Potential conflicts hit cultural-tourism concept

An aggressive plan was presented to the Pine Bluff Advertising and Promotion Commission last week to spend $ 1.5 million over seven years on developing part of the downtown area to capitalize on the popularity of cultural and cultural tourism. However, it is unclear whether the Commissioners can even vote on the matter at this point because of possible conflicts of interest.

A two-hour meeting cited the case that tourism is a driving force in history, art and culture in many communities, but not in Pine Bluff.

“Pine Bluff sits on a gold mine of history and culture that has never been explored,” said Sheri Storie, director of the commission. “The culture and history of this city is huge. Pine Bluff has been missing out on those tourism dollars for many, many years. Pine Bluff tourism basically doesn’t exist.”

Storie said the lack of tourism was brought to her home when commission income from taxing hotel accommodation and prepared food actually rose slightly over the past year. If Pine Bluff had been like many other cities with tourism, the city would have lost significant revenue last year when tourism dollars dried up during the pandemic.

“That’s because we don’t have any actual tourism dollars in town,” she said. “And if we don’t do anything, we’ll keep losing those actual dollars.”

Storie set the stage, first for Janice Cook, Chair of the Pine Bluff-Jefferson County’s Natural Heritage Trails Task Force, who spoke briefly about the need for Pine Bluff to tell its story, and then for Jimmy Cunningham, executive director of the Delta Rhythm & Bayous Alliance who spoke passionately for more than an hour about his vision of a downtown area that includes geographic features that describe Pine Bluff’s past.

The idea is to take an area roughly from Eighth Avenue and State Street to Pine Bluff Regional Park and create the infrastructure that highlights historical events and eras.

The stories would include blues, art, economics, war, cotton production, film and television, slavery, and civil rights.

Cunningham said some cities are happy to have two or three stories to tell, but Pine Bluff has 30+.

“We have all of this history in one little corridor,” said Cunningham. “We have stories and mega-stories.”

As the various elements of Pine Bluff’s historical, artistic, and cultural past evolve, the city could bind itself to state, regional, and national “hiking trails” that highlight the same elements to a wider tourist audience. These affiliated collectives include the US Civil Rights Trail, the Americana Music Triangle, the Trail of Tears, the Cotton Kingdom Trail, the Southern Literary Trail, the Equal Justice Institute’s Community Remembrance Program, the Arkansas Civil War Trail, the Underground Railroad, and Arkansas Delta Music Trail and the Arkansas Quilt Trail.

Most of the so-called Delta Rhythm & Bayous Cultural District Corridor of Pine Bluff would have a “visitor experience” that would allow him to be included on any of these major tourist routes. According to Cunningham, these trails are populated by tourist-minded “well-educated baby boomers” who “spend more, stay longer and travel more often”.

Cunningham then informed commissioners that smaller towns had developed at least part of their tourism potential and were benefiting from this investment. He based this argument on the number of comments visitors made on Tripadvisor.com about tourist attractions in three other cities. Cunningham said that such a method is not scientific, but that the numbers are worth mentioning.

For example, in New Iberia, La., Left 902 reviews for seven tourist websites. New Iberia has a population of approximately 29,000.

In Clarksdale, Miss., A resident of 15,734, tourists left more than 2,000 reviews spread across seven websites.

And in Paducah, Kentucky, of 25,000 residents, tourists have posted nearly 3,000 reviews on a handful of websites.

However, Pine Bluff, with a larger population of around 40,000, only had 126 ratings.

“What is suggesting is that what we have here is not enough,” said Cunningham. “You can set up all the hotels and restaurants you want, but if the foundation of your tourism endeavors isn’t solid, people won’t come.”

Cunningham said Pine Bluff should make $ 300 million a year in the tourism business but sees only a fraction of that.

Pine Bluff’s venues focused on historical elements such as the Native American past, black history, cotton growing, the city’s Jewish heritage, the Civil War, and the Battle of Pine Bluff. Other assets that would add value to the corridor would be a black theater, the shotgun houses and the environments where slaves lived, as well as the stories of runaway slaves. There would also be a small entertainment venue called The Crawfish and a larger one called the Catfish Pavilion, which would allow the city to take full advantage of the annual festivals that are the hallmark of many smaller towns.

Cunningham said there would also be a study to determine the feasibility of a Delta Public Market that would allow vendors who do not have fixed locations to sell vegetables, groceries, dishes, art and antiques.

The seed money for the company would come from the commission, Storie said, with some coming from grants and others from other commission expenses.

Commissioner Bill Moss was quick to throw his support behind the plan, saying the faster the commission acts, the more likely it is that the commission could attract appropriate federal dollars.

“Time is of the essence,” said Moss. “We have to have our ducks in a row. We did our homework. I can guarantee you that no other community in the state of Arkansas will focus on African American history.”

But not all commissioners have expressed their support. Commission chair Rosie Pettigrew said the plan needed more entertainment for children and families. She also asked why only Jewish engagement was mentioned in the story of Pine Bluff, while other groups, such as people from China, also played a role in the city’s growth.

“I would like to see other ethnic groups,” she said.

Storie replied, saying that there are other places in town for children and families, such as the Nature Center and the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas.

“That’s not enough,” said Pettigrew.

“No, but that’s not the be-all and end-all of what needs to be done here,” said Storie, adding, “this is not the final version of this plan.”

Cunningham said that the themes of the historic sites the plan focuses on took place in those specific geographic areas.

“It’s based on the history of those places,” he said. “We don’t have to apologize for it. I don’t apologize for the specific space that gives the specific story. If the Chinese had a story in these places, we’ll add it. We’re just trying to follow the historical narrative of the areas. “

Commission vice-chair Berinda Eugene said she would also like to see more in the kids and families plan, adding that she disagrees that Pine Bluff has enough hotel and restaurant infrastructure to accommodate the To cope with influx of tourists. She also said that while she agreed that the narrative must be told by Pine Bluff, she said that the current crime narrative of the city must change before the city can attract tourists.

“I think we need to step back a little,” said Eugene, who went on to ask where the money for the upkeep of the venues will come from. “I have a lot of questions and I need to hear more before I can vote on anything.”

Commissioner Glen Brown Jr., who is also a member of the city council, countered, saying people must have a reason to visit a city.

“The thing is, you have to start somewhere,” he said.

After a pause in conversation, Moss made a motion for the proposal to be approved. It is planned that the commission will allocate $ 1.5 million to the project, which will be done in phases. The effort would be split into contributions of either $ 125,000 or $ 250,000 per year for seven years, with Storie pointing out that the total amount is “a drop in the bucket” of what the entire project will cost. That final balance is still being calculated, and the financial portion of Pine Bluff will depend on how much grant the project can attract, she said.

The motion was supported by Commissioner Lloyd Holcomb Jr., who is also a member of the city council, but the voting process began to fall apart at that point.

Commissioner Lelan Stice said he had to step down from a vote because he owned property in the proposed development area and stated that the value of his property would undoubtedly increase if the plan were implemented. Then both Pettigrew and Eugene said they too needed to reuse for the same reason.

After some additional discussion about whether there would actually be a conflict of interest and whether the three commissioners might be able to investigate the matter further on their own, Storie said she would ask prosecutor Althea Hadden-Scott for an opinion.

At that point, Holcomb withdrew his second motion on Moss and the session was suspended.

Later that week, Hadden-Scott told Storie that she believed there would be a problem with the commissioners voting on the proposal.

“In my opinion, there is a conflict of interest for [Advertising and Promotion] Property-owning commissioners are not right on the development path, but in the city center. … The value of their property would be directly affected by development, “Hadden-Scott wrote to Storie.

Storie said Thursday that she was considering the options the commission gave. However, the commission currently has seven members. There is currently one free space. But if three of the six current members re-use this, the other three won’t be able to pass commission laws as that requires four members, she said.

“I’m not sure where we’re going from here,” said Storie.

A tourism development centered on the heritage, art, and culture of Pine Bluff would include the area around Third Avenue and State Street. (Pine Bluff Commercial / Byron Tate)

A tourism development centered on the heritage, art, and culture of Pine Bluff would include the area around Third Avenue and State Street. (Pine Bluff Commercial / Byron Tate)