Pine Bluff is trying to rebound from years of decline in population and economic development.
Downtown Pine Bluff is marked by its contradictions. Faded, pastel-colored murals of scenes from the city’s days of Model T’s and timber tycoons sit next to lots that were cleared after their buildings collapsed. The white columns of a hotel’s classic facade stand in front of its boarded-up windows.
A nonprofit funded by a five-eighths percent sales tax hopes to use the city’s resources to help it flourish again.
Pine Bluff voters approved the new tax June 13, with more than twice as many voting in favor of the tax as against it.
The five-eighths percent sales tax is expected to generate more than $32 million over seven years for the city of about 44,000, and it will cost the average Pine Bluff household about $15 per month.
The tax will fund the Go Forward Pine Bluff initiative, a campaign run by an independent committee in partnership with the City Council that began in late 2015.
The group released a glossy, 40-page booklet that outlines the initiative’s 27 recommendations, which fall under the four pillars of government infrastructure, education, economic development and quality of life.
The goals include restoring historic sites, improving job training programs at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Southeast Arkansas College, and building up the city’s downtown to drive economic development and tourism.
The proposals include building a new community center or renovating the existing one, creating mixed-use zoning districts downtown and improving neighborhood watch programs.
The plan bears some similarities to the one in progress in El Dorado, a town of 19,000 near the Louisiana border. In 2007, voters there approved a 1 percent sales tax to fund a conference center and other economic development projects.
So far, the planned $100 million project has produced the Murphy Arts Center, which will open Sept. 27 with a five-day concert lineup that features Brad Paisley, ZZ Top and Migos, and is named for one of the town’s old oil families.
Ryan Watley, chief executive officer of Go Forward Pine Bluff, saw the passage of a tax as a sign of unity within the city.
“I think that one approach to moving forward is recognizing that you have a problem,” Watley said. “Pine Bluffians have a big personality. It’s a product of the bustling town that we once were.”
Go Forward Pine Bluff and the Arkansas Economic Development Institute opened the floor at three listening sessions in the second week of August for suggestions on improving the city. More than 50 current and former residents expressed their excitement about what could be.
Longtime residents remembered people and lights in the streets for the Christmas parade and alumni coming back for UAPB’s homecoming. Several women across the room cheered when they realized they were born the same year at Jefferson Regional Medical Center.
Several others noted that Pine Bluff has faded into a shadow of its past self. Today, some said, the city lacks a feeling of community.
Still, several expressed excitement about the city’s potential and hopes that people would improve upon and take advantage of what it has to offer.
Lori Walker, an economic development specialist for the city, said people aren’t aware of how much Pine Bluff already has.
The unbending road that leads from Interstate 530 to Pine Bluff cuts between the downtown district and the red-roofed pavilion at the edge of the lake. Paved trails stretch into the woods beyond the lake, and a tall, faded sign advertises the farmers market.
Walker said the city’s history also can be used to attract visitors to see its museums and murals.
“People knowing those stories makes a big difference in how you see Pine Bluff,” she said.
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Pine Bluff’s population has decreased by 22 percent since 1980. The city’s tax base also has been shrinking, with a decline in labor force and consumer spending, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Though Pine Bluff’s rate of violent crime has decreased recently, it’s still among the nation’s highest, according to the FBI’s annual statistics report. In 2015, 695 violent crimes were reported in the three-county Pine Bluff metropolitan statistical area, including 569 in the city itself. That works out to 743.9 violent crimes per 100,000 residents — almost twice the national rate.
Signs of Pine Bluff’s problems are also highly visible. Several buildings downtown have collapsed since 2014 or have been in disrepair for longer, including Main Street’s historic Hotel Pines. The city has seen 18 homicides since January.
THE PROCESS
The plan doesn’t enumerate how much money will go toward each project, but all projects and expenditures will require approval from the City Council, Watley said.
Watley, 31, is a Pine Bluff native who moved back to the city in 2015 and is an assistant professor of chemistry and the assistant director of development for athletics at UAPB.
Go Forward Pine Bluff operates in conjunction with and in the offices of Simmons Bank, which occupies the tallest building in Pine Bluff, a complex that overlooks a mostly abandoned row of storefronts. The bank’s nonprofit foundation, Simmons First Foundation, will fund the initiative alongside revenues from the sales tax.
The bank had a net income of $23.1 million for the second quarter of 2017. According to 2013 data from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, it’s the 12th-largest employer in Jefferson County, falling behind UAPB and the Wal-Mart supercenter near Interstate 530.
In 2015, according to that year’s IRS Form 990, the foundation made nearly $250,000 in grants and contributions to various churches, school districts and other groups throughout Arkansas. That amount also included nearly $25,000 to develop downtown Pine Bluff and $13,000 toward What’s Next Pine Bluff, a coalition that sponsors high school programs and summer fellowships.
In addition to the grant money and $32 million in sales tax revenue, Watley said he also expects $7 million in donations from Pine Bluff-area businesses, including Simmons Bank.
“We know for sure they’re going to come in in a big and important way,” he said.
Steven Mays, a member of the Pine Bluff City Council who initially opposed the plan, has questioned its transparency.
“They’re not giving our citizens enough data on what’s being collected,” he said. “We just want to make sure that projects are reasonable, cost-worthy and done with a complete, finished product the citizens of Pine Bluff will be happy to enjoy.”
The tax collection period begins in October. Mays also questioned whether a tax was the best way for Pine Bluff to gather the funds.
“Our citizens are overtaxed already,” Mays said.
Other efforts to revitalize the city have emerged alongside the Go Forward campaign. One is the Delta Rhythm ’N’ Bayous Alliance, a $40 million grant-based proposition to promote Pine Bluff’s cultural heritage to attract tourists.
“We are open to collaborate with any nonprofit that can help us achieve our mission,” Watley said. “If we save the city of Pine Bluff, everyone benefits.”