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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4 MAY 4-10, 2016 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM At the last meeting of the Fayetteville City Council, a discussion about Community Development Block Grants got a little heated. Having covered a lot of town council meetings during my younger years, it was rare that CDBG projects got people up in arms. Usually, they make people happy. The CDBG brings federal dollars to cities and towns all across America. According to the Housing and Urban Development website, "The program works to ensure decent affordable housing, to provide services to the most vulnerable in a community and to create jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses. CDBG is an important tool for helping local governments tackle serious challenges facing their communities. The CDBG program has made a difference in the lives of millions of people and their communities across the Nation." The money used for grants is an annual appropriation that is allotted to "states and local jurisdictions called "non-entitlement" and "entitlement" communities respectively. Entitlement communities are comprised of central cities of Metropolitan Statistical Areas; metropolitan cities with populations of at least 50,000; and qualified urban counties with a population of 200,000 or more (excluding the populations of entitlement cities). States distribute CDBG funds to non-entitlement localities not qualified as entitlement communities. "The annual CDBG appropriation that is allocated between HUD determines the amount of each grant by using a formula comprised of several measures of community need, including the extent of poverty, population, housing overcrowding, age of housing and population growth lag in relationship to other metropolitan areas." In most cities, as is the case with Fayetteville, there is a point person on the city staff who handles the CDBG program. In Fayetteville, that person is Victor Sharpe, who is the Community Development Director. Sharpe has been with the city for a long time, and he knows what he is doing. Prior members of the city council were comfortable with letting Sharpe make decisions, with few if any questions. That's both good and bad. Good because Sharpe is competent and takes care of business. Bad because they did not necessarily always know what was going on. That can be a problem when the city council leans too heavily on the staff and takes everything at face value. So, while the meeting was contentious, it said something. It said that the council wants to be involved. It says that they are doing more than letting the city staff make the decisions. It means that they are engaged and informed. The sleeping giant has woken up. If they show the same kind of interest in all of the decisions they have to make, Fayetteville may be on the right road. PUBLISHER'S PEN At the last meeting of the Fayetteville City Council by JANICE BURTON STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Janice Burton editor@upandcomingweekly.com EDITOR Stephanie Crider stephanie@upandcomingweekly. com SENIOR REPORTER Jeff Thompson news@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 Keri Dickson keri@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 womensview@gmail.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 information on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly is published weekly on Wednesdays. Up & Coming Weekly wel - comes 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, Fayetteville's Weather Forecast Call 910-354-1679 for more info. May 5 Showers Possible May 6 Sunny May 7 Sunny May 8 Partly Cloudy May 9 Sunny May 10 Mostly Cloudy THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY HIGH 81 HIGH 80 HIGH 73 HIGH 72 HIGH 79 HIGH 84 LOW 53 LOW 59 LOW 50 LOW 52 LOW 51 LOW 64 JANICE BURTON, Associate Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? Edi- tor@upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200. Fayetteville may be on the right road. Victor Sharpe, Community Development Director.