Tuesday Letter to the Editor

Majestic eyesore

Dear editor:

A thought on recent letters and articles pertaining to the eyesore both residents and visitors see downtown, what we used to know as the Majestic Hotel. It's a disgrace our current city leadership has let stand and decay for several years now, without a thought or clue as to what to do, other than hire out of town consulting firms, wasting taxpayer dollars.

One of the letters mentioned Dennis Magee, a former downtown restaurant owner and reptile expert. I happen to have known Magee personally many years ago, and only his passion for animals exceeds his knowledge of them. For anyone who has visited the Little Rock Zoo recently, it's overpriced and run down, in really bad shape. Half the exhibits are empty, and the animals are housed in poor conditions.

So here's a thought: Why not take that land and create the state's largest reptile/amphibians/fish park? And give a portion of it to Magee to operate the reptilian aspect? Then partner with Arkansas Game and Fish to open and move a larger version of the nice but very, very tiny National Park Aquarium? They have the knowledge and capacity to exhibit hundreds of both native and foreign species of aquatic life.

Then go a step further: Give a portion of it to the Bridges family to relocate the Alligator Farm. They are fantastic people and good businessmen, but quite frankly, their facility is not only outdated but sits a little more off the beaten path for tourists. This new space could give a little more room to a couple of exhibits -- the mountain lion and snapping turtle -- that are really needed.

Finally, there's enough room for local food trucks and vendors to bid on space for beverages and food for visitors. This would be a unique, one-of-a-kind venue no city in Arkansas has to offer. Tourists would flock to it, and a respectable admission and parking price would make the entire project eventually self-sustaining.

This probably all makes too much sense to our current city leadership, and if they did take it up, Bill Burrough, Steve Arrison, and our current board of directors would spend millions hiring those same out of state consulting firms, then ask the taxpayers to approve more bonds (which by the way are extensions of taxes that should sunset).

Anthony Lloyd

Hot Springs