There was a pregnant woman named Susan Fleming managing the City of Little Rock, and doing a fine job. She calls and says, “I have a perfect volunteer spot for you, the Little Rock City Beautiful Commission.”
“Oh?” I says.
“Yep. It’s real ‘tea-sipping’ job. No controversy. You just meet and think up ways to make the city even more beautiful than it is.”
Long pause.
“Oh, and approve landscape plans," she said. I bit.
First meeting, we were to consider plans for UPS to build a significant project out near the airport. Back then, UPS was so cheap they bid out architectural services, and those bids didn’t include one single tree or plant.
“We may just have to locate somewhere else if we have to do landscaping,” their rep said.
Now remember, there was this real character then who wrote editorials for the evening paper, a real curmudgeon (I always heard his brother was worse). His two favorite things were to ruin lives and promote people like Tommy Robinson to high political office. He was always saying things like "I don't suffer from prejudice at all." And any southerner knows what that means. He didn't like public servants, Bill Clinton, or Little Rock.
Anyhow, I could see the headline: “Tea sippers chase huge project away.” We gulped, cinched, closed our eyes and said, “We have a landscape code with which you must comply.” They did. We prevailed. I learned that courage counts when you have no other choice. Oh, and we had a good role model. A young woman named Sharon Priest was our Chair.
I've been lucky at times.
