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/915021
4 UCW DECEMBER 13 - 19, 2017 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM PUBLISHER'S PEN 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 leslie@upandcomingweekly.com SENIOR REPORTER Jeff Thompson news@upandcomingweekly.com SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR Earl Vaughan Jr. GRAPHIC DESIGNER Elizabeth Long art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Erica Walls, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Paul Hall, Lau- ren Vanderveen SALES ADMINISTRATOR/ DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Linda McAlister Brown linda@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 wel- comes 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 Air Force Base, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. ©2007 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Dancers on the cover: Front row, L to R: Mikeala Burney, Helen Steffan, Sophia Lewis Back row, L to R: Marissa Morris, Cai Davis, Ella Lewis, Laura Jones Cover art/Various ads with art graphics designed with various elements from: vecteezy.com and freepik.com. BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? BILL@upandcomingweekly.com. (910) 484-6200. Enough words. Unity and action in 2018! by BILL BOWMAN One of the most important things I've learned in life is that actions speak louder than words. Put another way, don't believe what you hear, but depend on what you see. is simple philosophy has helped me survive many pitfalls when navigating through my business and personal life. And, I assure you that it applies to nearly all worldly situations. Fayetteville's newly elected mayor, Mitch Colvin, addressed business, church and community leaders at a gathering titled "One Fayetteville." Here, he reiterated his campaign promise to bring Fayetteville together using diversity as leverage to so- licit cooperation and collaboration within the community. is is a good thing. e words Colvin spoke, combined with his intentions, are no doubt honorable and sincere. However, the reality of bringing everyone together for the betterment of the community may be a little more daunt- ing. Why? Because actions always speak louder than words, and Fayetteville and Cumberland County residents are getting weary of hearing how well our city and county are getting along when it is not so. e perfect example of this, and a missed opportunity for a show of unity, came at the "One Fayetteville" gathering. e event was at City Hall with many no- table community leaders in attendance, in- cluding representatives from Cumberland County Schools, Fort Bragg and the church and business community. e county of Cumberland was also represented by its newly elected board chairman, Commis- sioner Larry Lancaster, and yet he did not address the audience. Why? You would think that at a unity-themed event, there could be no better demonstration of unity than one between the city of Fayetteville and the county of Cumberland. Didn't Lancaster have anything to say? Was he not invited to speak? At this point, it doesn't make any difference. It was an opportunity lost and a conspicuous oversight for those sincerely seeking unity. e event had approximately 150 people in attendance when twice that number would have been more appropriate. Again, actions speak louder than words. Another example of missed opportunity is the recent controversy about which enti- ty will manage the proposed combined 911 center. Both city and county officials claim to be working hard and looking out for the best interest of tax-paying residents, yet when the health and welfare of everyone is literally at stake, neither party is willing to concede its silo of power. Worse yet, they are sticking to their guns even if it means losing millions of dollars in state funding. Enough prom- ises. Stop the meaningless talk. Many observers think this will be the year both the city and county taxpayers pay close attention to what is being done – not said – to move the community forward. With $80 million -$100 million of economic development and opportunity sprouting up downtown, it will be much easier to measure who comes forth with the plans and initiatives to move Fayetteville and Cumberland County forward both socially and economically. Our community seems to have an over- abundance of "philosopher kings." ey are readily available with "expert" opinions analyzing our problems, but they rarely offer viable solutions. Honestly, our com- munity doesn't need any more of these self-proclaimed local experts or overpriced out-of-town consultants telling us what our problems are. I think we have a pretty good handle on those. We need vision, leadership and effective solutions to make positive things happen in Fayetteville and Cumberland County. We need leadership that will encourage and convince local community agencies to tear down their silos and start working for the betterment of all. To this end, city and county leaders need to lead by example. Otherwise, there is no incentive for others to invest in or buy into any initiative of cooperation for future growth. Both the city and county need to get away from the "What's in it for me" men- tality and start thinking about "What's in it for us – all of us." When this happens, amazing things will take shape in our community. Everything will improve. Our community will grow in population. Pov- erty and crime will decrease. Employment opportunities will increase – as will our economic outlook and quality of life. ere would be no downside to this kind of communication and cooperation. For instance, the Rotary Christmas Parade could become the Fayetteville-Cumber- land County Rotary Christmas parade. With this combined participation, per- haps we could have 30,000 in attendance rather than 3,000. Veteran's Day could be celebrated countywide with a Veteran's Day Parade twice as big and respectfully honored by a full reviewing stand of local dignitaries rather than an empty one. In 2019, on opening day of our new baseball team at our yet-to-be-named $33 million stadium, perhaps both city and county of- ficials could throw out the first pitch. No doubt about it, 2018 is going to be a year of change. At this point, we know everyone can talk the talk. Now, let's see who will walk the walk. Remember, trust your eyes, not your ears. And let's SEE where the new lead- ership will take us. Unity, less talk and more action – our local trifecta for success. ank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. We need leadership that will encourage and convince local community agencies to tear down their silos and start working for the betterment of all. To this end, city and county leaders need to lead by example.