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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STAFF bbowman@upandcomingweekly.com editor@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Janice Burton Joy Crowe stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com Marybeth@upandcomingweekly.com Julie Donahue Charlie@upandcomingweekly.com OFFICE MANAGER Laurel Handforth officemanager@ upandcomingweekly.com ACCOUNTING Mary Catherine Thompson accounting@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alicia Miller art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Mar tin, Pitt Dick ey, Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Jhana Lewis, Erinn Crider, Karen Poppele, Heath- er Griffi ths, Beth Solzsmon-Carpenter–––––––––––– 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. Julie@upandcomingweekly.com Charlie Rogers MARKETING/SALES Mary Beth Leiby STAFF WRITER Stephanie Crider PUBLISHER Bill Bowman INSIDE PUBLISHER’S PEN by BILL BOWMAN In my view, the recent criticism of our Chamber of Commerce and its President Doug Peters is misdirected. Critics are conveniently ignoring the realities of our current economic environment and the 800 pound gorilla in the room. That gorilla being the large subsidies provided by PWC, the city and the county for the purpose of bringing businesses and high paying jobs to Fayetteville and Cumberland County. With more than $800,000+ of taxpayers’ money coming in annually for this purpose, it is diffi cult not to focus on our return on investment (ROI), economic development progress (or lack of) and, of course, on Doug Peters’ $230,000 salary. Again, in my view, the Chamber’s diffi culties could be alleviated if it only focused on being a quality Chamber of Commerce and forgot about being in the economic-development business. A Chamber of Commerce should be the heartbeat of the local business this. Small businesses make up 90 percent of the membership. Yet, these businesses seem to exist in the shadows of the larger corporate members and the higher prioritized initiative of economic development. Well, of course, they do. That’s what the money is for and why the Chamber’s progress has been slow and organizational growth has been stymied with memberships falling way below the averages for communities of comparable size. Not surprising! Small businesses here simply do not feel the love. Now, please don’t get the wrong The Chamber’s diffi culties could be alleviated if it only focused on being a quality Chamber of Commerce and forgot about being in the economic-development business. community. It should be an advocate of all businesses — large and small — creating an environment conducive for doing business and nurturing entrepreneurism. This cannot be accomplished when the organization is being funded by government agencies. Taxpayer subsidies for local economic development misplaces priorities. Think about it: How can the Chamber be an advocate for small business if the majority of its fi nancial support comes from government entities? Not possible. Chamber president, Doug Peters, is a talented “chamber” man but asking him to lead and direct the success and prosperity of local businesses AND bring industry and economic development to Cumberland County is a herculean, if not an impossible, task. Regardless of his salary. We need to get back to basics when it comes to operating our local Chamber of Commerce. It should support the economic development efforts of the city and county, not create them. A close look at the Chamber’s membership numbers refl ect Fayetteville’s Weather Forecast August 5 Thursday August 4 Saturday August 6 Fayetteville’s Weather Forecast Friday impression. I believe in and support the concept of the Chamber of Commerce. Matter of fact, I built my publishing business on the support and foundation of these services provided by the Fayetteville COC. Services and support that do not exist today, for one reason or another. Doug Peters is a good man, however, he cannot serve two masters let alone three or four. Even with his talent and work ethic, balancing the areas of economic development responsibilities with that of running a local Chamber of Commerce would be a daunting task for anyone. The problem simply lies in the money and logistics. With the majority of the Chamber’s funding coming from our local governments, it would take a lot of memberships to make up $800,000. It’s the path-of-least-resistance theory. Everyone involved needs to just “get real” and refocus on this community’s priorities. Stop the criticism and misplaced attention on the Chamber’s achievements with economic development and realize we are in the longest recession America has seen in 30 years. These are the times when local businesses need support, strong leadership and direction. Let’s let it happen. Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. Weekly, COMMENTS? Bill@upandcomin- gweekly.com BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, Up & Coming Calendar ........................................... 14 Concert Connection ........................ 18 TV ..................................................... 20 Movie Review .................................. 21 Free Wheelin’ Feelin’ ....................... 22 News of the Weird ........................... 23 Horoscopes/Advice Goddess ......... 23 Classifieds ........................................ 24 Games .............................................. 26 Games .............................................. 27 Our Chamber of Commerce: Vital to Small Business CalCall 910.354.1679l 910.354.1679 Sunday August 7 Monday August 8 Tuesday August 9 High 98° Low 74° Partly Cloudy High 95° Low 75° Scattered Thunderstorms 4 UCW AUGUST 3-9, 2011 High 96° Low 75° Scattered Thunderstorms Forecast available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 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