Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Aug. 4, 1979, edition 1 / Page 4
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c Pag* 4 Th? Chronicle, Saturday, Aftt 4, 1979 VIEWPC pajaass^^ I. Ernest H. Pitt jj HUBBBI Editor/ Publisher I . Member North Carolina Yvetto McClllloal Black Publisher's Association City Editor 4> Transporta One of the most emotional issues facing WinstonSalem is that of how to relieve the traffic-eongestion which snarls Interstate 40, particularly the Downtown Expressway segment from one end of the city to the other. The issue has been alive for more than a decade, but' artirm is relatively certain to come in the near future for the Federal Highway Administration and the N.C. Department of Transportation have allocated funds to begin the planning of alternatives to the current unsafe conditions. A consulting firm, Greiner Engineering Sciences, has reviewed the various alternatives and has presented objective data on the impact of each in more than 30 areas ranging from traffic demand to residential dislocation. Out of those alternatives, two approaches have come to have the most support among those interested in the highway proposals. Unfortunately, the nature of the two proposals has the potential for polarizing the community. One approach would be to build the East West Thoroughfare, an Interstate-quality roadway parallelling the current Corporation Freeway through the southern part of the city, and widen to as many as eight lanes the most congested portion of 1-40 throsgh town. The building of the thoroughfare appeals to those center city 4 neighborhoods fearing the impact of a widened 1-40. A second annroarh. f*vnr#rf Ku ^ *u ?re "* ' wj u>va% 1*1 uiv ai va ui UIC thoroughfare, is to improve existing facilities. That would require as many as ten lanes of 1-40 through downtown; widening of Silas Creek Parkway and N.C. \ 50 cast of the city. Several factors should be considered. First, in a time of increased squeeze on energy supplies, the highway design should seek to lessen ... actual traffic demand, rather than gearing up for what demand might be otherwise. Second, families who have built and developed their homes and neighborhoods under certain assumptions should not have their lifestyles disrupted because of the lack of foresight of planners in the 1950s who predicted the highway would carry no more than 35,000 cars. The current use is twice that figure. Third, the final design should not pander to the needs of special interests, such as groups of merchants who want a highway which would swing by their businesses. Fourth, the final approach should fit into a coordinated transportation strategy which utilizes all segments to meet the legitimate needs of travelers. Fifth, since the great majority of 1-40 travelers are in-city travelers either headed to or from downtown, the solution must be addressed to their needs, as opposed to the small minority of through travelers. Given those consideration, we would support the r^ii : a. tuiiuwing sieps: widening of Interstate 40 to no more than eight lanes, Improving Costs vs. I Pfc Effl one of the areas with a T| MH improve Interstate 40, to r II |M8 highway already causes If BMI which is at times unbearmL anM a^e t*iere was a recog?i l> pj Mm improvements? yex a HIH | St concern for what .might ML j ffl David Conred - "It 2B| ) needs more lanes. They ^ tl f have to straighten that ^H9 ^ I ^ H curve. It's going to have an impact here, but they've already took most of the neighborhood anyway." Mra. OUto Ashley -- "I go along with the (Watkins Street Improvement) association. MNTS ed * 1 ston-Salem Cliroqiclc 1 rounded 1974 Ndubisi Egemonye President John W. Templeton | Executive Editor (h - Robert Eller Elaine L. Pitt Sports Editor Office Manager Jjj tion Goals r two of which would be express lanes limited to public transit vehicles and cars with more than three riders. To be effective^ this step^ would be accompanied by a campaign 10 promote puDlic transit and carpooling. Downtown businesses with more than 10 employees would promote carpoolling among their employees. Express buses would originate from designated points along the highway and head straight downtown or to other large sites such' as Western Electric, Schliti or Hanes Mali. Riders would park at designated lots^ To further * convince those holdouts who persist in driving to work alone, the express lanes could be elevated so that the holdouts could watch the more cooperative drivers whiz by. only the section of the East-West Thoroughfare stretching east to Kernersville from the current Corporation Freeway would be built. Improvements would be made to Silas Creek Parkway and Corporation Freeway. To improve access to the Hanes Mall area, Stratford Road west from Five Points_ West would be widened to six lanes. The above-cited steps would meet the considerations noted before. Letting traffic demand control highway planning rather than the other way around is tolly, as we've learned from the orginal set projections. Like water filling a container, traffic will fill whatever is built and then some, creating another round of even more expensive improvements. The -limited widening suggested will make jise of existing right of way and ramp space and lessen costs for relocation. In areas such as the Watkins Street neighborhood, noise abatement measures should be included. In the long run, a lessening of traffic demand from what it might have been otherwise will also pay off in terms of ameliorating the noise factor. In the western part of the city, we prefer to deal with the existing problem rather than one imagined on ~ planning charts. It's tough to get to Hanes Mall. However, a highway extending from U.S. 421 in the west will not deal with that problem. Improvements to Silas Creek Parkway and the widening of Stratford Road with a.left-turn lane will address current treacherous conditions. In the south, the construction of an East-West Thoroughfare would not enhance downtown. Instead, it would draw traffic away from the center city, as it is planned to do. One of the most serious bottlenecks on 1-40 is the intersection with U?S. 52. We think giving traffic from the south an alternative to get to 1-40 would relieve congestion. The key to the success of this approach is the limiting of single passenger driving, not by flat-out bans, but through the offering of alternatives. Failure to recognize the need for this step will doom efforts to improve traffic flow to failure. k fl benefits wi There's already all that ^ pollution and stuff and noise. I remember a truck turned over and , they spilled some Conred chickens (laugh)." ' Jones -should be improved. HS? Some the people the neighborhood don't want to lose their home. But there's no balance ^BMT that can be struck. If ^ .jflj they think 10 lanes ^^CSp| should be built, then they should have 10 lanes." MB LooUe TniMdaJe ? Ashley "They ought to build it i up. It needs to be wider. Of course, the rent peopie need to fix these houses up. If the highway is built to 10 lanes, it's going to be into everything here. If I *' have to move, I want some relocation money, transportation, moving expenses and I everything." Jones J 0 )/ ? * <7 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmMmmrnmmmmxmmmm litorials Crisis in NigjC Economics Part Two Facing economic uncertainty, big investors have moved their capital into new areas of financial speculation, such as futures markets, or into more conservative areas, such as gold, property and treasury bills. Most black folks and working people do not have the wonting capital to take advantage of these investments. In self-defense, they have made what appears to be an illogical decision - taking hundreds of dollars ou^ of banks and keeping it at their homes. Since 1970, the total amount of currency in circulation has grown from less than 50 billion dollars to over 100 billion, amounting to $600 per adult in the U.S. Much of this money has been hoarded~iir~3lTOeboxes or-old mattresses, rather , than in banks or in general circulation. The reasons for this are varied. Recalling the Great Depression and observing parallel economic signs, many elderly people refuse to put their money into banks or. even checking accounts. As the total economic crisis worsens, many working people are forced to resort to what economists term "an underground economy." Working at part-time jobs to supplement their incomes, from barbering to auto repair work to baby sitting, many people simply pocket the money. Stolen goods are always purchased in cash, without evidence of sale. The cash earned from the "underground economy" goes unreported to federal, state and local governments. One economist recently suggested that these transactions total over $200 billion, about 10 percent of the total national product. Indirectly, this marginally economic activity creates an incentive for criminality within poorer communities, and it also creates contempf for tlje system of taxation as a whole. Despite their attempts to minimize the effects of the Recently, there has been a lot of information leakage on how the South African 4 4slush fund" was used at various centers of influence; showing how the fund was spread, to whom, when, and for what.* It was a five year long-term secret project which took on in 1975 motivated by a racist spirit for the survival of apartheid and colonialism in South Africa. And so the triumvirate of Eschel Rhoodie, former chief of information, Connie Mulder, former minister of information, and General Van Den Bergh, former head of the Bureau of State Security, mounted a secret paradiplomatic service. The project had a propaganda cover aimed at buying influences in politics, the media, setting up of pro-South African organizations and setting up on high-pressure public relations networks. A sum of over 60 million was made available by the tnen tfime Minister, John Vorster to be used with the "greatest flexibility" in selected key countries in Africa and Western Europe. As the home tide from the 1978 election results turned against the triumvitate, existence of the slush fund blew up and its "secrets" out in the open. Eschel Rhoodie, who for several years entertained his racist masters with "brilliant" definitions of apartheid and -how it could be furthered, took to his heels, threatening rain and thunder if "1 am ever killed." The interesting issue is who got what slice of the fund. Eschel Rhoodie made available the breakdown of this fact. , Britain: $3,000 to two Labour MP's a year to foster South African interest and spy on anti-apartheid organizations. $130,000 per year to a front organization set up in London to publish anti-communist and pro-South African literature. U.S.i $15,000 to New York State Democratic nomination for James Carter in 1976. $100,000 to the successful campaign to unseat John Tunney, who critized US aid to South Africa. $150,000 to ifltlp unseat Sen. Dick Clark, another influential critic of South Africa. Zimbabwe! $680,00 channeled to nationalist politicians from 1977 to benefit Bishop Abel Muzorewa, Rev. Sithole and Jeremia Chirau. Namibia! $800,00 set aside to pro-South African groups inTurnhalle. Weat Germany! $98,000 a year for a pro-South African Institute, $72,000 for a religious institute. Zambia! $720,000 given in 1975 to Zambia for a! r-" ? ' - wrvjpcmiiug kju me nciona raus oriage conterence, Hetween the Zimbabwe nationalist leaders and racist leader Ian Smith. President Kaunda of Zambia has denied this report as a 1' load of rubbish.'' Ivory Coaati Rhoodie and Van Den Bergh prepared the ground work for the meetings in 1975 between Vorster 4 0 columns economic crunch, bJack people as a group are unable to fight back effectively in the economic arena. All the harding of cash will not drive down the price of a gallon of gasoline. All the part-time jobs will not generate enough capital to make a downpayment on a new home. All its economic strategies, from the myth of Black Capitalism to the N.A.A.C.P.'s support for greater, oil company profits, will solve the problems of public uncertainty, continuing unemployment and inflation. We must recognize that the crisis in capital is basically a crisis in the structure of America's economic system, a crisis which can only have a political solution. Party of -the?solution?involved?greater?federal government intervention to force industries to limit price increase*. The June 22, 1979 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the Carter Administration's power to withhold federal contracts from corporations which don't comply to voluntary wage and price guidelines. . This ruling creates the possibility of reducing prices, but unfortunately also gives the Administration greater authority to cut wages at the expense of inflation. What is necessary is a general departure from Carter's Republican economic policies, and new initiatives in thinking about the old economic categories. Black people must press for a greater federal regulation of prices, an increases in the taxation rate of the wealthy and massive tax cuts for the working class majority of Americans. ^ The nationalization of the oil industry, combined with the lessening of federal controls and greater incentives for smaller businesss engaged in petroleum-related production, would r?rnviH#? Kocic ~ _ - - - w ^r* w f vo<3i3 ivi a new f mure democratic socioeconomic order. The solution to our summer of economic discontent can be found in the arena of politics. V| Inside the. Racist Enclave f and President Houphouet-Biogny of the Ivory Coast. "The occasion and the spirit of dialogue" were used also to enable the party to meet representatives of Senegal, Gabon, and Liberia. Today the Ivory Coast with its emphasis on dollar politics is known fcr its links to South Africa. Liberia! Five members of the ruling party are said to have received compensation for their work on behalf of the South African racist regime at the Organization for African Unity. Vorster was also able to meet President Tolbert during the former's 197S slush fund safari trip to selected independent African states. Kenya: The tapes containing the information allege that a Kenya newspaper or news agency is funded from South Africa. It also claimed that South African agents, mostly blacks, had penetrated the inner circles of the Kenyan ruling party. * * These and many more others are contained in the Rhoodie tape. A major fact that still looms is that 68 out of the 138 secret projects are still going strong. Only the BOSS (South African Secret Service) knows where these other projects are being implemented. The Public Affairs Com- it exists and by any means mittee of the YWCA of possible. Winston-Salem Forsyth Our definition of .racism County supports the June embraces any attitudes, ac18th resolution adopted by tion, or institutional structhe Forsyth County Com- ture which subordinates a missioners "condemning person or group because of acts of harassment and his or their race or color, violence taken against peo- Therefore we read with pie because of their choice distress about the recent of residence or homesite." series of harrassments The YWCA has a strong which have been directed at historical committment to several black county resicombatting racial injustice. _ . WVUM ??HW IIOTV tuuscn 10 At our 1946 National Con- hVc in predominately white vention we adopted the neighborhoods. Each of us Interracial Charter which must be permitted the light proclaimed our intention to to live in any neighborhood "work for the integration of of our choioe if we are Negro women and girls into willing to be responsible . the mainstream of Associa- citizens of that community. tion Life." In 1970 We Our right to live in any > adopted and in 1973 reaf- given area must not be firmed as our one impera- restricted by race, sex, tive -- to thrust our collec- religion or ethnic origin. tive power toward the elim- We applaud the Board of ination of racism wherever SeePagflS . . _
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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Aug. 4, 1979, edition 1
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