Earth Fest in Rose Garden during 2008 Springfest in Fayetteville, Arkansas

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Geese and goslings make do with slim rations on Aspen Ridge detention to avoid crowd at baseball games.

Please enlarge photo of geese and four goslings on Aspen Ridge/Hill Place detention pond on Aprile 23, 2008..

Please click on image to ENLARGE.

Wishes for LOVING THE EARTH DAY

Wise Words About Where We Live!
EARTH DAY is April 22. Our favorite columnist, Scott Shalaway, says that over the years, he has occasionally commemorated the event by quoting writers, philosophers and scientists who inspire love and respect for the planet. He does this to provoke thought and because words used wisely can change the world. We thought you might enjoy reading and saving some of them for future reflection:

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed." -- Gandhi

"Humanity must stop behaving like a Gengis Khan of the solar system and think of itself ... as nature's co-pilot." -- Edgar Morin, French sociologist

"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell." -- Edward Abbey

"Live simply so that others may simply live." -- Ghandi

"Look deeply into nature, and then you will understand everything better." -- Albert Einstein

"Go outside!" -- Eriks Janelsins

"Away from nature, Man's heart becomes hard." "Lack of respect for growing, living things leads to lack of respect for humans, as well." -- Lakota sayings

"I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own." -- Andy Warhol

"The idea of wilderness needs no defenses, it only needs more defenders." -- Edward Abbey

"After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on, and have found that none of these finally satisfies, what remains? Nature remains." -- Walt Whitman.

We hope that your Earth Day was both meaningful and worthwhile!


Tom Patrick
WindStar Wildlife Institute

Photo set from Sunday's Earth Day Celebration at World Peace Wetland Prairie will grow until complete

Please see first 33 photos in set of

Earth Day 2008 photos from World Peace Wetland Prairie and return later to see more!

Please click on image to enlarge aerial photo of World Peace Wetland Prairie

Cottontail rabbit on World Peace Wetland Prairie

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Monarchs sailing northeast Tuesday and some pause for nectar on World Peace Wetland Prairie in time for Earth Day celebration Sunday afternoon

2007 photos from World Peace Wetland Prairie and 2008 Earth Day announcement



Please click on image to ENLARGE photo of monarch butterfly feeding on dandelion.





I saw my first yellow swallowtail butterfly for the year on about 11:20 a.m. Wednesday. Spring has sprung!

If you don't have room to plant an oak, you can get some free ones April 19 to plant on some public areas that recently were stripped of vegetation

Call the Sierra Club at 479-530-8328 to get free oak trees or volunteer on Saturday April 19.









































Please click on images to enlarge photo above of Scull Creek Trail viewed from south of Maple Street and photo below of Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River west of the Ladyback Soccer Field. Obviously, whoever decided to remove all the vegetation with excellent bird-nesting habitat and great importance in the effort to decrease the load of silt pouring off the campus into the Town Branch didn't get this memo:
University of Arkansas Sustainability plan
Similarly, the city trail plan didn't consider the city's sustainability effort in removing the big shade trees along the Scull Creek trail corridor. It seems that emphasizing the idea that the trails are only a part of the transportation system fails to take into account the environmental damage of construction or routing and fails to provide consideration of natural resources. Instead of offering a shady, natural setting with wildlife and wildflowers and relief from the urban environment's overwhelming streetscape, poorly planned trails simply add hot space to the city.

Please volunteer April 19 to help give away oak trees in Fayetteville and Rogers

From Dina Nash of the Arkansas Sierra Club:
The Arkansas Forestry Commission asked if the Sierra Club would like to do a tree give-away project: They have 50,000 extra 3-foot-tall oak trees (Willow oaks, Water oaks, Shumard oaks, and Pin oaks) and they'd like to give them away.  I said yes, and we very much need your members to volunteer some hours to help take these little trees out of the paper bundle of 100 trees, put 1 or 2 in a bag, tape the top of the bag with masking tape, and give them to people who will promise to water them once or twice a week for several months so they will get a good start.

So if you have 3 or more hours to help give away trees to help global warming, please email or call me ASAP, so I can plan who'll be there to take care of the give-away table:

    Location:  Wal-Mart on Mall Drive at Joyce Street, a block west of College.
                   Near the Garden Center
                   10 AM-4 PM  (3 hour shifts, 10-1 and 1-4, or the whole 6 hours)
                   Three people per shift, some bagging, some taping, and some
                     handing out trees and putting the planting info sheet with them

                   An easy way to green up some bare places you may know of, too.
                   Take some home to your yard, church, school, or farm!  Give some
                   to neighbors who lost a tree in a storm, etc.
There are also openings at the Rogers Wal-Mart on Walnut Street on the l9th!!
Thanks so much for making this a success: please call me at 530-8328 My cell phone is in the 479 area code so Fayetteville friends don't need to make a long-distance call to reach me in Little Rock.  Or you can email me at Dina_Nash@yahoo.com .

Thanks,
Dina Nash, Vice Pres. Central AR Sierra Club
479-530-8328 
Little Rock

If you can't reach Dina, you may call Aubrey Shepherd at 479-444-6072 for information. You need not be a Sierra Club member to participate.

Keep the Water Where It Falls — Earth Day at World Peace Wetland Prairie from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday April 20

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE to ENLARGE photo of Lonicera sempervirens, the native trumpet honeysuckle about to bloom April 9, 2008, on World Peace Wetland Prairie.





















Fayetteville's Town Branch Neighborhood and the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology have announced that the Fourth Earth Day Celebration since the Founding of World Peace Wetland Prairie, a city-owned nature park and natural rain garden in south Fayetteville, is planned for 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, April 20, 2008.
Nature walks will be led by local biologists and nature enthusiasts, highlighting Arkansas native plants and describing the value of natural wetland and its function for stormwater abatement and cleansing in an urban environment.
Information from founding organizations and area environmental groups will be offered as well as an opportunity to participate in planting trees, native grass and flowering plants and in helping remove Japanese honeysuckle, fescue and other non-native invasive species. Some small trees and possibly some flowering plants will be available for adoption.
Musicians and poets are invited to perform with acoustic instruments; and environmentally friendly songs and poems are especially welcome. Activities suitable for small children will be offered.
Bird-watchers are encouraged to come at dawn or stay until dark. Bring a camera or video recorder. Nice photo opportunities are likely.
The theme for 2008 is "Keep the Water Where it Falls, Maintain the Habitat."
Updated information on plans for Earth Day activities at 1121 South Duncan Avenue in Fayetteville may be found at
http://worldpeacewetlandprairie.blogspot.com
Links to photo albums and slide shows on WPWP flora and fauna may be found at
http://www.worldpeacewetlandprairie.com
Remember: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday April 20, 2008

Join Planet Works to Advise Legislators on climate-change issues

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE:

Plant a tree to help cool the earth

List of trees to be offered free on Saturday

Gov. Beebe addresses joint session of Arkansas General Assembly

For full text of
Governor Beebe addressing joint legislative session
click the link.

Information on renewable energy in Arkansas

Arkansas Energy Offiice

The ADEQ director's position described below and the Arkansas Energy Office's efforts (click on link above) to educate the public illustrate how badly Arkansas needs an umbrella agency to include all environmental issues and see that we do the right thing!

A single wildlife biologist writing a basic report on the destruction of habitat for a coal plant should prevent its creation.
A single water-quality expert or air-quality expert writing a simple report on the project should prevent it.

A single county agent writing a soil-erosion and quality reduction report on the project should prevent it.

As our state operates now, nothing — nor everything — written or spoken by such state-paid experts will stop it. This is an issue the governor and legislature should be addressing along with the severance tax at the legislative session that begins Monday.

CANCELED: Watershed meeting in Rogers brings water warriors from across country

NWA Morning News on Illinois River watershed trial in Oklahoma
NOT TOO LATE.
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE.

Our Suicide Mission with Coal

Our Suicide Mission with Coal

By Kelpie Wilson, TruthOut.org
Posted on March 25, 2008, Printed on March 25, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/80521/

As the global energy/climate crisis deepens, coal has become the starkest symbol and most telling measure of our predicament. Coal produces more carbon emissions than other energy sources -- more than twice that of natural gas per unit of energy output. Consequently, coal-fired power plants are responsible for about one-third of US emissions of carbon dioxide. Despite this, we are mining and burning more coal than ever.
On March 18, the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) released an analysis of EPA data showing that carbon dioxide emissions from the electric power industry increased by 2.9 percent in 2007 and have risen 5.9 percent since 2002. Coal is the culprit.
According to an Associated Press report, the cause of last year's increase was a combination of three factors: increased electricity demand; a shortage of hydroelectric power, leading to greater reliance on coal, and the reduced efficiency of aging coal-burning power plants.
While utilities around the nation have plans to construct more than 100 new coal-fired power plants, public concern over global warming and toxic pollution has put the brakes on many of them. Last year in Texas, public interest groups prevented TXU Energy from going ahead on eight new coal-fired plants that would have increased the state's emissions by 24 percent, according to the EIP report.
But as demand for electricity rises and cleaner fuels like natural gas get scarcer and more expensive, the relentless pressure to burn coal fuels delusions such as "clean coal."
"Clean coal" is a combination of two technologies, one of which is expensive and the other completely unproven. The expensive one is coal gasification, and it is a genuinely cleaner way of burning coal. It involves baking coal to drive off gasses that aren't much dirtier than natural gas, and the gasses then are burned for power production. This technology costs a minimum of 20 percent more than a conventional pulverized coal plant, which is why only two such plants exist in the United States.
The other part of the "clean coal" scheme involves carbon capture and storage. This technology is not proven and the potential costs are enormous. A US Department of Energy pilot project called FutureGen was recently canceled with the DOE citing soaring cost projections among its reasons for ending the project.
But even if the "clean coal" idea were workable, the realities of the coal fuel cycle ensure that coal can never be truly clean.
At the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in Eugene, Oregon, in early March, a panel of citizen activists talked about the front and back ends of coal use: mining and waste disposal. Teri Blanton, of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth spoke about the heartbreak of mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia. The mining technique is dynamiting hundreds of thousand of acres of biologically diverse forest ecosystems to get at the coal underneath, and dumping the waste into streams. Blanton told the story of one of her neighbors who lost his land to a mining company. "When I say he lost his land," she said, "I mean he literally lost his land. One day he found that his land was just gone, blasted away to nothing."
According to the group Appalachian Voices, more than 800 square miles of mountains have already been destroyed by mountaintop removal and if the blasting continues unabated it will devastate an area the size of Delaware by 2010.
Coal mining also uses great quantities of water and pollutes streams in the process. Slurries of waste laden with toxic heavy metals are leaching into streams and river systems. Earthen impoundments that hold back the sludge are unstable and threaten communities. A sludge dam breach in 2000 in Martin County, Kentucky, dumped more than 300 million gallons of toxic sludge, killing virtually all aquatic life for 70 miles downstream of the spill.
Brad Bartlett of the Energy Minerals Law Center talked about the post-combustion end of coal. Air pollution controls at existing coal plants capture 125 million tons of pollutants, amounting to "the largest solid waste stream in the US," according to Bartlett. He said that it is not formally regulated as hazardous waste despite the presence of heavy metals and other toxins. Some of it is used to make building materials and roads, but the rest is just landfilled.
When you think of Alaska, you usually think of oil, not coal, but Vanessa Salinas of Alaskans for Responsible Mining said that Alaska also has huge amounts of coal -- about one-eighth of the world's coal reserves and half of US coal reserves. Currently there is only one operating coal mine in Alaska, but BHP Billiton, the largest mining company in the world, is conducting an extensive coal exploration program and four new strip mines are being proposed.
Alaskans should be more concerned than most people, Salinas said, because global warming impacts are being felt more strongly in the Arctic than anywhere else. On February 26, the tiny village of Kivalina sued two dozen oil, power and coal companies over their greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. Melting sea ice is exposing the village to erosion from storm waves and surges.
Coal burning also threatens Alaska's famed fishing industry. Coal is notorious for its mercury pollution, and older marine fish are showing increasing levels of mercury. Salinas blamed coal burning pollution from Asia and noted that most of the coal mined in Alaska would be shipped to Asia. In this way Alaskans would poison their own fishing industry.
Salinas has worked with Native Alaskans to stop these coal mines. She said Native people have told her that they feel coal functions as "the liver of the world" and it should be left in the ground. Coal as the "liver" of the world is not a bad metaphor. Coal is not just another mineral; it is biological. It is the remains of ancient life. The liver cleanses toxins from the body, and coal, if left in the ground, keeps our climate cool and our air and water clean.
While Alaskan coal is destined to be shipped to Asia, it looks like Appalachian and even Wyoming coal will increasingly be shipped to Europe. Recent reports in The New York Times and The Washington Post describe a spike in global coal consumption. With the falling dollar value, American coal is now a bargain for overseas buyers; however, that is in the context of an overall price rise that is unprecedented. Spot market coal prices have risen by 50 percent or more in recent months. Coal consumption worldwide has increased by 30 percent over the last six years.
American electricity consumers are used to hearing that coal is much cheaper than renewable alternatives like solar and wind, but that might not be true for long. Consumers haven't seen the impact of expensive coal yet because most utilities lock in coal supplies with long-term contracts. Electricity rates will begin to shoot upwards when those contracts expire in the years ahead.
There is no chance that prices will come back down again either, because Peak Coal, like Peak Oil, is fast approaching. Journalist David Strahan, in a January 17 article for New Scientist, has documented what's known about coal reserves. He concludes that the official figures, like the official figures for recoverable oil reserves, have been vastly inflated.
On March 18, Standard & Poor's released a study concluding that utilities and states with Renewable Portfolio Standards need to do a better job of revealing how expensive their mandates for renewable solar and wind power will be. By that same token, utilities should be required to reveal all of the current and future costs for dirty and increasingly expensive coal power.
Kelpie Wilson is Truthout's environment editor. Trained as a mechanical engineer, she embarked on a career as a forest protection activist, then returned to engineering as a technical writer for the solar power industry.
© 2008 TruthOut.org All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/80521/

Tiffany to address Sierra Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas

Gladys Tiffany — president of the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology — is to be at Wednesday's Sierra Club meeting at Smiling Jack's to discuss OMNI's Carbon Caps Task Force. Please call with questions and invite everyone.
Molly Rawn
Sierra Club, Ozark Headwaters Group
Intern
(479) 879-1620

NWA Times gathers comment from legislators on severance-tax special session

Most legislators support call for special session on severance tax, by The NWA Times

Beebe calls special session on Severance Tax, reports The Morning News

Of the revenue generated, 95 percent would go to road improvements. Of that, 70 percent would go to state highways, and counties and cities would receive 15 percent each.

The remaining 5 percent would go to general revenue to replace the current tax, which amounted to less than $700,000 last year, and to fund environmental and conservation needs, Beebe said.
For the full story, click on the following link

Beebe calls special session on severance tax, by The Morning News or see your morning newspaper.

Upper White River Basin Foundation to honor successful watershed organizations

NOT TOO LATE. Rooms and conference seats remain available as of March 18, 2008.
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE.

Two members of University Union honored by Sierra Club. ENERGY SHIFT concert in Little Rock successful

Local 965 Members Honored by Sierra Club

Two members of AFSCME Local 965 were among those honored with Conservation Awards at the Arkansas Sierra Club's annual banquet last month.

Ward Four Alderman Lioneld Jordan received recognition as the sate's Outstanding City Official on environmental issues. The awards committee cited his tireless work on the Fayetteville City Council in promoting transportation impact fees to reduce the public cost of sprawl, his support for the Ozark Botanical Garden, acquisition of the Mt. Sequoyah Woods and the Brooks-Hummel Nature Preserve, his backing for the city's trail system, and his leadership in advocating bike lanes and a landscaped median on the Crossover Road project.

State Representative Lindsley Smith received recognition as a state official for having a 100% Environmental Voting Record on the Sierra Club Legislative Scorecard for the second consecutive session. The awards committee also noted her sponsorship of the Citizen Participation in Government Act that protects activists from expensive SLAPP lawsuits, an appropriation of state funds for construction of Scull Creek Trail, her legislation expanding the Wetlands Mitigation Bank Act to include additional aquatic resources, and the Net Metering Act to promote conservation and alternative energy resources.

Alderman Jordan is a supervisor with UA Facilities Management, and Representative Smith is a Research Assistant Professor of Communication. We add our congratulations to that from the Arkansas Sierra Club.



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Sierrans:
Please mark your calendar for what’s shaping up to be a great night of music and activism. Join us on Saturday, March 15th, for the first Sierra Club “ENERGY SHIFT” concert in Little Rock. It’s an all-ages show, full of great music and great opportunities to make YOUR voice heard against dirty coal-fired power plants. Four of the acts were semifinalists in this year’s Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase, and one will be in the finals next weekend.
Come hear some of Little Rock’s hottest rock and hip-hop acts, while you learn more about the dangers of the coal-fired power plants being proposed for Arkansas and what YOU can do to stop them.
Glen Hooks, Regional Representative
Sierra Club
1308 West 2nd Street
Little Rock, AR 72201
(501) 301-8280
(501) 744-2674 (cell)
glen.hooks@sierraclub.org
www.arkansas.sierraclub.org
www.myspace.com/arkansassierraclub
Tune into SIERRA CLUB RADIO Tuesday mornings at 9 a.m.
88.3 FM in Central Arkansas, or listen live online at www.kabf883.com

Town Branch Neighborhood Aspen Ridge/Hill Place meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday March 11, 2008, at S. Hill Av. Church of Christ

Omni Carbon caps Task Force – Agenda
Universalist Unitarian, 901 W. Cleveland*1, Fayetteville, AR 13 Mar 2008 @2:00PM

Introductions
Approval of Minutes of 2008 Feb 20
Approval of Agenda of 2008 Mar 13
Announcements
Reports
Governor's Commission/TWG – from Robert, Edward, or other TWG participants
Arkansas Coal Plants – from Robert
Caring for Creation – from Maya
Environmental awareness caucus, from ???
Planetwork – from Maya, Gladys, and Matt
Reaching out to the Democratic Party and Northeast Arkansas
Carbon Caps Fund – from Gladys
GW lobbyist with APP – from Gladys
O.L.L.I. collaboration opportunities – from Matt
Old Business
Springfest/Dickson St Music Festival – from Kelly or Donna or Matt
Arkansas Earth Day – from Robert / volunteer-gathering info from Matt
PSA's – from Dava / Gladys was finding student newspapers / will KUAF help us record audio versions?
Living It Green Expo
Buttons and hats – more detailed price structures from Edward and another design from Matt
Global Warming Videos – from Gladys
Scheduling the Commissioners for a CCTF fundraiser and a high school education event
New Business
Using Boozman's recent appointment as an opportunity for reaching out
Using the Internet more effectively – need more than a blog
Approval of Summary
Adjourn
*1 From Maple Street turn north onto Storer, continue to Cleveland, turn left, take the second driveway.

Lioneld Jordan to announce candidacy to be mayor of Fayetteville on the town square this afternoon

Lioneld to speak at 2 p.m. today at the downtown square in Fayetteville, Arkansas. In the meantime, visit

Lioneld Jordan's campaign to be mayor of Fayetteville online" for background information.

Developers give short notice of their plan to meet with Town Branch Neighborhood, City Council members. Neighbors surprised.

Presumptious developers tell neighbors about neighborhood meeting?"

Green Drinks every first Wednesday at Smiling Jacks behind Dickson Street Bookstore

Wednesday, March 5, 2008
5:30 pm to 7:00 pm
GREEN DRINKS!
A FIRST-WEDNESDAY-OF-EVERY-MONTH SOCIAL
will be at Smiling Jack's Fresh Foods behind Dickson Street Bookstore.
Offering all natural, organic, and locally grown foods, wine, and beer in a cozy college-town restaurant atmosphere.

Sierra Club sponsors ENERGY SHIFT concert in Little Rock on March 15, 2008

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE.


Sierrans:
Please mark your calendar for what’s shaping up to be a great night of music and activism. Join us on Saturday, March 15th, for the first Sierra Club “ENERGY SHIFT” concert in Little Rock. It’s an all-ages show, full of great music and great opportunities to make YOUR voice heard against dirty coal-fired power plants. Four of the acts were semifinalists in this year’s Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase, and one will be in the finals next weekend.
Come hear some of Little Rock’s hottest rock and hip-hop acts, while you learn more about the dangers of the coal-fired power plants being proposed for Arkansas and what YOU can do to stop them.
Glen Hooks, Regional Representative
Sierra Club
1308 West 2nd Street
Little Rock, AR 72201
(501) 301-8280
(501) 744-2674 (cell)
glen.hooks@sierraclub.org
www.arkansas.sierraclub.org
www.myspace.com/arkansassierraclub
Tune into SIERRA CLUB RADIO Tuesday mornings at 9 a.m.
88.3 FM in Central Arkansas, or listen live online at www.kabf883.com

Governor's, Sheffield Nelson's plans differ on severance tax

Beebe negotiating on severance tax 2/27/08

Neither would provide funding for environmental damage of natural-gas drilling and production.

ADEQ won't consider environmental danger of coal

ADEQ discussion of coal-fired plant won't consider environmental danger of coal
according to The Morning News.

Watershed protection group offers free brochure

Center for Watershed Protection free download of stream-protection brochures

Wetland lot gets reprieve from intense infill

Council decision on Arcadian Court in The Morning News




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When the city council of Fayetteville, Arkansas turned down an appeal by the developer of the propused Arcadian Court to build a bunch of small homes on a wetland lot across from the University Farm on W. Deane Street on Wednesday night not only residents of traditional neighborhoods nearby had to be pleased but also proponents of protecting wetland by "keeping water where it falls" were pleased.
Certainly, new plans for a less dense project will be offered, but every day a relatively natural area is protected counts for many reasons, especially for the unsuspecting and innocent living things inhabiting the land.
The lowest half of the property could remain as a natural rain garden instead of the developer creating a small and likely inadequate detention pond as shown on the previous plan. This is a clear example of the value of paying attention to the NIMBIES. People who have lived in an area usually have good reasons to dissent and be cynical about developers' plans, even though they can't possibly imagine all the problems a given project may cause. This is an example of how preventing the filling of land that previously was left alone has value.
The developer of this project is clearly a well-intentioned person who no doubt will find ways to use the lot that will reduce the damage to the environment. He can start by remodeling an existing home on the site rather than getting rid of an example of truly affordable housing.

Arcadian Court wetland on W. Deane Street

Council story in The Morning News




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Council story in The Morning News

Joyce Hale wins Sierra award as Unsung Heroine

Please click on image to enlarge.

OMNI Center named Environmental Organization of the Year by Arkansas Sierra Club

For list of winners in several categories, please see

Numerous Arkansans honored by Sierra Club

Would you put your sign up in front of this debacle?

Developers must replace trees


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East side soil and red dirt both eroding toward the West Fork of the White River

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Dead Horse Mountain Road crosses West Fork of the White River in the background

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silt fences, bales of hay both fail when not placed right and checked daily

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Red dirt runoff headed for West Fork of the White River

Please click on images to enlarge.

Comments on state-of-the-city address: Propose some really sustainable ordinances before you retire!

This red-dirt disaster bordered by Huntsville Road, Stone Bridge Road and Dead Horse Mountain Road might have been prevented by more scrutiny by staff members and council and mayor and planning commissioners and the PUBLIC before approval.
I visited a few neighbors on Friday and asked what was being built there. They didn't know and said they weren't informed or talked with before it happened. They all mentioned experiencing various levels of anger, frustration and significant discomfort since the earth-moving and tree-dozing began.
Regardless of whether the planning and engineering staff looked at the plans closely before approval or studied the site well enough beforehand, having a city inspector visit such sites once a day (and big ones like this in a critical point overlooking a floodplain and with a small stream running through it and wonderfully fertile and absorbent soil and many trees and vegetation should be visited at least twice every day after approval and until construction is complete) could have prevented a lot of the damage.
A city should never approve a single site more than its building inspectors, watershed inspectors and tree and landscape inspectors can visit daily.
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The following part of Mayor Dan Coody's state-of-the-city address concerns me in several ways.

"If a few individuals oppose any part of the project we will thwart the will of all the citizens who designed the plan, all the creative massaging of the Planning and Engineering staff, the citizen’s subcommittees, and the Planning Commission. In being hyper responsive to the individual, we completely discount the majority.

The ripple effects are serious. The developer, who is risking millions of private dollars in the project, just had his costs go up, making the price of everything in the project increase. That is bad for the consumer. The chances for financial success of the project are diminished. This is bad for the city and the developer, and it erodes the confidence of our city staff. It teaches the developer to avoid anything that is creative or innovative. It shows the developer how much easier, cheaper, and faster it would be just to do the same old sprawl-inducing, cookie-cutter, unimaginative development the public says, the staff says, and the Plan says we do not want."

The first paragraph needs some documentation. What problem-free project has been suppressed by the City Council because of a "few citizens' comments?

Dozens of long-time, highly respected people spoke to the council in opposition to the massive hotel planned for Dickson Street across from the post office. The council approved it. Only the filing of a strong lawsuit and the fact that the developer was about to be bankrupted by his other pie-in-the-sky projects killed that one, which the staff had recommended.

A project to build apartments off N. College on a wooded slope near Ozark Natural Foods was passed despite some of the city's leading citizens' attending a council meeting and speaking out. Even Gus Jones, the widow of Fayetteville's most famous architect and one of the few who might have designed some project to go in that forest without removing the forest spoke, against it.

Ruskin Heights drew opposition from fine people who live nearby. It passed regardless of their statements.

Someone please list projects that were killed by the council because of the objection of only a few people? If you can docement those, I'll educate myself by going to those sites and confirming that there was no good reason or there was a good reason.

When a group of people put their dignity on the line to speak against a project, the reasons are usually obvious. And, if some of those people live nearby, their objections should be considered.

Nobody forces developers to buy land and pay for plans to development it. More than half probably have the audacity to try to get approval of plans on property they do not own but have negotiated a period during which they can buy it if their plan is approved. And most of those do not have the money to buy it. They have a promise from a bank that a loan will be granted if they get the plans approved.

It is hard to take their pleas of HAVING to build a massive, intense project to meet their goal of profitability as of any significance.

What happened in the past three years is that many banks wish they hadn't granted those loans, possibly some of the developers wish they hadn't made the effort and, in the case of many such projects that actually have been partially or even fully completed and a lot of previously inactive potential NIMBIES have realized they should have joined the crowd saying "not in my backyard" years ago.

When the developers first came to the Town Branch neighborhood in 2003 with obviously environmentally threatening plans, many residents said it would do no good to speak out because we were a low-income neighborhood. But the way high-income neighborhood protests have been disregarded in recent years, it seems that Fayetteville City Government has become an equal-opportunity supporter of neighborhood destruction.

I don't believe the council can be blamed for allowing all these bad developments. The pressure on the staff to recommend things comes from the top of the administration and ignoring the recommendations of the paid staff is often the wrong thing for the council to do. The council members should not have to do the homework themselves.
But the result of what the council approve remains their responsibility.
I really hoped that Mayor Coody's decision not to run again was an indication he had decided to follow the lead of the mayor of Greenland, who has said publicly that only a one-term mayor can do the right thing. I assumed that the decision not to run again was Dan's way of allowing himself the opportunity to demonstrate that a two-term-only mayor can also do the right thing.

But the idea Dan's saying that REAL people's objections to projects are always less important than staff recommendations is ludicrous. The staff members seldom have approved a bad project and then bought a home to live in next door to it. And both staff members and planning commissioners often have to recommend or approve projects with flaws they can easily recognize because the current rules that bind them are antiquated. And many of the new-urbanist ideas that the staff understands and recommend work fine on flat ground with no existing timber and no wetland to manage. They don't work on our wooded mountainsides and the wetland and riparian zones of streams in the headwaters of the White River and the Illinois River.

When I think of the city and things that benefit the city, I think of the people who already live here and the existing buildings and trees and other living things. And I believe we have seen council members more and more put extra time into homework such as visiting proposed development sites and holding Ward meetings to offer neighbors a chance to discuss the problems that the staff may not have considered or that the administration may not have heard about.

Most if not all the current council members recognize that many projects didn't start out right and are looking to take steps to fix mistakes such as Aspen Ridge (Brenda Thiel and Adella Gray in Ward one — see links at right for Town Branch Neighborhood blogspot and Flickr photos on Town Branch watershed and Town Branch Neighborhood) and Red Oak Park (Shirley Lucas and Lioneld Jordan in Ward Four — see Red Oak Park links at right and Flickr photos on Red Oak Park.

More important, members of the council are taking steps to see that the staff learns from those mistakes what changes in the approval process can prevent such disasters in the future. I am familiar with those efforts, but I suspect that residents of other neighborhoods can cite examples of such efforts by the council members in their wards. Please share examples you many know of.

NIMBIES MATTER!

St. Paul's Episcopal Church site of February 16, 2008, Sierra awards banquet

February 16, 2008


The Sierra Club Conservation Awards

Please join us as we honor Arkansas businesses, legislators, community organizations, and individuals who have made accomplishments in the way of conservation and protection of our state’s natural resources.
February 16, 2008
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church 
224 N East Ave.
Fayetteville AR.
 
Doors open for the Silent Auction at 6 pm. 
Dinner, provided by Greenhouse Grille, will be served at 6:30 pm. 
 
Ticket prices:
$25 in advance
$30 at the door
$15 Students

To reserve advance tickets, please mail your payment to the address below by February 9th. Make checks payable to OHG Sierra Club. For more informaion contact Molly Rawn @ 479.527.9499 or HYPERLINK "mailto:mrawn@uark.edu" mrawn@uark.edu.
Molly Rawn
1239 E Cain Dr
Fayetteville AR 72703

Menu for Sierra Club Conservation Awards Banquet at 6:00 p.m. Saturday, February 16, 2008

Reminder of the Sierra Club's upcoming Conservation Awards Banquet from Molly Rawn.
My apologies to anyone receiving this who did not receive a paper invitation in the mail. I would like to share with you a little about our keynote speaker, Rita Harris, who has led Memphis-area environmental justice efforts for close to 20 years. She's designed and coordinated several grassroots environmental conferences and given "Toxic Tours" to educate area groups about environmental justice. These tours point out the injustices experienced by people living in the shadow of chemical polluters. She served on the Enforcement Subcommittee of the EPA's National Environmental Justice Advisory Council during the Clinton Administration.
As for the menu, Greenhouse Grille has a wonderful meal planned to include:Organic Shiitake and Portobello-Scallion Cheesecake served with
Grilled Breads
Greenhouse salad with Mixed Organic Greens, Carrot Ribbons,
Green Apples, Cranberries, Toasted Pecans, with a Balsamic
Vinaigrette
Organic Foccacia Bread and Olive Loaf
Grass Fed, Arkansas Raised Buffalo Lasagna with Mixed
Vegetables and 3 Cheese Medley.Pesto Pasta Primavera with Organic Shiitake Mushrooms,
Artichokes, Peppers, Tomatoes, Squash and Zucchini, mixed with
Fresh Organic Local Pesto and Parmesan Cheese
Our Silent Auction is sure to be a huge success! We have donations of origianl artwork made with found materials, locally made pottery, hiking equipment, hand blown glassware, gift certificates to local restaurants, locally made gourmet foods, jewlery, and spa products to mention just a few!
If you haven't purchased tickets yet, it is not too late. We will be selling tickets at the door for $30 and 15$ for students.
Please contact me if you have any questions!
See you at the banquet!
Molly Rawn, OHG Sierra Club Intern, (479) 879 1620

What happens when Wal-Mart detention pond is full on Sixth Street? This project is the final item on tonight's Planning Commission agenda

This tiny tributary of the West arm of the Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River floods the lot that is to be filled for construction of the so-called Farmers' Market commercial development. When the site is filled with red dirt and paved, the stream will be compressed and the neighbor's yard will flood and that flow will become a larger torrent threatening the house and other property downstream.
View east showing previously ditched but now natural-appearing stream flowing east. If this stream is put in a pipe, it will simply come out somewhere downstream flowing faster.






































Third photo is of the big pipe that allows flow from the Wal-Mart detention pond on Sixth Street to flow to the east and between the lot set for construction and a private home to the south with the water heading into the West Arm of the Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River.
Note the bent grass, suggesting the speed and power of runoff when the detention pond fills.
























This whole lot should continue to be a natural rain garden that would help alleviate downstream flooding and accept a bit of water from the street flow to help clean that water as it soaks in!

Fayetteville, Arkansas, planning commission to consider construction on wetland lot immediately east of Wal-Mart on West Sixth Street tonight

Please click on images in preceding post below to see Dec. 8, 2007, images of the site.