Winston Watchman (https://winstonwatchman.com/)
Earlier this week, a group of ministers asked the City Council to consider changing the name of the Dixie Classic Fair. I support what Rev. Bishop Sir Walter Mack Jr. and Love Out Loud proposed. But it wasn’t what Mack and other ministers said at last week’s General Government Committee meeting that drew my attention; it was how they said it.
Local ministers in Winston work within the system and seldom speak a discourteous word to the Mayor and … Read the rest
After a shooting early Sunday morning outside of the current club operating at 515 North Cherry left several wounded, it appears that the City will renew its efforts to declare that property a nuisance. This time City Hall probably won’t stop until they get 515 North Cherry’s owner (Keith Neely) to relinquish the property.
Unlike the Winston-Salem Journal, I don’t wholly agree with the City of Winston-Salem’s efforts to close Downtown Winston’s last strip club. Anytime City Hall … Read the rest
A crowd of over 300 packed First Baptist on Highland Monday night. The Winston-Salem Urban League, the W-S NAACP, Action4Equity, the Minister’s Conference and other local organization’s called the meeting to educate, organize, and mobilize against a trifecta of audacious, right-wing bills crafted by Rep. Donny Lambeth meant to preserve white privilege in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County.
The Color of Crisis Forum was moderated by Rev. Ford. The panel consisted of Mayor Allen Joines, members of the City Council, Rep. Derwin … Read the rest
Friday, the Winston-Salem Journal reported that Goler Memorial AME Zion’s property adjacent to the Innovation Quarter was for sale. Goler listed their property at Patterson and Seventh for $3.5 million with Linville Team Partners, the commercial real estate firm that has the Downtown Winston market cornered.
$3.5 million is a steep price. Who in Winston besides Wake Forest University could come up with that type of money?
Goler Memorial plans to relocate. I suggest they reunite. Goler Memorial could sell … Read the rest
When I read last Friday’s paper, I was hoping that April Fool’s Day came a few days early this year. But that wasn’t the case. State lawmakers Donny Lambeth and Debra Conrad have arrogantly introduced a bill to reconfigure Winston’s wards, without any input from the residents of Winston. They plan to reduce the City’s eight wards to six, with two councilmembers elected at large. This is another legislative power grab by North Carolina Republicans who resent cities like … Read the rest
Updated 3/6/2019
A couple of days ago I stumbled upon a 2011 master’s thesis online that is must reading for anyone in Winston that cares about fighting racism. Reynoldstown: Race, Blight, Disease, Highway Construction and the Transformation of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, by Shane Cruise is a revelation.
Through exhaustive research into the city council’s records, the Winston-Salem Journal’s pages, as well as mining Robert Korstad’s work on Local 22, and conducting interviews, Shane Cruise has done a service to … Read the rest
Kaleideum: say hello to higher taxes in Forsyth County. Say goodbye to any county-wide education or anti-poverty initiatives that could have been funded with $30.5 million.
The Forsyth County Commissioners just approved an extremely generous subsidy to Kaleideum, by a 5-2 vote. This outcome was not surprising. But it was disappointing, and it will limit Forsyth County’s budgetary options for years to come.
I blame the Confederate statue that for the moment, still resides at Liberty and Fourth. The County … Read the rest
The word Kaleideum is a combination of kaleidoscope and museum. The name is still growing on me. The Children’s Museum of Winston-Salem and SciWorks, merged in 2016 to form Kaleideum. Since that time they have been working with Forsyth County to build a new, combined facility in Downtown Winston. The public-private partnership is getting more public and less private with each passing month. A $30.5 million Kaleideum bond is on this Thursday’s Forsyth County Commissioners’ agenda.
I don’t mind saying … Read the rest
Todd Luck worked as a journalist for The Chronicle for several years. I crossed paths with Luck on a couple of occasions at community events and local government meetings. According to his public LinkedIn page, Luck began working for The Chronicle in 2005.
Search for Todd Luck on The Chronicle’s website, and you will find 88 pages of content going back to August 2012. The last article credited to Todd Luck was published in November of last year.… Read the rest
Monday night’s meeting of the Winston-Salem City Council started out as expected. A moment of silence was observed, then the pledge of allegiance was recited, members of the community were honored before the council addressed the business of the city.
A recently announced, city wide hiring freeze due to a projected budget shortfall was not mentioned, neither was the loss of another corporate headquarters, as BB&T’s bigwigs make their way to Charlotte.
But City Hall certainly heated up 11 … Read the rest
It rained the day that the new Kernersville Library opened less than a week before Christmas. That might have been mother nature’s way of tempering expectations. But the Journal didn’t take the hint.
The Kernersville library pales in comparison to the Central Library, but a recent Winston-Salem Journal editorial offers nothing but uncritical praise for a boring building that it took eight years to build, and is still missing some finishing pieces.*
Before I launch into the many deficiencies of … Read the rest
There is little question which local Winston-Salem/Forsyth County political body is currently home to the most compelling political debates. It’s not the Winston-Salem City Council, though the Confederate statue controversy has heated things up at City Hall recently.
It’s certainly not the rather dull mid-afternoon Forsyth County Commissioners’ meetings. The epicenter of political debate and activism right now in our community is the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School Board.
In 2018, the WS/FC School Board was home to contentious debates regarding the … Read the rest
The Winston-Salem Journal has reported that an attorney for the United Daughters of the Confederacy has asked the City of Winston-Salem to delay its plans to move the Confederate statue that stands at Fourth and Liberty:
… Read the restThe United Daughters of the Confederacy is asking Winston-Salem for a 60-day delay in filing any legal action to force removal of the Confederate statue at the corner of Fourth and Liberty streets on the grounds of the former Forsyth County Courthouse.
James Davis,
Last Monday the Ministers’ Conference and local NAACP led a procession of supporters from the convention center, through Downtown Winston, through the former Pond neighborhood, concluding at Union Baptist Church.
The presence of majority African American marchers going through downtown reminded me of how African Americans have been systematically pushed out of Downtown Winston over several decades. As the rhythms of Carver’s Marching Band reverberated through Trade Street, I couldn’t help thinking about all the property that was … Read the rest
There wasn’t a lot on Tuesday night’s City Council agenda. It was mostly the boring business of the City. The bond package passed last fall took one step closer to reality, Phase 2 of the Quarry Park’s development was approved.
Local activists speaking truth to power during the public comment period energized a dull meeting. They implored the City Council to make justice their business.
Read the Journal’s Wesley Young’s article in today’s paper for a good summary of Winston’ … Read the rest