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/1182424
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM NOVEMBER 6-12, 2019 UCW 11 Fayetteville City Councilwoman Tisha Waddell has scheduled a community forum for Nov. 15. Waddell has no formal opposition in the election. But her candidacy was opposed by Mayor Mitch Colvin, who supported a write- in candidate. Before being elected mayor, Colvin represented the city's 3rd District, which Waddell now represents. The write-in candi- date was Dominique Ashley, a recent gradu- ate of Fayetteville State University. She an- nounced her candidacy two weeks before the Nov. 5 election. She's "the kind of people we want involved in the political process," Colvin said in an interview with The Fayetteville Observer. Since Ashley announced her cam- paign, the mayor has twice shared news about her candidacy on his of- ficial Facebook page. But he said he has not formally endorsed anyone for office. Waddell concedes she and Colvin have not always shared the same views on local issues. She supports the proposal to build a multimil- lion-dollar Civil War & Reconstruc- tion History Center in Fayetteville. Colvin does not. "The majority of the people I've spoken with are sup- portive of the center," she said. "We think that it's a good idea." It's one of the subjects the coun- cilwoman says will be highlighted at the community meeting she has scheduled for Nov. 15. It will be held at Simon Temple AME Zion Church on Yadkin Road from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Stormwater issues and sidewalks plus street resurfacing are the other topics of discussion for the forum. "We are directly affected by a lack of resources," Waddell declared. "I want to make sure the people in my district are knowledgeable," she added. City officials responsible for man- agement of streets and sidewalks will be on hand to field questions. Leaders of the History Center have also been invited. "We don't think of it as a museum," said Center Chairman Mac Healy. The Winston-Salem-based Win- slow Group was commissioned to perform a conceptual feasibil- ity study, measure support for the mission and gauge interest beyond Fayetteville. Planning of the learn- ing center began 12 years ago. In 2007, the Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex Foundation received a planning grant from the North Carolina General Assembly. Foundation leaders immediately commissioned the Ohio-based mu- seum consulting firm Germann and Associates to perform a benchmark- ing and assessment study. Because of the existing mu- seum's location on one of North Carolina's most important Civil War sites and its ownership of the Reconstruction-era E. A. Poe House, consultants recommended that the new center focus on the Civil War and Reconstruction in North Carolina. Local leaders also decided to include the antebellum period from about 1830. It was the period before the War Between the States that philosophically and politically resulted in the conflict. The interpretive consultants were instructed to find the most effective means of telling the story of North Carolina's people, all of them, and not to rely solely on artifacts. From the beginning, the History Center's planners understood that many stu- dents from across the state would benefit from the use of technology. So, they created one of the nation's first digital master plans to make this authoritative resource acces- sible to all. Public issues forum scheduled by JEFF THOMPSON NEWS Tisha Waddell