committees that emerged from the summit, the Creative Economy Committee. I have no financial interest in the group.]

Bringing UAMS to Fayetteville - University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Northwest opened its doors to students this fall. It will be a boon to the community, Jordan said.

Green jobs with a living wage -  Jordan said this is his top priority for 2010. He wants to continue building a coalition of funding partner to get a Green Jobs Training Center built-in the city.

Open government – During 2009, the city revamped and expanded its Web site, Access Fayetteville to include better site navigation, more transparency in departments and an enhanced ability to gather public input, he said. Four “Town Hall” meetings have been held for people to voice concerns and the city has reached out through social media, like Facebook and Twitter. Jordan also mentioned that the Governmental Channel’s informational programming was improved last year.

Physical and online infrastructure improvements – The city’s new District Court building was completed on budget and on time, he said. The city has continued to keep up and build on its existing infrastructure, including streets and trails. The city’s planning division created a digital submission process for developers and the police department added online crime reporting for minor crimes and a searchable database of warrants for the public.

Thousands of volunteer hours – Fayetteville was named an Arkansas’ 2009 Volunteer City of the Year because of residents’ dedication, he said. These acts and donations of time “go unacknowledged but not unappreciated.”

Commitment to sustainability and environmental concerns – The city converted its lights from traditional lighting to the more energy-efficient LED lighting, he said. A light bulb exchange began with community housing to provide CFL bulbs instead of traditional ones. The city also expanded the trail system, established a community garden project, started planting native grasses in some parks and planted and offered free trees to residents, he said.

Facing the economic challenge – The city has responded to budget shortfalls this year by using sound management principles and trying to keep up a high-level of public trust, he said. Jordan spoke in support of the proposed May 18 ballot issue that would allow the parks division to use money for maintainance that is now dedicated to promotion and development of parks.

Buy local – Last year, the city held a reverse vendor workshop in an effort to get more local businesses bidding on city projects, materials and services. Jordan encouraged residents to continue to buy productions in Fayetteville from Fayetteville businesses to inject money into the local economy.

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