There’s an old saying that we should “act like the person we want to become.” Apparently the management at Pine Bluff’s Grider Field has taken this admonishment to heart. As recently reported in the Commercial, airport manager Doug Hale asked the Pine Bluff Aviation Commission to allocate an estimated $9,000 for new lobby furniture, a breakroom table and chairs, office furniture for Hale, quiet room recliners, entrance mats and waste receptacles.
While we are under no delusion that a majority of area visitors first experience Pine Bluff through our airport, we should nonetheless put our best foot forward for those who do. As we have stated innumerable times in this forum, we alone are responsible for managing the impression we make on the outside world. Having a new-in-town corporate executive step off the stairs of her Learjet and into a lobby filled with shopworn and rump-sprung old furniture doesn’t accord with the tone we need to set. Hale agrees. He told the commission that the facility could “make do” with its existing furnishings, but “it (would not) be well-received to reuse our ‘vintage’ furniture in public areas. The lobby needs a comfortable and attractive sitting arrangement for our guests.”
Given the vast array of improvements made at the airport, to start penny pinching now would be akin to buying a new Cadillac, but strapping lawn chairs where the seats should be. It’s just antithetical to whole idea.
Fortunately, the commission is on board with Hale’s reasoning. As reported, Commission Chairman Ken Johnson and director Leon Scallion noted that the airport has a vital role in making a positive impression on incoming “people of commerce” to whom our economic futures are attached. Johnson also stressed that new aviation-themed art might serve to give visitors an even more favorable outlook on the region and the airport itself. Hale said some artwork is in storage and he would look at acquiring more.
As to the mechanisms of funding for these improvements, Johnson reminded attendees that the ongoing terminal improvements were enabled by grant monies that would probably be unavailable today.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“We would have missed the grants if we hadn’t previously applied,” he said.
The grants were 80-20 matching agreements received through the city, which provided the lesser amounts. While the city’s part in the matter was the locus of needless (yet predictable) controversy, the local political leadership eventually did the right thing.
While many residents may deride improvements like the airport, Sarasen Landing and its nearby walking trail as mere window dressing, such things are the stuff separating the merely tolerable from the desirable when outsiders weigh our viability.
For those who have traveled to more stable and successful environs, this point is self-evident. Every community in America has similar things: roads, houses, businesses and schools. Not every community has clean, well-lit streets, attractive neighborhoods, thriving businesses and successful schools. As we look toward the future, it is incumbent upon us to ponder the differences between those places of greater magnetism and our hometown. What makes them so different from us? Moreover, what must we do to get closer to that ideal? A good first step is to model the positive behavior that we want to spread — to act like the town we want to become.