Full revival is goal,
panel member says
A member of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission reassured residents during the mayor's weekly briefing that state officials hope to get Arkansas businesses open again quickly and safely.
Clint O'Neal, executive vice president of Global Business for the commission, said Friday that he's been working with Gov. Asa Hutchinson's Arkansas Economic Recovery Task Force. O'Neal also discussed local businesses stepping up to create sanitizer and masks and preparing to reopen the state.
"It was just February, which seems like years ago, we were talking about these highlights of Arkansans working more than ever before," O'Neal said during Mayor Joe Smith's weekly video briefing. "But now we find ourselves in a position where over 150,000 Arkansans have filed for unemployment in the last four weeks. We expect that number to go up."
Hutchinson announced last week the creation of the recovery task force through an executive order.
The governor issued the order after announcing a May 4 target date for easing restrictions on social interactions.
"We want to get back to our record levels," O'Neal said.
O'Neal said that when the first case of covid-19 in Arkansas was discovered, the organization members knew their work was going to change rapidly.
He said their team dropped job titles and became all part of the coronavirus business assistance response team.
"We are going to have so many phone calls come into our office from people looking for clarity on business regulations and business-assist programs so we are all hands on deck," he said.
He said the creation of arkansasedc.com/covid19 allows the organization to house all the information about business-assist programs and give out weekly updates.
About 90,000 people have visited the site, he said.
Pandemic updates
in city's magazine
A city-produced magazine, North Little Rock Proud, will release its new issue more quickly than normal to provide residents with information during the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.
Mayor Joe Smith announced Friday that the magazine will be issued this week, and it will contain information on small business resources, health tips, a restaurant interactive list and the census.
"We have hurried up our issue of Proud magazine, and it will have a tremendous amount of information," Smith said.
Metro on 04/26/2020