The Northwest Arkansas Strategic Economic Development Committee is conducting a survey of the area.We can only hope that we will get to see the actual results this time. Not like the one conducted by now bankrupt Jeff Collins that was kept hidden from everyone as if there was no reason for us to find out what our own opinions are.
The Northwest Council uses the steady stream of luxury cars and SUVs on the roads as evidence the NWA economy is strong as an ox (or a bull). They also tout statistics such as Northwest Arkansas grew by 47 percent between 1990 and 2000, making it the fastest growing region in the state and the sixth fastest in the nation.
This is all well and good, but I would prefer to see more recent data. Maybe if we all take the survey we can get some data from at least the last decade.
Results of this survey are to be published sometime in April 2010 and posted at http://www.greaternorthwestarkansas.com/.