I Wanna Ride in Your PINK CADILLAC

Who needs a mechanic?  In Springdale, you can rebuild a car in your driveway...and leave it there for months.

Webb Wins Another Windfall

Darrell and his other brother Darrell have proposed a hotel/motel tax increase for the abundance of fine hotels in Springdale. But if you think that's funny, wait until you hear that this tax would land directly in the lap of none other than Perry Webb via the Advertising and Promotion Commission.

The City Council ordinance committee voted Monday to send a proposed raise of 0.5 percent to the council’s July 5 meeting. A tax increase, if approved, would boost the rate from 1.5 percent to 2 percent. A council vote is all that is required to increase the tax.

We have figured out what the A and P does with our money.  Perry gives it to CJRW and his useless Chamber, and conducts lots of surveys.  There is just no end to the variety of ways the man has come up with to line his own pockets.

Hotel-motel taxes, as well as restaurant taxes, would go to the city’s Advertising and Promotion Commission by state law, said Jeff Harper, city attorney... The council could ask for the money to be spent according to its request, but could not require the commission to do so, Harper said.

How convenient. If we're lucky, the money will be used to put in more fake slot machines at local convenience stores. You might as well put your money in one of those as trust Perry and Pals will do anything different than what they have done with your money in the past. SQUAT.

The Revitalization of Downtown Springdale



The Landscape of Backus Street

Is this Springdale's downtown shopping district?  This trendsetting landscape of tick flowers and a shopping cart was reported to Springdale Code Enforcement in April 2011.  Each week I anxiously await new additions such as the antique coffee table.

Mayor Gives Himself a Bonus

I am certainly not surprised that the Springdale City Council voted unanimously to pass the proposed bonuses for full-time employees.

I am also not surprised that "reporter" Steve Caraway failed to even mention the council held a separate vote on whether or not to give the bonus to four elected officials.

In a 7-1 vote (Alderwoman Kathy Jaycox was the only no vote), the city council approved Sprouse's recommendation to give himself, the City Clerk, the City Attorney and the District Judge a bonus.

Gravy Train

The Springdale City Council is meeting tonight and is expected to approve Mayor Doug Sprouse's recommendation of giving a $600 bonus to all full-time city employees.

In his typical fluffy style, Chamber Cheerleader Caraway of the Morning Snooze, tries to make it sound more appealing by saying the money is mostly going to police and firefighters. Who wouldn't want to give our men and women in uniform a bonus or a raise? The reality is the $294,000 bonus money is NOT going mostly to police and firefighters. Attorneys, judges and our beloved code enforcement officers will all be collecting a check too.

Everyone likes to feel appreciated and most people deserve to get a bonus once in a while, but when I look around Springdale, I don't feel quite so generous.

I would urge the hard-working employees of the City of Springdale to start questioning where their pay raise was really spent.

(The back door of Springdale's Code Enforcement)

Just the Good Ol' Boys...Never Meanin' No Harm

It is no secret Springdale is governed by a longstanding good ol' boy buddy system.  But then you already knew that, so it should come as no surprise to read another Caraway fluff piece on Mayor Sprouse sending Springdale employees to a class that will be taught by Bob Arthur.

What Caraway and the Mayor fail to mention are the qualifications required to earn $16,800 for teaching people how to be nice.

As is the norm around here, you can smell the conflict of interest miles away.  Bob Arthur just happens to be Springdale's Planning Commissioner President and claims to be on the Business Network International Leadership Team of the useless Chamber of Commerce. Shocking.

I have also confirmed that a real talent out of Fayetteville offered to teach these classes for FREE, but was turned down. Even more shocking.

Beats all you ever saw, been in trouble with the law since the day they was born...

Code Enforcement 101

This notice was posted on the front door of an unsightly residence in Springdale on May 9, 2011.  I took the picture nearly a month later on June 7. The notice was faded from having been hanging in the sun for so long, but nothing on this property had been cleaned up.

How long does it take Springdale's Code Enforcement officers to follow up?

Get someone out there to clean it up, and send the owners the bill.  If that doesn't work, slap a lien on the property. What are you waiting for? A bonus from the mayor, perhaps?

Stay tuned for a series of photos relating to code violations taken in and around the fine city of Springdale...  for your viewing pleasure.



Springdale Cashes In

Springdale is cashing in on their higher percentage of immigrants and the increased revenue they receive after the 2010 census. Mayor Doug Sprouse knows exactly what he plans to do with the windfall.

Sprouse presented a proposal to the so-called "Finance Committee" (which by the way is just the current city council members), that the money be used to to give city employees a $600 bonus. What possessed Sprouse to hand out bonuses at the same time we are the only city in the area showing decreased sales tax revenues is beyond me.

According to Wyman Morgan, the increased census revenue will total $336,000 and the cost of the proposed bonuses would be about $294,000. No word yet on Sprouse's plans for the remaining $44,000, but I'm sure the Chamber of Commerce has their hands out.

The NWA Regional Planning Commission is currently working on the stretch of trail that will be going through the heart of Springdale. As people travel through our town, they will be hit in the face with the stench of the sewage treatment plant right before they get to the algae cesspool that is currently Lake Springdale. Ron Moore of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said the extent of the algae bloom this year is cause for concern and could cause a fish kill. Won't that make a stunning backdrop to your nature walk? They won't be able to jog through this town fast enough.
 
The bonuses the city employees receive will most likely be spent at one of the malls (in Rogers or Fayetteville) or on restaurant row anyway. They might recoup a cent or or two in sales tax revenue from Shave Planet at the top of the hill - if they're lucky.

Springdale needs funding for the animal shelter, Meals on Wheels, Ozark Transit and more code enforcement officers who will follow up and do something about the enormous number of violations. It wouldn't hurt you to give back the funding you cut from the library and Shiloh Museum either.

Beat on the Street

The beat on the street is Springdale Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Perry Webb is taking a month long sabbatical due to the extreme stress level of his job.  We all know how hard it can be constantly traveling to Florida, California, Las Vegas and the like. Webb has been seen lounging at the Springdale Country Club resting himself ... and who can blame him?  Wouldn't you spend your days playing golf and sipping cocktails if someone else was picking up the tab?

What has Webb so stressed out?  Who knows. Maybe it is the unfavorable publicity last week about how every city in the area had increased sales tax revenue EXCEPT for Springdale, which had a decline. The newspaper article has been archived, but the comments were the best part anyway and they go something like this:

Taxpayers of Springdale PAY the Chickenoplis Chamber of Commerce a hefty sum, $200,000 per year. That's a million dollars every 5 yrs. For what? Chamber turned their back on Sam's Wholesale Club. We lost that and the million of tax revenues that went with Sam's Club. Why? So the Chamber could protect one of their own, namely the local liquor store monoply.

Indeed.

Does Springdale have a Chamber of Commerce? What do they do?

They go to China, Las Vegas and Mt. Magazine to have economic discussions for S-dale.

The City decided that of the two cultural destinations that remain Shiloh Museum could have it's funding cut while they heap money on a useless Chamber of Commerce. That shows you the level of foolishness that runs rampant. Scroll through some old posts on Springdale FOI and learn how the good ol boys club works.

http://foiaspringdale.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the shout out, cdawg.  It's good to know someone is paying attention.  Be careful Mr. Madoff Webb, the citizens of this town might be catching on.