Our View

Our View

Rookie WM councilman not afraid to ask questions

It is not that often we have a politician come along who actually resonates with the people, and who could care less about being “politically correct” in his or her assessment of situations.

Just as we’re enjoying the honesty, sincerity and integrity of Crittenden County Judge Woody Wheeless we are seeing another politician with similar traits emerging in the leadership of West Memphis City Councilman Wayne Croom.

Croom, the newest member of the city council, has been outspoken on situations that he has been involved in since being elected in November. A good example of his forthright approach has been him seriously questioning the city’s bidding process as it relates to the “emergency clause”, some of the decisions that have been made in regard to the Big River Crossing project and his most recent criticism of city’s “unfriendly” rules, restrictions and demands as they relate to dealing with “small” businesses.

Taking his rant to the social media recently, Croom harshly criticized the city’s policies regarding small business owners and how difficult West Memphis bureaucrats make it for them to do business.

In his recent Facebook post, Croom said he has come to realize that West Memphis does not present itself as a small business friendly city.

“Too many prospective small business owners that decided to relocate to West Memphis find the process too unfriendly, difficult, expensive and restrictive.

“Not only the small business owners find it too difficult to open a business here , but also property owners, Realtors, builders, and others agree that opening a business in West Memphis is too tedious and requires too much ‘red tape’”.

Croom made it vividly clear the process is “demanding and overwhelming”.

Croom is saying what many West Memphians and other politicians have known for some time now, and that is this county’s largest municipality is heading in the wrong direction.

“Our population has decreased over 20 percent in the last 15 to 20 years. Drive down Broadway or Missouri Streets and just look at the empty buildings and then drive through our neighborhoods and look at the empty houses,” Croom said.

Anyone who moved to West Memphis a decade ago and invested in a new home needs to realize that their property has seriously decreased in value based on current appraisals, and little indications are that values will return to what they were 10 or 20 years ago. The latest effort to bring new jobs to West Memphis can be attributed to Judge Wheeless who was not only instrumental in bring Baptist Hospital to West Memphis but also convincing the Department of Corrections to occupy the vacated Crittenden Regional Hospital that went bankrupt in 2014, leaving Crittenden Countians without a primary care facility.

Croom appears to be following in the footsteps of Judge Wheeless, who has become highly popular among Crittenden Countians because of his “downto- earth” leadership abilities and his communication skills.

Could it be Councilman Croom is establishing himself as the next mayor of a city in decline?