#it’s 82% funded!!! only need 36 more sales!!!

[tf2medicsimp]

Andy's Apple Farm Makeship plush.

buy him now

(if you can)

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[weeklyreviewer]

Japan’s Would-Be Silicon Valley Wants You

Masashi Tomita, who leads municipal efforts to attract tech startups to Fukuoka, Japan, is laugh-out-loud tipsy. The laughter is a clue, but so is the empty mug of Mega Jim Beam Highball, his third. We leave the bar and roam the streets for shime, or drunk food, hunkering our hankering at a solo yaki-ramen cart in the posh Tenjin district. Clinking glasses of plum liquor, I ask what I think is a cheery question: “Why can’t all of Japan be this fun?” He looks crestfallen, not insulted but embarrassed.

The Japanese call it nazonazo, a mystery upon a mystery, a riddle: Why is Japan — a 130-million-strong G7 nation with the world’s third-largest nominal GDP, bullet trains, robotics, a space program, and tech renown — such a dud in the startup world?

For all its business and engineering prowess, Japan has just one unicorn, or privately-owned, venture-backed tech company worth at least $1 billion, according to CB Insights. For the record, that company is artificial intelligence startup Preferred Networks.

But despite behemoth native power players including Honda, Mitsubishi, Nintendo, SoftBank, Sony, and Toyota, its corporate salaryman circles are full of squares, by design. Nearly every member of the Japanese workforce is a de facto senior vice president of rules and regulations. Japan’s national sport is protocol. In June, the country’s largest initial public offering of the year raised ¥33.8 billion ($315 million) and shares soared 21% on the first day of trading. What was all the fuss? It was Sansan, a tedious business card management app and sales-lead generator.

But what if the lack of Silicon Valley-style disruption is a cultural asset? Consider the Japanese art of kintsugi, in which broken pottery is repaired by filling the hibi, or cracks, with gold. What if “move fast and break things” — the early Facebook motto adopted by brogrammers everywhere — isn’t lost in translation as much as it’s discarded in translation? Why break when you can beautify?

Cue the startup incubator

Cue Fukuoka Growth Next, the country’s largest startup accelerator, which debuted in 2017, refurbished this May, and in August launches a nearly half-billion yen internal venture capital fund, FGN ABBALab, that will double investment in the next year. The fund is bankrolled in part by Mistletoe, owned by Taizo Son, the brother of SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son.

Backed by 22 companies, including Fujitsu, Ricoh, and Seiko, FGN joins other global tech hubs in the hopes of becoming its nation’s, um, Silicon Hibi. On site, in a converted three-story elementary school built in 1929, there are no foosball tables or vintage arcade games like in Silicon Valley. The whimsy comes from within.

Fukuoka Growth Next startup accelerator in Fukuoka, Japan.

“This city has been accepting different cultures for 2,000 years. And 100 years ago Toyota was a concept of entrepreneurial spirit—it is within us,” says Tomita. “We got organized after the war, but uniform—same, same, same—salarymen. It’s time to take our neckties off.”

Fukuoka, on the west coast of Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost big island — a five-hour bullet train ride from Tokyo — is preternaturally suited to the task. Amid Japan’s infamously aging population, Fukuoka’s 1.6 million residents comprise the nation’s youngest city. That includes 80,000 students across 19 universities (a 120-member student club at Kyushu University runs an office at FGN).

The exquisitely Instagrammable Kawachi Wisteria Garden nearby and Nokonoshima Flower Island, surf town of Itoshima, and wine country across Kyushu, famed for its hot spring spa towns, give Fukuoka a distinctly California vibe — as does its diversity.

Large populations of American, Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Indonesian, Korean, Nepalese, Portuguese, Thai, and Vietnamese immigrants were bolstered by relaxed labor laws in March. The Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, which has collections from 22 countries, bills itself as “the only museum in the world that systematically collects and exhibits Asian modern and contemporary art.”

The port town is the cruise ship capital of Japan, not including the ferries that jet to and from nearby Busan, in South Korea. And Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo are just two hours away by plane.

The world is at its fingertips. The city’s unofficial mantra is samiyasui (easy living).

The force behind the tech push

Fukuoka, Japan

Its youngest-ever mayor, Soichiro Takashima, a television news anchor elected in 2010 at 36, returned from a trip to Seattle intent on remaking Fukuoka in its image. In 2014, he convinced the federal government to declare Fukuoka a National Strategic Special Zone. FGN opened three years later, in tandem with a startup visa specifically designed to lure foreign entrepreneurs. The mayor still drops into FGN almost weekly.

Future prospects are buoyed by Fukuoka Smart East, a 124-acre smart city campus in Hakozaki district that will be a playground (and showroom) for Internet-of-things prototypes and hydrogen power, with its own accelerator division within FGN. In June, a smart city incubation program launched. But that kind of thinking has already begun: in January, Line, Japan’s largest social network — with 78 million users — tested a digital wallet in Fukuoka.

Yuichiro Uchida, FGN’s executive director, throws his arms into a human emoticon: ¯(ツ)/¯. “There’s just less pressure here,” he says. “That leaves more room for creativity and inspiration.” His bemused grin radiates “duh.” He continues: “Tokyo aims for the U.S. or London for status. But our proximity to Asia — Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore — is our strength. I’d rather be big in Asia than big in New York or San Francisco.��

To keep stress low, FGN offers free consultations to startups on, say, accounting, copyright, or intellectual property (what Tomita calls “startup defense”). Uchida talks about the smart city project as a “grand vision,” a physical, infrastructural white paper.

When we meet, Uchida is dressed down in a t-shirt. A rugby star in school, he’s now 43, but retains a boyish breeziness. In contrast, his entrepreneurial radar is mature and specific: the drone startups of Bordeaux and its Darwin station, the design scene in Copenhagen, tax structures in Singapore, and the European Union’s de facto IT bureau in Tallinn, Estonia. I ask him what’s better than creating — what is the entrepreneurial equivalent of omotenashi, Japan’s hyper-hospitality? — and his answer is kyoso: co-creating.

His is a train of thought born of wabisabi, the Japanese notion that imperfection is often better than perfection. As Tomita puts it: “I value diversity. You can’t embrace diversity and expect perfection.”

At its debut, FGN’s initial goal was for its tenants to raise ¥500 million ($4.6 million) by December 2018, but they instead raised ¥8.2 billion ($75.9 million). Amid the Japanese economy’s Abenomics, the fiscal reforms of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, FGN offers a radical oasis of wabisabinomics. As opposed to existing for the sake of getting on Google’s radar (and the acquisition bounty that comes with it) FGN’s startups seem genuinely, refreshingly focused on their users in a way that prioritizes purpose and risk over buzz and security, harkening to the era when Silicon Valley was defined more by garage-built moxie than IPO bluster.

Sakiko Taniguchi developed Nyans, a social network for cat lovers, at FGN. “There’s no word for salarywoman but there doesn’t need to be when you’re family. Here I have drinks with the mayor,” she says. “In Tokyo, I can’t think of anything other than work. I’m more than that. My company would be possible in Tokyo — I expanded there in February — but there I wouldn’t be able to run the company the way I want. Fukuoka gives me what I want and how I want it.”

Early success

She hopes to follow FGN’s successful alumni: Alterbooth, a cloud integrator, raised ¥100M ($922K) in June; Authentic Japan, an SOS app that sends rescue drones to users, became mandatory at a major ski resort in April; and Skydisc, an air quality startup with both agricultural and home/office applications, was called a “future unicorn” by Nikkei news service. In all, FGN’s 293 total companies, 21 are established players like local banks and Yahoo, while the remaining 272 startups have pulled in $82 million and lured entrepreneurs from nine countries.

FGN member Kenji Umeki frequents FGN’s ironically named bar, Awa (Bubble), a satellite of a spot popular among techies in Tokyo’s Roppongi district. Umeki named his human resources startup, You Make It, as a pun on his name. His users include Bangladeshi, Chinese, and Vietnamese workers. “Honestly, I have a Vietnamese friend and I just wanted to help him,” he says. “I want that to be a good enough reason for a business proposal.”

Strolling the bank of the curly Nakagawa River, a ¥1-a-day shared-economy umbrella in his hand, Kazuya Shidahara, FGN’s head of engineering events, sits me down with some FGN leaders among Fukuoka’s other great startups: the yatai, the here-and-gone nightly food carts selling ramen, mentaiko, and yakitori. I ask the group what would happen if one of the ramen stands were so successful that it opened locations all over the world like McDonalds or Starbucks. “Like Gong Cha?” asks Shidahara, referring to the Taiwanese bubble tea chain. “Do you know people wait up to three hours there? For what? A tea and an Instagram upload? It’s a trap, a prison. Maybe that’s why they’re called chains.” His words are scalability heresy, but they also call out a Silicon Valley contradiction: its dueling ambitions of ubiquity and unique experience.

Perhaps FGN’s roundabout unorthodoxy can solve a riddle that has been plaguing San Francisco, too — especially the toxic tumult at Facebook, Google, and Uber — while paradoxically paying tribute to an ancient Japanese tradition: Fukuoka is primed to be a beacon of entrepreneurial bushido, the samurai code, helping restore honor and morality to tech (cough, Theranos, that once-celebrated Silicon Valley blood-testing startup that ultimately imploded). Now would be a good time to practice bowing.

Credit: Source link

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[call-me-elizabum]

All the asks~!

1) What images do you have set for your desktop/cell phone wallpapers?

Laptop -

Phone (For those wondering its @thedevilandhisfiddleofgold (Not sorry cause youre making me do this xD))

2) Have you ever had a crush on a teacher? 

I have actually xD I think it was my health teacher in middle school xD

3) What was your last text message? 

“Ok” and it was to my mom

4) What do you see yourself doing in 10 years?

Hopefully still living in a city doing a job that I love

5) If you could be anywhere else right now, where would you be?

I’m pretty content where I am rn but if I had to pick somewhere it would prob be like a bookstore or something

6) What was your coolest Halloween costume?

As a cosplayer I have been the same costume the past 3 years so if that means anything about my costumes IDK what does. It would prob be my Graverobber costume I threw together in like a day

7) What was your favorite 90s show?

The Nanny

8) Who was your last kiss?

HA this is funny xD

9) Have you ever been stood up?

Nope

10) Favorite ice cream flavor?

Cookie monster (Its from an ice cream stand like 10 minutes from me. It’s a blue ice cream thats cookies and cream and cookie dough)

11) Have you been to Las Vegas?

I’ve never left the Northeast of the US so the answer is no

12) Your favorite pair of shoes?

My brown ankle boots uwu

13) Honestly, have you ever cheated on your significant other? 

Nope but my ex from freshman year almost cheated on me with my best friend at the time (she turned him down cause she was a good friend xD)

14) What is your favorite fruit?

Grapes 

15) Have you talked to anyone on tumblr that you could see yourself dating/having sex with? If possible?

Nope!

16) Are you into hookups? Short or long term relationships?

Considering im on the aromantic/asexual spectrum... nope.

17) Do you smoke? If so, what?

Nah, My lungs would kill me if I tried (Asthma is great)

18) What do you do to get over your anger?

I play animal crossing and kinda just vent on tumblr

19) Do you believe in God?

Nope!

20) Does the person you're in love with know it?

I’m not in love with anyone RN

21) Favorite position?

Skip

22) What's your horoscope sign?

Aquarius! 

23) Your fears?

Skip

24) How many pets do you have? What kind?

Okay get ready, I have 1 dog... and like 9 cats

25) What never fails to turn you on?

Skip

26) Your idea of a perfect first date?

Something both of us enjoy doing that is worth whatever price it may be. Preferably something inexpensive where we can talk TBH.

27) What is something most people don't know about you?

I have 93 hours in sims 4 (I’ve only had the game since the end of January)... Also, I collect porcelain dolls cause I have loved them since i was a little kid

28) What makes you feel the happiest?

Seeing the people I love and seeing them have fun/doing something they enjoy

29) What store do you shop at most often?

I don’t shop enough to have a store I shop at often (Although it would prob be Newbury Comics)

30) How do you feel about oral? Giving and/or receiving?

As long as their clean I could give or take TBH (Keep in mind I have never done anything close to it xD)

31) Do you believe in karma?

Yes, 100%

32) Are you single?

Yup! 

33) Do you think flowers or candy are a better way to apologize?

Candy because I can actually eat it xD

34) Are you a good swimmer?

I think so, considering I had tested into the deep end last year during swimming (With like half the swim team but I decided to swim in the middle xD)

35) Coffee or Tea?

Neither TBH

36) Online shopping or shopping in person?

Shopping in person. I have such an awkward body shape I need to try things on

37) Would you rather be older or younger than your current age?

I would wanna be older (Like 22) because that would be just old enough to do the things I would wanna do even though I don’t plan on drinking

38) Cats or Dogs?

Cats but dogs are a close second

39) Are you a competitive person?

Depending on what the competition is for xD

40) Do you believe in aliens?

Yee boy

41) Do you like dancing?

I only danced for 14 years.. Nah I don’t like dancing at all

42) What kind of music to you listen to?

Musical Theater, Indie and Pop Punk

43) What is your favorite cartoon character?

I have too many to name TBH

44) Where are you from?

Massachusetts!

45) Eat at home or eat out?

Eat at Home unless I don’t have anything I like

46) How much more social are you when you're drunk?

N/A

47) What was the last thing you bought for yourself?

A Bathbomb from Lush (Intergalactic)

48) Why do you think your followers follow you?

I have no idea TBH. Why do you guys follow me??

49) How many hours do you sleep at night?

Like 5 hours or so

50) What worries you most about the future?

Finding a well paying job in my major

51) If you had a friend that spoke to you the same way you speak to yourself, how long would you be friends?

Pretty long I’d like to think xD

52) Are you happy with yourself?

Meh not really if Im being honest

53) What do you wish you didn't know?

N/A

54) What big lesson could people learn from your life?

COMMUNICATION IS A THING THAT WORKS

55) If you could live in any home on a television series, what would it be?

Marcos house from SVTFOE cause its a nice house (Plus stars room is great)

56) What's your favorite Website?

Youtube and Tumblr xD

57) What's the habit you're proudest of breaking?

Biting my nails! I would always bite them but now I have like 3 nails I can see from the back of my hand and its amazing

58) What was your most recent trip of more than 50 miles?

Cape Cod (It was still a day trip cause MA is small)

59) What's the best bargain you've ever found at a garage sale or thrift store?

I saw a thick jacket (I wanted to get for a cosplay but it was so thick I wouldve sweat so much) for like $15

60) What do you order when you eat Chinese food?

Chicken Fingers (Im picky AF)

61) If you had to be named after one of the 50 states, which would it be?

Dakota (I’m basic xD)

62) If you had to teach a subject to a class, what would it be?

Anything science related

63) Favorite kind of chips?

Doritos!

64) Favorite kind of sandwich?

fluffernutter! (See: Massachusetts state sandwich)

65) Which do you use more often, the dictionary or the thesaurus?

Since I’ve been in college, a Thesaurus

66) Have you ever been stung by a bee?

No and I wanna keep it that way

67) What's your favorite form of exercise?

Dancing

68) Are you afraid of heights?

No but I’m afraid of falling from them

69) What's the most memorable class you've ever taken?

My knitting class I took last semester cause the professor was rly nice and didnt care if we finished our work as long as we had something to show for us learning.

70) What's your favorite breakfast?

I dont usually eat breakfast but I love hashbrowns

71) Do you like guacamole?

Nope! Once again im super picky

72) Have you ever been in a physical fight?

Have you seen me? The answer is no

73) What/who are you thinking about right now?

How much Dear Evan Hansen is making me cry RN (I’m listening to it as Im typing this)

74) Do you like cuddling?

Only if I’m really close to the person

75) Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?

Who isn’t?

76) Have you ever experienced one of your biggest fears?

It’s a thing I have experienced too many times to be healthy

77) Favorite city you've been to?

Boston. I love it so much and would gladly go any day

78) Would you break the law to save a family member?

Depends on the family member xD

79) Talk about an embarrassing moment?

Do you mean: my life?

80) Are there any causes you strongly believe in? 

Funding Planned Parenthood, Basically anything Trump is against TBH xD

81) What's the worst injury you've ever had? 

I’ve broken the growth plate on both of my feet and when I broke my right growth plate i almost needed surgery to fix it because it was healing so slowly

82) Favorite day of the week?

Fridays

83) Do you consider yourself sexually open minded?

For the most part yes. I won’t judge kinks and would be willing to try a handful of them.

84) How do you feel about porn?

Could give or take TBH. My life wouldn’t change much if it didnt exist

85) Which living celebrity would you like to know?

Lin-Manuel Miranda xD

86) Who was your hottest ex?

Neither of them. They were both lowkey unattractive.

87) Do you want/have kids?

Nope! If the person I’m with wants kids, they can carry if they are able to or adopt cause no kid is gonna grow in my uterus

88) Has anyone ever told you that they wanted to marry you?

Nah

89) Do you get easily distracted?

Yeah xD I’ve stopped answering these a few times cause something distracted me

90) Ass or titties?

Titties cause I can use them as pillows and not worry about getting stinkbombed xD

91) What is your favorite word?

Legit or if you want a phrase TBH

92) How do you feel about tattoos?

I want them so I dont look at anyone differently cause they have tattoos

93) Do you have any pets?

Wasn’t this a question like 80 questions ago??

94) How tall are you? 

5 foot 10 inches!

95) How old are you?

I’m only 19 but my mind is older! (Sorry had to throw Ham in)

96) 3 physical features you get complimented on a lot?

My eyes, My hair and thats it xD

97) Is there anything you're really passionate about?

Musicals xD

98) Do you have trust issues?

Not really

99) Do you believe in love at first sight?

Not one bit

100) What are some words that you live by? Why?

N/A

[cathrynstreich]

Now Live: Realogy Launches First-Ever Real Estate Benefits Program Designed for AARP Members

Realogy Holdings Corp. announced AARP® Real Estate Benefits from Realogy, the first-ever real estate benefits program designed for the nearly 38 million AARP members, is now live. The new offering allows AARP members to receive $300 to $5,500 when buying or selling a home with a participating agent affiliated with one of Realogy’s trusted residential real estate brands, including Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate, Century 21®, Coldwell Banker®, Corcoran® and ERA®.

AARP® Real Estate Benefits from Realogy was created to assist Americans age 50 and older—one of the largest groups of recent homebuyers and sellers. The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) 2019 Generational Trends Survey reported that nearly one-third of recent homebuyers are baby boomers, with their home purchases primarily motivated by retirement, the desire for a smaller home or a need to be closer to friends and family.

“Realogy is committed to delivering high-quality real estate services to our consumers during these difficult times,” said Katrina Helmkamp, president and CEO of Realogy Leads Team and Cartus. “The AARP Real Estate Benefits from Realogy program, paired with technology used for virtual home showings, is empowering Americans 50 and older to choose how and where they live, but also allowing us to serve them with our expertise even in times of uncertainty.”

“For many older Americans, relocating to a new home is part of a major life stage transition, such as retiring, downsizing or changing jobs,” said John Larew, AARP Services president and CEO. “The real estate program from Realogy is designed to help AARP members successfully navigate an important milestone in their lives while saving money in the process. It is part of AARP’s commitment to empowering people to choose how they live as they age.”

To support the launch of the program, Realogy commissioned a consumer survey in May among 1,106 American adults, examining opinions of the general American population as well as those specific to Americans ages 50 and older. The survey examined the changing home-buying attitudes of Americans in the wake of COVID-19.

As work, play and education turn to virtual means, the survey findings indicate increasing comfort with virtual tours and home inspections, including among Americans age 50 and older, along with a shift in American aspirations toward suburban living.

According to the survey, 82 percent of Americans 50 and older say that receiving an average of $1,250 through a real estate cash benefits program would be at least somewhat meaningful. Americans 50 and older are more likely than Americans under 50 to say if they were to receive $1,250, the money would be put into an emergency savings fund (29 percent vs 22 percent). Additional findings from the consumer survey reveal a generational divide between those under the age of 50 and those 50-plus. Older Americans prioritize different things in the home, indicate different moving location preferences and have different plans for how they would use additional monetary funds.

Consumer Survey Highlights—Home-Buying and Selling During COVID-19 Virtual Tours and Inspections May Ease Home-Buying Decision Making

– Over half (59 percent) of Americans say they would be comfortable putting their home on the market for sale virtually, and more than a quarter (27 percent) of the 50-plus generation are comfortable buying a home having seen it only virtually and not in person.

– Among Americans who are uncomfortable, or only somewhat comfortable, buying a home virtually, a majority say virtual tours of the home (59 percent), virtual home inspections (51 percent) and detailed neighborhood information and high-quality photos (46 percent) would ease their decision to buy a home virtually. Americans 50-Plus Prioritize the Home Differently Amidst COVID-19 – Comfort and Convenience Reign Supreme: Americans 50-plus are more likely than Americans under 50 to say top priority features include: laundry in the home (69 percent vs. 52 percent), a patio/deck (56 percent vs. 39 percent), accessibility and convenience (46 percent vs. 25 percent) and an open layout (48 percent vs. 36 percent). Most Americans of all ages say a yard or access to outdoor space is a priority. – Sticking to TP: Only 9 percent of Americans 50-plus say a bidet in the bathroom would be a priority. Dreams of Urban Living Shift to the Suburbs

– Among those who currently live in an urban area, nearly 40 percent are thinking about moving to a suburban or rural area in the future due to COVID-19.

– Sixty-seven percent of Americans ages 50-plus say they plan to stay in the same type of area they live in now compared to 44 percent of Americans under the age of 50.

– Americans ages 50-plus are more likely than Americans under the age of 50 to say, based on living through COVID-19, the most ideal place to live when looking to move is a ranch or single floor home (48 percent vs 28 percent). Retirement Still in the Cards?

– Only 8 percent say that the coronavirus has caused them to move back their retirement date, while 3 percent say they plan to retire early. Over one-third (34 percent) of those surveyed say they have no current plans to retire.

For more information, please visit www.realogy.com.

The post Now Live: Realogy Launches First-Ever Real Estate Benefits Program Designed for AARP Members appeared first on RISMedia.

Now Live: Realogy Launches First-Ever Real Estate Benefits Program Designed for AARP Members published first on https://thegardenresidences.tumblr.com/

[oselatra]

Gene Fortson opposes end to at-large city directors, won't run again in 2020

Also says infrastructure problems need to be addressed. During his 12 years as an at-large city director, Gene Fortson has learned that the city board is a “changing organism,” one influenced both by the mayor and by the issues facing Little Rock. “The city and society’s progress probably delineates as much as anything [else] how the board chemistry works,” he said. As Mayor Frank Scott’s administration begins making changes at City Hall, Fortson says he’s looking forward to working with the city’s leaders to determine the future of the at-large positions, increase revenue to alleviate a constricted city budget and make Little Rock the “safest city its size, anywhere.” [content-1] [content-2] Scott has said he’ll seek to eliminate the board’s at-large positions in favor of more ward-specific representation. Fortson disagrees with Scott on this, and not just because he’s an at-large director. “I think it gives a unique balance between ward politics and seeing the city as a whole,” Fortson said. “The proper use, I think, of the at-large directors is sometimes to provide a balance and maybe more impetus for citywide needs that may not necessarily receive the same emphasis from individual ward directors on a daily basis. And I think that’s sort of the division of powers.” Fortson referenced a Hendrix College study that found a move from citywide at-large races to a system in which representatives are elected based solely on geographic wards would result in more minorities and women being elected to the board. “Traditionally, one of the arguments for doing away with the at-large [positions] was that minority candidates could not be elected,” he said. But recent elections in Little Rock are indicative of a shift in access to positions of power, according to Fortson. “Well, I think Frank Scott’s election, Terri Hollingsworth’s election as the county clerk, [and] Eric Higgins’ election as sheriff shows maybe those days are past, that a properly financed and a well organized and an attractive minority candidate can do just as well as anyone else citywide,” he said. “I think that old argument that was used [negatively against] the at-large [positions] does not really have the validity on paper [that] it may have had in the past.” He added that because research on the at-large positions focuses solely on “who got elected and how they got elected,” he’d call for “credible research” on the voting history of at-large directors. This research, according to Fortson, would dispel the notion that the at-large directors all vote together and in opposition to minorities. That at-large directors vote against the interests of minorities is “not true,” he said. “Somebody needs to look at a five-year or ten-year history of voting patterns and you’ll see that [the] three at-large [directors] are all over the ballpark, not agreeing with each other, and you’ll find that the three at-large [directors] have variously, at various opportunities, worked with board directors to achieve different things.” He said the 2014 construction of the Little Rock Police Department’s 12th Street Substation is an example of this cooperation between at-large directors and other city directors. “The 12th Street station that Ken Richardson was pushing so hard … never would have happened without assistance from me and other at-large directors, because it was a lot of money,” he said. “And that was a lot of investment in that ward. Other wards thought, well, wait a minute, they’re going to put $12 million in here? How much of that can I get? Which is their job in representing their ward, but there’s a balance.” This balance between a city director’s concern for his or her ward and a larger vision for the city is a difficult one, according to Fortson, and it becomes frustrating when directors exclusively focus on problems in their wards. “The approach of ‘my ward, my people,’ if carried to the extreme, we would resurface this road in my ward if I can get the funds to do it, right up to your ward, and then you get there [to your ward] and you get potholes,” he said. “It doesn’t take care of the city as a whole when you do that.” Fortson, 82, said he won’t be running for re-election when his term ends in December 2020. He also said he supports and would prefer younger representation on the city board. “I go back in my career, [and] I tried to hire a lot of young people in management positions because, for the most part, they did things better than the old folks did,” he said. “I think we need a mixture. I think the average age of the board is not reflective of the average age of the city. The average age of Little Rock is getting younger. The median age here is 36 or 37, so to be reflective of the city, the leadership needs to be around that age, too, or else be old folks who are adaptable.” A former CEO of both Worthen Bank and Trust and Stebbins and Roberts Inc., Fortson said he understands Scott’s embrace of the strong mayor role as CEO of the city. “Coming from the private sector, I think he mirrored a lot of what you do there, and that is [that] the CEO has certain functions he deals with on a direct basis, but actually your chief operating officer runs the whole city from a day-to-day implementation standpoint,” Fortson said. “It’s an interesting structure, it’s new to the city, but I can understand where he’s coming from, and I think it can be an effective way to operate.” Fortson said Scott’s decision to take control of six city departments that previously reported to City Manager Bruce Moore (finance, fire, human resources, planning, police and public works) will allow Scott to be “more hands-on” in the areas of the city he “views as critical to what he wants to do,” and, as with anything new, it will take time to adjust to the new structure. The board is a “synergistic-cooperative type of thing,” according to Fortson, and an ever-changing one. “There’s the evolutionary process,” he said. “An organizational chart is something two dimensional on a wall or on a sheet of paper. Six months from now, if you sit down and take a look at how that organizational chart functions between him and the various players, then you’ll know it may functionally look a little bit different from the way he draws it, although that’s just because it evolves that way. Things don’t stay static very long.” Nor should they, Fortson added. “Not in business, not in the academic world, and not in government,” he said. “It’s got to reflect the real world in which we live [and] the needs you have.”

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Infrastructure problems such as potholes, aging plumbing systems and crumbling or nonexistent sidewalks are a main area of concern for the city, and Fortson said an increase in the city’s revenue is needed to begin fixing these problems. Like Ward 4 City Director Capi Peck, Fortson said he hopes state legislation that would require internet merchants to charge sales tax from sales in Arkansas will help restore more operating revenue to the city’s budget. Fortson compared navigating the budget management of a city in a constant state of flux to “punching a marshmallow.” “It won’t stay punched,” he said. “It comes back. That’s one of the joys of being involved in it, because you hope to try to help solve those problems. And I think … we sometimes disagree on things, [but] everybody on that board, the mayor especially, wants to solve them. … Finance is something that’s always intrigued me because it’s part of my background. You’ve got so many dollars, and that’s it. And people are wanting more police, they want this, they want that, they want a new fire station, and you can only go so far with those dollars.” Asked if he supports Scott’s plan to increase the LRPD police force by 25 officers per year for the next four years, Fortson said the city doesn’t have “spare money” and would need to reallocate dollars to do so. He added that while he doesn’t think there is a specific number of policeman that would be the “correct amount” for reducing crime in Little Rock, he does believe community-based policing is key to both reducing crime and restoring the relationship between police and citizens who don’t trust the force. Fortson said he also believes the next police chief should be a candidate who understands and respects Little Rock and its communities. “He or she needs to know the city,” he said. “They need to be somebody who can lead that force of however many we have and make sure that they are representative and responsive to the community. They need to be somebody who makes sure that the city and the police department are not adversarial.” According to Fortson, a key element to the “well-being” of Little Rock is the restored local control of the Little Rock School District, but like his board peers Peck and Ward 3 Director Kathy Webb, he said the best tool of the board is its voice. “We never had any input before [control] moved, and we don’t have any input now,” he said. “Getting it back here is important, and I would hope that as we continue to meet the criteria to improve the schools, that should increase the pressure to return it to local control and have a new, locally elected school board.” In addition to returning stability to teachers, students and parents of the LRSD who are experiencing “a lot of unknowns,” Fortson said local control of the district will enhance “quality of life” in Little Rock. Fortson said the city has an “inferiority complex” that prevents it from talking about “what we really offer.” “For those who choose to take advantage of it, we’ve got tremendous cultural and recreational opportunities,” he said. “If the Sun Belt is where you want to be, Little Rock is the buckle. We’re right in the center, and there’s so much available to you in so many different directions.” Fortson said this is why, despite opportunities to leave Little Rock during his career, he never did. He now looks forward to younger folks running for office and wants them to get involved in city government. “I encourage people in their 30s to get active and run for office,” he said. “If you don’t want to run for office, get involved. Do something. If you don’t like what’s going on, don’t talk to me about it, go out in the world and do something.” Fortson said he plans to stay involved in the Little Rock community, even if it’s not as an at-large director. “I’ve been very fortunate,” he said. “I have a high energy level, and I have good health and a lot of interests, and I assume I’m still mentally acute. So as long as I can do that, I’m going to stay active doing something. If it’s not this, I’ll do something else.” Gene Fortson opposes end to at-large city directors, won't run again in 2020