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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WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM JANUARY 26, 2022 - FEBRUARY 1, 2022 UCW 7 LETTERS TO THE PUBLISHER accessible (and affordable) for those in our community who are praying for a child. I also stand for strengthening and fully funding our local law enforcement. We know that when law enforcement is active and present, neighborhoods are safer. But instead, law enforcement budget cuts and layoffs are destroying many com- munities in this state in an era of defund the police. Defunding the police means fewer officers responding to calls, fewer re- sources to investigate high-level crimes, and fewer neighborhoods with regular patrol to protect the families who live in areas plagued with rampant corruption. Today Fayetteville sees 1,839 violent crimes each year, nearly twice the state average, and it's only getting worse. Our current mayor, city manager and chief of police's crime prevention policies have proven ineffective and are costing families their loved ones. It's time we recognize the importance and value of our law enforcement and the risks they take every day to keep us safe. If elected, I will continue to work closely with the local law enforcement agencies to stand for truth and justice to provide safe neighborhoods for our children to grow up in. Part of crime prevention includes a focus on quality and sound education. I will not hesitate to say that I've had a troubled past. As a young man, I attended Tarheel Challenge Academy, a dropout recovery program that helps at-risk youth earn their high school diploma. e academy helped me gain the Ameri- can values, life skills, education and self-discipline necessary to succeed as a productive citizen. But today, our public schools are failing to produce productive citizens. In North Carolina, only 57% of public school students have proficiency in English Language Arts, and only 59% have proficiency in math. Meanwhile, educators are spending precious class time teaching white students they are oppressors and teaching black students they are oppressed. I've seen it first hand. ey are teaching radical sex education to students as young as kindergarten. Some- one once said that "all education is a moral education." erefore, we must be careful what morals are being taught to our children. at's why we need to get involved with public schools. If elected, I will continue to work closely with the Cumberland County Board of Education to ensure our kids have the best opportunities to excel in not only reading, writing and arithmetic but also the arts and music, as well as financial literacy. I will work to ensure our children have the knowledge, skills, and values for a prosperous life. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Intelligence plus char- acter — that is the goal of true education." Part of developing true character includes acknowledging our Creator. As a Christian, I found Christ on Easter Sunday in 2014, but it wasn't until I was in a jail cell that my life was radically changed for the better. And whether or not you believe in Christ, it's no secret that America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. Our religious heritage is embedded in our coins and in the language of our founding documents. As Reagan said, "If we ever forget that we're one na- tion under God, then we will be one nation gone under." One of the most outrageous aspects of the COVID lockdowns is the attack on the church. Many of us were told to stop gathering together, stop singing together, stop worshipping together. And more than an attack on our religious freedom, the attack on churches hurt the struggling families and the homeless in our community who rely on the services and support of the local church. Our local churches feed people spiritually and physically at no cost to the taxpayer. When many churches were forced to close or go online, our community was cut off from crucial spiritual and physical resources. If elected, I will stand for moving forward from tyrannical, authoritarian COVID restrictions. I need you to really understand this with me. We're on year three of "fifteen days to slow the spread," and the goalposts continue to change daily. To this day, we have no evidence that these lock downs and restrictions have made any difference. Right now, New York, a state with some of the strictest lockdown measures, has eight times the number of COVID cases per 100,000 people than Florida, a state with some of the fewest lockdown measures. We, the people, can see what works and what doesn't. We cannot continue decimating our economy for a virus with a 99.75% sur- vival rate, a virus with an average age of fatality that is higher than the average life expectancy, a virus that already has an established and easily accessible vac- cine. I stand for moving from COVID restrictions to restore Fayetteville citizens' God-given and God-granted freedoms, which are Constitutionally protected. If you choose to elect me as your mayor, I can promise you this one thing that I will wake up every single day fighting for these causes and more. I will never give up on our future because I firmly believe that we can move forward together as one when we come together as Americans. John F. Kennedy once said, "United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do — for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder." And it's time for us to move forward from covid to make a better Fayetteville for tomorrow! Again, my name is Nyrell Melvin, I stand with Fayetteville, and I am running to be your mayor. I would be honored to earn your vote. May God bless you, and May God bless America. ank You! Mayor Mitch Colvin To Citizens and Residents of Fayetteville: I am a lifelong resident of Fayetteville, having raised my three daughters and built a successful family business here. Other than being a father, son and brother to my siblings, one of my greatest honors is serving as your mayor. Over the past four years, our city and indeed our country, has faced unprec- edented challenges including natural disasters, a global pandemic and social unrest relating to events which unfolded in Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. In addition, Cumberland County has been designated as a Tier 1 county which means that it lags behind the state's largest cities in terms of the key indicators of quality of life such as unemployment rate and low tax base. If that is not enough, the residents of our city have unfortunately been con- fronted with baseless allegations about city leaders and private individuals which resulted in another community distraction and diverted our collective attention from the real work we must do to move our city forward. As has been said before, these are serious times which requires serious solutions. One of my top priorities as mayor has been to strengthen our city through industry recruitment, job creation, higher wages, increased con- tracting with local and minority-owned businesses, investment in infrastruc- ture and increasing the availability of affordable and workforce housing. My goal has been to be pro-people and pro-business. In the last four years, more than $250 million in new private investment has been made in Fayetteville and over 2,500 new jobs created. In addi- tion, our city is increasingly becoming a logistics center which supports e- commerce and takes advantage of our strategic proximity to major highway systems and the deep-water shipping ports in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. We have made historic investments to improve our streets, sidewalks, and stormwater systems. I'm particularly proud to have worked closely with the Public Works Commission to facilitate an investment of $70 million for a fiber-optic broadband network serving Fayetteville and also providing broad- band internet access to much of Cumberland County. e city has made unprecedented investments towards ending home- lessness and housing affordability. Recently, we broke ground on a new $4 million Homeless Day Center on South King Street which was funded sub- stantially by federal dollars. We also worked very closely with the Fayetteville Metropolitan Housing Authority to create approximately 300 new garden style apartments on Grove Street which presents an attractive gateway to the city. We also supported our seniors with $12 million in funding for new state- of-the-art senior wellness centers. All of the progress we have made together is reflective of our "Can Do" spir- it and our new branding strategy. Along with the Fayetteville Cumberland County Economic Development Corporation and other municipal partners, a project to rebrand our city from the old stereotype to our attractive new "Can Do" theme was commissioned and can be seen throughout the city. We recognize that the city should be safe no matter where you live or work. In response to the national crime trends that are affecting the entire country, we commissioned the Gun Shot Detection software platform which allows city policeman to identify the source of gunshots. We have made significant in public safety infrastructure to reduce our street paving from an average 47-year cycle to 16 years [sic]. While it is true that the last four years has tested our city and the rest of the country, our city has had a good deal of success. I am particularly grateful for the way our city has come together to respond to the unprecedented global pandemic. In this regard, I am urging everyone to remain vigilant and take everyone [sic] precaution to protect your family and neighbors from this unforgiving COVID-19 virus and its variations. My warmest personal regards, Mitch Colvin, Mayor