Column: Consensus on crime will allow city council to make progress

Not sure I have a lot to add to this straightforward column on crime strategy in the city of Greenville. With municipal elections drawing ever closer, the council needs to step forward and demonstrate determined leadership on this issue or risk being ousted by an angry public that expects action.

Column: Consensus on crime will allow city council to make progress

Over the course of Monday’s four-hour City Council meeting, two views of Greenville’s crime problem emerged from members.

Council member Calvin Mercer, among others, strongly expressed his desire to see progress made on improving public safety in the downtown district in response to recent violence there. Council members Rose Glover and Max Ray Joyner adamantly expressed their belief that a broader focus should be on a citywide crime problem.

Both are correct, but the city will struggle to make progress if members cannot come to a consensus on their approach. With citizens eager for action, that must be the council’s first and most important step in the coming days.

A small fraction of City Council meetings draw large crowds to City Hall. Far fewer see more than two dozen speakers for a public hearing. But those were just two of the many notable items at Monday’s council meeting, which featured some of the most contentious debate in recent years.

That passion is important, since the public expects action following the June 30 deaths of two young men in a drive-by shooting as they stood on a Fifth Street sidewalk. Citizens’ anger and outrage fueled calls for strong and decisive measures from city leaders, who sought to use Monday’s meeting to hear public opinion and discuss strategy.

Yet, it seemed evident from the outset that members are not on the same page about crime.

Glover, who serves some of the city’s most persistently troubled neighborhoods in District 2, called for expanding crime prevention efforts in west Greenville and north of the Tar River. She expressed her concern that action to improve downtown would come at the expense of those areas.

Joyner repeatedly cited the need to work with business owners to develop a plan for fighting crime. The District 5 representative opposed taking action on any proposal before hearing from local business, and accused his colleagues of having a clandestine agenda in their drive to act.

Joyner’s repeated accusations drew a strong rebuke from Mayor Pat Dunn and stern disapproval from Mercer, who urged the council to advance four ideas from a list of possible actions compiled by city staff in recent weeks.

The downtown situation earned the devoted focus of the District 4 representative and he seemed dismissive of those urging a broader focus on Monday.

The disagreement obscured the fact that the council needs to do all of those things. It needs a plan to improve public safety downtown and reach agreement on the city’s nightlife in that district. It must do so in a way that protects business interests, but ensures the financial burden of law enforcement is distributed equitably.

But it must also look at the larger crime issue, particularly the need to invest resources in west Greenville and other locations that struggle to combat violence.

Even modest initiatives, like Glover’s desire to see new lighting installed along dangerous streets, could have an immediate impact and should be expedited.

Crime and public safety will remain the city’s top issue until demonstrable progress can be made. But that will only happen when council members can reach a workable consensus on the goals that will provide the foundation to act.

Brian Colligan is the editorial page editor of The Daily Reflector. Contact him at 329-9507 or bcolligan@coxnc.com.

Editorial: Four years

Four years after, New Orleans still struggles to rebuild.

Four years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans hundreds of other communities along the Gulf Coast, it stands as a still-unbelievable memory for those of us who did not find ourselves chest-deep in floodwater or looking at the foundation where a home once was. The tragedy should challenge America to not only prepare better for the inevitable storms when they come, but to look again at how the nation failed to follow through on its commitment to helping New Orleans rebuild.

Editorial: Four years — Katrina anniversary highlights anguish

Shattered buildings and rising floodwaters were the hallmarks of disaster for residents of the Gulf Coast on this day in 2005. One day earlier, Hurricane Katrina roared ashore as a Category 3 storm, inflicting devastating and widespread harm in four states.

Four years later, some residents have pieced together lives ripped apart by the howling wind, driving rain and terrible floods. But for many communities, and especially the city of New Orleans, recovery remains an intangible hope, one that should still compel the active assistance of a sympathetic nation.

Eastern North Carolina earned only the light rain and breeze from its recent brush with tropical weather this weekend, but residents still monitored Dennis with a wary eye. They know the damage those storms inflict and that the harm lasts long after the skies have cleared.

That should instill in this area a particular sympathy for those affected when Katrina hit. The storm surge inundated low-lying communities, sweeping away entire neighborhoods and the souls who called them home. And it brought tremendous devastation to New Orleans, a slow and painful demise endured by thousands and witnessed by millions.

There, an epic tragedy unfolded as tardy evacuation efforts before the storm by city leaders were compounded by a sluggish response from state and federal officials in the days that followed. The inability to provide speedy assistance pushed a major American city to the brink of collapse as lawlessness took hold amid a rising tide of desperation.

Katrina is blamed for more than 2,000 deaths in the United States and a staggering $90 billion in damage, making it among the most deadly and costly natural disasters in American history. Yet, the tragedy continues as many areas have struggled to repair basic infrastructure, improve living conditions or draw back the thousands who never returned after evacuation.

For hurricane-prone eastern North Carolina, Katrina offers a stark warning about the need for community preparation. It shows that reform of emergency response on the federal level should be a priority as well.

But it should give all Americans pause to know the nation has not fulfilled its promise to not forget or abandon New Orleans and the other Gulf Coast communities. On this anniversary, this nation should pledge to do better.

Editorial: What’s ahead

Crime remains the central issue to this community, nearly two months after the random shooting that claimed the lives of two men on a downtown sidewalk. The City Council’s Monday session (Aug. 24) allowed citizens the opportunity to voice their concerns about public safety and for members to discuss possible solutions.

This issue speaks to the heart of what we do at a local daily newspaper, since it cuts across the community through lines of race, class and power. Editorials like this are about more than argument and ideas, but about tone and trying to speak inclusively but directly about a complex problem. I hope that we did that with some success here.

Editorial: What’s ahead — Consider implications of city ordinances

After more than four hours of intense and occasionally testy debate, the Greenville City Council instructed staff to develop ordinances based on four initiatives, all with the goal of helping to curb crime downtown. Members acted without haste or impulsiveness, despite growing pressure for firm steps that improve public safety.

However, the ideas advanced by Monday’s meeting, if approved by the council, could radically change the heart of the city, a commercial district that would not be served by excessively costly obligations. That may be what citizens desire, but it is an important discussion the city must have in the coming weeks.

The June 30 shooting deaths of two men on a Fifth Street sidewalk were not the first incidents of violent crime in downtown Greenville, but the public responded with uncommon anger and outrage. Citizens expected action, and the City Council, working with the Greenville Police Department, responded with an increased officer presence and new traffic patterns to bolster public safety.

Those measures came as a result of meetings between city leaders, police officials and business owners, but were imposed as a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution. They have received favorable reviews from downtown patrons who appreciate the increased safety, but most citizens would agree that these actions do not represent the broad-based crime-fighting strategy the city needs.

In search of more lasting effect, the council’s meeting on Monday invited the public to offer its view of crime and public safety. The council also discussed several proposals that would have lasting implications for the downtown area. Four of these were assigned to city staff for development into ordinances for consideration.

The council has done no harm in making this request, and the proposals should be evaluated once members have them in hand. Collectively, however, these ideas have the potential to dramatically change the downtown area by requiring off-duty law enforcement officers in every bar and nightclub and changing the zoning laws that govern that district.

That may be what a majority of citizens and the council want for Greenville. They may feel the funds devoted to public safety downtown could be better used elsewhere, and that the nighttime scene is more liability than benefit.

But the council must be very clear about its intention as it moves forward on these issues. The adoption of these measures would have lasting, and possibly irreversible, implications, and should be approached with careful and open deliberation in the coming weeks.

Editorial: A nation’s loss

Writing this one wasn’t difficult, per se, but it is a challenge to boil a life like this down to 400 words. I think it was intellectually honest to highlight his legislative accomplishments and political philosophy, but to temper it with the obvious character flaws he displayed.

That said, I always wanted to meet Ted Kennedy. Damn shame I never got the chance.

Editorial: A nation’s loss — Kennedy leaves legacy of moral courage

“Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change the world which yields most painfully to change.”’

U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy quoted that passage in 1968, from Robert Kennedy’s 1966 speech in South Africa, as he eulogized his slain older brother. Robert had directed that admonition to the architects of apartheid, but Ted saw it as epitomizing his brother’s work in the U.S. Senate and on the campaign trail.

Similar words should now be said of Kennedy, the long-serving son of Massachusetts who died Tuesday of brain cancer at the age of 77. His devotion to bipartisan consensus building and his promotion of civil public discourse demonstrated moral courage and cemented his legacy as one of the most important lawmakers in American history.

Tributes both reverent and heartfelt have quickly begun in memory of Kennedy, the youngest son in the distinguished political family from Hyannis Port, Mass. Over the course of a 47-year career in the Senate, Kennedy emerged as a tireless defender of Great Society programs and a fierce advocate for classic liberalism, an iconic role that saw him demonized by the right and idolized by the left.

Following the trailblazing path of his brothers Jack, who was elected president in 1960, and Robert, whose own bid for the White House was cut short by an assassin’s bullet, Ted sought the nation’s highest office in 1980. His uneven campaign to win the Democratic nomination from incumbent President Jimmy Carter fell short, scuttled by questions about Kennedy’s personal life.

That is because Kennedy was not without a darker side. His struggles with alcohol earned him unfavorable headlines. Most notable was the 1969 Chappaquiddick Island incident in which he escaped a car he drove off a bridge, an accident that killed 28-year-old passenger Mary Jo Kopechne.

Those personal failings are serious. They stain, but should not overshadow, Kennedy’s record of service to his country. That record is notable for a devotion to bipartisanship, so rare in this modern era, and the lasting success achieved on issues such as civil rights, education, health care and immigration.

Lawmakers, particularly Democrats, may not yet feel the full weight of this loss — of his determination, his commitment and his moral courage — but they will in time. As Kennedy said at the end of his White House bid nearly 30 years ago, for them and for all of America, “The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.”

Three straight! New record!

So I got picked up for the third straight week on the North Carolina AP Editorial Round-Up. This marks the third straight week for having my work highlighted, which is the longest such streak I’ve had in my 11 years here.

Once again, we don’t do this work at the Reflector for such honors … but it’s still pretty cool when my work gets that kind of distribution. Very exciting.

The editorial, about U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan’s rural health bill:

Editorial: Rural care — Hagan bill will improve residents’ health

Editorial: The constant

It’s always nice to receive feedback about an editorial, because it provides a reassuring reminder that people are out there, reading critically and keeping me on my toes. Negative comments are obviously the most common calls and emails I receive, and very rare are the days I receive glowing reviews of anything we write.

That made the Wednesday we published this so surprising. I received a call midday from East Carolina’s University Development, raving about the editorial. The dean of that division went so far as to say he intended to “send it to every Pirate around the world.” While I doubt that will occur, I was pleased that I must have hit my mark on this one.

Editorial: The constant — Students share common goals at ECU

The semester started a little later, on Oct. 5, for the first class of students admitted to East Carolina Teachers Training School in 1909. Far fewer buildings marked the Greenville campus, and there was no tuition for students who pledged to teach following graduation.

The hundred years hence have brought tremendous change to what would become East Carolina University, the thriving institution that began its fall semester this week. Yet, for the thousands of bright young minds who arrive each year, a link to the past comes through the pursuit of academic development and a commitment to service, the constant over East Carolina’s first century.

It is hard to imagine a Greenville without East Carolina at its heart. Not so 100 years ago, when the first 174 men and women came to this tobacco town in search of an education. It was only two years prior, in 1907, that the teachers college had been established by an act of the General Assembly. The future of East Carolina was made only of theories, hopes and dreams.

Choosing Greenville as the site for the new school would prove to be a landmark moment in the life of this community. In time, the school expanded its curriculum, attained university status and, after a long and difficult battle, established a medical school. It now stands as the state’s third largest public university in North Carolina, and it expects to serve 28,000 students this year.

In many ways, those students are similar to those who arrived a century ago. There are the cosmetic differences of dress and speech, of course. Students’ transportation and recreation are also a world away from those who formed that first class in 1909.

Yet, they come to Greenville with the same goals: to attain an excellent education, to develop as mature and responsible adults and, always, to serve the world around them. The school’s motto Servire — to serve — stands as a lasting challenge to each incoming class as it is carried away from the campus by every graduate of East Carolina.

Two years ago, East Carolina began its centennial celebration, marking the date its charter won legislative approval. Those festivities will come to a close in a matter of weeks.

That may draw a curtain on a period spent marveling at the differences between then and now, but should highlight the one constant throughout. The young men and women who come to East Carolina seeking an education leave with experiences that change their lives, and promise to change the world.

Editorial: Rural care

While health care may be foremost in the minds of both lawmakers and citizens, few initiatives are focused on providing improved access to medical professionals. However, U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., is working with U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., to help medical students who want to serve those areas, like eastern North Carolina.

Hagan’s bill would directly benefit the work being done at East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine and therefore is of particular interest to our readership. But the bill’s scope could serve millions who lack sufficient access to care across the nation, and deserves widespread support.

Editorial: Rural care — Hagan bill will improve residents’ health

Rural areas find themselves at a marked disadvantage when it comes to finding accessible and affordable medical care. These regions are traditionally underserved because of the difficulty in drawing health care professions to serve in places with smaller populations, and which traditionally have lower incomes and education levels.

Freshman U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan hopes to change that trend through the Rural Physician Pipeline Act, a bill that would add incentives to doctors who serve these areas. The need is real, and members on both sides of the aisle would do well to make passage of this act a priority when Congress returns to work.

Eastern North Carolina knows all too well the challenge of providing medical care to residents throughout this region. Pitt County Memorial Hospital has grown to become an invaluable service provider to residents in 26 counties, but it was not long ago that residents outside Greenville and Pitt County struggled to find care.

A key institution that has changed that situation is the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. Since its establishment more than 30 years ago, the school has focused on rural health and encouraging its graduates to serve those regions in need of gifted health professionals.

Hagan aims to bolster that effort through her bill, which is under committee consideration. The legislation, which she cosponsored with U.S. Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado, would provide funding to create a specific degree track for those wishing to practice medicine in rural areas. It would also expand recruiting efforts in those areas, to give students who seek a career in medicine the opportunity to pursue that dream and help their communities.

Udall is hopeful that the health-care reform under heated debate in Washington would include assistance for rural areas, but it is hard to share his optimism. Rural regions are routinely neglected, despite overwhelming evidence they are most in need of help. Residents of eastern North Carolina have never received the type of care enjoyed in more urban areas, and suffer from higher levels of disease and shorter life spans as a result.

This bill may not be the cure-all to that problem, but it represents an important attempt to address a major inadequacy. Legislation that aims directly at the problem of poor health care in rural regions is needed, and Hagan’s effort should have the support of both parties as it progresses.

Editorial: Great value

Though East Carolina University receives the lion’s share of attention in Pitt County, Pitt Community College provides this community valuable service through post-secondary education programs and worker retraining. The result is a better educated, better prepared and more attractive workforce for potential employers. In this recession, Pitt County is incredibly fortunate to have such a resource.

Editorial: Great value — PCC serves important role in region

Those who doubt the importance of community colleges should have stopped by Winterville on Tuesday as Pitt community College welcomed students for the fall semester. The school’s enrollment is predicted to near 8,000, a record number for that institution.

PCC has always held tremendous value to this community and region, but more so given the need for job training and advanced education in this dismal economy. The growing student population underscores the importance of funding the community college system to provide degree opportunities to all who qualify.

Since the N.C. General Assembly approved the Community College Act in 1957, the state has witnessed the steady growth and development of a system that is the third largest in the nation. Its 58 schools will provide degree programs, worker training and trade education to more than 800,000 students this school year.

Like most other community colleges in North Carolina, PCC has seen enrollment skyrocket in recent years. The growing student population has necessitated additional construction and expansion at an unrelenting pace in order to provide the space needed to accommodate more students each year. President G. Dennis Massey, set to begin his seventh school year at PCC, expects enrollment to grow by 12-13 percent this year.

Accommodating that influx would be impossible without the strong support of the Pitt County Board of Commissioners, which helps fund PCC’s operations. The public’s 2007 vote for a half-cent increase in the sales tax has also been crucial in funding construction.

Community colleges fared relatively well in the recent budget discussions. The 58 institutions must swallow a $14 million systemwide budget reduction, but enrollment growth — a vital part of the colleges’ budgets — was fully funded. On this, lawmakers deserve credit for acting proactively during a time of economic turmoil.

A similarly progressive view is on display in Washington. In July, President Barack Obama proposed significant investment in community colleges as he set a goal of graduating an additional 5 million students by 2020. Under his plan, schools would receive funds for partnerships with the business community, program development, facility construction and online access.

All of those show a commitment to community colleges that will serve this state and the nation. PCC stands as one of the most indispensable resources in this community, particularly in these dire economic times, and it requires unrelenting support in order to thrive.

Two in a row!

The Associated Press has again given me the pleasure of seeing my work distributed across the state, as it chose today’s editorial about Gov. Beverly Perdue for inclusion in the weekly editorial round-up. I appreciate the good fortune of their decision and am really excited about it, as usual. It’s a feeling that never gets old when you consider that I am weekly competing with the best writers in the state to win one of four spots in the round-up.

(However … a little secret for you … I would have been pretty hacked if this was omitted. I think this was a strong editorial, of which I am very proud, and I think it had a strong shot at being included. Very happy to see they agree.)

You can read it here:

Editorial: At the helm — State needs leadership from Perdue

Editorial: At the helm

Tuesday’s editorials were important to write because of their local focus. One celebrated the recent victory of Pitt County’s 16-and-under softball team, which won the Babe Ruth World Series title over the weekend. The other urged residents to check supplies and prepare for the possibility (however unlikely) of tropical weather.

I know those have tremendous value in a small community like this and are important to the newspaper as it directs its focus almost entirely on local content. However, editorials like this are what I enjoy about the profession. In it, I try to weave together the setbacks and disappointment of Gov. Beverly Perdue’s first months in office, suggesting that she act with more forcefulness to lead the state.

This editorial, along with the one about education one week ago, represent some of my strongest writing in months, in my opinion. These are the ones that keep me coming back each day, eager to write a new viewpoint for readers and excited about the possibility of making a strong statement on behalf of the Reflector.

Editorial: At the helm — State needs leadership from Perdue

Gov. Beverly Perdue ascended to office on the strength of her record of public service and a promising new vision for the state. She pledged greater openness than her predecessor and a sound plan for guiding the state through a difficult economic year, one that would protect education spending.

In the months since, even her most fervent campaign supporters cannot be pleased with her performance by those measures. North Carolina needs the governor to be a stronger, more forthright leader, and for Perdue to meet the expectations that come with holding the state’s highest office.

It was thought that the contentious battle over the state budget ended on Aug. 7, when the governor signed the $19 billion spending plan that emerged from weeks of negotiation. She expressed reservations about the budget, concerns shared by many others across the state, but argued it protected public education, her highest priority.

One week later, however, Perdue signed Executive Order 21 which reduced state spending by an additional 5 percent. Though several areas will be exempt from that imposition — including funds allocated for education, public health, law enforcement and economic development — the move came as a surprise to even the most astute observers of state government.

Perdue’s decision to alter the budget will add to a growing din of criticism. Her plunging poll numbers reflect a growing discomfort with her policies and a lack of leadership at so critical a moment. That concern is fueled by Perdue’s uneven performance thus far, particularly in regard to the budget process.

North Carolina needed comprehensive tax reform, but Perdue did not demand it be included in the final budget even though a framework for revenue restructuring emerged from the Senate. Instead, she said that it didn’t matter what taxes the Legislature raised — a stunning misstatement when thousands are struggling to make ends meet. When a budget agreement emerged in July, she claimed to be surprised by its specifics and scuttled it.

She accepted the final budget deal, and signed it reluctantly, only to slash 5 percent from it one week later. Her spokesman subsequently argued the order will help the state overcome a temporary cash-flow problem, but that fails to explain why she would sign a budget with known flaws.

Leadership can be a difficult burden, particularly in times of strife. As William Shakespeare wrote, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”

But Perdue asked for voters’ support in November. They ask only that she lead with confidence.