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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ELECTION Guide 201 District 8 Michael Pinkston The three most pressing problems or issues facing the City of Fayetteville over the next two years are: 1. Economic opportunity and development. The economy is clearly of the greatest concern to the citizens of our city, and it should be viewed as such by city leaders. The economy is not merely a state or national problem, but a local one as well. We must become a "small-business friendly" city in order to provide more job opportunities for our citizens and in order to promote growth. In addition, industrial recruitment must be improved. We cannot continue to allow other cities and other states to lure industrial investors like the Volkswagen and Nissan plants that have recently chosen cities in Tennessee without considering Fayetteville, NC. We must require constant effort by and regular reporting to council of those efforts from the agencies and personnel to whom we assign the responsibility of seeking business and industrial investment. We must be ready to provide the right kind of incentives and work to improve our infrastructure to support economic opportunity and development. 2. Reduction of crime and the crime rate. Safe streets and low crime rate are extremely important to every citizen. The reduction of crime is important as a quality of life issue as well as one which affects economic opportunity and business and industrial development as well. (Clearly, it would be diffi cult to entice a reputable company to invest in and locate facilities in a city where the risk of criminal activity would outweigh the other benefi ts to such locations.) Adequate funding for law enforcement and providing our offi cers with the best crime fi ghting capabilities are of the highest importance. In addition, every other technique and reasonable concern should be considered and where appropriate, employed to reduce criminal activity. 3. Build stronger ties with Fort Bragg. We are a city that is so closely linked with Fort Bragg, it only makes sense to work hard to provide the things which will not only enhance the lives of the military whom choose to call Fayetteville home, but to also work hard to provide the necessary industrial base to support Fort Bragg. We need to work hard to ensure that we create a climate which is conducive to support industry, industry which will create jobs for our soldiers leaving the military. Fort Bragg should not have to look any further than across the street to fi nd anything they need. We should work hard to create an industrial infrastructure which fosters growth for every aspect of the military. In doing this the city of Fayetteville will not only make a positive contribution to our nation's defense, it will also enhance the quality of the lives for all those who call Fayetteville home. SPRING LAKE Mayor Chris Rey The three top priorities for Spring Lake are: Increasing public safety communication infrastructure, economic development and programs for youth and senior citizens. Increasing public safety will come through the development of second- chance programs in the town of Spring Lake. An individual that has been released from prison has to be able to be reintegrated back into society. Second-chance programs for our residents should not be in downtown Fayetteville, but here in our community. If we invest in work-force development and vocational training through partnerships with local educational, public and private entities we are able to get the individuals who tend to commit the majority of our community crimes off the street and prepared to help themselves. Crime will decrease if we are able to create an environment that is capable of assisting an individual who is looking for a second chance. Growing up in Spring Lake, we had a newspaper, but now that paper no longer exists. I will be working with individuals with the background in this area to create our own town paper again. This will help with increasing communication fl ow between residents. We have to also step up our social- media apparatus for the town. We have to be able to communicate with our WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM citizens who are more socially connected. Development of a new town website along with electronic newsletters will help to inform citizens of the happenings of Spring Lake. Finally, we will need to revisit a local response system that would send a text message or robo-call to citizens in case of an emergency. Economic Development is key to the responsible growth of Spring Lake. The revitalization of main street will be the beginning of our town's transformation. Working with our Chamber of Commerce to attract businesses to our region and share with these businesses the opportunities that exist for the town and how they can benefi t. Because we are not capable of bringing a major factory here, our investment in small businesses and the creation of a entrepreneurship zone will be critical to our economic development. I will work with current stake holders in the community and partners from around the region to develop Spring Lake as the place you want to go to get your start in business. Programs for youth and senior citizens add to the quality of life. Next summer I will work with leaders from our local educational institutions to create a summer program for Spring Lake kids that focuses on Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM). This program will supplement our students' learning and decrease the amount of knowledge that is lost by our kids during a six-week summer period. Taking kids off the street during the summer should decrease vandalism of property in our community. I want to continue to work closely with our current senior-citizen center to increase programs for seniors. I am working with a few of our local churches to develop an intra-town transportation system for our elderly. This system will help to move senior citizens around town for their needs and help get them out and about in the community. HOPE MILLS Mayor Jackie Warner The top three priorities for Hope Mills are: plan to seek harmony and unity on the Hope Mills Town Board, accountability on all town projects and issues (town board as well as town employees) and long-range planning, as well as present responsible planning for town growth and expansion To address the priorities of our town we must fi rst work together as a board, which in my opinion is why we have not achieved the other priorities with our current board. I will be a team player who will listen to our residents and work with the board and town staff to make our government more open and more responsive to the needs of our community. Commissioner Jerry Legge It's diffi cult to pick just three top priorities as there are so many things that need to be addressed. If you ask this same question next week my answer could change but today it would be: The restoration of Hope Mills Lake, employee turnover and morale and town infrastructure. The Lake: I would make sure that we work with all parties involved to get water back in our lake at no additional cost to the citizens of our town. Employee morale: I think that employees should look forward to reporting for work each day and not have to worry that this might be their last day on the job. We have lost so many good employees the last few years, so let's fi nd out why this is happening. Most of the time a happy employee is a good employee. Infrastructure: I wonder if we have the proper infrastructure in place to handle the infl ux of people coming to our town. We are not ready for future rapid growth because we need more police, fi re and other service employees in place fi rst. So we must plan smart to get this done. NOVEMBER 2-8, 2011 UCW 15