Survey takes look at senior services
The city of Little Rock made a survey available that will allow residents ages 55 and older to give feedback on services for seniors in Little Rock and to speak out about what they feel is needed.
The survey can be found at: bit.ly/agefriendlylittlerock. The questionnaire is an initiative of the Age-Friendly Little Rock Commission, which plans to use it to gather data that will influence age-friendly policymaking by the city.
The survey takes about 20 minutes to complete, according to the webpage. The Age-Friendly Little Rock Commission is also planning community meetings to gather responses from residents who aren't comfortable with computers.
Farm festival offers food trucks, music
Downtown Little Rock is going country on Oct. 27.
From noon to 6 p.m., the inaugural "Downtown on the Farm" event will give attendees a taste of the Arkansas agricultural life at the River Market Pavilions.
The free festival will feature food trucks, pumpkin painting, a petting zoo, a beer garden, a corn dig and plenty of tractors. There will also be live music at the First Security Amphitheater from Adam Hambrick, Bonnie Montgomery, The Going Jessies and Rodney Block.
Food will be provided by local restaurants including @ the Corner, Allsopp & Chapple, The Capital Hotel, Cathead's Diner, Gus's Fried Chicken, Samantha's Tap Room, Soul Fish Cafe and South on Main.
The event is a partnership between the Downtown Little Rock Partnership and Arkansas Rice.
Library system set to host ACLU chief
The president of the American Civil Liberties Union will speak at the Central Arkansas Library System's Ron Robinson Theater in downtown Little Rock on Thursday.
Susan Herman was elected ACLU president in 2008. She also teaches at Brooklyn Law School and writes on constitutional and criminal procedures for various publications.
The title of her Thursday talk is "A Democrat and a Republican Walk into a Bar: Civil Liberties and Non-Partisanship." It's scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. The theater is located at 100 River Market Ave.
The library system is hosting the talk in partnership with the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. It is free and open to the public. Those interested can reserve seats by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu or calling (501) 683-5239.
Volunteers sought for day of service
The city of Little Rock will organize a day of community service Nov. 16, with volunteer opportunities in all seven wards.
A list of service projects, locations and more information can be found by going to littlerock.gov/volunteer and clicking one of the "Impact the Rock" buttons.
There are opportunities for individuals and groups that include cleaning up streets, parks and trails; pulling up invasive plants; and painting.
There are also chances for business owners to volunteer their time and equipment to help with more advanced projects, such as clearing overgrown vegetation.
Volunteer work will take place from 9 a.m. to noon.
Libraries' collection adds Spanish works
Central Arkansas Library System cardholders can now have unlimited, 24/7 streaming access to Spanish-language TV series and movies, the system announced in a news release last week.
The service, now part of the library system's digital collection, is called Pongalo. It offers more than 10,000 episodes of Spanish-language telenovelas and other TV series, as well as more than 13,000 hours of United-States-made films translated into Spanish. There's also original programming and exclusive content.
"We're excited to add the first all-Spanish resource to our digital collection and expect it will be popular with both native Spanish speakers and those learning Spanish as a second language," Nathan James, deputy executive director of technology and collection innovation, said in the release.
James added that the library system's digital collection has grown more popular over the past few years.
Users can access Pongalo's content on mobile devices with the RBdigital app as well as on desktop computers using the RBdigital website.
LR moves up list of nation's best cities
A tourism, real estate and economic development advisory group named Little Rock one of America's best cities in a recent report, the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau announced in a news release.
Resonance Consultancy's 2019 report ranks Little Rock seventh on its "America's Top Ten Small Cities for Prosperity" list -- up from eighth in 2018 and 10th in 2017. The city was also ranked 23rd on the group's "America's 50 Best Small Cities" list for the second year in a row, outperforming Spokane, Wash.; Pensacola, Fla.; Hilton Head Island, S.C.; and Lexington, Ky.
Little Rock was 27th on that list in 2017.
Metro on 10/20/2019