The Fayetteville City Council is apparently looking into spending more than 4 million dollars for a “maker space” at the re-designed intersection of Bragg Blvd. and Murchison Road. Here’s the study that includes some design concepts.
From what I can tell, a “maker space” is exactly what it sounds like: a public space where people can go make things.
My office is a block from this intersection, so I spend a lot of time in the area and know the “neighborhood.” From my experience, there’s one glaring problem with the concept: homelessness. It’s the big elephant in the room.
I won’t take my kids to Linear Park because it’s not safe. I’d be scared if my wife walked it alone. We spend a ton of money every year to keep Linear Park looking nice, cleaning it up after it routinely floods, and few people use it. My fear is that this space will only exacerbate these problems.
My Solution: Turn this land (and the open field across the street) back to what it was before we ruined it: a lowland forest. Tear up the remaining concrete. Plant native plants and trees so it’s low maintenance. Save us some money and make the area look decent in the process. You can put walking paths through it if you want, but you’re going to spend money maintaining something no one uses.
If you’re going to spend 4 million and do the maker space thing, at least give people a place to park, for free.
There’s a quote I remember but can’t for the life of me find. Google’s been no help. I think it’s from a Hemingway book. I remember it like this:
“He remembered feeling that way in every autumn of his life…”
Reading the words brought memories of forgotten feelings of my youth. Autumn was melancholy and exciting at the same time. Summer was ending. You were losing the slow and easy freedom you’d come to enjoy. It was time to go back to work. But it cools down a bit and the southern air loses some of its weight. Nature gives you a new shot of adrenaline to do the job. The doves fill up the sunflower fields and the footballs fly end over end at Terry Sanford and Kenan Stadium. Friends and companions come back into your life and new crushes stir you inside. In the end, I think God knew what he was doing when he knocked the Earth into a tilt. He gave us an opportunity to grow.
My two boys and the vast majority of American kids lost that feeling and that opportunity in 2020. We took it from them. In a few short weeks, we have the opportunity to give it back.
To the Cumberland County School Board, The North Carolina General Assembly, and Governor Roy Cooper: You’ve been living your life this summer, as you please. Our kids don’t get that choice. As they can’t vote and they can’t get vaccinated, they’re easy targets for your control. But it’s time you take a calculated risk.
Open the school doors on the 23rd of August and keep them open.
I’ve been watching Loki on Disney+ lately. The first season is all about time travel into parallel universes. It’s nerdy stuff. So I’m going to get my nerd on with this post, and we’re going to have some fun with a little thought experiment:
As it stands today, we seem to be “done” with Covid-19 in our collective consciousness. The problem with that is epidemiology. About half of Americans, for whatever reason or rationalization, have decided not to “Get the Damn Shot,” and they’re stubborn about it. The more the government pushes the hold-outs, the more they push back. You aren’t changing many minds this late in the game. As a result, the number of shots going into arms in America has flat-lined.
Because of this stubbornness (call it stupidity if you want), after a predicted summer reprieve, we’re now going into the Fall with doubling Covid rates:
Doubling rates indicate you’ve got a growing problem, but Republicans in power don’t seem to mind. In fact, they’ve decided that the appropriate political play is to thumb their noses at the virus this time around.
DeSantis sells “Don’t Fauci My Florida” merch as new coronavirus cases near highest in nation https://t.co/o6ynzwcHr9
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 14, 2021
All of this depresses me to no end. If there was ever a time for us to come together as a nation, a pandemic was it, but we can’t do that right now. The other side might get the credit.
I discussed my thoughts on vaccine hesitancy a few weeks ago on Nat Robertson’s podcast:
I talked about how sad it was that many people are refusing to get vaccinated for political reasons, especially since Trump had the “foresight” to invest heavily in the vaccination ramp-up. Robertson joked that a Democrat shouldn’t say something like that in a recorded interview and assured me that it was just the Republican “fringe” that was against vaccines. I stand by what I said, but it’s not just the fringe. Vaccination rates in Red states have lagged Blue states since the beginning of the roll-out. It’s all politics. Always. This isn’t any different.
So with all that being said, here’s a strange alternative universe to consider:
If Donald Trump had won the election, I imagine he would have encouraged everyone to get vaccinated. He would have taken credit for the vaccine because he takes credit for everything, and in this case, you’d have to give credit where it’s due.
At least half of his supporters would have proudly received the “Donald J. Trump” Covid vaccine. The more he bragged about it, the more of his supporters would have gone in for the shots.
We’d have vaccination rates of 70-80%. Covid cases would not be doubling. The pandemic would have been effectively eliminated in America. But we’d still have Trump.
Would you take the trade? I might could endure four more years of that man if my kids had a normal school year without masks, not to mention all the lives that would have been saved.
Back in our current universe, we get this garbage from Trump’s heir apparent:
If DeSantis was any kind of leader, he’d be calling it the “Donald Trump” vaccine and getting shots in the arms of Floridians. The entire tourism industry in his state depends upon beating the virus. Instead, he’s raising money selling trash-talking coozies. Absurdly, the coozie costs more than a vaccine shot.
I’m not trying to pick on DeSantis here. He’s not really the point. The same goes for every other Republican leader in the country. Your guy got this whole vaccine project started! Billions were spent! We did it in record time! Get the shot, encourage others to do the same, and take a well-deserved bow.
As much as we’d love for Covid to “just go away,” the laws of this universe demand a little work from a lot of stubborn people before we’re rid of it. The problem is they have no real leadership right now.
Former Mayor, Nat Robertson has started a podcast and radio show called The Carolina Cabinet to discuss political issues in Fayetteville.
The show is unabashedly conservative. Former guests include Pat McCrory and John Hood. However, Nat likes to mix things up, and he invited me on the show.
We talked about downtown development, our local pandemic response, and the lack of political media coverage in Fayetteville.
I started this website to bridge some divides in this community. When someone offers you a bridge, you have to practice what you preach and cross it:
On July 20th, 2020, the Fayetteville City Council went into a closed session. When they came out, they spent a lot of tax money. The minutes from the closed session were made public, this week:
A few things happened in that meeting that don’t add up:
The City Council decided to buy basement-level retail space in the unfinished parking deck downtown for $550,000.
The City Council asked the City Manager to conduct a forensic audit of “areas of concern” in the parking deck project.
Do you see what I’m getting at here? Apparently, we need a forensic audit because we’re not sure where our money’s going. In the meantime, we’re going to spend more money on the same project!?
And why is the City of Fayetteville going into the retail real estate business? That’s not really the purview of city government. Instead, our expert developer partners (Jordan Jones, Mike Lemanski, et al.) are supposed to be doing the developing. That’s their job. That was the point of the entire project.
It doesn’t make sense on its face, and because it’s all done in secret, you’re left guessing why the City of Fayetteville would buy a portion of a parking deck it already paid to build.
A lawsuit was filed a few weeks after the closed meeting. Hay Street Development Pad, LLC (our development “partner”) was sued for $482,518.89, plus interest, by the contractor it hired to build the deck. The lawsuit was quickly and quietly resolved. You didn’t read about it in the Fayetteville Observer.
It’s quite possible that your tax dollars were used to pay off the Plaintiff in this lawsuit. Think about it. The City of Fayetteville can’t pay it because it’s not a party to the suit. And the city can’t just give Hay Street Development Pad cash. That’s probably illegal, actually. Instead, we bought the undesirable basement space in the back of the deck to get Hay Street Development Pad a quick $550,000.
Bada Bing, Bada Boom.
In the meantime, our Mayor and City Council act “concerned” and mention a “forensic audit” because they’re trying to cover their tails.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it’s a coincidence. You can decide for yourself. The point is we may never know. This deal started behind closed doors and it didn’t stop. Every important decision along the way, millions spent, happened in a closed room under the guise of “economic development” or “attorney client privilege.”
It’s not the way a government of the people is supposed to operate. Just ask this guy:
Cross Creek Divide 