Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1114063
4 UCW MAY 8-14, 2019 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/ EDITOR Stephanie Crider editor@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly. com ASSISTANT EDITOR Leslie Pyo leslie@upandcomingweekly.com SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR Earl Vaughan Jr. EarlUCWSports@gmail.com REPORTER Jeff Thompson news@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Elizabeth Long art@upandcomingweekly.com SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR Kimberly Herndon kim@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING ASSOCIATE Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/ SALES ADMINISTRATOR Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, Karl Merritt, John Hood, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Prudence Mainor ––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan St. P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: 910-484-6200 FAX: 910-484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publication with local features, news and information on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly is published weekly on Wednesdays. Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the pub- lisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. © 2019 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Various ads with art graphics designed with elements from: vecteezy.com and freepik.com. Mr. Mayor: True or false? 'Fayetteville never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity' by BILL BOWMAN PUBLISHER'S PEN Many Fayetteville and Cumberland County commu- nity leaders, elected officials and residents are scratching their heads. ey're wondering what in the world Mayor Mitch Colvin's motives are for his abrupt 180 on supporting the $46 million North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruc- tion History Center that has been destined for a statewide home here in Fayetteville, North Carolina. I'm not a mind reader. However, my guess is it has something to do with some form of political maneuvering. What sense does it make for a mayor who has led an aggressive charge for Fayetteville's growth and economic development to sud- denly and without cause object to a sanctioned economic tour de force like the History Center? It's especially puzzling since Colvin initially endorsed the project and played a significant role in advocating for and advancing it. Colvin's reversed posi- tion jeopardizes the chances of locating this state-owned museum in our community. It defies logic when a smart man like Colvin goes on FakeBook (not a typo) and compares the combined $17 million bud- get requests of Greensboro and Asheville to a funding request for the construction of a $46 million state-owned museum. How- ever, in the same post he did say some- thing that was true if put in the proper context. He said, "Tell your state represen- tatives we deserve more than this." How right he is. Fayetteville does deserve more. About $46 million worth — plus more jobs, more visitors via tourism, more statewide and nationwide recogni- tion and more tax revenues from increased economic activity. Colvin is a smart political operative, and his colleagues are all aware that this abrupt change of heart has an underlying motive. Unfortunately, it doesn't make any difference what that motive is. Sudden, unexplained changes have never been good or beneficial to the taxpaying residents of Fayetteville. It is this kind of inside political baseball that has proven to be Fayetteville's nemesis while reinforcing that haunting localized adage, "Fayetteville never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity." Besides abandoning his colleagues, Col- vin may find it difficult to defend his posi- tion on several fronts. e most difficult will be his claim that Fayetteville residents have more pressing needs. Does he really want to go there? Especially when the city is confronting some pretty harsh criticism for spending $14 million of taxpayers' money on a parking deck they cannot use? And, even more importantly, when the downtown develop- ment project — which includes the baseball stadium, the Prince Charles apartments and the classy hotel and office building housing those apartments — is completed, more money should be coming into the community. is economic stimulus plan publicly boasted it will generate $100 plus million of economic vitality to our city. If this is still the case, then we are in the winner's circle by adding this proposed state- wide History Center to our city. Current estimates are that it will bring another $20 million in revenue to our community. If this isn't enough to question Colvin's decision and judgement, consider this: Colvin believes in education and awareness. In the past, he has joined dozens of local scholars, educators and community, civic and governmental officials in realiz- ing the need for factual historical aware- ness and education about the Civil War and the Reconstruction periods. Take a close look at downtown Fayetteville and you will see Colvin has provided us the leadership we desperately need to move the community forward. e question many are asking in response to his changed position is: Why stop now? Next up, a Fayetteville Performing Arts Center? We'll see. Let's all hope the mayor sides with the people. ank you for read- ing Up & Coming Weekly. Mayor Mitch Colvin has withdrawn his support of the North Caro- lina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center. is image is an art- ist's rendering of the proposed center, courtesy nccivilwarcenter.org. HIGH 80 LOW 61 HIGH 81 LOW 68 HIGH 85 HIGH 83 HIGH 80 LOW 66 LOW 68 LOW 62 MAY 13 MAY 12 MAY 10 MAY 11 MAY 14 Mostly Sunny Scattered Thunderstorms Scattered Thunderstorms PM Thunderstorms Showers Mostly Cloudy MAY 9 HIGH 86 LOW 64 BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COM- MENTS? BILL@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910-484-6200.