Friends, 

With your help, Little Rock can reach its full potential as we invest in safer streets and stronger neighborhoods. Our sales tax proposal asks our residents to unite to transform our City with investments in public safety, infrastructure, quality-of-life-and-place amenities and job creation.

All month, we will be hosting meetings in your neighborhoods to discuss this long-term investment plan and seek your input. We kicked off our community meetings this past Thursday in Ward 5, where we heard enthusiasm and optimism from residents about how we will be able to work together to invest in better Results for The Rock.

If passed by the Board of Directors and approved by voters in November, the one-percent sales tax would generate about $650 million over 10 years to support capital projects and ongoing operations vital to maintaining our forward momentum, growth and sustainability. This plan prioritizes the four P's: Public Safety, Public Infrastructure, Parks and Recreation and the Port and Economic Development.

Today, I want to talk about our plans to make historic investments in Public Safety by strengthening our police and fire departments.

Public safety has been - and always will be - the top priority of my administration. In our current budget, we allocate almost 60 percent of our revenue to protecting our residents and visitors. I'm proud to share that our public-safety focus has reaped dividends, with total crime down 5 percent and violent crime down 3 percent since I took office in 2019.

Our men and women in the Little Rock Police Department deserve credit for their proactive policing and crime reduction techniques. Our holistic approach to crime reduction supplements the LRPD's efforts with effective prevention programs. As a result, we are making Little Rock a safer City every day. Still, we have work to do.

With the additional $100 million investment in public safety, the Police Department will focus on advanced technology such as cameras and drones, and it will replace older vehicles that are part of an aging fleet. Our Real Time Crime Center has shown amazing results in its first year of operation, and your tax money will go toward funding the upgrades, tools and equipment that take our Real Time Crime Center to the next level.

Our Fire Department is also a critical component of our approach to public safety, and the tax plan calls for supporting the Fire Department's need to replace aging trucks and to fund operations at a new fire station in growing West Little Rock. These investments will help us protect our Class 1 ISO rating, a key factor in determining homeowners' insurance rates.

I encourage you to take the time to educate and engage, and be a part of Results for The Rock. Our website has updated information on the plan. On the website, you have the opportunity to learn more and to leave feedback. 

Our next community meeting is Monday, May 13, in Ward 4. Please note that the meeting previously scheduled for this week in Ward 3 has been rescheduled for May 29. 

We are nearing the final stage of work to develop a blueprint for the future of Little Rock's urban core. A draft of the first-ever Downtown Master Plan will be ready starting Wednesday, May 8. This draft is a culmination of research and stakeholder engagement intended to be a framework for how we shape Downtown Little Rock for generations to come.

The team working to produce the plan is hosting its final public meeting Wednesday to share the final draft document. There will be a presentation and open house along with an Alley Party that features live music and a food truck. The unveiling of the plan is at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the CALS Ron Robinson Theater, 100 River Market Ave. 

We are grateful to Sasaki, the international design firm under contract to create the plan, and the Downtown Little Rock Partnership, led by Executive Director Gabe Holmstrom, who have helped guide the process from start to finish. We appreciate the City Hall team, including Planning Director Jamie Collins, and especially, the Little Rock Board of Directors, who funded the plan using $750,000 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. 

Residents and Downtown Little Rock stakeholders will have a 30-day comment period so that the drafters may collect comments and input to ensure the plan "is in alignment with your ideas, aspirations and concerns," according to Sasaki. 

The draft will be available on the Internet, at mp.downtownlr.com, starting Wednesday. The document will be presented to the Little Rock Board of Directors soon.

The African American Mayors Association and American Beverage Foundation for a Healthy America announced their strong affirmation and support of our efforts to tackle food insecurity and further enhance our innovative community schools partnerships. The City of Little Rock was named a recipient of a $125,000 grant intended to help improve nutrition and health outcomes.

We plan to utilize the funds to expand our urban gardens programs at community schools like Chicot Elementary. We will work to launch FoodCorps sites to establish school gardens, and we will coordinate with farmers as guest speakers for students. We also plan to support student visits to farms and virtual gardens.

The grant will allow us to partner with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Public Health and Culinary Medicine Programs for family cooking classes led by registered dieticians.

As we identify ways to combat food insecurity and eliminate hunger, this grant will help us ensure our children have access to affordable, basic nutrition and education on healthy eating. We will continue to seek new options and investments for our food health initiatives, led by the Little Rock Food Commission, which was recently established by the Little Rock Board of Directors.

Little Rock was one of just five cities that received the AAMA and ABF grants. Other funded cities were Baltimore; Richmond, Virginia; Mount Vernon, New York; and North Miami, Florida. 

The City of Little Rock's Summer Youth Employment program is an innovative and effective solution for connecting local students with paying jobs and increasing the likelihood of long-term employability. Hundreds of Little Rock youth ages 16 through 21 participate in the annual program, as do approximately 200 worksites across the City.

Though the application period for youth workers has already concluded, we are still seeking applications for work sites. We expect about 200 businesses across Little Rock to participate in the program and host one or more summer interns. The deadline to apply to be a work site is Friday, May 17.

Businesses that host interns most often find it to be a mutually beneficial experience for the company and the participating youth. Businesses that sign up as work sites are active participants in contributing to the strength of our community.

Interns will work 32 hours a week during a six-week period in June and July. We expect to have about 700 interns this year.

The City of Little Rock annually invests more than $1 million in the Summer Youth Employment Opportunity program to cover payroll and worker's compensation insurance for student participants.

If you or someone you know has a potential work site and has additional questions or needs more information, contact Monica Montgomery in our Department of Community Programs at MMontgomery@LittleRock.gov.

• The Little Rock Board of Directors will meet today (Monday, May 6) at 6 p.m. at The Centre at University Park, 6401 W. 12th St. This meeting was originally scheduled for Tuesday but has been moved up one day because of scheduling conflicts. All board meetings are livestreamed on the City of Little Rock's Facebook and YouTube pages. To view the agenda for Tuesday's meeting, click here.
• The City's Public Works Department will host two public hearings this week, the first in Ward 3 on Tuesday, May 7, and another in Ward 2 on Thursday, May 9. The meetings give Public Works staff the opportunity to discuss upcoming infrastructure projects and hear from residents. The Ward 3 meeting is at Calvary Baptist Church, 5700 Cantrell Road, to discuss planned improvements on F Street. The Ward 2 meeting is at Southwest Community Center, 6401 Baseline Road, to discuss improvements to Rinke Road and drainage along 57th Street. Each meeting begins at 5:30 p.m.
• The Little Rock Parks and Recreation Commission has its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, May 8, at noon. The commission meets at the Centre at University Park.
• The Little Rock Planning Commission will meet Thursday, May 9, at 4 p.m. at the Centre at University Park. The Planning Commission considers requests for rezonings and makes recommendations related to other planning and zoning issues.