Global Village - December, 1998 - by Carolyn Green "The reign of overdevelopers and speculators in city government is nearing an end. The passing will be none too soon," I wrote in last month's Global Village. The runoff election on November 25 made this a prediction come true. Our new mayor, a resident of the Historic District and gallery owner, Beau Satori, has indicated that the ways things were once done does not have to mean that is the way they WILL be done now. Two new councilmembers replaced aldermen who had voted consistently for 2-4 years down the party line of overdevelopment. Could preservationists and environmentalists ask for anything more than a friendly Mayor and Council? I can't imagine a better beginning. In the general election, November 3, citizens voted down a multi-million dollar project for "upgrading" our wastewater treatment plant which had as its basic factor the growth of tourism. The public approved a sales tax for our Parks and Recreation Commission, a move we see as one in which citizens decided to provide some amenities for ourselves with tourism the by-product, not the focus. The road to creating a more open and environmentally conscious city government began in the late 1970's, some say. My involvement began in 1982, when Jack Albert, who owns the Oasis Restaurant, ran for mayor against one of the original overdevelopers. Albert was new in town, owned no property, had no visible business, and was unknown. Nevertheless, he won 45% of the vote. So we knew at that time that it was possible to go over the top. It has taken 16 years to get the additional 6% to win. Our new mayor won 53.6% of the vote. Some feel that we finally achieved this goal because of our cleaning up the election rolls as well as we did 4 years ago. We have had a serious battle in eliminating the entrenched illegal voters, and the habit of wanting to run the town from afar continued into the general election when the president of the Chamber of Commerce voted illegally, using the address where he had lived in town six months previously. He had boasted to friends, "Of course I will vote in the election...I'm the president of the Chamber of Commerce." With only a few other seriously recalcitrant illegal voters, we felt confident that the vote would reflect the true feelings of citizens of Eureka Springs. Working now at creating our future, we find that it is actually difficult ridding ourselves of the habit of trying to figure out how to circumvent the entrenched process in order to achieve our goals. To start work on our visions now means being very clear about what we want to accomplish. We have anticipations that not only can our viewpoints be heard at City Council, but that Mayor Beau will listen equally to all citizens' concerns. Previously, we often had trouble getting a spot on the agenda and then would usually be given 2 minutes in which to espouse a concern or idea for change. We want to see that developers and land speculators have the same opportunity and access to city government that all citizens can now enjoy...in other words, we do not want to see the tables turned. We would call upon the developers and land speculators to redirect their energies to bring to our community what will make the city great. This would be predicated on seeing Eureka Springs as a community, not as a tourist trap. Toward this end, a new book, Cities: Back from the Edge...New Life for Downtown, by Gratz and Nimitz, will provide helpful insight and inspiration as we continue this journey toward creating community. The book quotes H.L. Mencken: "For every complex, difficult problem there is a simple, easy solution...and it is wrong." We would refer to city government's recent attempt to solve our wastewater problem by paying big bucks to an engineering firm to use methods acceptable in the past but not particularly applicable to an environmentally sane, sustainable system. What may be simple and easy is not necessarily the way we must proceed in order to obtain the very best method for now and the future. We are face to face with our future, and it is now. What a challenge it is to embark upon a journey of an open, democratically organized city government. What a pleasure it will be to begin work on environmentally, economically and socially sustainable systems. Our global village of Eureka Springs, Arkansas can become that model which many of us have envisioned for many years. As a microcosm of the planet, we can set an example that will be replicated far and wide. For we can show that it is possible through a populist paradigm to create our future so that we all can find pleasure. Return to Eureka People