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/644136
FEBRUARY 24 - MARCH 1, 2016 UCW 9 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM OPINION We can't let the hoopla of the upcoming na- tional election or the return of the community naysayers prevent us from supporting next month's Parks & Recreation Bond Referendum. While Fayetteville has grown in population over the years, our economy has not kept pace. We continue to rely on old approaches to job re- cruitment and too much reliance on Fort Bragg. Meanwhile the new economy has passed us by, leaving us left with inadequate resources to be competitive, a declining economy and threats to our very future as a healthy and vital city. We are losing the battle for good jobs in the new economy. We have for too long taken for granted the military base here. We've never been forced to recruit for good jobs, rather rely- ing on Uncle Sam to bring the jobs to us. We've failed to recognize that gone are the days when people followed jobs. Work is no longer about making enough to pay the bills; it is about the gratification that comes from a higher quality of life for the employee and their family. And if these things aren't available in a person's cur- rent community, they are happy to leave and find one that does offer them. Increasingly, we see our best and brightest move to surrounding counties with a higher quality of life. We see our young people leave our community in search of better-paying jobs in other communities. Recently, we've even found ourselves competing for low-paying jobs with the rural counties sur- rounding Cumberland County. We can't settle for that being our new economy. Successful economic development is no longer about attracting companies with the promise of cheap land and cheap labor. Successful economic development is about attracting talented people, and therefore quality of life plays a critical role. Today, jobs follow people. Talented, well-edu- cated employees choose quality location first, and then look for a job. Great companies with high-paying jobs recognize this new dynamic. They are no longer just interested in tax incen- tives and sweet land deals. Increasingly, the great companies recognize that they can only be successful when talented employees want to live there. So companies now want to know more about the quality of life that a community offers their employees – is the crime rate low? Are the schools good? Are there cultural oppor- tunities? Are there good roads? Is it clean? Are there adequate parks and recreation facilities? In short – will my employees and their families want to live there? Today those communities that are seeking economic prosperity are focused on creating a quality of life that attracts talented people. Fayetteville is losing that fight. We refuse to see the clear signs. The hospital sees it when trying to bring skilled physicians here. We see it when our best and brightest move to surrounding counties that offer a higher quality of living. We see it when our young people leave for better op- portunities. We see a gradual reduction in basic services like loose-leaf pickup in our efforts to cover budget shortfalls. We fail to acknowledge that the City of Fayetteville would have likely shown declines in population had it not been for the annexation of suburban areas during the last three decades. New economy companies, those that offer good jobs, are choosing – and they are not choosing to come here. We love to complain in Fayetteville. We com- plain about taxes but fail to realize if we can't compete for better paying jobs and a higher tax base we will never be able to address even the basic needs for services for a city our size. We dismiss the input of thousands of people over the past decade that begged for more parks and recreation facilities. We complain about inef- fective elected leadership, talk of paying as we go or finding ways to make the other guy pay – meanwhile our economy worsens, our children are leaving and our hopes for our economic future dims. We complain about sequestration yet miss the fact that surrounding counties are growing as increasing numbers of the military move there. We abdicate our responsibility to future generations in hopes of saving $20 a year. Can anyone honestly look at our stagnant economy and not agree that it is time to try a new approach? Fayetteville finds itself at a critical juncture in our history – a time where we decide if we want to continue the small-town decision making of the past or if we are ready to improve our qual- ity of life to help bring better paying jobs here. Our future vitality depends on it. Our history shows that we can always find a way to say no. Isn't it time to stand up and say yes? Reasons to Support the Parks & Recreation Bond by TONY CHAVONNE TONY CHAVONNE, Fayetteville's former mayor, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcom- ingweekly.com. 910.484.6200.