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/1147528
4 UCW JULY 24-30, 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 Jenna Shackleford 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. People over politics part II: No resolutions by BILL BOWMAN PUBLISHER'S PEN In Raleigh, our elected scramble to gather the votes needed to override the governor's veto of the budget. Much hangs in the balance for Fayetteville and Cumberland County as projects that would create thousands of jobs, enhance our community's economic development and elevate our quality of life all hinge on the governor's obsession with expanding Medicaid in North Carolina. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is engaged in partisan politics. He is trying to impress his fellow left-leaning political cronies by demon- strating he's a team player willing to reject the state budget to bring North Carolina into the fold by implementing Medicaid expansion. And, with support from political opportun- ists like freshman Sen. Kirk deViere, D-District 19, Cooper has put Fayetteville/ Cumberland Coun- ty's $132 million infu- sion into our com- munity in jeopardy. It is obvious in this situation that self- serving politics are taking priority over the governed people. If the budget veto stands, there will be many losers throughout the state. e good news is that our Cumberland County delegation has demonstrated a refreshing display of unity, cooperation and communication when it comes to the needs and priorities of the people in our county. Republican Rep. John Szoka has been diligent in his efforts to elevate the status of Cumberland County and to support the projects that will have a long-term and meaningful effect on the entire com- munity. But the real soldiers in this fight to bolster our community are Democratic Reps. Elmer Floyd and Billy Richardson. Floyd and Richardson have taken a tremendous amount of heat from fellow Democrats who will only side with their party because that is the thing they are expected to do — regardless of logic or ethics. Win or lose this battle over the budget, we can see who the lead- ers with integrity and character are. Win or lose, the true leaders will wake up every morning knowing they tried to do the right thing for the residents of Fayetteville and Cumberland County. Win or lose, Floyd and Richardson have earned the respect of their constituents, who will not soon forget these represen- tatives' fight to remain diligent in their desire to create a stronger, more vibrant, more competitive Cumberland County for residents and future generations. We have responsible leadership with vision — leaders who are will- ing to place people over politics while assuring citizens of Fayetteville and Cumberland County that we will be taking our place alongside the larger and more prosperous cities in our state. It is this delegation that, along with a substantial number of residents, busi- nesses and organizations, has worked for years to improve our community. For too long we have watched while other North Carolina communities re- ceived special favors and funding from our state legislature while ignoring the needs of Cumberland County, allowing us to slowly become a Tier 1 county. Many of our former legislators worked hard to improve Cumberland County and Fayetteville. eir efforts laid the ground- work for this current delegation to garner support for these much-needed projects — projects that will impact this commu- nity's quality of life for decades. is 2020-2022 state budget, if the veto is overruled, would bring a whopping $132 million to our county in projects that will benefit the entire community. ese projects could net Cumberland County $20-$40 million a year in addi- tional revenues. ink of what that will mean to this community. is budget is a once-in-a-lifetime win-win for Fayetteville and Cumberland County. A special thanks to Republican Rep. Szoka and Democratic Reps. Floyd, Richardson and Marvin Lucas and Dem- ocratic Sen. Ben Clark for leading this charge. Again, win or lose, these gentle- men have drawn a line in the sand. We can only hope we will be celebrat- ing our good fortune soon. Here's what we would gain with the approved bud- get 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 • $8 million to fund Cape Fear Val- ley Medical Center's physician residency program • $1.85 million for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park • $1.5 million for Kingdom Com- munity Development affordable housing construction • $900,000 for the North Carolina Military Business Center head- quartered in Fayetteville, each year for two years • $750,000 for Airborne & Special Op- erations Museum's renovation fund • $750,000 for the Cumberland Coun- ty Veterans Healthcare Program • $16.2 million to Fayetteville State University • $20 million to Fayetteville Tech- nical Community College Opportunities like these don't just hap- pen. To make proj- ects of this magni- tude a reality for any community, it takes hard work, diligent legislative maneuver- ing and thousands of local residents, busi- nesses and organiza- tions spending time, energy and money. It takes forward-think- ing an and understanding of the needs of our community by a dedicated group of hard-working, business-savvy political leaders who care more about their con- stituents than they do about themselves or their political futures. is is why it is vitally important that we support and encourage our local del- egation to stay the course and stand up for Fayetteville/Cumberland County by keeping people before politics. Encour- age them to pursue the $132 million and reject Cooper's veto. For some Democrats, it 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 leadership has the integrity, vision and talent needed to aggressively move our community forward by doing the right thing for the right reasons. No one said it would be easy, but that's what real leadership is all about. e rewards will be many, and the consequences are few. 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. Democratic Reps. Elmer Floyd (left) and Billy Richardson (center) and Republican Rep. John Szoka (right) are fighting to overturn Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's state budget veto and bring $132 million to Cumberland County. BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COM- MENTS? BILL@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910-484-6200.