{"id":1513,"date":"2019-06-05T15:09:49","date_gmt":"2019-06-05T15:09:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/?p=1513"},"modified":"2019-06-05T15:10:01","modified_gmt":"2019-06-05T15:10:01","slug":"northwest-arkansas-region-needs-collaboration-among-government-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/2019\/06\/05\/northwest-arkansas-region-needs-collaboration-among-government-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Northwest Arkansas Region Needs Collaboration Among Government Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Guest blog post by Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce President\/CEO Raymond Burns<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three-of-the-six Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Arkansas are located within 16 miles of each other along Interstate-49. Northwest Arkansas also supports one of the highest concentrations of such companies of any region in the United States, except for Manhattan. More than half of the nation\u2019s Fortune 500 companies maintain at least a presence here. Every one of these companies and other major employers located in Northwest Arkansas are competing with other states and regions for the required talent to sustain and grow their operations.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An increasingly\ncompetitive global marketplace continues to drive the demand for a talented workforce\nin NWA, and this necessitates continuous investments in the principles of free\ntrade, workforce development, infrastructure, and quality of life to grow our\nregion. However, the vitriolic political environment, fueled primarily by\nstrict adherence to major political party ideology, is making the institutions\nthat comprise our federal and state governments increasingly difficult for\nbusiness to maneuver.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1967, John Paul\nHammerschmidt began serving the first of his 13 terms in Congress with another freshman\ncongressman from Texas named George H.W. Bush, and over the years they became\nvery close friends. One of the early projects Congressman Hammerschmidt began\nworking on was obtaining the funding for the design and construction of I-49,\nwhich would safely connect the communities of Northwest Arkansas to each other,\nand ultimately to the rest of the state. At the urging of Sam Walton, along with\nDon Tyson, and JB Hunt, Congressman Hammerschmidt also began working to\nobtain the funding for construction of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport.\nTo begin the process of obtaining financing for the regional airport, the\nNorthwest Arkansas Council was created in 1990. President George H.W. Bush\nincluded the funding for the construction of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport\nin his final budget. Thereafter, Northwest Arkansas would be connected to the\nworld. In 1998, President Bill Clinton, who once challenged Congressman\nHammerschmidt for election in 1974, flew back to his home state to dedicate the\ncompleted airport. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the last few\ndecades, major projects, including the creation of Beaver Lake, the\nconstruction of I-49, the funding of the Bella Vista Bypass, the Razorback\nGreenway, and the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, have all played a\nsignificant role in the development of our region. The phenomenal growth we\nhave enjoyed would not have been possible without bipartisan cooperation and\nsupport for these projects in Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On a state level, the\nwork of two good friends, former Democratic State Representative David Matthews\nand the late Republican State Representative Dick Barclay, sponsored enabling legislation\nand procured the state funding to make possible the creation of NorthWest\nArkansas Community College. Subsequent Republican and Democratic legislators\nfrom NWA have since made it possible for the establishment of UAMS Northwest,\nand for the expansion of the research mission and growth of the University of\nArkansas.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the 2012\nelection, voters in Benton and Washington Counties approved with overwhelming\nsupport the \u00bd cent tax dedicated for highway construction. The highway funds\napproved in that election flowed into Northwest Arkansas and allowed the funding\nof the additional lanes on I-49, currently nearing completion between\nFayetteville and Bentonville. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, try to imagine\nbusinesses in Northwest Arkansas functioning without even one of these major\nfederal or state projects previously mentioned. For decades, the need for all\nthese projects was driven by the vision and leadership of individuals and\nmembers of the business community in NWA working in accord for the good of all\nof our citizens.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recently the\nUnited States Chamber of Commerce announced its efforts to begin rebuilding the\npolitical center, which has all but disappeared in Congress today. We have been\nfortunate that the Arkansas General Assembly is not as sharply divided as\nCongress, but the divisive atmosphere of Washington has been showing signs of\ncreeping into our state legislature. The business community, represented by the\nNorthwest Arkansas Council and the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber, has\ntraditionally been non-partisan when it comes to advancing regional issues for our\narea because we are still\njoined by a broad set of common values. Ironically, the Northwest Arkansas\nCouncil and the Chamber of Commerce have even been accused by legislators, and\nsome political groups, of being too liberal or being too conservative on issues\n&#8211; sometimes in the same week of a legislative session.&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of the most\ninnovative business leaders in the world have made their dreams a reality in\nNorthwest Arkansas, and by doing so, they have positively transformed this\nregion for generations to come. The business community in our nation, our\nstate, and in our region needs collaboration, continuity, and a stable\npolitical environment, nationally and locally, in order to operate effectively\nand for the common good. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guest blog post by Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce President\/CEO Raymond Burns Three-of-the-six Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Arkansas are located within 16 miles of each other along Interstate-49. Northwest Arkansas also supports one of the highest concentrations of such companies of any region in the United States, except for Manhattan. More than half of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,205,197,207],"tags":[215,908,1343,1346,730,1347,1345,1348,611,913,743,757,462,909],"class_list":["post-1513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chambernews","category-econ_development","category-focus_community","category-government","tag-beaver-lake","tag-benton-county","tag-bill-clinton","tag-congressman-hammerschmidt","tag-david-matthews","tag-don-tyson","tag-george-h-w-bush","tag-jb-hunt","tag-northwest-arkansas-community-college","tag-nwacc","tag-raymond-burns","tag-sam-walton","tag-university-of-arkansas","tag-washington-county"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/ChamberSquare.jpg?fit=750%2C750","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8RhO8-op","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1513"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1515,"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513\/revisions\/1515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}