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/18075
ELECTION Guide 2010 N.C. HOUSE on those projects that are important for Fayetteville. (3) New industry will come to North Carolina if we have the best trained and educated workers who will work in the new businesses of the 21st Century. We already have supported this by funding our universities and community colleges in order to provide the programs necessary for the students in our state to learn these skills. I supported the Small Business incentive packages in the General Assembly that provided tax credits for hiring new employees, a health insurance tax credit, and assistance to small businesses for start-up. We also maintained funding for the N.C. Military Business Center which has generated millions of dollars for businesses across North Carolina. In addition I supported an incentive package for Goodyear which resulted in the plant staying in Fayetteville thus maintaining more than 3,000 well-paying jobs in our community. As the fastest growing states in the nation, North Carolina has been recognized as a good place to do business and we will continue to build on this and we evaluate numerous plans to bring new industry to our state. (4) While the illegal immigration issue has many federal law issues, we need to address the issues that affect North Carolina. The state should focus on handling the issue at the employer level. Stiff penal- ties should be placed on employers who hire illegal immigrants and enforcement should be required. Johnny Dawkins (1) I am in favor of leaving the gas tax where it is now, but this money must be spent on our roads, bridges and highways, as it was intended, and not for the general operations of the state government. For too long our gas tax revenue has been treated as a slush fund by the legislature, and this must end now. My understanding is I-40 is close to being finished. I am more concerned about I-295 than I-40. Fayetteville must be moved up on the priority list for funding. Because of the planned growth of Fort Bragg and Pope, due to the large increase of military personnel and their families as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) law, Fayetteville is well behind the planning curve to support this increase in population to our area. (2) Few of our legislators really understand and appreciate how impor- tant our military is to our community, to the state, to the national defense and what an economic engine it is. If they did, Fayetteville would be much higher up on the priority schedule for money for road and infrastructure projects. I would gladly pay for the buses to bring our state legislature down here to Fayetteville. Then the legislators can see and hear firsthand what our immedi- ate needs are, and by funding our needs, the state will benefit as a whole. (3) The textile mills have been gone from this community for quite some time. We must continue to build a career-ready workforce, especially in technology and knowledge-based industries that can’t be outsourced or automated. We must continue to support the Military Business Center, DSTA, the Regional BRAC Task Force and all those entities that focus on bringing military-related contractors to what we like to call the Center of the Universe: Fayetteville, Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base. (4) There is no question that we have many fi ne, hard-working immigrants in our state; men and woman who only want the best for themselves and their children. But regardless of their intent, if they have entered this country and our state illegally, they must be held accountable to our laws, which are enacted for the protection and benefi t of all, not just a few. North Carolina must enforce the laws on the books concern- ing illegal immigration, and businesses must be held accountable if they hire illegal immigrants. District 45 Rick Glazier (1) I think all of us would be in favor of decreasing the gasoline tax if possible, but the reality is the state actually needs $60 billion over the next 10 years for highway, road and bridge repair, maintenance and construction. The gas tax is a crucial element of raising those funds. North Carolina maintains more than 70,000 miles of roads, the second most of any state in the nation. We do so as a state to lift the bur- den from local governments and off the backs of property tax owners. In return, however, the State must fund the obligation. We continue to look at best practices throughout the country, innovative ways to part- ner with private sources to fund roads and highway construction and repair, and work with our congres- sional delegation to lobby more effectively for federal money. The work on I-40 will never be finished in the sense that the traffic on that vital highway will always require intense road maintenance and as this state, the fastest growing in the nation, expands so too will the traffic on I-40. However, the current expansion and repair projects are time-limited. (2) We have already done so as the governor has committed to making the key expansion the next major state priority and to do so, as needed, with the innovative financing scheme begun last year on the Charlotte project. In addition, state officials are working with federal and military authorities on the project planning. The delegation is also working with the Secretary of Transportation on project work in Hope Mills and Spring Lake to relieve congestion and overcrowding on those area roads. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 20-26, 2010 UCW 19 (3)North Carolina is now the fastest growing state in the nation and one of only six states that have retained its AAA bond rating, the best in the country and critical to economic development throughout the state. Site Selection Magazine has rated N.C. as number 1 in the country for business development and Forbes has rated N.C. as the fifth best state in the nation for business. Targeted incentives have been very successful in recruiting and, more important for our area, retaining critical industries. The Good- year incentive plan, which I helped write and vigorously sponsored and advocated, helped keep nearly 3,000 well-paying jobs here and allowed the plant to modernize so it could compete as one of only four Goodyear plants remaining in North America. Targeted incentives, regional economic initiatives, par- ticularly between community colleges and businesses, expansion of the tax credits spurring angel capital and research based businesses, sustaining our commitment to the best university and community college systems in the nation, and working to modernize our energy and technological infrastructure are all cru- cial in recruiting and retaining industry. Finally, this state’s economy is not going to grow based on new plants and factories — it will be based on small business growth, creativity, innovation and ensuring we have the best trained workforce in the nation. The legislature enacted a small business package this year which included tax credits for insuring employees, a tax credit for employment expansion by small busi- nesses and tremendous assistance in start-up capacity at small business centers located across the state. In addition, we increased the capacity of small businesses to apply for and receive grant and loan assistance from the state and maintained resources for the N.C. Military Business Center, which now has 12 field offices across the state and has generated hundreds of millions of contract dollars for N.C. businesses. I also serve as vice-chair of the N.C. Jobs Commission, which is working in all eight regions of the state to look at expanding curriculum in schools to meet regional job shortage areas and coordinate with regional economic development priorities. (4) Illegal immigration, although a significant federal issue, which has to be resolved by Congress, remains a concern in North Carolina. Our primary state focus is on enforcement at the employer level and to crack down on those who hire illegal immigrants in violation of the law. We have passed a tough anti-human trafficking bill (one I helped write), with severe penalties and are working on a wage and hour enforcement package for next session, modeled after work in Iowa and other Midwest states that will increase the penalties for those who violate the law in an effort to hire illegal workers. Jackie Warner (1)North Carolina’s gasoline tax ranks as one of the highest in our nation. Proposed as a “temporary gas tax” supposedly for only eight years in 1989, the Highway Trust Fund was created for better and expanded highway projects. North Carolinians trusted legislative promises. The “temporary tax” was, then extended to 12 years. The Highway Trust Fund became a “piggy bank” for the General Assembly to balance the state’s budget — where spending was already out of control. Sad to say, the “temporary tax,” as we all have learned by now, became permanent. On two separate governor terms, former Governor Jim Hunt proposed 5-cent gasoline tax increases for his “education projects” — especially Smart Start. This extra 10-cent per gallon of gasoline will al- ways put N.C. at least a dime higher than our state neighbors. And, as long as the General Assembly takes money from our Highway Trust Fund, our state’s gasoline prices will be even higher and I-40 and other worthy highway projects will continue to drag on. (2) We are blessed, economically, to have the BRAC future in Cumberland County. This economic and cultural contribution is immeasur- able to our area. Plans to embrace this impact should have been made years ago by local and legislative planning. At this late stage, the legislature must reprioritize road projects and assist impacted areas immediately. The Federal government, accordingly, has a vested interest and should financially assist, as well. In world emergencies, our military should have a priority for easy and expeditious deployment. (3) The nation, in general, has not been very successful in recruiting new industries — except, primarily, in areas of technology. Since NAFTA was signed into law in the mid ‘90s, industry and jobs were sent out of our country, by and large, where labor was less expensive. America must become a nation that is willing to work, and willing to competitively produce quality manufacturing with other countries. Reasonable hourly wages and job commitment can again make N.C. and our nation strong again, economically. (4) Illegal immigration is exactly what the term implies illegal. As long as we continue to turn a deaf ear to the problem or look the other way, the problem remains illegal. This failure on our part is a gross insult to all immigrants who have come to America and became naturalized citizens in compliance with law. This law-abiding procedure is, consequently, the same way most of us (and our ancestors) came to this good land.