One of the greatest weapons used against Black people has always been to divide and conquer. The second has always been and remains to be misinformation. I call your attention to an editorial published on July 2, in The Commercial, headlined “Jimmy Cunningham is dancing yet again.”
The opinion’s fourth to last paragraph, as seen on page PB3, states: “As we’ve [The Pine Bluff Commercial] noted before, that agency, other than tearing down some wasted houses, has spent some $1.3 million in acquiring downtown properties and to date the agency doesn’t have a dime of revenue to show for it.”
There is credence to the saying everyone is entitled to an opinion, but not facts. In the 2017 plan proposed by Go Forward Pine Bluff, one of the initiatives was establishing a land bank. In our planning, we discovered urban renewal agencies can function as a land bank and have the legal authority to accomplish other redevelopment purposes.
The original Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency was authorized and organized in 1961 and disbanded in 1971. Fast-forward to 2017 — with hundreds of blighted and condemned properties in Pine Bluff — voters approved a general sales tax sponsored by Go Forward Pine Bluff aimed at addressing the issue. There was a need for an organization dedicated to, among other things, removing these properties.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
State Reps. Vivian Flowers, D-Pine Bluff, and Kenneth Ferguson, D-Pine Bluff, co-sponsored a bill in the Arkansas General Assembly that revived urban renewal agencies. The bill passed, and the Pine Bluff City Council renewed the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency and provided funding to execute the work.
It is a fact that the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency has spent over $1 million acquiring property per the downtown master plan and vision. In the revitalization process, obtaining control of land is the first step. The second is to condition properties, including buildings, to attract investors. This will explain the status of the building acquired in downtown Pine Bluff by the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency. A land bank’s function is only partially to develop properties, if at all. The purpose is to create a repository of land and buildings to bring about private investment.
Efforts to attract investors — locally or beyond city borders — have proven difficult, particularly due to the covid-19 pandemic. Yet, the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency announced in a public meeting and reported to the Pine Bluff Commercial the successful recruitment of Pines 1 Development. In their response, Pines 1 Development submitted a $20 million financial commitment to the Delta Rhythm and Bayous Arts District Neighborhood.
Fast-forward to July 6, 2023, the Pine Bluff Planning Commission approved the first installation of multifamily housing, where Pines 1 Development will make its first seven-figure investment in downtown Pine Bluff. The statement that the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency has not received a dime for the properties acquired is false, and that has been known for over a year.
You may have noted that the investor was interested in the Delta Rhythm and Bayous Arts District Neighborhood, a theme coined by the Delta Rhythm and Bayous Alliance. How or why did Urban Renewal recruit an investor dealing with something associated with Mr. Cunningham’s work? Upon taking my position in 2017, I learned that Mr. Cunningham did not get an opportunity to speak during the Go Forward Pine Bluff planning phase (for whatever reason). I formerly introduced Mr. Cunningham to the downtown master plan designer. The two walked the streets of downtown Pine Bluff and Mr. Cunningham’s concepts were implemented in the publication of the Re-Live Downtown Plan (see page 108).
This information is vital because it seems to be the intent of the Pine Bluff Commercial to divide the Black community by perpetuating an “us vs. them” contest, where only one side gets resources, and the one who does not get resources should envy the other.
Does that not also sound like the divisive tactics used during slavery to create bias based on skin color and perceived better working conditions (field negro vs. house negro)? Whether it is their intent or not, the actions divide the Black community. Where there is division, there is no progress.
Further, the Pine Bluff Branch NAACP leadership and the Pine Bluff Commercial acting as its de facto public relations affiliate have produced a steady stream of unjust aspersions, accusations and incomplete information about Go Forward Pine Bluff and its programs in several public statements, editorials and news articles.
By inference, this tag team has painted a picture that casts Go Forward Pine Bluff as an enemy of African Americans in Pine Bluff and that interagency cooperation is a bad practice in the city’s government. The current factual results on how the tax sponsored by Go Forward Pine Bluff and private funds tell a different story:
Removal of dilapidated structures, > 98% in African American neighborhoods.
Generator Summer Learning Program, 100% African American children.
Teach Pine Bluff Teacher Certification, > 98% African American participants funded by Walton Family Foundation grants to Go Forward Pine Bluff. Pine Bluff is now part of the Home Region, indicating that the Walton Family Foundation is interested in Pine Bluff’s success.
Grant writer for the city of Pine Bluff, African American whose salary is paid by the 5/8th cent sales tax.; The salary investment has returned more than $4 million in grants for Pine Bluff, with more in the works.
ALICE Housing program, 44 African American families now living in their own homes who were not otherwise eligible for mortgage financing — with more in the works.
Completion of the Aquatics Center — Available to anyone who walks in.
The Pine Bluff Community Center is mostly used by African Americans.
First responder housing allowance – all but three African American beneficiaries.
Financial support for the King Cotton Basketball Classic – Benefits predominantly African American athletes and their families in an open-to-the-public event.
All but two applicants (one being John Fenley) for the Sixth and Main retail and restaurant vendors are Black-owned enterprises.
The opinion’s headline is further misleading because one may think Mr. Cunningham will receive a $590,000 check to begin executing the project. Like Go Forward Pine Bluff, the Delta Rhythm and Bayous Alliance is private and cannot receive public dollars. The mayor and City Council budget dollars into city commissions or departments for the execution of city plans.
With funds budgeted within Pine Bluff Economic and Community Development (PBECD) for the Delta Rhythm and Bayous Alliance, it will likely take advice from the alliance on how to spend the funds, forming an interagency public-private partnership. Should we understand that the PBECD will become the little sister agency to the Delta Rhythm and Bayous Alliance like the Pine Bluff Commercial describes the relationship between Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency and Go Forward Pine Bluff for doing the same? Well, the answer is no!
The two will work together and bring about development. Public-private partnerships are essential to that cause. To that end, Go Forward Pine Bluff has successfully convinced Blacks and more whites to invest in this predominantly Black community prior to the national racial reckoning spurred by the killing of George Floyd. Folks, I’m here to tell you whites investing in predominantly Black communities is unheard of across America, but it’s called Pine Bluff Pride here.
Lastly, the opinion referenced in the beginning also characterizes our mayor’s manner of speaking about her proactive measure to propose a budget adjustment that would allocate funding for the Delta Rhythm and Bayous cultural district to PBECD as pitiful.
Precisely written, “Mayor Washington weighed in in a rather pitiful way and said she would make a budget adjustment so that Cunningham could have the money and that the city would try its darnedest to find the rest next year.”
This citizenry worked hard to elect the first Black woman mayor, who performs the job as a volunteer. Mayor Washington can be found personally cleaning ditches, pulling weeds from medians and flower beds, and falling asleep upright in warming centers. Meanwhile, she has successfully brought in over eight figures in private monies during her seven-year administration. To have our leader’s comments described as pitiful further works toward dividing the community.
Mayor Washington forges productive partnerships with any entity that will push the city forward. Whether it’s the Delta Rhythm and Bayous Alliance, Go Forward Pine Bluff or other entities such as the Chamber and Pine Bluff Downtown Development. We are all working to bring more resources to our city.
I’m asking that we bury the hatchets and put our differences aside for that common cause. Most importantly, and to aid our pursuit, we need investors that are considering Pine Bluff to read the Pine Bluff Commercial and be encouraged to invest! Otherwise, we will all go out of business. Ask Helena.
Ryan Watley is CEO of Go Forward Pine Bluff.