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/771549
4 UCW JANUARY 11-17, 2017 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Lately, there has been a lot of talk about upgrading and beautifying the gateways into our fine city. Lately? How about for nearly two decades. There are many tax-paying residents who feel this task is futile despite the hard work and good intentions of Mayor pro tem Mitch Colvin and the Gateways Committee. At this speed, progress may take another two decades. But, you know what? That may not be a bad thing. If shiny, new, attractive and well-groomed gateways were to materialize tomorrow it would equate to "putting lipstick on a pig" unless we address other related issues. If you haven't noticed, we have a serious litter problem here in Fayetteville and Cumberland County. Actually, I would say the problem is more of an epidemic. Cumberland County resident Tony Long stated it best when he called into WFNC's morning talk show last week saying the amount of trash and litter on our community's streets was disgusting, embarrassing and inexcusable. Many people agree. I agree. It is commendable that the City has reinstated more litter patrols, however, this is typical governmental posturing where leaders treat the symptoms of a problem rather than the cause. So, what is the cause (of litter) you may ask? Well, in this writers opinion there are several reasons for this trash epidemic: • Fayetteville's current physical appearance does not inspire a sense of accomplishment or pride in our community. It does, however, nurture and cultivate a poor perception of our community. • Solving the litter problem is a low or no priority. • There is no enforcement of litter ordnances. • There is no public awareness of local litter ordnances and, what I feel is the most important reason for the problem: There is no city/countywide beautification awareness program. In my opinion, addressing the litter problem, enforcing the anti-litter ordnances and instituting a "Keep Fayetteville/Cumberland County Clean and Green" campaign should all be included into the gateways development initiative. Otherwise, we will only be spending taxpayers' money creating a false façade. I agree with those who say that our elected officials collectively do not have the political will to address the gateways development issues. Property owners and businesses along the effected corridors look at the overall appearance of the community and ask, "Why should we be the ones to conform? What is our incentive?" However, if their compliance and cooperation was part of an overall city/countywide beautification initiative they may be more willing to be a part of this progress. Political will? Really? It shouldn't take political will to take pride in what your city and county looks like. It shouldn't take political will to enforce ordinances or institute a countywide beautification program residents and businesses alike can take pride in. In the past 14 years I have ridden my motorcycle over 80,000 miles from Fayetteville to Maine, Montana to Key West, Fla. I have cruised through thousands of cities, towns, villages and boroughs. It always fascinated me that as soon as I entered into a community, regardless of its size, I could tell immediately how much pride the citizens took in their community. I saw many clean streets, manicured medians, trees, shrubs and lawns, all well maintained with attractive trash receptacles conveniently located and signs. Welcome to Springfield, Ill. Where it's clean and beautiful! Keep Brookfield, Mass. Clean and Green, Please Don't Litter — Keep Ashville Clean & Green, Litterbugs Not Welcome, and Do Not Litter $500 Fine, are just a few of them. Of course, I have also traveled into hundreds of cities with their own versions of Bragg and Eastern Boulevards. The point being, you can tell instantly where a community puts its priorities and how it feels about itself. This pertains to other quality-of-life aspects of the community. Years ago I remember returning from a business trip in Wichita, Kan., and sharing an impressive observation about art with Deborah Mintz, president of the Fayetteville/Cumberland County Arts Council. I shared with her how impressed I was with the Wichita cultural arts promotion campaign "Art Lives Here." In Wichita, art did live there! It was everywhere you looked within the city. Paintings and drawings lined the walls of the airport welcoming me to their city. Sculptures of various sizes and pottery pieces were also on display throughout terminal. As I left the airport, there was a metal sculpture practically three stories high. And, in downtown Wichita, sculptures adorned street corners and beautiful silk-looking banners promoting art galleries, exhibitions and live theatrical events flanked both sides of the streets. No doubt, they wanted to make a bold statement about quality of life. They did. By the way, the city was spotless. Litter free. I hope that as we explore what our options are for improving Fayetteville gateways, elected officials and residents work together to recognize and address the litter situation as a real problem. I will close by saying that if you have not driven out into the Cumberland County countryside you should. It's beautiful. Take River Road or Hwy. 53 or any secondary road out of town. You will see and enjoy some of the most scenic farms with green and rolling landscapes. You will also see the severity of the litter problem. Let's clean it up. Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. PUBLISHER'S PEN Litter: An Epidemic That's Trashing Our Community by BILL BOWMAN STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/EDITOR Stephanie Crider editor@upandcomingweekly.com SENIOR REPORTER Jeff Thompson news@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Elizabeth Long 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 Nicki Hart nicki@upandcomingweekly.com Linda McAlister Brown linda@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 pub- lication consideration, but assumes no respon- sibility 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 distrib- uted 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. Fayetteville's Weather Forecast January 12 Partly Cloudy January 13 Partly Cloudy January 14 Cloudy January 15 Cloudy January 16 Partly Cloudy January 17 Rain THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY HIGH 59 HIGH 62 HIGH 59 HIGH 65 HIGH 59 HIGH 55 LOW 42 LOW 44 LOW 47 LOW 47 LOW 42 LOW 40 BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? BILL@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200. 4 UCW DECEMBER 28 - JANUARY 3, 2016 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM 2017. Believe me, I'm ready. Judging from all the calls, emails and countless social media posts, our readers had a very Merry Christmas. And, for the most part, residents throughout Fayetteville and Cumberland County are excited about the future prospects in store for our community. And we should be. The seeds of growth, economic development and a better quality of life have all been planted. Now, city and county leadership need to take aggressive and affirmative action to make sure these local life-changing projects stay on track. Elected officials and city and county staff all need to be at the top of their game. Initiative, hard work and leadership will be vitally important in the months to come. In the words of the late General George S. Patton Jr.: "Lead me, follow me or get the hell out of my way." This should be the battlecry and motto adopted countywide. It will be interesting to see who steps up. One thing is for sure, Fayetteville is a community full of opportunity. The challenge is knowing how to capitalize on it. So, my hope for the New Year is that aggressive leaders will seek out the people, businesses and organizations that can help us realize our dreams, thus contributing to this growing vibrant community. Here are just a few of the organizations poised to take this community to new heights, starting with your favorite weekly community newspaper: Up & Coming Weekly Chamber of Commerce City of Fayetteville County of Cumberland FTCC CEED Reeve's School of Business Fayetteville Economic Development FSU Entrepreneurial Center Better Business Bureau These are just to name a few organizations ready, willing and able to help take our community to new heights. In other words, the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community has the will and all the resources necessary to help individuals and businesses develop, strive and survive, along with the willingness to "help those who help themselves." 2017 is going to be an exciting and awesome year. So, buckle your seat belts folks, because, if executed properly, our progress will be fast and furious. And, you can count on us to be right in the center of it. Happy New Year! And, as always, thanks for reading Up & Coming Weekly. PUBLISHER'S PEN Fayetteville and Cumberland County Heed These Words: "Lead me, follow me, or get the hell out of the way!" by BILL BOWMAN STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/EDITOR Stephanie Crider editor@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 ––––––––––– 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 pub- lication consideration, but assumes no respon- sibility 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 distrib- uted 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. Fayetteville's Weather Forecast December 29 AM Showers December 30 Partly Cloudy December 31 Sunny January 1 Mostly Sunny January 2 Partly Cloudy January 3 PM Showers THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY HIGH 64 HIGH 52 HIGH 47 HIGH 53 HIGH 44 HIGH 54 LOW 42 LOW 30 LOW 32 LOW 35 LOW 35 LOW 43 BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? BILL@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200. – General George S. Patton Jr. General George S. Patton Jr. It's time to clean up our city. We deserve better.