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/48342
STAFF bbowman@upandcomingweekly.com editor@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Janice Burton Joy Crowe stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com hal@upandcomingweekly.com Michelle Schumacher michelle@upandcomingweekly.com OFFICE MANAGER Laurel Handforth officemanager@ upandcomingweekly.com ACCOUNTING Mary Catherine White 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. MARKETING/SALES Hal Nunn ASSOCIATE EDITOR Stephanie Crider PUBLISHER Bill Bowman INSIDE PUBLISHER'S PEN by BILL BOWMAN Wow! Breaking news! There is crime on Murchison Road! Well, no kidding. This sort of goes along with all the vacant buildings, run-down neighborhoods and increases in crime that are plaguing this part of our city. Yet, all of the recent concern and sudden outrage seems to be somewhat confusing and misplaced. People are eagerly stepping forward to point the fi nger at a negligent police force, apathetic city leadership and ineffective Chamber of Commerce. Misplaced as those accusations may be, this process is taking a weird shape, as some of our obvious government and community leaders are conspicuously absent from the process. Basically, the relevant city councilmen — D.J. Haire and Robert Massey — who represent the city residents in these neighborhoods are where the process should be starting. If there is a problem in any neighborhood, the elected city offi cial representing that district should be out there "front and center" leading the charge and banging the drum loudly for their constituents. We have heard no drums. Not even a faint tat, tat, tat. No one is questioning that there are not high levels of crime in some Murchison Road neighborhoods. What I am questioning is why have the residents, community and neighborhood leaders, churches and organizations like the Fayetteville Business and Professional League and the NAACP been so slow to bring this to the attention of the police chief, Mayor Tony Chavonne and the city council? More importantly, if it is such a huge problem, why haven't the elected offi cials taken action to resolve the problem? Every Fayetteville resident has a right to a safe and secure neighborhood and I cannot imagine our mayor, police chief and city council not taking action if provided the proper information. Questions, questions, questions. There are way too many questions that have to be answered here before any progress can be made on these issues or any initiative can move forward. The main one being "What is going on?" Nothing is matching up. Not only are the relevant city council representatives not involved in this process but also it was Cumberland County Commissioner Billy R. King who led the initiative for safer neighborhoods and aggressive economic development along Murchison Road. He was the one who called a community meeting at the Kingdom Impact Global Ministries to start Fayetteville's Weather Forecast Friday Saturday November 24 November 25 November 26 Fayetteville's Weather Forecast Thursday dialog among the residents, city offi cials and supporting agencies. It was well attended by the residents, business owners, mayor, city manager and the Chamber of Commerce but, again, the voices of the city elected offi cials for that specifi c area have yet to be heard from. Why the silence? If crime is the problem then why is it not being addressed? And, if this is the case, then why the city ultimatums and threats to Doug Peters and the Chamber of Commerce to show progress in economic development along the Murchison Road Corridor and a related business park on Old Wilmington Road near the new Hope VI complex within a year? What kind of economic development thrives in a crime-ridden neighborhood? I think they have that now with numerous beer stores, tobacco shops and drug paraphernalia retailers. And, who is this new player, Sandra Mitchell? She organized the Murchison Road Corridor Action Group. What is this all about? I hope it is an organization of businesses, residents, church and neighborhood leaders and organizations all wanting to aid in enhancing the quality of life along this stretch of city asphalt. We will see. Hopefully, it will not be another political faction that takes pot shots at our future. Yes, as you can see there are far too many questions here and the process to solving these problems seems to be intentionally twisted and convoluted. Only time will reveal the real intentions behind all these bizarre happenings. However, what we do know is this: Murchison Road is an extremely important gateway into our city and should be a high priority. Fayetteville State University is a huge educational asset to our community and must be enhanced. Successful economic development of the Murchison Road area is vital to development and future of our city. Elected city offi cials need to take a leadership role in representing their constituents. Murchison Road residents have a right to safe and crime-free neighborhoods. And, nothing will proceed or succeed until the latter becomes a reality. Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, Up & Coming Weekly, COMMENTS? Bill@upandcomin- gweekly.com CalCall 910.354.1679l 910.354.1679 Sunday Monday November 27 November 28 Calendar ........................................... 14 TV ..................................................... 19 Movie Review .................................. 21 Free Wheelin' Feelin' ....................... 22 Concert Connection ........................ 22 Horoscopes/Advice Goddess ......... 23 Classifieds ........................................ 24 Games .............................................. 26 Murchison Road: Circumstance of Misplaced Priorities Tuesday November 29 High 57° Low 39° Showers High 64° Low 42° Sunny 4 UCW NOVEMBER 23-29, 2011 High 68° Low 50° Partly Cloudy Forecast available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. High 61° Low 37° Partly Cloudy High 64º Low 39º Mostly Sunny High 63º Low 39º Mostly Sunny WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM 24 24 / 7