Through partnership, Fayetteville can be even better. Part of being in a partnership is sharing information and candidly discussing plans, and that sort of discussion has been missing between key stakeholders in Fayetteville. The school board makes plans without consulting the Council, and we're panicking that we might lose our performance arts community because we haven't been communicating well with the WAC for the last decade.
We can't afford to neglect the potential of those relationships anymore. We can reverse this trend, starting with the University. Fayetteville can re-invigorate its tax base with 18000 UofA students. Our town should be part of the new student orientation process; freshmen should get an information packet that offers descriptions and reviews of our shops, restaurants and trail system.
Local businesses thrive on word-of-mouth advertising, and we tell all of our friends about our experiences with local shops. Why don't we tell the newest members of our community, the freshmen? We can keep student spending dollars in Fayetteville, but we'll have to work closely with Fayetteville's institutions to do it.
