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Volume 43, Number 21
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.
THURSDAY, January 26, 2017
New bus route complaints arise
Winston-Salem also faces
projected bus budget deficit
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE_
The Winston-Salem Transit Authority
(WSTA) faces the challenges of adjusting
the new routes to accommodate rider com
plaints and a projected budget deficit.
During a Jan. 17 meeting, City Council
members said they’d received praise and
many complaints about the new routes.
Dan Besse, who heads the council’s
public works committee, said that small
mm
WINSTON-SAL TM TRANSIT AUTHORITY
changes, like moving a bus stop, can be
made immediately. Bigger adjustments,
like altering or adding routes, could be
months away. He said WSTA is currently
compiling suggestions on the routes, and
will present proposed changes in April to
the committee.
WSTA replaced its old bus routes with
3Q new ones this year. The new routes are
designed for shorter ride times with more
direct ways to get to destinations.,
Originally, they were drawn up to be rev
enue neutral, but the routes that went into
effect actually cost $500,000 more a year
than the old system.
They were designed after an extensive
review of the bus system. Since the new
routes often stick to main roads, some
communities and destinations that rely on
buses found the routes no longer included
them. During the more than 20 public ses
sions, many spoke up about these issues
and changes were made so bus service
could continue near places like IFB
Solutions (formally Industries for the
Blind) and Green Street Baptist Church,
which serves low-income families with its
Shalom Project.
However, that was not true for others.
During the comment session last week,
several people said they lost bus service
with the new routes. Rev. Dennis Leach of
Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church
said the routes no longer pass through the
area his church is in, which contains
Skyline Village Apartments. He said it’s a
food desert that’s not near a grocery store
and has many low-income families that
depend on bus service.
“I am here tonight ... to ask those in
this chamber for your help in restoring bus
See Complaints on A2
Multi-faith prayer
vigil highlights
new president
Two individuals light a candle dur
ing the prayer vigil at Parkway
United Church of Christ.
Photos by Timothy Ramsey
The prayer vigil at Parkway United Church of Christ brought people of all faiths together for a common
cause.
BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY
THE CHRONICLE
A multi-faith prayer vigil was held this past Sunday in
light of the presidential inauguration on Friday. The vigil
joined similar vigils organized around the country within
the first 100 hours of the inauguration through a coalition
of organizations, including Interfaith Power & Light and
GreenFaith. The event was held at Parkway United
Church of Christ.
The gathering included songs, sacred text, silence and
prayers for the new administration. It also included
prayers for the courage and persistence of all citizens to
continue to work for change in areas of climate change,
racial justice, a sustainable energy policy, economic jus
tice, immigrant rights, LGBTQLA rights and the dignity of
all faith traditions.
The Rev. C. Anthony Jones, senior pastor of United
Cornerstone Missionary Baptist
Church, led the congregation in a ren
dition of “This Little Light Of Mine.”
•He says events like this highlight the
diversity and unity here in the city of
Winston-Salem.
“More importantly, it shows that
even though we may be of different
iauil2> 11ICIC alC it 1UI 1I1U1C MIIiilcUlllCN
than differences,” Jones said. “When
'ou look at a puzzle, if all the pieces
were the same, you would never get the puzzle together,
so you have to have diversity to make it work. We no
longer need to call it differences. We just need to simply
call it diversity.”
Toure' Marshall, pastor at Grace Presbyterian Church
See Vigil on A2
Lawmakers
warn of fight
over city’s
body cam bill
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE_
The Winston-Salem City Council has asked local law
makers to give authority back to the city to release police
body camera footage.
The City Council annually meets with its local legisla
tive delegation to discuss legislation it would like to see
in the General Assembly. Due to a meeting and personal
conflicts, Republican lawmakers didn’t attend the meet
ing at City Hall on Jan. 20. Democratic state lawmakers
Sen. Paul Lowe, Rep. Ed Hanes and Rep. Evelyn Terry
did make it.
Last year, the Republican-dominated General
Assembly passed a law, now in effect, that prohibits the
release of police body and dash cam footage without a
Photo by Todd Luck
N.C. Rep. Ed Hanes and City Council Member
Denise “D.D.” Adams talk after a meeting at City
Hall last week.
court order. The city requested legislation that would
allow for a local officer’s footage to be released or
reviewed with an opportunity for the district attorney’s
office and the officer to put a hold on it, if needed.
The state’s body camera policy currently puts obsta
cles in the way of the city releasing footage to ease public
tensions, like it did last year after 31-year-old Travis Page
died in police custody. But it also prevents what were pre
viously common practices, like letting the police citizens
review board see cam footage or letting a parent see
See Lawmakers on A2
4
201N CHESTNUT ST
WINSTON SALEM NC 2710M120 01
HBCU band defies
critics, reaps reward
through inauguration
Talladega College raises $670,000 to perform in parade
BY BROOKIE MADISON
HOWARD UNIVERSITY NEWS (HUN) SERVICE
WASHINGTON - At Talladega College, a tiny historically black
institution 55 miles east of Birmingham, Alabama, the president, the
administration, the band director and the school’s 230-member march
ing band are as giddy as a 9-year-old a week before Christmas.
In this case, however, Santa Claus, in the names of Donald Trump
and his supporters and Fox-TV’s Bill O’Reilly and his millions of
viewers have already come to town and left the cash-strapped school
$670,000 to march in Trump’s inauguration.
And now it’s time to go shopping.
See Band on A2
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