City of Little Rock
The City of Little Rock is a public entity that governs Little Rock, Arkansas. City government is divided into a number of city departments, citizen services offices, commissions, bureaus, and task forces. Little Rock is led by the Little Rock Mayor's Office, the Little Rock City Manager's Office, and the Little Rock Board of Directors. Services provided by the City of Little Rock are funded by a series of bonds, and accomplished by approximately 2,500 employees. The city has an extensive municipal code.
Little Rock City Hall is located at 500 West Markham Street.
Contents
Departments
The City of Little Rock has fourteen departments dedicated to four areas of service: public safety, infrastructure, economic development, and quality of life.
- City Attorney's Office
- Community Programs
- District Courts
- Finance
- Fire
- Fleet Service
- Housing and Neighborhood Programs
- Human Resources
- Information Technology
- Parks and Recreation
- Planning and Development
- Police
- Public Works
- Zoo
Commissions, Bureaus, Task Forces
- Advertising and Promotion Commission
- Airport Commission
- Ambulance Authority
- Americans with Disabilities Act Citizen's Grievance Committee
- Animal Services Advisory Board
- Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees
- Arkansas Museum of Discovery Board of Trustees
- Arts and Culture Commission
- Board of Adjustment
- Central Arkansas Library System Board of Trustees (CALS)
- Central Arkansas Transit Authority Board of Directors (CATA)
- Central Arkansas Water Commission
- Children, Youth, and Families Commission
- City Beautiful Commission
- Civil Service Commission
- Community Housing Advisory Board
- Construction Board of Adjustment and Appeals
- Historic District Commission
- Housing Authority Board of Commissioners
- Housing Board of Adjustment and Appeals
- Little Rock Planning Commission
- MacArthur Military History Museum Commission
- Midtown Redevelopment District No. 1 Advisory Board
- Oakland Fraternal Cemetery Board
- Parks and Recreation Commission
- Little Rock Port Authority
- Project Progress Committee
- Racial and Cultural Diversity Commission
- River Market District Design Review Committee
- Sanitary Sewer Committee
- Sister Cities Commission
- Zoo Board of Governors
Other Offices
- Little Rock Mayor's Office
- Little Rock Vice Mayor's Office
- Little Rock City Manager's Office
- Little Rock Board of Directors
- Little Rock City Clerk's Office
History
Little Rock is the capitol city of the state of Arkansas. The city encompasses 122 square miles of incorporated land. In 2003 the U.S. Census Bureau estimated population of the city was 184,053, with 55.1% Caucasian, 40.4% African American, and 2.7% Hispanic. More than half a million people live in the Greater Little Rock Metropolitan area.
The site of the present city of Little Rock was first visited by European explorers in 1722, when Frenchman Jean-Baptise Bénard de la Harpe made note of La Petite Roche ("the little rock"). The first squatter on Little Rock land may have been William Lewis, who built a shelter at the present location of the Old State House in 1812. Six years later the Quapaw Indians ceded their lands west of the present Rock Street to the United States. The first Little Rock school opened under Jesse Brown in 1823, and the first hotel - the Anthony House - opened in 1841. By 1850 the city, expanding rapidly during the cotton boom, held about 2,000 denizens. By 1870 the number of residents had grown to 12,000.
In 1914 the Arkansas State Capitol was completed in midtown Little Rock, precipitating a building boom that culminated with the completion of the fourteen-story Donaghey Building in 1926. Downtown retail development - spurred by flagship department stores Pfeiffer & Blass and M.M. Cohn - grows until 1957 when the first suburban shopping center opens its doors at the corner of Asher & University.
Revitalization Efforts
The City of Little Rock has taken a number of steps since the 1960s to restore downtown to its former position of prominence and hospitality. The city has focused on some of the same goals driving other revitalizing cities like Portland, San Antonio, and Baltimore. These goals include improving the quality and number of downtown entertainment venues and attractions, adding green space buffers, beautiful streetscapes, and waterfront attractions, improving walkability and transportation options, creating safe living spaces for a twenty-four hour resident population, revisiting zoning laws, and not least of all forging significant public-private partnerships and cooperative ventures.
Redirecting attention back downtown has not been easy. In an attempt to recapture some of the trade draining into the western suburbs the Little Rock Unlimited Progress group inaugurated the ill-fated $4.5 million Metrocentre Mall which replaced Main Street from Third Street to Seventh Street with a brick-lined pedestrian mall in 1975. In 1982 the Statehouse Convention Center opened near the corner of Main and Markham next to the new Excelsior Hotel. The shuttered Capital Hotel reopened after $10 million in renovations the very next year. Also in 1983 the Little Rock Department of Parks and Recreation opened the $2 million Riverfront Park, an idea on the drawing board since 1914, and kicked off the inaugural Memorial Day weekend event known as Riverfest. By 1988 the city hosted 600 conventions and 220,000 visitors due in no small part to the efforts of downtown city leaders.
The apparent success of Metrocentre Mall encouraged investors to sink $13 million into city revenue bonds to fund the Main Street Market project, which brought an enclosed shopping center to the downtown district in 1987. Five buildings were connected along Capitol and Main streets to form an indoor mall. The oldest escalators in the state, once owned by JCPenney, were refurbished as well as 177,000 square feet of office, restaurant, and retail space. Main Street Market was connected to the Arkansas Repertory Theatre and a parking deck by skywalks. Within four years, however, the Market failed as a retailing and entertainment destination. Today it is exclusively used as office space. Metrocentre Mall failed as well. Main reopened to vehicular traffic around 1995. Barry Travis, former executive director of the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, has blamed a lack of free parking as a major reason for the decline of both revitalization efforts. The 1994 HBO gangland special Banging in the Rock also reinforced the public imagination of downtown as an unsafe destination. Much of the east side was composed of aging or derelict warehouses.
A "critical mass" may only have been reached in 1996 when [[Ottenheimer Market Hall] reopened in the River Market District to great fanfare. The Market Hall almost immediately helped renew retail opportunities and bring nightlife back into the city center. By 2001 the city was hosting 700 conventions and 300,000 visitors who spent an estimated $100 million.
North Little Rock became a prominent downtown player in 1999 with the opening of the 18,000 seat ALLTEL Arena.
--North Shore River Walk --Main Street Argenta --Dickey-Stephens Park --restaurants --condos --sports hall of fame
A five-year effort to site the William J. Clinton Presidential Center in the city was capped by the 2004 dedication of the Clinton Library, bringing an estimated $1 billion in additional investment into the historic River Market District.
Attractions:
--Art Center --Museum Center/Museum of Discovery --Nature Center --Historic Arkansas Museum --Old State House --Sculpture Promenade --Alltel Arena --Repertory Theatre --Robinson Hall
Amenities:
--Restaurants --Farmer's market --hotels (Peabody, Capital) --condominium development
Events:
--Riverfest --Little Rock Marathon --Downtown Thursdays (1994)
Organizations:
--Downtown Partnerships --Nonprofits (Clinton Foundation, Heifer International) --North Little Rock Argenta --Greater Little Rock Chamber of Commerce
Government:
--City of Little Rock --Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau --Parks (Millennium Trail, Riverfront Park, Amphitheater) --Central Arkansas Library (Fones Brothers Building) --streetcars (CATA) --Junction Bridge; Rock Island railway bridge
Businesses:
--Acxiom --Stephens Inc.
People:
-- Jimmy Moses and Rett Tucker -- Skip Rutherford -- Dean Kampuris -- Jim Dailey & North LR Mayor -- Brian Day
References
Jay Harrod and Kerry Kraus, "Capital Improvements: A Look at Little Rock's Past and Future Downtown Revitalization Efforts," Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism, April 9, 2002, unpublished.
