What's Bentonville REALLY like??

[Stormcrow73]

Originally Posted by Sam I Am

The Chefs? Who's cooking? I'll BE THERE!!! (lol...sorry, Storm, couldn't resist!)

LOL, that was an intential typo BTW! Had a buddy who always called them that. He was a Deadskins fan though so no accounting for him.

[Stormcrow73]

On a more reasonable outlook sports wise, I would tend to predict that the first major league sports to locate in NWA would be either Major League Soccer or Major League Lacrosse. Soccer is obvious. Lacrosse does not yet have much of a following but it's the fastest growing sport participation wise in the country. It doesn't require much in the way of special infrastructure that isn't already there. From what I hear, the NWA youth lacrosse club is growing by leaps and bounds. The MLL is a small league and has a team in small-market Rochester. So if lacrosse was to ever grow popular as a participant sport, I could easily see NWA being the type of market MLL might be willing to try to crack.

[bagelw]

Originally Posted by nmnita

Maybe it is time to drop this, I doubt I ever said it was urban totally, infact I referred to it being surburban which is usually not far removed from urban areas. Bus system, I guess you don't know as much about the area as you think, there was an article in our paper today about how many more were using our public transportation than in years past. Maybe people is some of those cities would laugh because they have no idea what Arkansas, especially NWA is really like...Many people from other areas of the country think we run around barefoot all the time (well we do, in the house when it's this hot) they think we have little education, live on farms or in trailers and eat neck bones and cabbage every night or we kill our own chickens and pluck the feathers? As I have said in every response to you, totally urban? Of course not, in fact that is one of the fears many have, it will become another Austin Texas one of these days....Nothing agains Austin..it just isn't NWA.

Now you can have the last word on this...

btw: I would consider San Bruno pretty darn close to Urban...I am sure most of our friends in Marin county would agree.

Nita

ps I just noticed your location says Fayetteville, and you didn't know about the public transportation in Benton county?

No reason to get unwound about the urban thing. I just was expressing my opinion on the matter. It's ok to disagree, arguing on public forums is something that makes the internet so great.

The Ozark Regional Transit is the only busing system I know of in the area other than the U of A Transit. More people are riding the ORT because it is finally starting to increase it's amount of routes. There are still tons of places I can't get to on bus and the buses don't run after 6. I'm sure this will change as more and more people begin riding the bus but that's still several years away.

[bchris02]

Originally Posted by joebaldknobber

I predict the Philadelphia Phillies will relocate to Northwest Arkansas by 2030. This area is just getting the ball rolling. I believe NWA will have a greater population than Kansas City in 20 years due to the business environment, business friendliness, beautiful central location. Cities like Houston & Dubai mushroomed in the past. This area will surpass that. Hopefully, the Eagles will relocate here also.

Keep dreaming. That is very unlikely to happen. The growth has already slowed from its peak during the first half of this decade. NWA will likely grow at a slow, steady pace from here out. Plus, the infrastructure of the area can't support continued sprawl. There is going to have to be some focus put on density at some point. Enough strip malls, chain restaurants, and gated subdivisions. Lets go urban. It will be nice if one day NWA has some higher density development and also options for people who don't want to be 100% dependent on the automobile. Is there even any walkable areas in NWA (aside from near the University)?

[bagelw]

Originally Posted by bchris02

Is there even any walkable areas in NWA (aside from near the University)?

Fayetteville actually has a very extensive trail system that is continually growing. The eventual plan is to be able to walk anywhere within the city. So far the trails are spread out throughout the city but they will eventually all meet together. I believe Rogers has started building a trail system as well but it's no where near what Fayetteville has.

[joebaldknobber]

It's kind of like Plano, TX.

[DC at the Ridge]

Rogers and Bentonville both are working on building extensive trail systems. I already use the trails pretty heavily on weekends when I go hiking with my dog. While the newer areas of Rogers and Bentonville may have the suburban feel that bchris so often disparages, they are both actually old southern towns with over a hundred years of history. If you don't stray far from 540, you won't really know what Northwest Arkansas is like. You won't know about the restaurants that have been there for decades, you won't know about the walkable neighborhoods, when you go to the parades you won't know about the houses on Walnut in Rogers or the houses on Central in Bentonville, who they belonged to, which houses the governors of Arkansas used to visit, which houses hosted celebrities like Roy Rogers at one time. No, Northwest Arkansas isn't urban, but it's not all new and plastic, there's a rich history worth exploring, a culture that has grown over time and still runs through the hills of Northwest Arkansas, surfacing at odd moments to catch newcomers by surprise, but always there, combining Southern, Midwestern and Mountain arts, cooking, and customs.

[rackensack]

Originally Posted by DC at the Ridge

While the newer areas of Rogers and Bentonville may have the suburban feel that bchris so often disparages, they are both actually old southern towns with over a hundred years of history. If you don't stray far from 540, you won't really know what Northwest Arkansas is like. You won't know about the restaurants that have been there for decades, you won't know about the walkable neighborhoods, when you go to the parades you won't know about the houses on Walnut in Rogers or the houses on Central in Bentonville, who they belonged to, which houses the governors of Arkansas used to visit, which houses hosted celebrities like Roy Rogers at one time. No, Northwest Arkansas isn't urban, but it's not all new and plastic, there's a rich history worth exploring, a culture that has grown over time and still runs through the hills of Northwest Arkansas, surfacing at odd moments to catch newcomers by surprise, but always there, combining Southern, Midwestern and Mountain arts, cooking, and customs.

Well said. I thought about posting something similar but I'm glad you beat me to it. My mom is a regular volunteer at the Rogers Historical Museum in downtown Rogers (http://www.rogersarkansas.com/Museum/DowntownWalkingTour.pdf - broken link), which is a real gem -- the quality of the work on the exhibits would be a credit to any historical museum anywhere. Their web site is a great place to start getting a feel for the history of the area.

[bchris02]

Originally Posted by DC at the Ridge

While the newer areas of Rogers and Bentonville may have the suburban feel that bchris so often disparages

I don't totally disparage it. That type of development has its place. What I don't like is that NWA had the opportunity to go dense, but instead focused on flashy strip malls and gated subdivisions. Its amazing to me how many people in NWA equate dense development with high crime and cookie-cutter sprawl with safety. People act like all this new plastic development is such an amazing thing when its really just sprawl that every other city in the USA has been developing for decades as middle and upper middle class whites flee the inner city.