Tag Archives: CALS

CALS Election Results – FINAL – 86% approval

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Cals ELection

FINAL UNOFFICIAL NUMBERS

FOR – 3834 (86.10%)  AGAINST – 619 (13.90%)

Landslide doesn’t even begin to describe it.

 

UPDATE 9:08.  If this trend continues, it is another rousing success for retiring CALS Director Bobby Roberts.  He will give deserved credit to the CALS Board and to the campaign committee.  But his vision and his hard work over the years have as much to do with the CALS success at the ballot box as anything.

 

UPDATE 9:03  No new numbers.  With only 1/3 of the precincts remaining, it is difficult to see how the negative votes could overtake the positive ones.  However, not knowing which precincts have reported, there could still be some strong pockets of NO votes out there.

 

UPDATE 8:52  46 precincts

2319 FOR and 451 AGAINST.

That continues the over 80% approval.  Perhaps my previous post can be disregarded.

 

UPDATE 8:49  Given the huge jump in the favorability percentage, I suspect that includes the Heights and Hillcrest.  I expect as the other results come in, the numbers will move back toward the middle to lower 70s.

 

UPDATE: 8:44  30 precincts

1421 FOR; 296 Against.  Moved to over 80% favorable

 

UPDATE 8:42. 12 precincts reporting (including early and absentee)

FOR: 682 and AGAINST: 209

Maintaining the rough 3 to 1 favorable margin.

 

UPDATE: 8:40.  And still we wait…..   I firmly believe I probably could have driven to all 70 polling sites and looked at their posted numbers by now.  Well that is a slight exaggeration, but not much.

UPDATE: 8:12pm – still awaiting the pollworkers to return to HQ with results.  In the meantime, a look at the first numbers.  Four people went to the trouble to vote absentee, and turned in Blank Ballots.   One absentee voter filled in both options.

I am all for voting.  Heck, I even vote for the school district millage every year.  But I make sure my ballot counts.

Oh, well….

 

ORGINAL: With the early and absentee votes reported, 569 people cast votes FOR the library refinancing and 174 people cast votes AGAINST the bonds.

There were also 4 blank ballots cast, and one ballot cast with apparently the voter marking For and Against.

This will be updated as results come in.

CALS Election Today – Vote Yes!

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Cals ELectionVoters in Little Rock need to go to the polls today! (July 14, 2015)

It is your chance to take an already outstanding library system and make it even stronger!

The Central Arkansas Library System is asking Little Rock voters to approve a bond refinance that will generate about $15,000,000 and reduce property tax rates from one mill to 0.9 mill.

Vote YES!
What will CALS do for Little Rock Voters?

  • Expand the Thompson, Fletcher, and Dee Brown libraries and reconfigure their children’s areas
  • Limited remodel in the Main Library and refurbish the Williams Library
  • Expand and upgrade the digital/Internet network
  • Purchase thousands of books, eBooks, DVDs, & CDs

How does it affect the Little Rock taxpayer?

It will lower taxes by about $2 per year on a $100,000 home and extend the bond payments by approximately five years.

Lower property taxes and higher quality libraries!

(This is only the second time the Culture Vulture has gotten political. The other concerned the vote to renovate Robinson Center Music Hall.  In both instances, the financial impact per citizen was negligible, but the cultural impact was phenomenal.  The Culture Vulture will never endorse candidates.)

Don’t Refuse THE GODFATHER, PART II tonight at the Ron Robinson Theater

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RRT g2Arguably the best sequel ever, The Godfather, Part II is the only sequel to win the Oscar for Best Picture after the original film also won that award.  Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 epic examines both the rise of Michael Corleone and the early days of his father Vito Corleone.

Al Pacino returns as Michael with Robert De Niro taking on the role of younger Vito.  Both men were nominated for Oscars with De Niro taking home the Best Supporting Actor award.  Others in the cast include the return of Diane Keaton, John Cazale, Robert Duvall, Talia Shire, Abe Vigoda and James Caan along with newcomers Lee Strasberg, Michael V. Gazzo, and Troy Donohue.  Danny Aiello, Bruno Kirby and Harry Dean Stanton can also be seen in small parts.

The screenplay was by Coppola and Mario Puzo, on whose novel the first two films were based.  The Godfather, Part II was nominated for 11 Oscars. In addition to De Niro’s win and the Best Picture trophy, it won for Director (Coppola), Screenplay (Coppola and Puzo), Art Direction and Score.

Tonight at 7pm, this big film returns to the big screen as the Ron Robinson Theatre screens it as part of the Great Directors series.  Tickets are $5, with concessions available for purchase as well.

Sing the SONG OF THE SEA at Ron Robinson Theater this afternoon

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RRT song of seaSong of the Sea was nominated for Best Animated Feature earlier this year at the Oscars.

This Belgium film set in the British Isles tells the tale of Saoirse, a little girl who can turn into a seal.  She goes on an adventure with her brother to save the spirit world and other magical beings like her.

An international cast of actors voice the characters in this film including David Rawl, Brendan Gleeson, Lisa Hannigan, Fionnula Flanagan, and Lucy O’Connell.  It was directed by Tomm Moore, based on a screenplay he co-wrote with Will Collins.

It screens this afternoon at 2pm at the Ron Robinson Theater.  Admission is $5 with concessions available for purchase.

This is part of the Kid Flix series.

Tonight at Ron Robinson Theater – THE ROAD WARRIOR

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RRT road warriorTime magazine called this film “Apocolypse…POW.”  The Road Warrior (sometimes called: Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior) will screen tonight at 10pm at the Ron Robinson Theater.

Mel Gibson returns for this film (after having created the role in 1979’s Mad Max).  In the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline rich, community escape a band of bandits.  George Miller directed it based on a screenplay he co-wrote with Terry Hayes.

It was released in Australia in late 1981 and hit US screens in time for Memorial Day 1982.  Budgeted for $2 million, it grossed over $23 million in the US alone in 1982.

Admission to tonight’s screening, which is part of the “Re:Wind Series,” is $5 with concessions available for purchase.

Tonight at Ron Robinson Theater – Hitchcock’s THE 39 STEPS

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rrt 39 stepsOne of Alfred Hitchcock’s early films, while he was still in Great Britain, was 1935’s The 39 Steps. With themes that he would return to time and time again, it tells the story of a man in London who tries to help a counterespionage agent. But when the agent is killed and the man stands accused, he must go on the run to both save himself and also stop a spy ring which is trying to steal top secret information.

The film stars Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. Others in the cast are Lucie Mannheim, Godfrey Tearle, Peggy Ashcroft, John Laurie, Frank Cellier and Wylie Watson.  It also features a cameo by Hitchcock himself.

The film was written by Ian Hay and Charles Bennett, adapted from the novel by John Buchan.  The 39 Steps was adapted for the stage in the early 2000s and won two Tony Awards.

The mystery starts tonight at 7pm at the CALS Ron Robinson Theater.  Admission is $5 with concessions available for purchase.

 

THE GOONIES this afternoon at the Ron Robinson Theater

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rrt The_GooniesThe Goonies is one of those quintessential 1980s movies. So many in the cast went on to bigger projects after it.

In order to save their home from foreclosure, a group of misfits set out to find a buried treasure in a subterranean cavern. Here they cross the path of Mama Fratelli and her outlaw brood. The kids befriend Fratelli’s hideously deformed (but soft-hearted) son, who comes to their rescue.

The movie was directed by Richard Donner from a story by Steven Spielberg and screenplay by Christopher Columbus.  Sean Astin, Josh Brolin and Martha Plimpton (all offspring of Hollywood royalty) starred in the movie.  They were joined by Jeff Cohen, Corey Feldman, Kerri Green, Jonathan Ke Quan, John Matuszak and Robert Davi.  Joe Pantoliano and Anne Ramsey also turn in memorable performances.

The Goonies starts at 2pm at the Ron Robinson Theater.  Admission is $5. Concessions are available for sale.