Web posted
Monday, February 4, 2008
City could be more inviting
Hockenbury wants to make city a place people want to live
By JAMES JORDAN
Traveler Editor
news@arkcity.net
**This is the fifth in a series of articles on the vision for Arkansas City as held by city commissioners.
City Commissioner Joel Hockenbury wants to make Arkansas City into a city where people want to live.
"The biggest problem we have as a city is that people think it is not a good place to live," he said.
As the commission considers goals, he wants to focus on changing both the reality and the perception of the quality of life in the city.
He noted that 40 percent of the people who work in Arkansas City do not live in town.
"It isn't enough to have jobs. You have to have quality of life," he said.
Hockenbury is in favor of trying to attract industry and jobs, but he points out that there are jobs available.
He believes that the recent voting down of the big box project could have made a difference in the quality of life in the city.
"The Lowe's development would have brought more jobs and it would have changed the quality of life," he said.
There has been a lot of controversy about the decision the council made, but Hockenbury believes some good can come from it.
"The best thing that came out of that was that people realize they cannot assume the city will do what they want all the time. Maybe it will get people involved," he said.
He is hopeful that the city will continue working on development. It is hard to know where to start first, whether it be going for jobs, housing or quality of life issues. He wants to remain flexible in what the city pursues.
"We have to look for industry, housing and retail. Our focus has to be flexible. It is all a big puzzle as to what you do first.
Hockenbury said it is hard to get people to live here, particularly those in higher paying jobs.
"It sounds good to talk about jobs. But people with higher paying jobs are more likely to live in the county or somewhere else. We need to make the city more attractive as a place to live," as jobs are sought, he said.
Parks and recreation are a big part of that, as well as taking care of core functions such as water and sewer.
"People also want to by what they need where they live. We need shopping opportunities," he said.
Things like the bike path and other parks are a key part of also raising the quality of life, but it takes everyone to be involved.
He wants the city to have a plan in place.
"Commissions in the past have had a plan in place. It was a three-year process to get the Lowe's possibility. We absolutely need to have a plan in place," he said.
He hopes one focus will be making the city more attractive as a place to live, not just a place to work.
Hockenbury is also not opposed to giving some incentives to business and industry.
"Oklahoma gives huge incentives. It is a hugely competitive market," he said.
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