March 29, 2006

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            The occasion was a community leadership summit sponsored by the Wake Forest Human Relations Council. The problems were those identified last spring when five students from the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill conducted an action-oriented community diagnosis. They interviewed a cross-section of town residents and local service providers and ended with a community forum – “Wake Forest: A Community Coming Together” – at The Forks Cafeteria on April 14, 2005. Sixty-five people attended.

            Last Thursday night’s meeting in the Community House was smaller but equally intense. People were randomly assigned to tables for the various topics and town officials – Mayor Vivian Jones, Commissioners Velma Boyd-Lawson, David Camacho, Stephen Barrington and Margaret Stinnett with Town Manager Mark Williams and Deputy Town Manager Roe O’Donnell – were the facilitators.

            The growth and development group learned and shared that the town could grow to a maximum of 50,000 to 60,000 before all the land is used. Also, as Sue Cascio reported, towns and cities to the north like Oxford and Henderson, “look to Wake Forest to be their downtown” because of the shopping opportunities provided by the new malls along Capital Boulevard. The town’s puzzle, she said, is how to get those shoppers to the historic downtown. Cascio is a relative newcomer who moved to Heritage; she and her husband own the Wake Forest Auto Spa.

            “How can we sell this?” Wake Forest-Rolesville Principal Andre Smith asked as he reported about community identity. After running through a list of the positive features and events in town, including the Corner Ice Cream Store, Smith listed a few of the ways the town can sell itself as a desirable place to visit. Those include ambassadors who could visit other towns, a map featuring the town’s history and more well-known musicians performing at the Dubois Jazz Festival.

            Culturally and racially diverse? You bet, Wake Forest-Rolesville Middle School Principal Elaine Hanzer answered, noting she had just enrolled a student from Alaska that day. Reporting on the group that discussed race relations, Hanzer said their opinion was we need to recognize and embrace the cultural and racial diversity in the area. Speaking about the growing Hispanic population and some people’s perception they are all coming across the border. Not true, she said; “They’re being born right here. We need to make them a part of our Wake Forest community.”

            There is also a perception, Hanzer said, that her school “is not as nice as Heritage and Wakefield.” Part of the reason for that perception is that students who live in Heritage have to walk in Rogers Road because there is no sidewalk.

            One of the ways to help overcome that perception – along with a sidewalk – would be to educate area real estate agents, Hanzer said.

            There certainly are class differences, that group found, though often it is confused with skin color. We are one community, but many people remember the railroad tracks that split the town.

            As for education, that group found that there was once a sense of ownership of the schools that has receded as new people move in and growth requires reassignment. The schools and the teachers often lack resources. Tom Dimmock, a Raleigh attorney who is a member of the local Kiwanis Club, reported the group found a need to educate the entire community on two points: What is education, and it is not just what is in a classroom, and what is the obligation of the public to support education for its children.

            Marshall Lawson, chairman of the council, said the council members will now analyze the various findings and submit a written report to the town commissioners in hopes of forming task forces to address the problems. They can be solved, he said: “It all comes down to commitment.”