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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STAFF bbowman@upandcomingweekly.com PUBLISHER Bill Bowman editor@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Janice Burton stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES ASSOCIATE EDITOR Stephanie Crider beverly@upandcomingweekly.com kristy@upandcomingweekly.com Beverly Pone Linda McAlister Brown ltmcmd01@aol.com Kristy Sykes OFFICE & DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Laurel Handforth officemanager@ upandcomingweekly.com accounting@upandcomingweekly.com Paulette Reinhardt ACCOUNTING art@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alicia Miller CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Mar tin, Pitt Dick ey, Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Erinn Crider, Karen Poppele, www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan Street P.O. Box 53461 Heather Griffi ths ––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly 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 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, Pope Air Force Base, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per per- son. Subscriptions can be purchased for $30 for six months or $60 for 12 months, delivered weekly by first class mail. ©2007 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. INSIDE PUBLISHER'S PEN by BILL BOWMAN Calendar ........................................... 14 Concert Connection ........................ 18 TV ..................................................... 20 Movie Review .................................. 21 The Saga Continues Once Tuesday's specially called meeting of the Fayetteville City Council was over, and, after I cohosted the WFNC AM 640-morning radio show the next day with Jim Cooke, I had plenty of citizen input on the matter of the Parks & Recreation referendum and what went on at Tuesday's city council meeting to write this editorial. In the past two weeks there has been no shortage of "public sentiment" on this hot, but sensitive, subject. However, in the midst of all the controversy, I found myself asking the question: How and when did our collective city council become so divisive, contentious and hostile? Surely everyone sees how this level of non-cooperation impedes Fayetteville's growth and progress. her district and Haire for a city-funded disparity study for making sure city contracts are being awarded fairly to women, veterans and minorities. Even a blind man can see the motive behind that. After the Parks & Recreation vote was taken and defeated (5 to 5), the mayor used the term "extortion" to describe the outcome. Personally, I think that word is a little harsh, but then again, what does a police sub-station and a disparity study have to do with allowing the citizens to have their say on the Parks & Recreation issue? How are they relevant to the parks bond approval? Answer: They are not. We are now starting to get closer I did not have to look far within the community to fi nd other curious and frustrated city residents who were more than willing to share their insights into the history of Fayetteville's local government. Ultimately, I hoped this information would help me and other concerned residents understand local government better and allow us to connect the dots and shed some light on the confusing discourse that has plagued our city council over the last decade. In the late 1940s Fayetteville city residents voted to adopt the council-manager form of government. Under this municipal style of government, elected city council members are responsible for local legislative functions such as establishing policies, passing ordinances, voting on appropriations and developing an overall plan and vision for the city. As defi ned in Wikipedia, under the council-manager form of government, the elected mayor is one person among equals when it comes to voting. He (or she) has no singular power in that regard. The mayor cannot appoint the city manager, hire employees or veto city council decisions. All city employees are hired by and report to the city manager. Under this form of government, only the council hires the city manager and the city attorney. In any case, two (or more) wrongs never equal a right. Fayetteville citizens always lose when council members' needs and wants are held to be more important than the needs of Fayetteville citizens. Yes, the mayor, city manager and select council members were wrong in trying to make an end run to get the Parks & Recreation public hearing scheduled for Dec. 3. Also wrong were council members D.J. Haire and Val Applewhite for having a private meeting with Mayor Chavonne and local attorney Jonathon Charleston. What good purpose could this meeting hold at the midnight hour? And, why would two city council members need to have an attorney present anyway? To many, this indicates there was some pretty heavy negotiations going on — negotiations that didn't bode well at all. Negotiations like Applewhite lobbying for a police sub-station in Fayetteville's Weather Forecast Friday November 29 November 30 Saturday December 1 Fayetteville's Weather Forecast Thursday Nine of them in all. Created in the '80s to equalize the voting rights of minorities. A worthy notion, yes, but not intended to allow the elected district members to hold hostage an entire city's growth and progress. More and more it seems that every major decision the city council is called on to make has to be bartered and negotiated with people heralding, nurturing and manifesting the philosophy of "what's in it for me." As you can see, this has become so blatant that council members are inviting their WIIFM attorneys to the negotiations — for shame. One very good thing that has come out of all of this is that now everyone can stop the pretense. Motives on all sides have been exposed; and I have no idea how to fi x the problem or when or if it will ever end. However, I do know this: As long as this type of leadership permeates our community, progress and development will be extremely slow and good, honest, hard working people will not step into leadership roles in the future. Economic development and diversity will be stagnant and sadly enough, the citizens of Fayetteville will see all progress, development and quality-of-life decisions for the betterment of our community take a back seat to the district WIIFM agendas. to the root of the real problems our city faces. Districts. That's right! Free Wheelin' Feelin' ....................... 22 Horoscopes/Advice Goddess ......... 23 Classifieds ........................................ 24 Games .............................................. 26 The discourse over the parks bond issue that benefi ts the entire city is only the beginning of what is to come as all the nine districts weigh in on how this project is going to benefi t one district over the other. Making it more ironic is that most Fayetteville residents cannot tell you where their district lines are. In any case, if we as a city are to grow and prosper, our leadership must put this WIIFM philosophy to the side and start discussing and debating what is best for the residents and what is best for the city. There is a lesson in this for all of us. I hope we have learned it. reading Up & Coming Weekly. Thank you for Coming Weekly, COMMENTS? editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, Up & December 2 CalCall 910.354.1679l 910.354.1679 Sunday December 3 Monday December 4 Tuesday Partly Cloudy High 62° Low 43° High 54° Low 45° Sunny 4 UCW NOV 28 - DEC 4, 2012 Mostly Cloudy High 62° Low 44° Forecast available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. High 63° Low 45° Cloudy Mostly Sunny High 64º Low 43º Mostly Sunny High 65º Low 45º WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM 24 24 / 7