By Ray King
By a vote of 8-0, the Pine Bluff City Council on Tuesday voted to transfer almost $1.5 million from the Go Forward Sales Tax to the Economic and Community Development Department to support the Delta Rhythm and Bayous Cultural District Project.
The vote followed pleas from multiple citizens who had signed up to speak before the meeting began and who urged the council to fulfill a 2022 vote by the council to commit $2 million from the sales tax to the project over a two-year span.
Last year, $590,000 was designated for the project, with the remainder promised for this year.
Council member Bruce Lockett sponsored the legislation and talked about it with Deltaplex News.
Also Tuesday, an ordinance amending the zoning code regulating “small box retail stores,” more commonly referred to as Dollar stores was read once. The ordinance is part of a continuing effort by Council Member LaTisha Brunson to bring a full-service grocery store back to the First Ward after the only store in that ward, Super 1 Foods, closed its East Harding location in 2022.
A resolution authorizing Mayor Shirley Washington to sell city owned property adjacent to the Wastewater Utility property at Boyd Point was approved unanimously.
Wastewater Utility General Manager Ken Johnson discussed the legislation with Deltaplex News.
