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: https://www.epageflip.net/i/101270
STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman bbowman@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Janice Burton editor@upandcomingweekly.com EDITOR Stephanie Crider stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Cynthia Deere cynthia@upandcomingweekly.com Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com Kristy Sykes kristy@upandcomingweekly.com Beverly Pone beverly@upandcomingweekly.com OFFICE & DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Laurel Handforth officemanager@ upandcomingweekly.com ACCOUNTING Paulette Reinhardt accounting@upandcomingweekly.com ART DIRECTOR Alicia Miller art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Erinn Crider, Karen Poppele, Heather Grif���ths ��������������������������������� Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan Street 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 Air Force Base, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. Subscriptions can be purchased for $30 for six months or $60 for 12 months, delivered weekly by first class mail. ��2007 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. INSIDE Calendar ........................................... 12 Concert Connection ........................ 15 TV ..................................................... 17 Movie Review .................................. 17 PUBLISHER���S PEN Small Businesses Need Help: Not More Regulations by BILL BOWMAN Without a doubt, Downtown Fayetteville is a work in progress and there is much still left to do. A great deal of planning and public-private money is being invested to make our city center a success and a historical asset to Cumberland County. I applaud the efforts of John Meroski, president of the Fayetteville Convention and Visitors Bureau, and his staff, who are working diligently to attract visitors to our community while the city, county and chamber of commerce work in tandem to attract businesses and economic development. My hope for 2013 is that all of these people, governments and organizations start paying attention to the ���smaller��� picture of what happens once we attract visitors and businesses here. Are we producing the product and quality of life that we advertised, promoted and promised? Here are just two things that could be done to immediately enhance these efforts: One: Review all city and county laws and codes that are currently on the books and eliminate those that are redundant and needlessly burdensome to businesses, developers or entrepreneurs. The goals and objectives of the city and county should be to make it easier to do business here, not more dif���cult. The thought of many is that the city and county should be partners in the business-development process ��� not a hindrance or adversary. Put an ear to the ground. Listen. The word on the street is that doing business here in Fayetteville and Cumberland County is not an easy task if one tries to comply with the myriad of laws, rules and codes that only strangle businesses with needless delays and increased development costs that consume much needed capital. Unfortunately, the reality of it is that some businesses never recover and, sadly enough, their demise goes unnoticed except for the standard brush off cliche ���they were under capitalized.��� Not true. Fayetteville/ Cumberland County has too many rules, too many ordinances, too much government and way too many people justifying the existence of their departments and jobs. The solution: 1. Become an advocate for new business. 2. Trim back the needless and redundant laws and codes making it easier for a business to comply. 3. Create a new position in both the city and county called a Business Expediter. The task of this of���ce would be to work with businesses and each other to cut through all of the massive red tape and expedite the Fayetteville���s Weather Forecast Thursday January 3 Friday January 4 High 53�� Low 34�� Showers UCW JANUARY 2-8, 2013 High 51�� Low 31�� Sunny Sunday January 6 Saturday January 5 High 50�� Low 33�� Sunny development of the business saving time, money and frustration. Done properly, we would gain the reputation of being a business-friendly community. This, in turn, would attract more business. It���s an easy concept to visualize don���t you think? The second thing that needs to be addressed immediately in Downtown Fayetteville is aggressive panhandling, which seems to be getting progressively worse. This practice is tainting the image of our city and undermining the enjoyable and memorable downtown experience everyone is striving for. Case in point, last week I spoke to a gentleman who visited Fayetteville from Charlotte with six friends. They came downtown to have dinner at Circa 1800 and attended the play Life As We Know It currently on stage at the Gilbert Theatre. The scenario seemed perfect. Outof-town guests here in beautiful Downtown Fayetteville for dinner at a local restaurant and an evening at the local theatre. Meroski would be proud. Unfortunately, the evening was not as perfect as it could have been for our guests. As they made their way to the theater from the restaurant, they were approached by a homeless panhandler. No big deal, actually. A small contribution, no harm-no foul. Besides, it is the holidays and this sort of thing happens in all major cities including Charlotte. However, after a nice dining experience at Circa, when walking the two blocks to the theatre, they were again approached by a second panhandler who was not as hospitable and appreciative as the ���rst. He took exception to the rebuff of his request. It was a scary and unpleasant situation for our visitor and in his words ���not a policeman in sight.��� Too bad. This one incident changed their perception of our theater, our downtown and our community. My point here is this: To be successful in making Downtown Fayetteville an unique destination point we must connect all the dots to ensure everyone has the same priorities and vision. As this case indicates, the feeling of being safe, secure and comfortable downtown will always trump a good movie, a great restaurant experience or any award-winning theatrical experience. This aggressive panhandling situation is currently Fayetteville���s dirty little secret. However, if not addressed it will not only get BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, Up & dirtier, but, it will no Coming Weekly, COMMENTS? editor@ longer be a secret. upandcomingweekly.com. 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