By Richard Duke

June 6, 2007...In Hollywood, they call it “spit-balling” - throwing ideas against the wall to see what sticks. In Pine Bluff Tuesday night, it seemed as if the walls were covered with ideas.

With the public as a de facto planning commission, the second of four public hearings of the “Pine Bluff 20/20” Initiative highlighted areas such as safety, education and industry.

Instead of a traditional town hall structure, the more than 200 in attendance broke up into small groups, giving the chance for everyone to share their vision of Pine Bluff. The results shared at the end of the meeting were very similar to each other.

Facilitated by area high school students and administered by Dr. Michael R. Hemphill of the Clinton School for Public Service, the groups repeated each other’s buzz words like “crime prevention” and “job opportunities,” but they differed when talking about how to implement them. Each group was encouraged to speak of broad solutions rather than specific problems.

“Everyone could come up with problems,” Hemphill said. “But that would not get us in the right direction.”

Hemphill said the meeting is ultimately divided into 14 pieces instead of one person controlling it for five to 10 minutes at a time.

“This way, we get to have everyone’s opinion, and we can see what will be the top priorities and what is needed short term and long term,” he said.

Although specifics did bubble from time to time - one participant screamed “Casino” as a top priority - many groups stayed general, talking about educational opportunities for students, family-sustaining jobs in the area, and a revitalization of the lake front and downtown.

Mayor Carl Redus was “overwhelmed” with the response to the second meeting.

“It is important that we get involvement from all people of Pine Bluff,” he said. “We need to have people of different race, age and class come together so that everyone can be heard.”

Hemphill pointed out that each table was diversified as much as possible in order for a more open talk about Pine Bluff’s future.

“We don’t want it to be a segregated discussion,” he said. “We split up husbands and wives and tried to get different people together. But in the end, many of the ideas are similar.”

In addition to what can be done in terms of industry and infrastructure, many of those in attendence talked about improving from within their own homes.

Dewayne Tanton spoke of family values in his group, saying that changes needed to start at homes in order to help the area youth.

Sharri Woodus told her group that short term solutions, such as new businesses downtown, which would supply needed jobs, would inevitably become long term priorities.

“Everything that we do now will help down the road,” she said.

The adult public will get one more chance to have their voices heard with the third public meeting, Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at Coleman Elementary School. The final meeting, which will take place June 19 at 1 p.m. at the Pine Bluff Convention Center, will only be open to junior and senior high students.

“What we will need to do after that is gather everything, and figure out the most important items and how to implement them,” Redus said. “And then we will be able to see real progress.”