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 13 - 19, 2022 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Publisher's Note: Unfortunately, lies and misrepresentations of the Vote Yes initiative are creating a signifi- cant injustice for the Black community, by the Black community. In essence, this proposal to add four at-large seats on the council with five district seats is not a racial issue by any stretch of the imagi - nation. Approving and passing this proposal will allow every Fayetteville citizen to have a voice in choosing Fayetteville's elected officials. Under the current system, citizens get only two votes. Under the proposed plan, each citizen would receive six votes. One for Mayor, one for their district council member, and four at-large council members. Every citizen benefits! Much discussion lately has been aimed at low voter turnout at the polls during election time. e presumed blame falling mostly on "apathetic and lazy citizens." Not so. With 10 elected officials running our city, we ask citi - zens to leave their homes, families and places of employment and travel to a precinct polling location to cast a ballot for only two out of 10 candidates. Fayetteville residents obviously do not see the value in that, yet those currently on the city council ignore this fact so as not to weaken or jeopardize their position. As a result, thousands of residents are being represented (or misrepresented) by unquali - fied candidates elected by only a few hundred votes or less. For our community to move forward into a prosperous 21st century, we need good ethical people with common sense, intelligence and leadership abilities. Without it, crime, overall community safety, homelessness, affordable housing, infrastruc - ture and stormwater issues and trash-litter problems will continue to escalate throughout our city. — Bill Bowman, Publisher e term "democracy" comes from two Greek words: "demos" (the people) and "kratia" (power and authority). So, democracy is a form of government that gives power to the people. Lately, America's democracy has been strained at all levels. First, there's the U.S. House Jan. 6 com- mittee hearing about an effort to over- turn the 2020 elections. Second, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued some con- troversial opinions this term: upended a 50-year-old precedent on abortion, expanded gun rights for the first time in a decade, bolstered religious rights, notably those of Christians and declared that a violation of Miranda does not necessarily constitute a violation of the Constitution. Passionate opinions have caused dem- onstrations on both sides of the issues. Democracy is a model form of govern- ment, but it's not a guarantee. Life won't always go the way you want it to sometimes. Democracy is supposed to allow all citizens an opportunity to have an equal voice, and it achieves that purpose most of the time. Democracy is imperfect but inherently and highly flexible. What happens in Raleigh and Washing- ton, D.C., gets most of the attention, but local government is the most important for several reasons. First, municipal governments impact constituents far more frequently and positively than either state or federal legislators. Second, citizens can have far more influence at the local level than they ever will at higher echelons. One-stop voting for Fayetteville's mu- nicipal election is from July 7 through July 23. e General Election is July 26. Voter turnout is predicted to be very low. e power rests with the people, but that power can't be realized if citizens don't vote. Fayetteville elected officials are pres- ently under a council-manager form of government. e council comprises the mayor and nine council representatives elected to single-member districts. Lately, the question has become, as Fayetteville is evolving, should it continue with all single-member districts, or is the time ripe for change? A Vote Yes Fayetteville initiative recently secured 5,007 signatures from city residents to change the Fayetteville City Council from nine single-member districts to a combination of five single- member districts and four at-large districts. If the Vote Yes initiative is successful, Fayetteville City voters could cast six votes — one for Mayor, four for at-large council members and a district council member. Fundamental fairness dictates Vote Yes supporters deserve an equal voice, and we expect this matter to be on the No- vember ballot. e current council has 10 members — eight are African American, including the mayor. e mayor and several African- American council members have voiced concerns about the proposed change. It is rumored heavily in the Black com- munity that racism is behind the call for change since eight out of 10 pres- ent members of the council are African American. Vote Yes supporters, including two former mayors, two former mayors pro tem and two past Fayetteville City Council members, deny the race allegation. e Vote Yes initiative began the signature collection process a year ago. Is the proposed change about race? us far, the allegations appear un- founded. I know players on both sides of the issue, and I believe this is more about trust than race. I fully understand some members of the Black community holding the white community as suspect, but declaring unfounded fears as racial motivation is unfair to both sides of the process. Again, democracy ought to give power to the people and provide an opportunity for an equal voice. Pause the racially-charged rhetoric and let the people decide at the polls. Indeed, the ability to raise enough money to run at large is not racial. It's economics. STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com MANAGING EDITOR April Olsen april@upandcomingweekly.com EDITOR Emily Sussman editor@upandcomingweekly.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Hannah Lee assistanteditor@upandcomingweekly. com ART DIRECTOR Courtney Sapp-Scott art@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Isaiah Jones graphics@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITERS Alyson Hansen Ashley Shirley Jason Brady Jyl Barlow CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Troy Williams, Pitt Dickey, Michael Futch, Dr. Shanessa Fenner, Dr. Casey Groover COVER Design by Courtney Sapp-Scott and Isaiah Jones MARKETING ASSOCIATE Linda McAlister linda@upandcomingweekly.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/SALES ADMINISTRATOR Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com 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 publisher. 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 Army Airfield, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. © 2020 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. PUBLISHER'S PEN Association of Community Publishers Proposal to change Fayetteville council structure not about race but democracy by TROY WILLIAMS, The Fayetteville Observer TROY WILLIAMS, The Fayetteville Observer. COMMENTS? BILL@upand- comingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. Photo courtesy of Pexels