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Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe: Help restore the historic 1902 Grand View Hotel.
  1. Signatures
    344 out of 1,000
    Petitioning
    1. Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe
  2. Created By
    Alexander Virden
    Berryville, AR
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates

This project is important for a great number of reasons, but mostly for the economic growth and educational opportunities it will bring to this small town. Young people without the means to go elsewhere for outlets of artistic drives often end up finding drugs as their avenue of release.
This is a problem in many small towns such as ours. The restoration of the Grand View Hotel and opening of Ozarts Center for the Arts will bring real hope and a path for anyone with the desire to create. It will also bring jobs and tourism revenue to a town with few options and save a very important historical landmark. You can learn more about our project at Ozarts.org, including links to Youtube interviews with civic leaders.

We ask that anyone who is, or knows of someone who is, capable of doing a news story on us to please help us get the word out about our mission. We have tried all conventional means to find the funding to make this dream a reality, but because we are a small town and the building was left out of service so long, we have not been able to get funding.

If you believe in the restoration of our historic landmarks and open availability of artistic education. Please sign this petition to ask Governor Beebe to help us.

For videos on the history of the Grand View, the mission of Ozarts, and interviews with civic leaders on the importance of this project, visit our Youtube site.

http://www.youtube.com/user/GAVirden?feature=mhum

Why People Are Signing
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Help restore the historic 1902 Grand View Hotel.

Dear Governor Beebe,

This letter is a request for you to lend your support to a project of great economic and social importance in Berryville Arkansas, the restoration of the 1902 Grand View Hotel as functioning part of the community and a home for Ozarts Center for the Arts. I purchased the building six years ago to save it from being condemned. Because this is a small town and the building was closed for so long, I can’t get any financing on it and my search for grants to restore this historic structure have been futile. I have written to my senators, congressman, and state representative for help and they have not been able to do anything. You are my last hope Governor Beebe.

I had sold off all my investments, including my home, and we now live behind the building in an old 86 RV. While I have a tremendous amount of work done; including plumbing, electrical, most of the new sheet rock and have opened a restaurant on the ground floor, we still can’t get the money we need to complete this project. Restoring this structure is vital to our town square’s economic health and to bring tourism as well as new employment the town so desperately needs. Every time we hire someone, all it takes is a small sign in the window to get flooded with applications. The center for the arts will bring both culture experiences and educational opportunities that don’t presently exist.

Because of my physical handicaps I can no longer maintain the 12 to 16 hour days required to maintain this project. Without additional funding we are facing the prospect of having to close down and use the building as our house, as ours has been sold, and take outside work to make the current payments. Please don’t let this important mission die. There is tremendous equity in the building and our needs are relatively small for the great amount of good that could be accomplished. There is more information at Ozarts.org, as well as a link to our Youtube site, where you will find interviews with civic leaders including the Mayor of Berryville and the Chamber director about the importance of this restoration to our community.

Sincerely,

G. Alexander Virden

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