The Flashy Money of the North Carolina State Government

It would seem Fayetteville, North Carolina has emerged as a classic case of "Inner City Blues."  The "Urban Flight" or the mass exodus of soon to be suburbanites fleeing their polluted cities has taken place, and the city doesn't even know it.  Well the know it a little.  The dynamics of Fayetteville are specific, and most kids flee when they have a chance.  Fayetteville does not offer the amenities of other Southern cities, because it is a military hub.  Military families transfer in and out, and their needs seem to be different.  Jazz music is a good example in that it is not appreciated or supported.  The military criteria has become very specific, and since Fayettenam is based upon military income how does one legislate city policy?  In recent years the tide has shifted only to the military with the influx of Ground Forces Command.  Now there are one hundred thousand military personnel both active duty and civilian, and it is to those souls Fayetteville must cater.  Always it was a good idea to build diplomacy with the base, and it was.  A handful of local businessmen championed this liaison, and it was effective.  Further in Fayetteville's past before Ground Forces Command, the base had open doors.  The dividing line between Fayetteville and Fort Bragg were nonexistent.  I used to drive directly across the base and past the Special Operations Training Facility.  No one cared, but now there are nukes.  In all probability always there have been, but now.  One only has to peruse an internet map of local railroads including Cape Fear Railways to guess which section of track is underground.  I wonder what they do there?  Load munitions they would rather be out of aerial view I would think.  Fayetteville natives know the difference, and when in the 1970's people flowed freely to clubs at Fort Bragg seven days a week.  That was a different time.  Now it is buttoned up, and we are more segregated, but the city still kowtows to the military because of their dollars.  There aren't many others, and everyone knows that too.  With this shift and as the military has become the sole provider of Fayetteville, the local civilian residents have been pushed aside.  Much of this is through a real estate boom, because there is a housing shortage for everyone.  Consequently almost every piece of property available for building has been razed.  All ready Skibo Road has become "Urban Sprawl."  Now we watch as lot after lot of woods are cleared and quickly built upon for profit.  Every nook and cranny is being filled with housing.  In addition existing homes, no matter how old, are being flipped for profit.  Often these profits are not reasonable, because this housing bubble is creating unrealistic value for these homes.  It is up to the buyer whether they want to pay the prices, but it would be better to understand with research the properties themselves.  Some folks are being taken to the cleaners.  What is propane?  What is natural gas?  What is a heat pump?  What is electric heat.  How old is the house.  Does it have insulation?  Is it moisture free?  I didn't want to talk about housing.  I wanted to talk about the shift towards military needs as the sole driving economic force.  It has left natives out in the cold.  Whether anyone will admit it, Fayetteville has become an inner city.  There are three things that are creating this, because there is little industry in the city of Fayetteville.  What could have such an effect on a city, causing its inner core to become violent, polluted, and unnsupportive of human life?  The answer is car traffic, air traffic, and rail traffic.  How can such a small area be affected so drastically?  It is because of Fort Bragg, and its needs as Ground Forces Command.  It requires logistical support, and so we have I-295.  Certainly I am not complaining about this wonderful highway, but as I have said before it is not for the citizens of Fayetteville.  It is to ferry personnel and equipment on and off Fort Bragg.  Many cities have traffic congestion, but most do not have the 82nd Airborne.  Again I am not complaining about this.  What I am complaining about is the private, logistical, contracted support network developing in Fayetteville that is separate from civilian interests.  A good example of this would be Harris/L3.  They are one of the largest defense contractors, but a whole host of smaller private defense companies have emerged to take advantage of Uncle Sam.  I cannot keep up with all of the small private planes that fly into the Fayetteville Regional Airport on a daily basis.  Add jets to the stew, both commercial and military, and our sky now is replete with aerial activity.  In the past, with the exception of bugging out, air traffic was scant.  Now it is constant, and it flies right over the city of Fayetteville without a care in the world.  Knowing that low flying aircraft is as dangerous to the human organism as cancer is not comforting.  Shall we calculate the velocity of jet thrust exhaust, and it will explain the constantly moving air in Fayetteville when there is little wind.  Hold your cigarette out and watch its smoke.  Often it flows perfectly parallel to the ground and with great velocity.  When I blow leaves in my front yard, the wind shifts constantly and constantly I have to change my angle of attack.  It is from jet wash.  The black soot on our house also is from jet exhaust.  The funky biofilm on the dome of the Jefferson Memorial also is because of jet wash or soot.  Add algae, fungus, and bacteria to the stew and you have a nightmare of potential disease.  And we have Covid.  Other cities do not have the Aberdeen and Rockfish, who have expanded their short line railroad activities.  It used to be a few trains, and now promptly at six a.m. I feel the engineer start this antiquated locomotive, a two stroke turbo charged nightmare of mostly vibration broadcasted long distance by an infrasound wave from its prime mover.  A combination of rail traffic, air traffic, and increased car traffic have proliferated in the city limits of Fayetteville.  All of this hub bub prevents any real reflective, creative, intellectual potential for residents.  We are forced to respond to the push as best we can.  One cannot overcome the force of the United States military and its self-proclaimed important to American life.  Not everyone wants to wake up each day and think about defeating an enemy, but the dividing line between this training and average American life is gone.  We have been sucked into this vacuum.  Refusing to acknowledge this acute shift Fayetteville likes to sprinkle money around.  Let's build a Civil War Museum.  Let's build a new performing arts complex.  Shiny new things will not solve this problem.  They may attract new faces, but trying to support existing faces in the firing line would be more prudent.  If we concentrated on our existing infrastructure including schools and services and made them a priority again, then it would be possible not to outsource out income.  We could create and glean our own support system instead of having to purchase it, and this has become too common with the City of Fayetteville.  Throwing money around and ignoring the civilian population has turned Fayetteville into Fayettenam.  Others live here too.