Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington Leads the City Toward Prominence

The political might of Black women is being heralded around the nation. In Alabama, Black women are running for office in historic numbers. Georgia may become home to the first Black female governor, and as women everywhere step into leadership roles in local, state and national government, Black women are claiming their share of the spotlight.

Pine Bluff voters elected Mayor Shirley Ruth Moorehead Washington in 2016. Washington educated children in Jefferson County public schools for 38 years.  A wife and mother, she served on boards and in her community before deciding to run for office. Mayor Washington spoke with TheVillageCelebration’s Renarda Williams about her goals for Pine Bluff.

TheVillageCelebration: What influenced you to run for mayor of Pine Bluff?

Mayor Shirley Washington: I really had been meant to become mayor many years ago, back in the 1990s, but it was something I just never had a desire to do. I never pursued it, but then once I retired from education, I did some things to occupy my time for the first two or three years. But, I then got a little bored.

I started volunteering on different committees in the City Hall, and the Mayor was working on some projects. I started coming to city council meetings during that same period.   

I saw a great divide, and there was such disparity between the Mayor and the Council, and just the city as a whole, I thought that we would have to have someone in this position who can bring unity across the board so that people would come together and work together.

In praying about it, I was led to run for the office … [that led] to my slogan, “One Pine Bluff Stronger.”

I thought we could be stronger together …. no matter if you are a rich man [or woman] running for mayor … or consider yourself the poorest person with nothing to offer … everybody really had something to offer.

I was not a politician, did not know how to run a campaign, or have any money.  God told me, ‘Just do what I called you to do: Put your name out there each day, and the people will vote for you.’

The hardest part of the campaign was the runoff they had with the incumbent. We really had to put it to the grind in those three weeks … and God prevailed.

TheVillageCelebration: How important will it be for you to demonstrate that a city with a reputation for crime, high unemployment, and an inadequate education system can excel economically and educationally?  

Mayor Shirley Washington: This question is the most critical to me.

I recently met with the Chief of Police about the homicides they had a week ago, where there were a couple of children killed. And, that was hard. That is something you don’t ever want to happen. We feel like we did better with crime than what we did last year. But, we still have a long way to go.

We have to turn everything negative that we can into a positive light. Most of the positive comes from Pine Bluff’s citizens. Many of us talk our city down. We got to have enough pride to talk it up. The only way you are going to have enough pride in the city is when we believe in it, and you do everything you can to help it move forward.

Everybody will have to embrace our youth, so they can keep motivated and stay on the right path. We need more mentors, so that we can keep them (youth) motivated and on the right path. I feel like we got a lot to move in the right direction, but we still have so much to do. I think the positive in our city right now outweighs the negative.

We held an event on June 9th entitled Forward Fest 2018 . We had approximately 15,000 people in Pine Bluff at that event that weekend. It started at 12 pm and ended at midnight with fireworks.  

It was a beautiful environment. It was perfect and peaceful. People came from everywhere! It was a huge stage up at the courthouse. This was one of the best things we had in Pine Bluff in years.

As for economic development in Pine Bluff, research shows it is hard to get big companies to come to Pine Bluff, and the focus for economic development in Pine Bluff comes from entrepreneurship.

Downtown 2nd and 3rd Streets have been totally vacant for years, but that has now changed. It’s now becoming populated with businesses, one at a time.

If we can continue to do that, before we know it, our economy will have taken off! When businesses see other [businesses] thriving, other businesses will come. When the Jennings started their business, it was him and his wife. They divided it into a spa. Now, there is a [barbershop] and a boutique.

Then, there is Miss Margaret’s on the corner where she has cupcakes. She went in there by herself and has extra help now because business has taken off. She started off with cupcakes and now she has lunch … carry-out or eat-in.

Two weeks ago, another shop opened up right next to Ms. Margaret’s. This business has a coffee shop, and there is a library and a reading room next to it. And it has really taken off!

There are plans to rebuild the library  . It will go on the corner of 6th and 9th Streets. Right across the street from the library will be a nice statue park where you can sit out and enjoy the beauty of downtown. Hopefully, we’ll be able to open a restaurant across the street from the library. The Pine Bluff Hotel will be renovated.

How important it to empower and motivate the minds of teenagers and young adults?

Mayor Shirley Washington: We work with the Alliance, making sure we have jobs out there for our people; and we have to make sure they (people) are qualified for the jobs out there especially for the youth. Several of those programs work with our schools right now. We also work with the Educational Alliance that will have programs that go to our schools.  

Another thing we want to do is to look at our 15 to 18-year-olds who begin to have problems. We are trying to get enough mentors who identify with these youth and those in grade school and for the whole family that we can bond with on a regular basis. Some families may not want to cooperate. But, if we can get 85% participation, we can be successful.

I know that it works, just from my son. He has the spirit of mentorship. He started mentoring, straight after he graduated from college. He’s 47 years old and I see how many children he has saved.

My son started mentoring young men when they were in the 8th Grade. He was a principal at ESTEM in Little Rock. He is still mentoring … and his wife has come on board. We have Reverend Turner and Church Community Coalition, and we are all working together to build one strong coalition.

TheVillageCelebration: How important it is to have community gardens in Pine Bluff?

Mayor Shirley Washington: We want to turn vacant lots into community gardens. We are working on one between Cherry and Lindon Street.

There is a lady from Little Rock who is starting one on the corner of13th and Alabama Street. I drove down to see her progress. We have written a grant to have a garden area, especially for children and mothers to spend time together at the garden, and bring someone to be a baby sitter, so she can play with the child too!

Another thing we want to do to is improve and increase our park communities. Parks have been stagnant in Pine Bluff over the years. We just hired a new parks director last week.

We need to take advantage of our beautiful nature that we have in Pine Bluff and the natural water and resources that we have here. When we talk about a water park, they are putting in a natural park. We are going to set up in a “peddler boat park.” We want to put a water park in Martin Luther King, Jr. park.

What do you say to critics who believe that a Casino will be a menace to Pine Bluff?

Mayor Shirley Washington: It was hard for me to embrace it at first. But, then I really had to pray about it, I said ‘I can’t bring a casino to my people!’ Then God said: ‘You are not bringing the casino to your people, they are already there. They are already going to them.’ I had to be shown that the sin is not really in the casino, it’s here to show me that the sin is not in drinking. A lot of people think it is a sin to drink.

God showed me if the sin is in the wine, ‘I would not turn water into wine at the wedding.’ He said they were having a good time at the feast enjoying life, and having a good time celebrating. And when they ran out wine, he told them he wanted to turn the water into wine. His wine was better than the wine up front. Wine is a sin when you abuse it. It’s like this food, when I am a glutton, I am sinning.

I go to the casino to relax and have a good time, play a few games and have a little fun and leave. There is no sin in that. People think I have to sneak and go. God sees you everywhere you go. You can go into a casino, enjoy yourself, and relax.

This casino coming here is going to bring in 1,015 job, and 815 will come to Pine Bluff. How can you walk away from that? Once the casino initiative is passed, and we get it to Pine Bluff, we can start educating our people. This casino is going to bring in 1,015, and they are guaranteeing Pine Bluff 815 jobs.