Much of the talk at the sold-out 149th annual meeting of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce was about the Clinton Presidential Center, which turned 10 last month. Its namesake, after all, was the keynote speaker.
About the time Bill Clinton began imagining his presidential library, he told the more than 1,300 who filled the Wally Allen Ballroom for a lunch of chicken and rice, a group of alumni from Clinton's graduating class at Georgetown University approached him.
"They said, 'Washington's in deep trouble, going downhill, and it's more polarized than ever. We'll give you $30 million if you'll put the library in the Anacostia [neighborhood], a low-income section of D.C., and we'll raise all the rest,' something like $200 million, some ridiculous number, and I said, 'I can't do that.
"I have to put it in Arkansas and I have to put it in Little Rock because I never would have become president without the people of Arkansas, and because I think our national politics has become too theoretical and less human and we need more examples of what really works out in the middle of the country.'"
It's hard to say how many urban planners, economists or politicians have cited the Clinton Presidential Center example, but it has certainly been a boon to downtown real estate and development, and the capital city economy generally. Nearly every speaker who took the podium said so, and thanked the president. (An analysis by Boyette Strategic Advisors estimates the impact of investment downtown has nearly reached $2.5 billion.)
The meeting also was a time for a changing of the guard. Chamber chairman Gary Smith handed the reins over to Van Tilbury. Before he did, he handed the Pinnacle Award to former Baptist Health Chief Executive Officer Russ Harrington.
-- Photos and story by
Bobby Ampezzan
High Profile on 12/14/2014