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/10782
STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman bbowman@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Janice Burton Joy Kirkpatrick editor@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITER Stephanie Crider stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Tabitha Kidd tabitha@upandcomingweekly.com Steve Rogers Steve@upandcomingweekly.com OFFICE MANAGER Suzy Patterson suzy@upandcomingweekly.com ––––––––––––– GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alicia Miller art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Soni Martin, D.G. Mar tin, Pitt Dick ey, Margaret Dickson, Bob Cogswell, John Hood, Shanessa Fenner, Erinn Crider, Karen Poppele, Renee Gibbs, Heather Griffi 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 infor- mation 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 per- son. 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 PUBLISHER’S PEN by BILL BOWMAN Well, I have to hand it to Mayor Tony Chavonne, the Fayetteville City Council, City Manager Dale Iman and the numerous city staffers who worked long and hard coming up with the proposed budget for fi scal year 2011. Wow! They all need to take a deep breath and congratulate themselves on a job well done. Sometimes it is diffi cult for people working in government— at any level, city, state or national — to truly realize what is going on in the “real” world. The reality of it is that in business and industry there are few organizations that are still in business that have not cut back, rolled back, pushed back, laid off or otherwise curtailed their operations just to remain in business. So it is only proper and fi tting that our local city and county governments do the same. Believe me, residents and constituents will understand when the right priorities are set and the correct decisions are made. In this case, no tax increases and a plan to increase compensation for Fayetteville police offi cers were the right decisions. Public safety should be the number one priority and there is no better investment than in our own police force. There will be a public hearing on the budget next week, but don’t expect much resistance. However, months of budget wrangling did bring out some concerns that our city council still does not look at future development in the long term, but rather as a series of quick fi xes with resulting consequences to be dealt with at a later time. One case in point is that some council members say they are “skeptical” of the effectiveness and performance of downtown development manager Jami McLaughlin who has been on the job less than a year. It is hinted that maybe her job could be eliminated and that money put to better use. My questions to those council members are: What better use and have you been paying any attention to what this loyal, energetic, hard working young professional is doing for Fayetteville’s downtown development, our image and our community? I don’t know what McLaughlin’s salary is, but I do know this: Every other week, 26 times a year, she uses her time and talent to create a full page snap shot of what Downtown Fayetteville means Fayetteville’s Weather Forecast Fayetteville’s Weather Forecast Thursday May 20 Friday May 21 Saturday May 22 Forecast available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Sponsored by High 81° Low 62° Isolated Thunderstorms 4 UCW MAY 19-25, 2010 High 87° Low 65° Scattered Thunderstorms High 84° Low 66° Scattered Thunderstorms Regional Airport www.fl yfay.com Fayetteville High 87° Low 64° Scattered Thunderstorms High 88º Low 64º Scattered Thunderstorms High 88º Low 66º Scattered Thunderstorms WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Downtown Development Manager, Jami McLaughlin. to this community. She beautifully and professionally illustrates and articulates selected downtown treasures — its assets — and then showcases and accentuates hidden virtues and activities. All of this is published, every other week, on her page in Up & Coming Weekly. (See last week’s May 12 issue or the upcoming May 26 issue). This one single task, this compilation of information, in a biweekly format, is a reminder of the jewel we have in our historic Downtown Fayetteville and why businesses and organizations should consider investing there and why visitors should come and experience it. Not only does her message about our downtown city life get disseminated to all communities in Cumberland County but it saturates Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base while her messages travel around the world via our online electronic edition. This one task exemplifi es not only her talent, but that she has total command and understanding of what her duties and responsibilities are. To this end, her efforts allow the city to take advantage of an in-kind media partnership with our weekly community newspaper that is valued at more than $30,000 annually just to promote Downtown Fayetteville. That is serious money and a serious commitment on the part of Up & Coming Weekly, the city and McLaughlin. Marketing and branding take time and consistency no matter if it is a product, business or a historic city center like Fayetteville. McLaughlin has been on the job less than a year. Council members should give the process a chance to work before recommending it be dismantled. In closing, I also need to say that if we have council members or city staffers who are not cognizant of what this city employee has been doing during her short tenure, then they need to start paying attention to their own surroundings. It’s hard to miss the good stuff when you are looking for it. We need more city advocates like Jami McLaughlin. Good hire, Mr. Iman! BILL BOWMAN, Publisher COMMENTS? Bill@upandcomingweekly.com. Call 910.354.1679 Call 910.354.1679 Sunday May 23 Monday May 24 Tuesday May 25 Internet Directory ............................ 12 Calendar ........................................... 16 Concert Connection ........................ 21 TV ..................................................... 22 Movie Review ..................................24 Movie Schedule ............................... 25 Good Job On Tough Budget and Huge Downtown Asset Free Wheelin’ Feelin’ ....................... 26 News of the Weird ........................... 27 Horoscopes/Advice Goddess ......... 27 Classifieds ........................................ 28 Games .............................................. 30 Dining Guide .................................... 31 24 24 / 7