Voters to decide $15
million park bond
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
The public will weigh
in on a $15 million Forsyth
County park bond when it
goes to the polls for this
year's general election.
Forsyth County Parks
and Recreation maintains
nine parks around the
county, eight of which will
receive money from the
bond if it's ratified by vot
ers. It's the smallest of
three county bonds on the
ballot and die first county
parks bond referendum in
decades. It deals with capi
tal needs the county
doesn't have the money for
in its regular budget.
"With parks you're
going to have a lot of
assets, especially out at
Tangle wood, that come up
and you're going to have to
have renovations and
repairs to keep them up to
date," said Assistant
County Manges Ronda
Tatum.
The bond has $800,000
for playground replace
ment at Horizons,
Walkertown, Kernersville
Lake, Union Cross and Old
U.S. 421 River parks,
along with adding a new
play structure at C.H. Hill
Park.
There's $2 million for
the first phase of a master
plan at Horizons Park. This
includes the planning and
development of a shelter,
roadway extensions, a sand
play area, a renovated disc
golf course and utilities
infrastructure.
There's also $300,000
for the Reedy Fork Creek
portion of Piedmont
Greenway that runs
through Triad Park. The
Piedmont Greenway is
planned to extend from
Greensboro to Winston
Salem.
There biggest single
recipient of bond money
would be Tanglewood Parte
with $6.9 million dollars.
This includes $1.35 mil
lion in golf course bunker
upgrades and removals and
other improvements to the
course. There's $1.6 mil
lion to renovate the club
house, $1 million for addi
tional phases of its multi
use trail and $1 million of
roadway improvements to
help with overflow and
special event traffic. There
are also funds to renovate
its Par 3 greens, along with
the cart path and irrigation
on its Reynolds and
Championship golf cours
es.
Lastly, there's $5 mil
lion in the bond for a multi
use agricultural event cen
Tanglewood Park will be the single biggest recipient of the county parks bond
if voters ratify it this November.
ter, which will host events
like equestrian and cattle
shows. The county hasn't
chosen a site for it yet, but
Tanglewood is a likely
candidate.
Tatum said
Tanglewood is getting the
most money because it has
the most assets. The mas
sive park in Clemmons
contains a RV camp
ground, horse stables, a
dog park, gardens, an
aquatics center, lakes,
trails, shelters, golf courses
and even has a century-old
train engine on display.
Every holiday season, it's
home of the popular
Tanglewood Festival of
Lights.
Of the nearly 4.4 mil
lion visitors to county
parks in the last fiscal year,
almost 2 million of them
went to Tanglewood.
Though Tanglewood does
charge $2 for admission
and other fees for the use
of its facilities, its revenues
don't come close to the
cost of its operations,
which is the case for most
parks.
The parks bond, along
with a $65 million Forsyth
Technical Community
College bond and $359
million Winston
Salem/Forsyth County
Schools bond, are at the
bottom of this year's bal
lot. If all three pass,
Forsyth County property
taxes will increase by 3.6
cents per $100 of property
value in 2018, with anoth
er 3.8 cents increase in
2022.
Candidates
discuss riots,
hunger and
N.CT farms
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
The Charlotte riots,
struggling farms and food
insecurity were just some
of the topics discussed by
U.S. House candidate Josh
Brannon and Agricultural
Commissioner candidate
Walter Smith during a
forum on Thursday, Sept.
22.
The forum was held by
the African American
Black Caucus of the
Forsyth County
Democratic Party as a way
to let voters who were in
the 12th District meet
Brannon, who is running
for the fifth district. After
court ordered redistricting,
Winston-Salem is now out
CAMPAIGN
vsm
of the 12th district and the
entire county is in the fifth
district, with Republican
U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx as
its congresswoman.
Brannon, a software
developer from Watauga
County, told attendees he
decided to get into politics
and challenge Foxx in
reaction to the housing cri
sis, which resulted in mil
lions of foreclosures and
? the Great Recession of
2008. He said the crisis
and lack of prosecution for
the bankers responsible
highlighted the country's
"runway economic
inequality."
He also spoke on
another type of inequality
in his opening remarks,
talking about officer
involved shootings, citing
a ProPublica article that
found black men ages 15
to 19 were 21 times more
likely to be shot by police
than their white counter
parts. Last week saw
Charlotte protests turn into
riots after police shot and
killed Keith Lamont Scott,
a black man. Scott's fami
ly says he was unarmed,
while police say they
recovered a gun he was
holding.
"While I don't con
done violence in either
direction, and 1 don't think
anyone else does, I don't
think it comes as a surprise
to anyone either." said
Brannon. "We have to fix
it." ' , , ,
He decried the lack of
de-escHation training in
many police departments
and said that action needs
to be taken on a federal
level to hold police
accountable. He called
Black Lives Matter a
"great movement" that's
"much needed."
Other candidates were
also invited to the forum
and Smith - who is run
ning for the statewide
office of N.C.
Commissioner of
Agriculture & Consumer
Services - accepted. He
said it's an important posi
tion that deals with agri
culture, consumer and
food safety, environmental
protection and animal wel
fare. He said incumbent
Republican Steve Troxler
has let politics affect the
way the department is run,
so it isn't doing its job
when it comes to protect
ing consumers, animals
and the environment.
"I talk to Republicans
and independents trying to
get them to vote for me, I
get a comment that 'Well,
he hasn't done a bad job.'
My reply is, 'If you don't
do anything, it's hard to do
something bad,'" said
Smith.
He said losing family
farms has become a big
problem in North
Carolina. Smith said he'll
make farms profitable
again, and use NC. A&T
and N.C. State universities
to help identify, educate
and assist the next genera
tion of fanners.
On environmental
issues, Smith said he
opposed bracking because
it can pollute ground water
and believes Duke Energy
should have to clean up all
its coal ash spills. He also
hopes to combat food inse
curity by enticing grocery
stores to open in food
deserts, teaching people
how to grow food in urban
environments, and distrib
uting unused food from
farms.
Smith also told atten
dees he believes he's better
qualified for the position.
He's a longtime fanner
who worked with the U.S.
Department of Agriculture
for more 30 years and was
the director of the USDA
Farm Service Agency
office in Yadkin County.
Smith unsuccessfully
ran against Troxler in
2012, losing by 6.4 per
cent. Brannon lost to Foxx
in 2014 by 22 percent. The
fifth district is a heavily
gerrymandered
Republican district and
remains so even after
recent redistricting.
"If Donald Trump
keeps enough people^
home, we may ' have
chance, but that being
said, it's an uphill battle
because it's drawn to be an
uphill battle," said
Brannon.
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