Whitfield discusses plan for new cultural district

In the conclusion of this three-part segment of “The Newsroom,” former council member Ivan Whitfield talks about Jimmy Cunningham’s Delta Rhythm and Bayous Cultural District Project that was approved by the Pine Bluff City Council but caused a divide once funding was finally worked out.

Funding for the project was initially coming directly from the 2017 sales tax used by Go Forward Pine Bluff, as suggested by Cunningham and approved by the council.

“The council approved the Delta Rhythm and Blues Bayou proposal 8-0, and even the mayor said it’s a great idea and then before the meeting ended, he was asking for $2 million,” Whitfield said. “He had a plan that we’ve been looking for. We were excited about it. It had the data with it. He did his homework. It showed the tourism that was coming. Something that we really believed in.”

Whitfield said he wanted to go ahead and allocate the requested amount with a line item in the budget, but that was before the council backtracked and left Cunningham’s funding to be overseen by Go Forward, saying the reversal came as a result of a call from “City Hall

2,” or those who control the direction of Go Forward.

“It made people show their hand,” Whitfield said. “Some of those that were strong to say yes had to come back and say no, we can’t do it that way, and it caused problems.”

Whitfield also gave his opinion on the role of city hall and the decisions he felt did more harm than help for the city. “I call it like I see it,” Whitfield said.

With a law enforcement background and as a former chief of police for Pine Bluff, Whitfield criticized the announcement made by officials of the consecutive number of days without a homicide for the city.

“The 100 days and the crime was something that they never should have put on TV,” said Whitfield, who called it an attempt to brag. “It’s not good police procedure.”

“I can almost assure you when you bring it to the forefront, the law of average in my whole 34 years at the PD, I can tell you, you won’t make it another week,” he continued.

With two homicides in one week after that announcement, Whitfield said he would have instead used the good news of 100 days with no homicides to encourage the officers and command staff to keep striving for more.

He said the city’s crime statistics speak for themselves and he also expressed his concern about the county’s prosecuting attorney Kyle Hunter. “Until the community sits down with Kyle Hunter, the prosecuting attorney, and say whether you’re rich or poor, Black or white, young or old when you pull that trigger and take an innocent person’s life we want to make everybody pay for their crime,” he said. “That means you just can’t get back out on a $10,000 bond.”

The vast majority of the crime in Pine Bluff, according to Whitfield, is Black on Black. “Until we speak up when one Black man kills another young Black man, we’re not going to make a difference,” he said.

Whitfield offered longterm solutions and what he feels will be the fix for improving the city.

He also wanted to set the record straight about his prior run for mayor, stating that he only ran after Washington publicly announced she was not going to run for mayor, and he said his motives were never to undermine the mayor but to do what was best for the citizens of Pine Bluff.

“People will say you’re fighting the system. You’re fighting against the mayor,” Whitfield said.

From tax dollar transparency to city operations, Whitfield concludes this part three of “The Newsroom,” holding, as he said, nothing back.