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/1458054
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM MARCH 9 -15, 2022 UCW 9 Crime rates in Fayetteville are down a sixth consecutive year. Unfortunately, violent crimes — homicides and aggra- vated assaults — are up. Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins presented the 2021 annual crime report to the City Council on Monday, giving numbers on the city's overall crime decrease, particularly property crimes such as burglary, larceny and robbery, which were down 13.5% from 2020. Since 2016, the property crime rate has decreased by more than 31%. e overall crime rate was down more than 10%. "Our 2020 numbers were very good, so we're going against our own good numbers … with less people," Hawkins said at the council meeting last week. e Fayetteville Police Department currently has 29 vacant full-time officer positions. While overall crime rates are decreasing, homicides and aggravated assaults are up. Last year, 48 homicides and 1,144 aggravated assaults occurred in Fayetteville. at's an in- crease from 32 and 1,125, respectively, from the year before. Among property crimes, the only offense that was slightly up from 2020, less than 1%, was motor vehicle theft. Both Hawkins and Mayor Pro Tem Kathy Jensen implored residents to lock their cars while left unattended. Fayetteville's crime rates are among a national trend wherein property crimes are at a low and violent crimes are increasing, a phenomenon that manifested amid the COVID-19 pandemic. at trend matches statewide figures, according to crime data from the N.C. State Bureau of Inves- tigation. But Fayetteville's per-capita crime numbers make that trend much more concerning. Even with Fayetteville's overall drop in crime, the city's numbers are still higher than the state's average. According to crime statistics from 2020, the latest year available, Cumberland County's overall crime rate was 4,200 per 100,000 people, with violent crimes at 940 per 100,000, according to the SBI. at puts the county's overall crime rate 150% higher than the statewide average despite the recent declines. Worse, violent crime in Cumberland County is 71% higher than the statewide per 100,000 rate. Fayetteville makes up more than 60% of Cumberland's population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. New city seal delayed in Fayetteville A newly redesigned city seal won't be official quite yet. e City Council unanimously voted Monday, Feb. 28, to delay documenting a description of the new design in favor of making slight changes. In late December, the council incorporated the new seal as an official insignia for the council, to be used for official Fayetteville documents, ceremonies and other uses. If not delayed, Monday's vote would have changed an ordinance to alter the official description of the city seal to describe the new one, which shows the image of a star with the text "CITY OF FAYETTEVILLE NORTH CAROLINA" around it. Mayor Pro Tem Kathy Jensen made a motion to return the city seal to the design team to possibly remove the "CITY OF" text. e old seal contained an image of downtown's Market House, a controversial landmark that saw demonstrations during 2020's George Floyd protests due to its early history. While the site at the original city center had many uses for political meetings and conducting business transactions, this sometimes included slave trades. e protests lead to future changes to Market House In the days after Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was killed by a Minneapolis police officer in late May 2020, protests around the Market House escalated. Two people set fire to the landmark in an unsuccessful attempt to destroy it. Dam- age from the fire and sprinklers has been repaired, and the arson suspects have been charged. Protests continued around the landmark throughout the summer of 2020, with calls for police reform. In the aftermath of the protests, not only did the council vote to change the seal but considered relocating the Market House entirely last April. However, the relocation, priced at $2 million, proved too costly for the council to approve, according to minutes from the meeting. Instead, the council voted 9-1 to direct city officials to make plans for repurposing the landmark. Council member Courtney Banks-McLaughlin voted against the plan. Earlier in the meeting, she moved to relo- cate the Market House, but the action failed when no other council member made a required seconding motion. e repurposing of the landmark entails many options such as widening the occupied space to overtake the center roundabout lane or reclaiming the square entirely. is enlarged space could accommodate art exhibits that display Black history, according to a presentation to the council. ere could also be vendors each month, with a focus on Black farmers, entrepreneurs and artists. As a part of that vote in April, the council tasked the city's Human Relations Commission to engage with citizens to determine how to repurpose the Market House. e council has also sought guidance from the U.S. De- partment of Justice. A DOJ report is expected to be presented to the council in the coming months. Currently, the inner traffic circle around the landmark contains a mural that reads in yellow "Black Lives Matter End Racism Now." NC Appeals Court approves Dismas Charities appeal against City e North Carolina Court of Appeals published a decision Tuesday deciding that the City of Fayetteville should have ap- proved Dismas Charities' permit request to build a halfway house on Cain road off Skibo. Dismas Charities Inc., wanted to build a 14,339 square foot, 100-bed halfway house for federal prisoners at 901-905 Cain Road. Dismas Charities is a private company contract- ed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to operate residential reentry centers. e BOP has the authority to place inmates in reentry halfway houses to serve the remainder of their sentences which it says is normally six months to a year. However, the City of Fayetteville denied the permit by a 5-4 vote based on its conclusion that Dismas did not meet its burden of production to show that its use met a certain stan- dard in the City's ordinance which requires showing that the special use sought "allows for the protection of property values and the ability of neighboring lands to develop the uses permitted in the zoning district." e firm appealed, and in 2020, Superior Court Judge Mary Ann Tally affirmed the city council's decision. However, the appeals court concluded that the superior court should have conducted a de novo review, rather than applying the whole record test, to determine whether Dismas met its burden of production. Based on the appeals court's de novo review, Dismas did meet its burden of production. e court found that there was no competent, material, substantial evidence offered to counter Dismas' evidence. erefore the Court decided that the City Council was re- quired to approve Dismas' permit application. "Accordingly, we reverse the decision of the superior court and remand with instructions to remand to the City Council to approve Dismas' permit request," the appeals court opin- ion read. Spring Lake Board discuss the town's debt, plans to recover e Spring Lake Board of Aldermen met last week to discuss the town's finances. Susan McCullen, director of the Fiscal Management Sec- tion of the Local Government Commission, gave an update and answered some of the Aldermen's questions on the town's financial plan. Last year, the Local Government Commission took control of the town's finances after investigations were launched in- volving missing money and concerns about budget deficits. As a result, Spring Lake has a fiscal accountability agreement with the Local Government Commission, an enhanced monitoring strategy they use to monitor the town's finances. According to McCullen, Spring Lake still has a fiscal account- ability agreement and has not established an exit strategy. An exit strategy would include a plan for the board, the manager and the finance staff to regain control of finances. "We need to just spend a little bit more time with it," said McCullen. "ere is still some work that has to be done." According to McCullen, she foresees the town entering its exit strategy plan sometime in the summer. Interim Town Manager Samantha Wullenwaber discussed the fiscal budget for 2022 – 2023 and the monthly financial report. "We're right on where we should be which is great," she said. "e town hasn't operated in the plus in a long time and it's good to see." Fayetteville crime down but violent crimes up by HANNAH LEE, JESSICA MAY, & BEN SESSOMS NEWS DIGEST