It falls under the large umbrella of “outside agencies,” and that includes everything from the Arkansas Symphony to museums. You know, the kind of nonsense we don’t need to pay for anyway. (Just using irony to make a point. Everybody settle down.)
Amenities like the symphony make the city a more attractive home for the kind of talented people who are big earners and big spenders at UAMS and Stephens Inc. We need culture and it seems a shame to hold up needed funds, even in hard times.
That gets us to Central Arkansas Transit. It is a government agency that provides the most basic transportation services for poor, older, and disabled people. Many or the riders are included in what we often call “the working poor.” These folks have already been devastated by the economic downturn and they will doubtless be joined by many others in the months ahead.
So, what’s the plan? The Democrat-Gazette provides some good coverage.
CATA accounts for the majority of the spending – $6.8 million in 2009. Little Rock shares the cost of the bus system with area cities, with each paying an amount based on routes and miles driven in their cities. Little Rock has the most routes and therefore pays the most.
But Little Rock city directors question whether the city is getting the most for its money, and some city directors, including Joan Adcock, advocate looking at reduced hours for the River Rail’s streetcars in downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock.
Adcock said she was shocked to see people walking back to their offices after President Bill Clinton’s Wednesday lunch celebrating the library’s fifth anniversary.
Director Adcock may have a point about the streetcars, but I think we should pause before making a whipping boy out of an obvious target. In the first place, the streetcars are a tourist attraction and should be in the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau budget. Let’s remember that the trolley cars provide a special service in what has become a tax generating venue for Central Arkansas.
Under no circumstances should the already skeletal bus operation be further compromised. If anything, CATA should be giving more service and expanding to cover the entire City of Little Rock. Yeah, the entire city! Isn’t that a radical concept?
Yes, close the neighborhood centers and fire the code inspectors that don’t do anything but harass property owners. Cut staff in cable television propaganda operation. Leave fire police and public transportation alone. That just makes common sense.
Oh, I forgot we are talking Little Rock City Hall.
Filed under: Little Rock
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