In a little more than a month, Pine Bluff voters will not only decide the fate of a proposed five-eighths cent sales tax designed to help restore our city, but also the fate of the city itself. Go Forward Pine Bluff’s initiative is that important. It has the ability to transform our community from stem to stern, if only everyone will get on board and support it.
It’s no secret that this editorial page has long supported the Go Forward initiative. But today we are here to offer some friendly advice to our friends who have worked so hard on the plan. It seems that some people we speak with around town feel as if the plan doesn’t include them. In other words, they feel like it’s a bunch of ideas created by elite residents who are trying to tell middle class-and-below residents what to do.
While we know that’s not the case, we don’t feel that Go Forward is doing enough to explain the plan to this group of people. Yes, there have been four public meetings in all four wards of our city, along with many other get-togethers explaining Go Forward.
But the spokesmen are always the same people each time. Our thinking is this: Go Forward should have representatives from all walks of life fanning out into our community to spread the good word. When you have the same faces over and over again at these meetings, frankly, it gets dull. And that’s nothing against you, Tommy May, Mary Pringos and Carla Martin. We think the world of all of you, and your work has been invaluable.
Additionally, we haven’t seen any marketing efforts throughout the city regarding Go Forward. We are hoping that billboards, yard signs and the like will be coming soon. We would also like to see advertising in our newspaper and in other media outlets as well. Don’t get us wrong, we think that the Go Forward folks are doing a bang-up job as it is. It’s just that we think more needs to be done if this tax is going to pass.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The thing is, Go Forward has to make the barely-scraping-by family feel like the plan is going to help them succeed. We know that a renovated downtown will attract people to our city, along with jobs, which, in turn, will trickle down and benefit everyone. At least that’s the hope. We also know that the other pillars of the Go Forward plan, such as improving education, are also vital.
But many in the city don’t feel the same. So it’s important to show them how this plan can benefit their lives.
“Why should I vote for something when no one is making me feel like I am a part of the plan?” one man who recently called our newsroom said. “No one ever asked me what I wanted.”
We aren’t exactly sure how Go Forward can go about making folks like this gentlemen feel like they are part of the plan, but perhaps creating neighborhood Go Forward liaisons — trusted people and friends of residents like him — in each ward could be a start. Community forums aren’t enough. It’s going to take door-to-door, shoe leather work to convince the naysayers. We just hope there is enough time left before the election to do that.