Up & Coming Weekly

July 02, 2019

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.

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4 UCW JULY 3-9, 2019 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM JEFF THOMPSON, Reporter. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910-484-6200. 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 MARKETING ASSOCIATE Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/ SALES ADMINISTRATOR Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com INTERNS Avery Powers Deidre Somdah CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, Karl Merritt, John Hood, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Prudence Mainor, Avery Powers, Elizabeth Blevins ––––––––––– 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. e 2020-2022 budget presented by the North Carolina Legislature brings more than $132 million in projects that benefit diverse aspects of our community. People over politics: Local delegation advocates for Fayetteville and Cumberland County's future by BILL BOWMAN and JEFF THOMPSON PUBLISHER'S PEN Except for Democrat Sen. Kirk deViere, Cumberland County politi- cians in Raleigh have demonstrated a refreshing display of unity, coopera- tion, communication and focus on the needs and priorities of the people in our community. First and foremost is their desire to create a stronger, more vibrant, more competitive Fayetteville and Cumberland County for residents and future generations. Finally, we have responsible leadership with vision — leaders who are placing people over politics and assuring Fayetteville and Cumberland County will be taking their places amongst the larger, more prosperous cities and counties in our state. It is this delegation that, along with a substantial number of resi - dents, businesses and organizations, has worked for years to improve our community. For too long we have watched other North Carolina com- munities receive special favors and funding from our state legislature while leaders ignored the needs of Cumberland County. Many of our former legislators worked hard to improve the situ - ation for Cumberland County and Fayetteville. eir efforts laid the groundwork for this current legislative delegation to garner state legislative support for much-needed projects that will impact our community for decades. is group of relentless bi-partisan lead - ers can only be described as a visionary tour de force for recognizing the needs and opportunities for Fayetteville/ Cumberland County, the likes of which we have never seen before. e 2020-22 budget presented by the North Carolina Legislature brings more than $132 million in projects that ben - efit diverse aspects of our community. In a rare show of unity, their vision and "people over politics" leadership style has netted us big and long-lasting benefits, including projects that, once completed, will net Cumberland County $20-$40 mil - lion dollars a year in additional revenues. While no budget meets all the needs of the community, this budget is a once- in-a-lifetime win-win for all of us here in Fayetteville and Cumberland County. A very special thank you to Rep. John Szoka, R-District 45, and Sen. Ben Clark, D-District 21, for leading this charge. is being said, it would be nice to cel - ebrate our good fortune. Unfortunately, we cannot. Gov. Roy Cooper, D-N.C., has vetoed the budget. Why? I smell partisan politics and Cooper's desire to impress his fellow left-leaning political cronies by demon - strating that he's a team player willing to reject the state budget because it ex- cludes Medicaid expansion. Cooper and political opportunists like deViere have put the possibility of this $132 million in- fusion into our community in jeopardy. Here's what we would gain with the approved budget — or what we could lose if Cooper's veto is upheld. • $12 million for the North Carolina Civil War and Reconstruction His - tory Center; $3 million in year two with anticipation of a total payout of $46 million in the years ahead • $28.8 for school construction and renovation and repairs • $8 million to fund Cape Fear Valley Medical Center's physician resi - dency program • $1.53 million for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park • $1.5 million for Kingdom Commu- nity Development, which includes affordable housing construction • $900,000 for the North Carolina Military Business Center headquar- tered in Fayetteville • $750,000 for Airborne and Special Operations Museum's renovation second-year funding • $750,000 for Cumberland County Veterans Healthcare pilot program • $16.2 million to Fayetteville State University • $20 million to Fayetteville Techni - cal Community College Opportunities like these don't just happen. It takes thousands of resi- dents, businesses and organizations spending time, energy and money to make projects of this magnitude a reality for any community. It takes a dedicated group of hardworking, business-savvy political leaders who understand the needs of our commu - nity and care more about their con- stituents than they do about them- selves or their political futures. is is why it is vitally important that we support and encourage our local leg- islators — Sen. Clark and state Reps. John Szoka; Marvin Lucas, D-District 42; Elmer Floyd, D-District 42; and Billy Richardson, D-District 44. Encourage them to stand up for Fayetteville/Cumberland County constituents by keeping people before politics. Encourage them to pursue the $132 million infusion into our community by rejecting Gov. Cooper's veto of the 2020-22 legisla - tive budget. For some, this will be a bold and challenging move. However, it will demonstrate to everyone in Fayetteville, Cumberland County and the rest of North Carolina that our leader - ship possesses the integrity, vision and talent needed to aggressively move our community forward by doing the right thing for the right reasons. No doubt, tough, gut-wrenching deci - sions will have to be made. at's what real leadership is all about. However, in doing so, the rewards are many and the consequences are few. Without a doubt, this budget touches many people in wonderful and diverse ways. A vote by our legislators to reject the gover - nor's veto will be a vote that will assure a bright and bountiful future for current Fayetteville/Cumberland County resi- dents and future generations. Again, a very special thank you to our hardworking local delegation: Clark, Szoka, Lucas, Floyd and Richardson. Keep up the good work! ank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? BILL@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200.

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