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/638394
4 FEBRUARY 10-16, 2016 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM I love this community. All of it, from Linden to Hope Mills to Spring Lake. Yes, it is all Cumberland County more commonly known as the Fayetteville Community. And, as the "Fayetteville Community," 300,000 plus residents must live with the history, consequences, sins and deficiencies from decades of poor and neglected leadership. Leadership that has robbed us of our pride, dignity and sense of worth; saddling us with a dubious reputation and relegating us to a less than attractive destination for business or industry and a poor quality place to raise a family. We are, and, have been for generations, our own worst enemy. To be fair, not all of our past city and county leadership has been self-serving, incompetent and unresponsive to the needs of the community. However, conscientious leaders have been scarce and, in their defense, most tried their best to move the community forward in spite of an underlying "What's in it for me?" political culture. We have had so many opportunities to do great things for our community, but instead we always seem to find a way to skirt success and broadcast to the nation that Fayetteville is a third-rate city that doesn't know what is good for it. Frustrating? We want industry to locate in our county, yet, we turn away Sanderson Farms. We want to attract and develop new business, yet poor, unresponsive municipal and county customer service and tedious and repetitious codes and ordinances have frustrated corporate decision makers who vow never to return. We fight among ourselves (city vs. county on sales tax distribution). We sue ourselves (PWC vs. City of Fayetteville). We deprive our residents of basic quality- of-life amenities for decades then form opposition groups to fight righting the wrong (Parks & Rec Bond) without compromise. We protest raising taxes and fees yet tolerate waste and questionable expenditures on surveys, consultants and lavish meals. Go figure. When will this madness end? Surely, we are better than this. Come on, Fayetteville. It's time we matured and stopped airing our dirty laundry for the world to see. We must get along, communicate and start to build a better community. We must demand that our leaders lead and stop being political "placeholders." All the Rodin exhibits, Dogwood Festivals, Community Concerts Series and "arts and entertainment" districts will not secure our reputation or assure our children the home and future they deserve unless we do it and do it now! We are running out of time. Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. PUBLISHER'S PEN Fayetteville, My Fayetteville by BILL BOWMAN STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Janice Burton editor@upandcomingweekly.com EDITOR Stephanie Crider stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com SENIOR REPORTER Jeff Thompson jeff@upandcomingweekly.com ART DIRECTOR & GRAPHIC DESIGNER Sara Smith art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Erinn Crider, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Heather Griffiths BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Karla Allen karla@upandcomingweekly.com SALES ADMINISTRATOR/ DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com ACCOUNTING Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com Beverly Pone beverlypone@upandcomingweekly.com Melissa Zalaznik melissa@upandcomingweekly.com ––––––––––– 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 publi- cation consideration, but assumes no responsibil- ity 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 person. ©2007 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? BILL@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200. Fayetteville's Weather Forecast Call 910-354-1679 for more info. February 11 Sunny February 12 PM Rain/Snow February 13 Partly Cloudy February 14 Sunny February 15 Partly Cloudy February 16 PM Showers THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY HIGH 39 HIGH 43 HIGH 41 HIGH 36 HIGH 43 HIGH 54 LOW 23 LOW 32 LOW 17 LOW 20 LOW 30 LOW 36