The Pine Bluff City Council, at least part of that group, had a bit of trouble pouring more money into a would-be go-kart track. That’s understandable.
At a recent meeting, the discussion point was to put $300,000 in tax revenue into the project with the money ostensibly coming from that same amount of cash that was recouped from a theft of more than twice that figure from the Urban Renewal Agency.
As the story went, some council members expressed reluctance to put money toward the project, considering its progress to date. And its progress to date, we should point out, is nil, other than the tearing down of the old Admiral Benbow Inn at a cost of thousands of dollars when, heaven knows, there had to have been an abundance of other locations without old motels on them.
As a reminder, this is a Go Forward Pine Bluff project that was supposed to have been finished — as in tiny little go-karts zooming around a track — last fall. Check the calendar to see that we have now reached another autumn. Then the finish line was pushed to this past spring. As it stands, there is a temporary fence, which is sometimes in place and sometimes knocked askew, surrounding a dirt field on which one can occasionally see deer grazing. Vroom!
The hesitation to put more tax money toward a project that has stalled is reasonable. If the thing was a half or a quarter done, one might be inclined to help. But the current status should lead city leaders to ask such questions as: If the project was going to be finished all those times before, why hasn’t work even started? Why is $300,000 needed if there’s no evidence of other money being spent?
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Excuses, whatever they are, are not satisfactory reasons. Building a go-kart track should not be this difficult — not if proper planning has taken place — and for the project to be no further along than it is today, that should be enough to scare off any additional appropriations of tax dollars. As in don’t throw good money after bad.
A better use of that money would be to support Opportunity House. That’s the facility located in the old First Ward School where a homeless shelter was promised. The shelter was the brainchild of Mayor Shirley Washington, but the mayor far far over-promised and under-delivered on the project, giving the facility only $100,000 when $500,000 a year had been promised. Consequently, the shelter is not a shelter but is in fact a part-time day room.
But with another $300,000, well, that would change the outlook quite a bit, at least allowing the day room to operate all five days of the week, and the influx of cash might be enough to get the place headed toward being an actual shelter.
Think about it: a go-kart track that has gone nowhere and will likely end up arriving exactly there after it’s finished or an overnight facility, where the least of these can find comfort and where, even with its limited operation, it is already making a difference. Remember, Pine Bluff has no shelter now since the Salvation Army closed its overnight facility.
Also remember that Washington’s rationale for creating a shelter was because the city has an overabundance of unhoused individuals. Does that not add some urgency to this discussion? In comparison, we know of no one whose life would be changed by a go-kart track.