Little Rock’s Downtown Is Mostly Parking Lots

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by Boisebro

that map is a bit of a joke, really. if you look at Google Earth, Little Rock has a lot of open space, yes, but it's also got some nice density and good height. that map makes it look like one big parking lot.

That's not the map's fault. From a quick look around on Google maps, all of the red-shaded areas do appear to be parking lots. The map makes it look like one big parking lot because there are a hell of a lot of parking lots - there seems to be all of maybe two "complete" streets in the downtown core. Of course, being that it's meant to be highlighting parking, they appear more prominent than they would in person. But inaccuracy is not the problem.

[KB0679]

Originally Posted by Doady

I live in a suburb, where it's not only easy and cheap to drive and park, the built environment is built for driving, parking is free. And the transit system in this suburb gets 60 million boardings annually. If a suburban wasteland like Mississauga can do it, then Little Rock can do it easily.

Nobody with options? That is the entire problem with places like Little Rock. Transit is not even option. No one has options. People have no choice but to drive. Give people the option, and if even 8% or 10% take it, even that would make a huge difference for the development of Little Rock's downtown.

Obviously the U.S. and Canada aren't the same when it comes to this for a host of reasons.

[Obadno]

Why is this even a discussion the people on this website should know this story implicitly

1. Pre War city based in Agg, River Transport and local finance (For agg)
2. Gets largely leveled because of urban renewal insanity
3. Future development is suburban because cars/
4. Does not have the kind of industry (Finance, Tech, Ed) that attracts urban development in modern times.

Unless little rock suddenly becomes a night life haven, or tech hub it isnt going to be getting a bunch of apartment block developments. End of story.

Little Rock in 1950 Notice, no parking lots

[The North One]

I'm not sure you have to become a nightlife or tech hub to get some decent urban infill going. There are a good number of small cities with nothing special economies that have made some progress.

Infill isn't that hard, there just has to be a will to do it right and the city needs to move on from dated zoning and planning policies.

[Omaharocks]

^ I'd agree with this. Even across the south there are plenty of small cities with similar economies that have attracted plenty of urban development and downtown housing - Chattanooga and Greenville come to mind.

[Doady]

Originally Posted by KB0679

Obviously the U.S. and Canada aren't the same when it comes to this for a host of reasons.

I look at places like Seattle and Las Vegas that have decent transit ridership and it's hard to see much difference comparing to Canada. I can see also the drastic decline of Milwaukee's system in recent years due to loss of state funding, and the skyrocketing ridership of Dallas' system in 2019 after major increases in bus service. And of course Rock Region Metro's ridership increased a lot in 2019 as well. Transit ridership in the US is based on the amount of service, same as in Canada.

With 25 routes with 30-40 minute frequencies and a fleet of 88 vehicles, Rock Region Metro provides basically the same amount of service with the same amount of vehicles as Oakville Transit. And guess what Oakville Transit's ridership is? 4.1 million boardings in 2019, basically the same as Little Rock. Canada, basically the same as the USA.

Little Rock has very little transit service, so it has very little transit ridership, it's simple as that. The higher car dependence in places like Little Rock or Oakville isn't because of people's choices, it's because the people there don't have as much choices.

[mhays]

It's not simple at all. But what you say certainly plays a major role.

Land use patterns, culture, car ownership, gas prices, etc., also play significant roles.

[photoLith]

I went to college only a couple hours from Little Rock. I love the city as it was my only linchpin to maintaining my sanity while going to school in redneck ass Russellville. North Little Rock across the river has seen lots of redevelopment and new urbanism type developments. The market area near the Clinton library is super nice and walkable and the streetcar line is a big tourist attraction. Little Rock also has one of the most awesome biking trails in America. It starts at the Clinton library and goes along the Arkansas river to the west for miles and loops back around to downtown. A lot of people on here don’t seem to know jack about Arkansas. Little Rock is a super progressive city, along with Conway; an exurb of Little Rock. The state may be pretty redneck but it also has some of the most liberal minded small towns in America.

[biguc]

Originally Posted by Obadno

Unless little rock suddenly becomes a night life haven, or tech hub it isnt going to be getting a bunch of apartment block developments.

Unless it becomes the kind of place where anyone with a choice would choose to live, nobody will choose to live there. This includes tech workers and restaurateurs.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by photoLith

I went to college only a couple hours from Little Rock. I love the city as it was my only linchpin to maintaining my sanity while going to school in redneck ass Russellville. North Little Rock across the river has seen lots of redevelopment and new urbanism type developments. The market area near the Clinton library is super nice and walkable and the streetcar line is a big tourist attraction. Little Rock also has one of the most awesome biking trails in America. It starts at the Clinton library and goes along the Arkansas river to the west for miles and loops back around to downtown. A lot of people on here don’t seem to know jack about Arkansas. Little Rock is a super progressive city, along with Conway; an exurb of Little Rock. The state may be pretty redneck but it also has some of the most liberal minded small towns in America.

All urban areas tend to be left progressive all rural areas tend to be conservative/right wing

Different people living in different environments have different cultures and different needs/expectations from their governmental institutions.

People living in rural environments dont have a lot of concern for public transport and the arts? Wow what a shock!

People living in urban cities do not have a lot of concern about FDA regulations and gun ownership.

Oh my how will we ever understand our differences? what could be causing such a division in how people see things Eh, they are probably just ignorant, better force them into my preferred way of seeing things.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by biguc

Unless it becomes the kind of place where anyone with a choice would choose to live, nobody will choose to live there. This includes tech workers and restaurateurs.

I wish people would stop subscribing to this fantasy that American urbanism looks the way it does because it's just where every person "chooses to live" or not to. As if there aren't major government and institutional forces and power systems here that designed this country to look the way it does now.

If there was some effort by these same systems to build infill urban development people would be living there. Nobody will refuse to live in downtown Little Rock if offered affordable housing.

[BG918]

Originally Posted by photoLith

A lot of people on here don’t seem to know jack about Arkansas. Little Rock is a super progressive city, along with Conway; an exurb of Little Rock. The state may be pretty redneck but it also has some of the most liberal minded small towns in America.

Fayetteville and Eureka Springs come to mind. The whole NW Arkansas area around Fayetteville and Bentonville is growing fast

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by BG918

Fayetteville and Eureka Springs come to mind. The whole NW Arkansas area around Fayetteville and Bentonville is growing fast

Those areas are growing fast, but hardly progressive. It's just typical Sunbelt sprawl due to Walmart.

[edale]

I've never been, but from poking around on street view, Little Rock's downtown doesn't appear to be that bad. I'm not sure why it was singled out, when there are much worse examples of parking wastelands and truly bombed out cores in North American cities.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ot...!4d-92.2661168

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.7444...7i13312!8i6656

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.7476...7i16384!8i8192

With some nice parks by the river and the Clinton library, I think it actually looks like a decent small southern city. It's not like East St. Louis which is literally all parking lots, save for a few ghost high rises that are too expensive to tear down so they just rot.

Unfortunately, lots of American cities have huge parking craters in or adjacent to their downtowns. It's basically how things are in most cities outside of the usual suspects. Look at this sea of parking on the east side of Columbus, OH's downtown: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Co...!4d-82.9987942

In this sense, Little Rock seems fairly ordinary. The real sad cases are those cities that truly don't have any semblance of a core left. That doesn't appear to be the case in Little Rock.

[Obadno]

Downtown cores in the US have virtually all improved over the last 20 years.

[photoLith]

The worst most bombed out city full of parking lots that comes to mind thats a million times worse than Little Rock is Tulsa, OK.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Those areas are growing fast, but hardly progressive. It's just typical Sunbelt sprawl due to Walmart.

Correct. A friend and his wife moved to Bentonville from San Francisco--because she works for Walmart corporate. They built a custom home there.

[jtown,man]

I lived in Arkansas for over a decade and visited Little Rock probably 20 times. Downtown isn't HORRIBLE on the ground, but it leaves much to desire. Little Rock has a horrible reputation in Arkansas.

With that said, I am still blown away that condos and rentals haven't popped up downtown. The area nearest the river is actually quite nice, land values are really low, and I am sure there is some pent up demand for urban living. Wish I was a developer looking for some risks...

[BG918]

Originally Posted by photoLith

The worst most bombed out city full of parking lots that comes to mind thats a million times worse than Little Rock is Tulsa, OK.

I would put Denver up there as well. There has been a lot of improvement but Denver still has the worst parking craters of any large city. There are literally entire blocks of parking lots on the south, east and north sides of downtown.

[ChiSoxRox]

Alas, parking galore seems to be a hallmark of Great Plains cities. Wichita is another contender.

Perhaps the worst are West Texas cities. Midland and Lubbock have a few blocks of buildings downtown in a literal ring of parking lots.