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I used to live in that area. Not bad, but not great, either. Very suburbia looking. Dull. Car-centric.
This is one of my biggest complaints about Little Rock. There is practically nowhere you can live and be car-free. While the historic Hillcrest area comes close, there isn't any true new urbanist developments here yet, though rumor has it a few are on the way. Overall its not much different in this aspect than other cities in the region i.e. Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Northwest Arkansas, etc. The mid-south is probably the most car-centric region of the country. Part of it comes from the fact we have always had cheaper gas than the rest of the country. When most people were paying $1.29, we were paying $0.89. Now we are paying $3.99.
From what I observed in Little Rock, people were very indifferent towards the town they lived in. Not a lot of love, not a lot of hate... just a "we're here for now" attitude, which showed in their lack of interest in what was going on around them. quote]
Wow, really!? I didn't realize that. A cousin of mine, Emile, moved there after the nest emptied and when we visited a few years ago they had a BBQ so we got to meet their neighbors and everybody had very mixed opinions of the place. There was one couple from Texas who had a very strong dislike of the place and were actually planning to move back at that time. Most had a favorable opinion. I'll admit there were one or two who didn't seem to care very much one way or the other.
I think a "good enough, but not exceptional" attitude could describe what most people here think about it. That really is an accurate analysis. I think if somehow this city could overcome its image problem, a lot would change. Most people don't know that we have a downtown booming with tons of new condo and apartment development and we have demographics that beat just about every other city in our size category and even many larger cities in terms of education, etc. There is a new proposal to tear out a ton of delipitated housing in south/southeastern Little Rock and replace it with new urbanist style development. Yes, the crime is high, but its localized in the southern part of town. Most people I know and myself have never been affected by it. This city has tons of potential, and if people would actually start taking pride in it, we could become a lot more.
Since all most people have probably seen of Little Rock is either what is shown on COPS or what you see driving through on I-30 (which skirts the worst areas of town), I have decided to show a few images. Here is an excellent aerial photo of the downtown area courtesy of Wikipedia.
And here are a few photos of some of the new development happening in the River Market area, courtesy of urbanplanet.org.
Ill show some pictures of the Hillcrest/Heights areas if I get around to taking them.
From what I observed in Little Rock, people were very indifferent towards the town they lived in. Not a lot of love, not a lot of hate... just a "we're here for now" attitude, which showed in their lack of interest in what was going on around them. Does it really deserve a lot of respect? I don't know. My view was the same as anybody else's. I was there for a while, until something better came along. Little Rock is what it is. A small-medium size town with limited opportunities, and an unfortunately high crime rate for a town it's size. No, it doesn't freak me out like East St. Louis, but it could be substantially better.
Wow, really!? I didn't realize that. A cousin of mine, Emile, moved there after the nest emptied and when we visited a few years ago they had a BBQ so we got to meet their neighbors and everybody had very mixed opinions of the place. There was one couple from Texas who had a very strong dislike of the place and were actually planning to move back at that time. Most had a favorable opinion. I'll admit there were one or two who didn't seem to care very much one way or the other.
Of those...Little Rock and ONLY Little Rock. The rest can go sod off and rot.
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