Move to Bentonville and Get $600 Towards a Mountain Bike Plus $10,000 Cash
Northwest Arkansas Council is offering $10,000 cash and perks such as $600 towards a mountain bike to prospective new residents that want to move to Benton and Washington Counties.
The recently launched 'Life Works Here' program is an attempt by the region to incentivize more talented STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) workers to the region. The Council says, "Northwest Arkansas has more than 10,000 job openings right now and has a shortage of talent to fill available STEAM jobs. We want to attract talent who will help us build a richer long-term talent pipeline that supports our thriving local economy. The incentive is specifically targeting remote workers – we are looking for people who can meaningfully contribute to and actively participate in our vibrant community."
The region is home to the recently trademarked 'Mountain Bike Capital of the World', Bentonville, that offers 150 miles of mountain bike trails. The region also houses the headquarters of Walmart and the grandsons of its founder, Steuart and Tom Walton, have invested heavily in the sport and infrastructure surrounding their local region and beyond.
The Waltons are also involved with the Life Works Here scheme, the Council says, "The initiative is sponsored by the Northwest Arkansas Council and made possible by philanthropic support from the Walton Family Foundation at the recommendation of Steuart Walton and Tom Walton." It's not clear how many places will be available for the scheme but apparently $1 million will be invested in this scheme over the next six months.
The perks for moving include the $10,000 cash stipend and a "street or mountain bike". Having reached out to the Northwest Arkansas Council, it has clarified that it will provide a credit of up to $600 to be used towards the purchase of a street or mountain bike at one of the local bike shops. Participants that don't want a bicycle money can swap it for an annual membership to one of North West Arkansas' arts and cultural institutions.
Other perks of living in the region include a per-capita income that’s 14% higher than the national average, a low cost of living and a less hectic pace of life than city living. Nelson Peacock, president and CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Council, told Forbes, “Northwest Arkansas has one of the fastest-growing economies in the country, but we must increase our STEAM and entrepreneurial talent to ensure economic growth in the future. Right now we know a lot of people are re-evaluating their priorities and their lifestyle. We are seizing the opportunity to capture attention at this time when many employers have extended work from home opportunities and employees—knowing they can work from anywhere—are reconsidering where they are living and what they are prioritizing.”
Eligibility requirements include that a candidate is at least 24 years old, has at least two years of work experience and full-time employment, is a resident outside of the state and is willing to relocate within six months of acceptance.
This isn't the first scheme of its kind and similar initiatives have been set up in Tulsa and Wellington, New Zealand in recent years.
For more information and to apply, click here.
Article updated following clarification from Northwest Arkansas Council.
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One thing it should be a model for is companies moving their HQ's outside of SF/LA/NY. Huge impact on quality of life for the employees and the communities they could support outside of the major metropolitan areas.
But...it’s not even close to the MTB capital of the US even.
True story - My wife, who grew up in urban areas, had a rough few months adjusting to living in a small (2,000 pop.) town in an very rural area. Not because anyone did or said anything to her, but because she assumed things were different than they were. When the local policeman introduced himself to her on the street one day, she assumed it was because of her skin color (or the cornrows). It it took her awhile to understand that, no, with only 2,000 people in town, he was just being nice and saying 'hi' to the new person. Now she loves it here, even though, as she said, between her, the Hmong family and new Turkish family in town the 'ethnic club' (her words) fits around one table at the coffee shop.
This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in way: people assume that certain people are certain ways. So they don't live where those people live because of that and then they never know people like that. It then becomes easy to believe those people are radically different. Which they aren't.
There are good people everywhere.
It concerns me when you have groups of people who won’t have challenging conversations and test their viewpoints.
I’ve not found a center or left equivalent, but a group that helps people move to conservative areas for the sake of being around politically likeminded is frightening
conservativemove.com
But here's the bit I cannot fathom: "people are forced to chose between only two options and if one of those options has things they can't stomach, they end up going for the other guy, even if that guy is a racist human cheeto."
This is just a hard no. Racism is wrong. It is not a nuanced subject. Hate crimes are written into law and to support a racist is to be a racist; there is no alternative there. If there are things more important to you than racism, that is because you have never suffered racist abuse and lack the empathy and historical knowledge to recognize the significance racism plays in the most horrific and despicable moments of human history.
You don't like the Democrat's stance on abortion, economics, healthcare, or religion? Tough. Suck it up, take a deep breath, and DON'T VOTE FOR THE RACIST! Then, in the next Republican primary, vote for someone who stands up for all your beliefs and ISN"T A RACIST.
This is how we eradicate racism. Mind altering street side conversations between a racist and a non-racist are fiction. It needs to come from the top down, spoken in a language that is inclusive and understood by all. And it will take time - probably a long time - but it needs to be a strong and consistent message that is passed down through generations. It was beginning to feel like things were improving but four years of a racist at the top has seen at least 70 million people say "racism is not a big deal for me" and that is truly terrifying.
(to be clear, I'm not suggesting this is you)
Also, if you vote for that "other guy" it should be considered that the whole world has to deal with your vote and your "racist human cheeto".
Other than that, peace
And this might come as a shocker to a lot of you holier-than-thou liberal types, but a lot of people in conservative pockets are just appalled at your politics as you are at theirs, and would probably prefer you just stay where you are.
But racism? Racism is not a political point of discussion...or at least it should never have become one. I cannot and will not sit over a pint with someone if they are racist. That is because there is no pro-racist argument that can be constructed that is not based purely on intolerance, ignorance, and hate.
Thus, if you voted for a racist and are saying that racism is okay, I have no time for you and have no desire to be in the same community as you for there is no argument that can be made to justify your intolerance and hate.
This does not make me "holier than thou"; it just makes me a nicer person than you.
You might want to check into the definition of “holier than thou.”
So then it should really be called the Meth Capital of the World™
Judging from your comments you probably prefer the chaos and sheer idiotic incompetence of the last 4 miserable years.
But when I am choosing the type of people I want to be around on my personal time, avoiding areas that vote to support a racist narcissist is high on my list. I already live around plenty of them in my small town in California (unfortunate side effect of having a horse), but at least I have a good union job with a pension and benefits. Curious if I can find a good job out there with these sorts of perks given how Wallyworld treats its employees...
Not all trump supporters are racist, of course. But all racists voted for trump.
"TOMMY TUBERVILLE: Yeah and that’s how our government was set up. You know, our government wasn’t set up for one group to have all three of branches of government. It wasn’t set up that way, our three branches, the House, the Senate and executive."
See that? That's the Trumper just voted to the U.S. Senate by Trumpers in Alabama (ex college football coach and know-nothing extraordinaire). Yeah, Alabama....Arkansas....whatever. The point is these people hate the American government they actually know nothing about. Not even the basics of its structure (hint: Those aren't the three branches for those Trumper geniuses who are confused right now).
But it is rather fitting that a place deep within Trump country would lack enough self-awareness to call itself the Mountain Bike Capital of the World when it is obvious to everyone else in the world what a joke that statement is. Fits perfectly into the Trump model (Just tremendous mountain biking!!! Some are saying the best in the history of mountain biking, just tremendous!!!). Yeah it's great Bentonville is trying to think of ways to convince people to move there. Just lay off the obvious ridiculousness of claiming you're something you're not. And I mean, not even close.
Fayetteville is rad, too.
However please also know that if you chose to have your country run by a racist then you are very much included in the previously mentioned collective and I do not apologize for that.
And I specifically chose to replace the phrase "holier than thou" for "nicer than you" because, as per the first amendment, I respect the separation of church and state and I choose to hold no prejudice against someone because of their racial background. By definition that makes me "nice" and if you, be it individually or collectively, are racist and filled with hate, it stands to reason that I am quite literally "nicer than you".
I'm about to finish Isabel Wilkerson's "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents" and its interesting because she addresses this specifically. That is, you can have caste system (and she makes the most coherent argument I've ever heard that what we call racism in America is actually more of a caste system) that is supported by the people in the caste system without them actively supporting it. They might even say, "I don't think X should be treated that way." But they have other issues that become tied to propping up the caste system which aren't obviously about the caste and that is what they support. On some level the caste system becomes like the matrix - we all perceive the world by that without knowing. It all tastes like chicken because the chicken is the matrix. So, as an example, you have situation where police are racist. The solution put forward is about massive systemic reform of the police to remove the racism. But because the police are the matrix, what you have is people viewing that reform as being tearing everything down. (Stupid messaging about that reform, i.e. "defund the police", doesn't help either.) That example could be repeated ad nausem about tons of other subjects.
"Vote against X even if Y is against all your values" sounds great in the abstract. But would you (you being here the people that make that argument) vote for a Republican, hyper-religious, pro-life, strict conservative, but anti-racist candidate? Because I think the answer would be no for a lot of liberal people. How about this: imagine 2016 had been Mitt Romney vs. Anthony Wiener. You could see a lot people going, "Yeah, Anthony Wiener is kind of a pervert but... I do want my healthcare and I don't want the government dinking around with my uterus..." And that same sort of "yeah, but" internal monologue was had in a lot of minds regarding the racist human cheeto. So, instead demonizing nearly 1/2 of America, why not figure out why they would rather vote for a racist than not. Because if you figure out that answer (hint: its rarely racism) you could appeal to them to vote for the non-racist candidate.
Based on the theories in your post, wouldn’t Trump have been re-elected if he had merely proposed a ban on ebikes?
As far as the MTB Capital of the World, that's a PR stunt and it's working like a charm. I won't claim it's true after riding in in lots of great places, but I will factually say that nowhere else in the world is building trail at the rate we are. It's already incredibly special and if you rode here you'd see it. What it will be in the next five years might just be unmatchable simply due to the resources dedicated to it. Oh, and there is elevation but it's not necessarily in the Bentonville city limits.
However, regardless of political allegiance, I think we can all agree that systemic racism within our culture will never be eradicated through the Pinkbike comment board. As such, in here I lean towards hyperbolic generalizations in a quest for easy comprehension and personal catharsis. Or, put another way, in "real life" I would be much more likely to engage in a dialogue with reason and empathy in an attempt to understand and, hopefully, persuade. Whereas in here the inconsequentiality brings both, at once, a sense of freedom and paralysis that forces me to comment under a weight of deafening reluctance.
Agreed.
And I think the reason a lot of those "yeah, but" conversations happened because of things just like you described. Where people are having to choose a single candidate, when no single candidate supports the entirety of their personal views.
Just like it was pointed out that hate crimes (racism) are against the law, I want to mention that Religious liberty is also written into law (first amendment). So say "you" (the collective/royal you/us/we/whoever) value multiple good values/principles/laws, but no single candidate available supports them, "you" have to make a hard choice between multiple core values. And making a mutually exclusive choice between core values is always hard, no matter the situation. Hence the "yeah, but" type of internal struggles you call out.
And, of course, it isn't technically a "two horse race". But, lets be honest, it kind of is (yay, game theory!). So votes to independent candidates usually just serve to "soak up" votes that could have otherwise been deciding votes in the outcome. They're basically votes of protest (which is also fine).
The real solution of course (and was already mentioned) is getting people that don't suck out of the primaries. Which, sounds easy... yet somehow isn't :/.
Hopefully our trails open back up soon! Right now we’re kind of stuck in between riding the beater bike around town season and fat bike season
If you were to take my quote as it was actually written and ask me if I consider myself NICER than someone who chose to be lead by a racist misogynist, my real life answer would be unquestionably yes. Misogyny and racism are positions of ignorance and hate. I don't know about you but the part of MN where I come from ignorant people who choose to hate others are considered to be anything but "nice".
(Dont come)
I LOVE it when folks with >$2000+bicycles claim to be Socialist or Marxists.... .if true, the only thing they are is hippocrates and uneducated fools (or just the jealous types).
I’d maybe cut you some slack if you were a college student or a teenager whose political education was derived from Twitter and Tumblr posts. If you’re not that, you should probably endeavor to figure out what went so wrong in your life to have such deficits in wisdom, humility, and maturity. If you’re so inclined, might I suggest incorporating the art of “steel manning” in your life (construing your opponents arguments in the best, not worst, light possible). To that end, some good examples of this can be found in this podcast:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/coleman-hughes-on-big-blow-to-identity-politics-this/id1536984072?i=1000497491492
I’ve interviewed former athletes for a documentary on the systemic doping in their system, people whose lives and those of their family were either rewarded or ruined based on their loyalty to the Party. Women who got cancer and were rendered sterile by the drugs they were forced to take without their consent or knowledge of what those drugs were. Who were spied on by neighbors. But they had the privilege that other did not of traveling in the West for competition. They were astounded that at the Olympics there were baskets of apples for them just available to take whenever they wanted one. Back home, apples weren’t readily available, except to the one woman whose father was a general in the army, one of the privileged.
When I lived in Munich, I owned a little orange bicycle made in DDR times in Karl Marx Stadt. I paid $35 for it. It was fine for cruising a couple miles for kicks, but what a POS.
So yeah, I’m speaking from true experience. Marxism can suck it.
I can respect if you voted for Biden, based on party affiliation or if you feel Biden is the worst of the two evils, but don't vote for the Racist, sexist, etc... there are plenty of examples of Biden demonstrating these acts. Even, Harris called him a racist and sexist during the Democrat primary... (FYI I voted for Jorgensen, but would take Trump over Biden)
Being a minority, I have lived and travelled across the deep south, West Coast, and Mid Atlantic regions. I have experience racism (grew up few miles from were KKK had adopted a road and used to see them at local convenience store requesting donations), but I have way more positive experiences. Some of the most welcoming and nicest people where from the south and small towns.
Apart from it being a "Trump" town (and to an outsider looking in that is not a plus) would love PB to follow up with anyone that makes the move.
And a big thumbs up to the Walmart Foundation for supporting this. Hope you guys have success with this initiative.
But man, you have some nerve to judge everyone in that town as stupid and white. That mindset is what is wrong w/ this country right now. Your racism flows freely.
And, then reality sets in. One becomes what they despise the most....
FTFY
Great for someone who doesn’t mind the heat, likes doing all of their shopping at Walmart, has a low standard for restaurant food, and doesn’t mind being in the middle of nowhere.
Our hot weather lasts about 8 weeks. There is always days in there that are cooler, and the mornings are cooler, too. 95 degrees is a rare high for us. But you know, with the heat index, 90 feels warmer. On the flip side we can ride year round. It's November and it's in the 60's.
Our restaurants are quite good, but they cater toward a more southern taste. Looking forward to more fresh and healthy options opening up here.
"The Duck and Rice Capitol Of The World"
Worst years of my life.
Definitely a great place to visit and a unique place to mountain bike in but ultimately not somewhere to live in the long run.
You and your friends may not work for Walmart but they own that whole town. The restaurants, bars, shops, grocery stores, it's all Walmart.
I am not saying AR or NWA sucks, far from it, but in my eyes there were some detractors. Plenty of positives too...
If you don't think so, I would recommend not watching any more bike videos, stop listening to music, burn your books, and cancel your Netflix account.
(FYI, I am a blue collar mechanic type. No degree, but even I can appreciate what are does for us.)
SHHHHHTEAM!!!!
Not a single issue with anyone that I met along the way cruising around in a foreign car wearing a sox hat for 8 days. I got a blowout flat on Skyline in Snowshoe and no less than 6 people stopped to help and try to plug the hole in my tire, and then in the parking lot someone saw me struggling to seat the bead on my new tire with a floor pump and loaned me a CO2 canister. Another guy saw what we were doing and he needed a patch kit for a tube so I gave him one and we shot the shit about BMWs and car racing while we fixed our bikes in the parking lot over lunch. The people that helped me on trail were from GTA, the kid that tossed me a CO2 cart was a local in WV, and the guy that I loaned a patch kit was from Columbus. I got back to Boston and someone had cut open all of the packages waiting for us in my apartment building and stole everything except for the fuel injector cleaner I ordered.
$2100/mo for a 550 sqft apartment in a city that I can't even go out in because of COVID sure does make me wish I was back in EBF, West Virginia where I didn't have cell service for 48 hours.
Before cable TV, you couldn't find channel on Sunday morning that wasn't showing evangelical preaching in that area either. I don't blame any younger folks for NOT wanting to move into places with questionable morals.
Obviously, I am a white guy (less obvious, I was raised in a Christian household and my father became a preacher). I learned a lot in those early adult years. One thing I learned was that I could just travel around and meet people, and be welcomed. Would it have been the same if I was black? What would have happened if I was black and I asked that guy about the power plant? Would he have been so polite?
The point of this is not to say that New England is a racist, poverty stricken hellscape (I actually quite liked it), it's to say that crafting narratives about areas is very easy. Humans are going to human and in-group out-group dynamics, to some degree, are intrinsic. The best antidote is to gain actual experience, not read about things online.
I'm sure what you experienced happened. And politics, values, etc. does matter to a degree. Certainly, you can go to areas of the country where the predominant culture is so antithetical to my beliefs that I probably wouldn't live there. That said, I'm speaking more about these sorts of crude, wild over-generalizations about vast geographic regions based on flimsy, abstract data. It's toxic and also just plain foolish. There's never going to be a "perfect" place to live. There's always going to be a compromise of some sort. To write off vast swaths of the country and just silo yourself in highly progressive (and expensive) bubbles is basically a sure fire way to have chronic peter pan syndrome.
vtdigger.org/2019/05/27/lawmakers-approve-new-move-vermont-incentive-program
that being said walmart is one of the most despicable employers in the world and these guys still sit on the board of that company no matter how much money they throw at mountain biking.
I live in Naples Florida. How much should my “living wage” be? Give me a number @Tsoxbhk:
Oh, by "great" I meant it's horrible, too many hillbillies, half my neighbors didn't have teeth when I was there. You'd hate it!
On the money:
"I like talking to people with different views but tend to draw the line at people who believe in devil worshiping world-wide pedophilia rings. But that's just me." -MumblesBarn
"Yes, because having a diverse neighborhood full of racists, misogynists, and crazy Born Agains is incredibly appealing to a lot of folk who do not share those views." -PMarn88
Choose based on prevailing culture first...then big box store incentives.
Big topic, but could start with
Jim Crow Laws & lynchings and go from there?
White supremacists groups?
More recently overwhelming support for Trump? If genuinely unaware of his extensively documented racism, could read up on court cases over racist NY renting practices, the Central Park 5, Native American casino racist attacks, racist proposals for The Apprentice, demanding Obama's birth certificate, "good people on both sides" among other quotes, etc etc.
How about that vote in Alabama on Amendment 4 to remove racist language from the state constitution just receiving 33% against in the last election.
Beautiful place, but holy sh¡t does the south have some history with the far right.
And as someone who pays f*cking tax dollars to JeffCo, I would like to ride in my own damn county. White Ranch Open Space has 5,300 acres and less than 30 miles of trails.
And why does 'Trump bad... Trump voters bad... Me not move to bad people area' have more upvotes than any decent and insightful post about MTB? Believe me as an interested outsider when I say there are enough decent people as well as complete idiots on both sides of the political spectrum. I detest mouth foaming and violent screaming SJW's just as much as the racist idiots with the swastikas thinking that because you by chance were born with low melanin levels you are somehow superior.
/Rant
Let's just keep the political fighting for the idiots on both sides and talk about things that connect people, like, I don't know, mountainbiking?
Over the hills and gar away
Ironically Bentonville has the weakest trails in NWA at this point. Bella Vista, Springdale & Fayetteville all have much better trails.
"Participants that don't want a bicycle can swap it for an annual membership to one of North West Arkansas' arts and cultural institutions."
www.pinkbike.com/news/move-to-bentonville-and-get-a-free-mountain-bike-and-10000-cash.html
And now the article title say's '$600 towards a mountain bike'?
Either it changed or I didn't pay attention... but I am pretty sure it changed.
If anyone wants to come check it out I've got an AirBnB backing up to the trails:
www.airbnb.com/rooms/39275038
Meanwhile, present day Trump welcomes David Duke's support with open arms.
On the other hand, Jensons warehouse is right at my local trails.
Puke is the only word I can use to explain how I feel about this.
Also, @pinkbike. You should know better that to post this kinda bs...
Not sure if you even saw the write up Pinkbike did a year of so ago on this area @Phillyenduro. Part of the reason I moved here. MTB scene permeates the entire region. That said, my house was broken into in Denver, the bike theft and petty crime was thru the roof...here in Bentonville folks leave their garage doors up with zero care (everyone has a nice bike or two in them), close to zero crime and despite your rosey opinion, not a single person is 'likely to kill me' as you opine. Great folks all around, guess folks in Philly just like a negative view or is that just you? I welcome you to visit, crash at my place.... turn off the news... trails are ready! Rubber side down
Political obsession is incredibly unhealthy and ultimately, not even beneficial to the obsessed. It's benefitting others who profit off our political outrage. Tune out the noise.
Other than that, you’re 100 percent right. People are making these judgements based on politics, likely having never having been to a place. And a lot of these people might be utterly shocked to learn that the good folks of Bentonville (or other conservative places) want nothing to do with their politics, either.
The older I get, the less I want to live in a city. You mentioned Denver. Drive an hour in snarled traffic to get to an overcrowded trailhead? Forget it. You can have that. I’ll bet I’d like the speed and people of Bentonville, but damn I can’t abide by Southern heat and humidity in the summer.
I ended up driving the NW Arkansas this summer just to ride non crowded trails under tree cover.
And the thing is, re politics or cultural issues, look, B'ville is specifically targeting outside STEM (or "STEAM") types, acknowledging that there's a skills gap locally. They're literally inviting people with huge incentives from demographics that are likely more like-minded with the very people dumping of B'ville in this comment section. You basically can't win.
The bigger risk is that these areas tend to get "sprawley" once they boom. A lot of this has to do with the fact that there's so much room to grow and these states tend to be more than willing to let them. The real kicker in making things hyper-expensive is when you have the influx of professionals PLUS a culture which adopts NIMBY'ism. Areas like Arkansas don't have that as much. As things get expensive, growth just moves out. Sprawl introduces its own problems.
There's no great solution. There's always a tradeoff. You want to keep things small and nice, the tradeoff is runaway expense. If you want keep growth and affordability, the tradeoff is sprawl.
It’s hard to beat either Bentonville or Bella Vista for connectivity to trails. The other cities in the area are working toward it but not there yet. Blowing springs park might be the best. You have the blowing springs trails, then back 40, little sugar and the Lake Bella Vista systems all right there and connected via trail. You can also pedal to Slaughter Pen proper on greenway usually from there (major interstate exchange construction has that blocked right now).
I used to live in Atlanta and visit Western NC. Lots of great trails there as well.
The trails are overrated, if it’s not 100 degrees it’s raining, it has all the culture of an Applebee’s and the most racist town in America is 90 miles away (look up Harrison, AR)
Winter is coming.....
apple.news/A_4UmUE2GSXqurjkb0drvKQ
*choice of care entirely dependent upon suitable income level, insurance, and locale. You are otherwise free to go bankrupt, or die in the street like a dog.