Maybe more deep breaths and planning are in order.
Debra Allen operates a food pantry in Pine Bluff that has been located at the old Southeast Middle School on Ohio Street. Mayor Shirley Washington wants to use that space and that area as part of a low-income housing development and has told Allen she will have to vacate the premises. Time is starting to run short. You get the drift.
Pine Bluff City Council members, eager to come to the rescue, have said she can use the old fire station on Commerce Road. And that may be fine, but we suggest implementing the one-step-at-a-time adage.
The first stop would have been to talk to Fire Chief Shauwn Howell. He uses the building and has plans for it, but he said no one approached him about taking the facility, which was replaced by a new one built near Saracen Casino. That is disrespectful to the chief, and it would just take a phone call or a meeting. Not a hard thing. Maybe there are other options for his plans. Or other options could be developed.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The other steps, however, need to be pushed through the same city departments that every other project has to go through. That was pointed out by City Attorney Althea Scott, who told the well-intentioned council members that the legislation they were considering, which was to offer the building to Allen, was premature. The reason, Scott said, is because the proposal needs to go to the Planning Commission.
Lakisha Hill, a zoning official, put a finer point on the subject, saying the city has to make the move on the proposal for Allen to use the building because the city, not Allen, owns the property.
“The mayor has to sign off on applications that come before the Planning Commission for the utilization of those buildings,” Hill said. “Somebody is going to have to give permission for the application to come from the city to the planning committee for the use of that building because Mrs. Allen just can’t apply to inhabit herself in the building.”
The proper course of action, it would appear, would be to allow the city processes to work. What additional traffic would putting Allen’s pantry there create? Her food giveaway days can attract miles of vehicles, so we hear. Could the two-laned Commerce Road handle such? How would the neighbors feel about all of it? They get a say, according to the planning folks. All of these unknowns would likely become known if this is given more time to simmer.
Allen gives food to lots and lots of people. She needs a place from which to do that. If the old fire station works, and everyone is happy with it, that’s great. But let’s get all of the facts on the table and let the city’s departments that handle such matters every day take a crack at this. In the end, the city and Allen will have a much better idea if this would work.