The city of Little Rock says shaving $3.8 million from next year's budget means a reduction in services. There are six neighborhood alert centers the mayor is proposing to close.
Alert centers are designed to be resources to the community. The city owns some of them. In other cases, the city leases space to run them. That's one of the factors officials considered when proposing which centers to close.
Neighborhood alert centers exist to bring city services into the heart of the community. "If there are issues with crime or issues that need immediate attention, you have a place where you can get that rather than having to come to City Hall," Richards said.
With officers, code enforcement, and several other services available it's a one stop shop for people who live near them. "Initially the recommendation was 8 alert centers throughout the city before my time, but that's grown to 14. We're recommending cutting back to the 8 alert centers," Mayor Mark Stodola said.
Stodola's proposal would close 5 of the city's 14 neighborhood alert centers and combine the east Little Rock and east Broadway centers. City leaders say it would save $260,000 since the city lease's these 6 particular buildings. The city would also save money by reducing staff.
The city also leases a building on John Barrow to operate it's West Central Alert Center and it's not on the chopping block.
According to city leaders the West Central center costs the city $21,500 to operate, not including staff. Compare that to the upper Baseline center, which is on the proposed chopping block, which the city only pays $1 a year to operate.
Director Ken Richardson isn't sold on the plan as is. “Far too often when we're looking for support, services, and help we have to go outside the community and immediate environment to get that," he said. "When you have it in close proximity to the problems, to the problems and the community and residents take ownership of it, it becomes an institution that's valuable to them."
Director Erma Hendrix agrees with the mayor's plan, suggesting the city shouldn't have to pay to lease buildings for alert centers when the city has buildings of its own. Much more discussion and debate is sure to follow before any decision is made.
The east Little Rock Community Center and swimming pool would also close. The city's pool season would lose a week of operation. Also senior programs would lose one day of operation.
