Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / April 12, 2018, edition 1 / Page 2
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Final meeting on BY TODD LUCK THE CHRONICLE The final meeting to solicit public comments on the proposed 2018 bond referendum will be tonight. The Capital Needs Meeting will take place at Salem Lake Marina, 1001 Salem Lake Road, tonight at 6 p.m. It’s the last of nine meetings held around the city to inform the pub lic and get feedback on the proposed $122 million in bonds the City Council is considering placing on the November ballot. The Council is scheduled to vote May 21 on publishing a letter of intent and sub mitting an application to the Local Government Commission that’ll set the maximum amount the bond can be. On Aug. 6, the City Council will hold a public hearing and vote to place the bond on the Nov. 6 ballot. The bonds would cause the city prop erty tax to go up 4 cent per each $100 in property value, which would be $60 more for a $150,000 house. The next to last com ment meeting on Thursday, ■ April 5, at the Winston Salem Lake Golf Course Clubhouse drew what City Manager Lee Garrity said may have been the biggest crowd they’ve had so far, with more than 40 atten dees. After a brief video, attendees got to go around to displays oh the different proposed bond projects that were manned with city staff ready to answer ques tions and listen to feed back. Before they left, attendees were encouraged to fill out and turn in a comment card. Josetta Timberlake was one of the residents who made the rounds, examin ing the projects and talking with city staff. “‘Capital’ means money, so I figured I need to come and find out where my money is going to,” said Timberlake, Timberlake said she couldn’t make the meeting Photos by Todd Luck City Business Inclusion Director Evan Raleigh talks with Josetta Timberlake at a meeting on the pro posed 2018 bond at Winston-Salem Lake Golf Course Clubhouse. closest to where she lives, but last week’s fit in her schedule. She said it was very informative and it lets her tell others what’s going on with the bonds.' “It’s improvements that are all needed, and I see them doing some now, so they are keeping their word,” said Timberiake. City officials say that about 70 percent of the money from the 2014 bond nas Dcen spent, wun omy a few projects remaining to break ground. This is far faster than the previous bond in 2000, when it took rB,m a decade to spend that money. Garrity said they’ve heard little negativity toward the bonds, but have heard many concerns about things that are of interest to each resident, particularly streets that need repairs. Marshall McDuffie, president of Winston Lake Estates Homeowners Association, came to ask about improvements for the streets and sidewalks in his neighborhood. He had a long conversation with Assistant Transportation Director Jeffrey Fansler, who said he’d research his concerns and get back to him. “This is what is needed, just meeting, being able to talk and see how things work out,” said McDuffie. Several golfers using the Winston Lake Golf Course attended the meet ing, including Thurmond Carter, who said he appre ciated the opportunity to leant about the bonds so he can make an informed decision on them. “I like the idea of the city having these little meetings informing citi zens of what’s going on,” said Carter. Information on the bonds can be found at www.cityofws.org/2018bo nds (a' feedback form is located at the bottom of the page). Forsyth’s health lags behind other counties BY TODD LUCK THE CHRONICLE Forsyth County ha; higher rates of infant mor tality and chronic disease than other large counties ir the state. That was the finding ol the . Public Health Department’s Forsyth County Community Health Assessment (CHA), which analyzed several year’s worth of health statistics as part of its state accredita tion. Public Health Director Marlon Hunter presented the report to county commissioners last week on April 5. The report lists three major challenges that the local Health Department considers top priorities foi the next three years: chron ic disease, matemal/infant health and sexual health. Chronic disease and matemal/infant health have been listed as priorities for the last three CHAs. The report says that the Health Department will be work ing with community part ners to develop and imple ment action plans for each priority. Opioid overdoses where not included in the top priorities because action plans are already being implemented by the Forsyth County Opioid Taskforce, which is com prised of more than 20 community partners that deal with the opioid crisis. During this week’s City Public Safety Committee meeting, a report on the opioid crisis showed that the percentage of opioid overdoses resulting in r deaths has plummeted thanks to the overdose reversal drug naloxone. However, the amount of overdoes has increased so much that Winston-Salem has had almost as many overdose deaths so far this year as it did in all of 2017. The Health Department’s top priority is chronic disease. For the past decade, cancer and heart disease have been the top cause of death in the county. The death rate for cancer in Forsyth is 168.4 per 100,000 people from 2012-2016 and the rate for heart disease deaths was 144.4. These are higher than the rates for Durham, Guilford, Mecklenburg and Wake. There are racial dis parities in chronic disease, with African-American disproportionately experi encing cancer, heart dis ease, diabetes, kidney dis ease and stroke. Matemal/child health continues to be a challenge despite progress in recent years. In 2012, the county’s infant mortality rate was 10.2 deaths per 1,000 live births. In 2014, the county had a historically' low infant mortality rate of 6.4, though that number rose in 2016 to 9.3. “Our infant mortality rate is still higher than our four peer counties,” said Hunter. The reduction is due in part to a number of pro grams like Nurse-Family Partnership, which recently expanded so it can team more nurses up with first time mothers. Hunter said the Health Department is cuitently in the process of gathering 10 year’s worth of data on matemal/child health and infant mortality, and will be working with both local hospitals to address infant mortality. Commissioner Everette Witherspoon praised Hunter for embracing pro grams like Nurse-Family Partnership. He said infant health has a big effect on the health of the communi ty, and a high mortality rate often means other health outcomes in' a county are bad. “Infant mortality, that’s the whole basis for the health of the community,” said Witherspoon. Sexual health remains an issue in the county, with chlamydia among young women being the largest concern. Between 2012 and 2016, two out of every three new chlamydia cases were in residents 24 years or younger and three fourths of those were in females. Despite this, the report said that only one in two women of childbearing age have had their medical provider talk to them about getting tested for the dis ease, which can cause poor pregnancy outcomes. Chlamydia cases rose to 706.8 cases per 100,000 residents in 2016. However, Forsyth County’s rates of chlamy dia were lower than those in Durham, Guilford and Mecklenburg counties. Its rate of other sexually trans mitted diseases were not higher than some of its other peer counties as well. PARTNERS IN BUILDING A STRONGER WINSTON-SALEM FOR THE WINSTON-SALEM CHAMBER OE COMMERCE THANKS THE CHRONICLE FOR 35 YEARS OF MEMBERSHIP. TOGETHER WITH OUR MEMBERS. WE WORK TO ACHEIVF THE GOAL OF CREATING A VIBRANT COMMUNITY WHERE BUSINESS THRIVES FOR YOUR MEMBERSHIP BRONZE INVESTOR LEARN MORE AT WINSTONSALEM.COM Blow-out victory Will the law come tumbling down ■ [ i« *.<**•. CHRON winmon-s. 52 weeks for just $18! 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