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/742437
OCTOBER 26 - NOVEMBER 1, 2016 UCW 25 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM 2. Develop and maintain the Cape Fear River as an additional economic resource. 3 Create a county wide transportation system 4. Work in conjunction with the current medical facilities in the area and create a county hospital to support our veterans and low income residence. B. Improve the family structure. 1. Work with local businesses and churches to create a family mall that would include a wide variety of family programs and social events. 2. Satellite locations for social services and drug interdiction help. 3. Programs to house and feed the homeless. 4 Programs to help pay for and graduate college. C. Reduce taxes on the population 1. Tax credits for property owners that improve their real property 2. Work with our state legislators to pass a bill to stop or reduce taxes on food 3. Reduce or eliminate taxes on commercial and private vehicles over 10 years of Age. Can be replaced by one 5 year sticker with a set cost. UCW: What issue do you think is most important to the county over the next four years? 1. Creation of an environment that would help create living wage jobs. 2. Continued improvements of our roads and waterways. 3. Improvements against terrorist activity and safety in schools 4. Less dependency on homeowners to care the tax loads. 5. Salaries for our government. 6. Health care for citizens UCW: How can the county better work with the city? I would think a county wide transportation system would benefit everyone. I also think that the development of an Agricultural center to help the area farmers and local residence. More cooper ration between the law enforcement depart- ments. A more universal building code policy (where practical). One thing that I would think that would help the home owner and businesses is one tax on business and personal property. Total revenue could be shared by the city and county UCW: How can the county address the homeless issue? Mental Health and Drug Addiction programs need to be researched and ex- panded to cover our at risk populations. I would create homeless centers strategi- cally located in several areas of the county. I would work with non profits, social, business, and religious organization to provide support and guidance to help those who want to be helped. Because I have doing these types of things for years I could accomplish this goal within 1 year. I already have the plans at my location. I just need the help. I donated over $1000 to the homeless center less than a month before it burned down off person street. I mentioned this earlier in the questionnaire, however, I will say that for many years I have assisted the homeless and church organizations. There are people out there that know this and they can tell you that. Let them be the judge. I did not just start doing this. I given money to send people to school. I personally housed families when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. And more. You can verify these facts by speaking with the pastor of New Life Church on Hoke Loop Road, The Owner of the Fayetteville Press Newspaper, The Owner of the Piece Magazine, and the Owner of Deans Child Care. I have done these things long before these elections and will continue to be a voice for those that are less fortunate than myself. UCW: What are the sacred cows in the county budget that cannot be touched and why? I do not think there are no "Sacred Cows", but one has to be reasonable. From my point of view programs and wages that effect the following should not be touch. 1. Public School Teachers 2. Law Enforcement, Fire Fighters, and other Public Safety Personnel 3. Programs that help the elderly, children, and military 4. Programs that assist with domestic violence. I will say this because they serve the health and well being of our citizens, and since our system is dynamic and is constantly changing, the programs that are needed today my not be necessary in the future. So constant monitoring should be maintained and periodic review to see if the programs are still being effective. UCW: Crime is growing in the community how can the county work with the Sheriff's Department to address security in the county? My experience with the Sheriff's Department has always been positive. Before my house was annexed the Sheriff's Deputies would park in front of my house. I would offer them drinks and soda. I never had a real problem with the Deputies. I also realized other may not have the same perspective In my opinion, if you want to reduce crime we should eliminate the reason for crime. We need to create living wage jobs, allow people whom have serve their time become rightful citizens again and stop discriminating against people that served their time for their crime. Reduce illegal drugs, Increase awareness of domestic violence Be more strict on repeat offenders. Community sensitivity section may be helpful if there is a serious problem. Most social interaction with the law enforcement. (Here are a just a few example: A bowling team tournament sponsored by the Sheriff's Depart, The Sheriff's department taking honor roll students to a Carolina Panther football Game, The sheriffs department sponsoring a Cumberland County Bar B Q cook off) William Marshall Faircloth UCW: Specifically outline your ideas to bring economic development to the community. I have been disappointed in the results of our economic development efforts in Cumberland County. I believe there have been some struggles in the structure of the organizations and there has not been a clear understanding or focus from their leadership or the leadership of the elected bodies. We need to re-focus our core strategy for marketing to specific companies and organizations that can in- crease the average wages. Currently, we have one of the greatest needs in the medical field and struggle to find qualified nurses and medical personnel in our region. Our military neighbors have a large number of qualified individuals leaving the service every month that have leadership, technical and human services skills that are highly needed in the civilian work force. I am very excited about the residency program that we have established between Cape Fear Valley Health System and Campbell University. This will be one of the most significant programs in many years for additional job opportunities. FTCC has continued to be a real asset to our community and plays a major role in providing educational training for individuals and new companies requiring specific skill sets. Finally, we need to market ourselves and let potential companies know what a great community we are and that we have a lot to offer them. UCW: What issue do you think is most important to the county over the next four years? There is no more important issue in our community than obtaining jobs and em- ployment opportunities to the citizens. We have struggled with a cycle of poverty in our community that affects families and neighborhoods for generations. Com- munities that thrive and grow economically have jobs and opportunities for every person who wants to work. Regardless of their educational level or skill set, there are options for employment. In order for any community to grow and prosper, there needs to be balance of jobs and opportunities. Non- and Low-skilled workers will need opportunities for employment, just as blue collar, technical, administra- tive, professional and corporate personnel. If there is not the option in a communi- ty, the government must provide services for these individual and families. Cities and counties with low employment almost always have low crime, better perform- ing school systems, higher quality of life, more arts and entertainment options and see significant increases in companies and organizations relocating and growing their business here. UCW: How can the county better work with the city? Cumberland County works very well with the City of Fayetteville and all of the other towns and municipalities in our county. A very good example is the coopera- tion between each of the elected government bodies during the hurricane and its aftermath. There are many other examples of working together that have been successful; Parks & Recreation, the Red Light Camera agreement, the new baseball stadium and economic development. The idea that we do not work well together is really not true. UCW: How can the county address the homeless issue? Cumberland County and the city of Fayetteville have dedicated funding and resources to address homelessness in our area. To simply take a broad brush and say, " we need to fix homelessness," is not compassionate, smart or fiscally respon- sible. Personally, I believe that we need to take the issue of homelessness and break it down into four categories and measure ourselves on this parameters; Economic, substance abuse, mental health and choice are all reasons for homelessness and we need to address them individually. Frankly, persons that are homeless for econom- ic reasons are the easiest to address, but they get lumped into all the other groups and are quickly lost in a government programs that do not focus on getting them back on their feet and economically stable. UCW: What are the sacred cows in the county budget that cannot be touched and why? There should be no sacred cows. In fact, many programs are outdated, archaic and do not use technology to its fullest extent. A number of mandates that the county