EYE TO EYE---One Voter at a Time

Thank you to all of my friends---new and old---that came out to support the annual Mallard Creek BBQ, there was plenty of wonderful food & happy welcoming faces! My deepest gratitude goes to those of you that are taking the time to get out there and get to know those candidates you are voting for!!! I hope my dedication to serving you is evident, it is certainly authentic.

As the race is closing it jaws and the last days are dwindling, I ask you to make it to the polls and cast your vote. I ask you to consider how hard I am working. I ask you to both vote for me AND share your witness to my passion and zest for this job with someone I have not yet been able to touch.

It is so difficult to be everywhere, and with so little campaign funds I have primaily led this campaign on my own, one handshake and one friendship at a time. I trust that the relationships I have built will not only carry me to a victory on Tuesday but also be the foundation for a lasting friendship AND partnership that is reliable, reasonable, available, and accessible if you choose me to represent you!

If you haven't had the chance to meet me yet I like to talk but equally love to listen. If you have a question, concern, or words of encouragement I challange you to leave a post or call me directly at 704.606.1899.

This will not lead you to a recording. This is not some office of people answering a phone that will be disconnected next Wednesday. This is my phone, this is me! This has been my phone number for over 5 years and it will be my number for another 5 years NO LESS!!!

SO leave NO stone unturned!!! Call me. Blog. Text. Ask. I am candid, fired up and ready to take my passion for District 38 (Western Mecklenburg County and Center City) and our State at large to THIS senate seat!

Elect Cedric Scott NC Senate 38

NOW & NOV 2

photos courtesy of The Charlotte Observer (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/10/28/1794044/81st-annual-mallard-creek-barbecue.html)

We Can Do It Together!

Call your friends, family and neighbors on behalf of Cedric Scott for NC State Senate 38!

With your votes we will be on our way to making history in NC Senate District 38! Thousands of voters are sharing their stories of pain, poverty, foreclosure and hard times. I vow to never turn my back to even the toughest issues! I will always be here for you!

What has your current political leadership done for your lately? Are they answering your phone calls and emails? I am and always will---yes, it's time to "turn it around"! I am going to make sure that your concerns are heard and acted upon.

I will introduce laws in the State Senate that will protect education, veterans and seniors institutionally and financially. Our current leadership has not shown the political courage to protect those of our society that cannot protect themselves...children, seniors and the disabled.

The people of North Carolina deserve a second chance, first we need to find creative methods utilizing the existing resources left by manufacturing, textiles and tobacco (i.e. land, existing facilities). Second we need to prepare our workforce via vocational training from kindergarten to twelfth grade. Finally, we must also focus on being more proactive in supporting North Carolina’s existing small business base.

Since 1898 North Carolina Politics has been controlled by one political party (www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/1898/glossary.html). So who is to blame for our state's financial issues and non-forward thinking. You guessed it...your current state political leadership! Imagine restaurant menu with just one item on it. Boring and annoying huh? Let's vote for Cedric Scott for NC State Senate 38 and help diversify the political food we choose to eat! I will always come back to the people of Mecklenburg County for guidance and input on legislation to introduce.

Cedric Scott is different because I am not a career politician. My allegiance is, and always will be, with the people and not a political party. I am different because my life represents all of the current issues of the day from being a formerly employed citizen to the need for affordable health care. The people of Mecklenburg County and the state of North Carolina need leaders, like Cedric Scott, who will directly address the homeless and the soon to be homeless. Leaders, like Cedric Scott, who will fight to make sure Mecklenburg County’s educational system gets the state funding and support needed to help save teachers’ careers and help save our children’s educational opportunity.

It is time for a new generation of leadership with the wisdom and an understanding of the current social and economic issues facing the people of Mecklenburg County and the State of North Carolina.

Working for the People with Sincerity!

CEDRIC SCOTT…
NOT YOUR TYPICAL POLITICIAN…
NOT A TYPICAL CAMPAIGN

This is a GRASSROOTS CAMPAIGN that is on the ground, SPEAKING FOR AND SPEAKING TO one person at a time….

In these hard times it is a difficult thing to ask someone for their hard earned money. We are all feeling the pinch of the economy and the growing gap between those that have and have not.

WHY NOT ELECT SOMEONE WHO REPRESENTS YOUR END OF THE SPECTRUM???

VOTE FOR THE PERSON NOT THE PARTY!!! Partisan politics is getting in the way of good government and fair decision making!

CMS School Closing Preys on West-Meck Students

The proposed school closing have caused unrest and tension throughout all of Mecklenburg County as many students and families across the County are asked to begin the mental preparation for changes that are expected to be enacted by the school board to help wrangle their unbalanced budget.

In these changing and uncertain times I think that anyone who has to count their pennies from week to week (which is everyone I personally know) are sympathetic of the need for changes that will float us to the day the economy begins to turn back around but I am outraged that our leaders feel that this might be accomplished primarily on the backs of our Western Mecklenburg County citizens....SHAME ON YOU!

I began this post two days ago after reading the front page article in The Charlotte Observer "CMS Picks 12 Schools for Possible Closure" and had waited hoping that CMS would come out with additional information that would more clearly outline their method and process for choosing the schools that they did, I have searched their website and news stories hopeful to find a link to some less abbreviated CMS plan, which I can not find.

We as a community should be disgusted with the fact that of the 12 proposed closing all but 4 of them are represented in West Charlotte. Of the remaining 4 school, it is somewhat misleading since 2 of those 4 schools are Montessori Magnets, which they proposed to combine and send to the current Oaklawn Padeia Academy Magnet (which they would close as it's current use and be a new Montessori School). Leaving only really Villa Heights which is not considered "West Charlotte" but is considered a high poverty enclave near Center City.

So what I can observe in CMS's abbreviated plan is if you are a high poverty school, minority and located in West Mecklenburg Co. you are on the top of their 'list'. Why is this happening? What do you think would happen if this same proposal came out and 80% of it's plan effected only South Mecklenburg Co. residents? All I can say is that I am sure that the last few days would have never been so quiet if that was the case...never. This is an opportunity for us to express our power and concern for our schools, the future of our communities, and our commitment to ourselves and our children to stand and fight---this is not right.

Each one of these proposed closings touch me very personally. I clearly want the best for Western Mecklenburg residents which means that we should be fighting to keep every possible school in this area open for our young people to learn and grow but even the proposal to combine the Montessori Program seems to me a mistake, with my daughter enrolled at one of these schools brings up a few other observations that must be recognized:

• What is the value of closing schools to move them somewhere else? What is the administrative costs associated with such a move? What is the actual cost of packing a school up and hiring a moving company to move it one mile down the road?
• What about the vacant real estate? How will you keep (now vacant) older schools from becoming magnets for neighborhood misconduct (vandalism, drugs, street crime, squatting)?
• What will be the cost of storage of all the furniture, materials, etc that will now not be used? If the proposal expects to sell these items have we thought about the long term cost of then replacing these items as our schools once again need to grow?
• What is the administrative cost of all of this moving and restaffing---seems that money is being spent when we least have it on the wrong end of the spectrum, paying for reorganization not education!

Most obnoxious of all is that poverty seems to be a driving factor in this overhaul, which begs the question: Since when has high poverty, high need been a qualification for reduction of resources????

Check out the map I created on the right, "Charlotte Meck Proposed CMS Closings" highlighting the location of the 12 proposed schools to close per CMS School Board Proposal outlined in Charlotte Observer Septermber 29, 2010

NCPBA Endorses CEDRIC SCOTT for NC STATE SENATE 38 CAMPAIGN

The North Carolina Police Benevolent Association, Inc.(PBA), a division of the Southern States Police Benevolent Association, Inc, endorsed my candidacy Wednesday of last week. Check out the organization's website at http://www.ssspba.org/ . As we get closer to November 2, hopefully other organizations will acknowledge my honesty, passion and sincerity for public service.

Thank you PBA for your vote of confidence! I will be your voice in the NC State Senate and beyond!

Honorable Work by Fellow Citizens in the Public Housing Sector

Affordable housing, health care, education and addressing unemployment issues were all part of this week's discussions with the citizens of North Carolina (NC) Senate District 38.



I had the opportunity to take a tour of Affordable Housing Facilities around Mecklenburg County. There were community leaders from all across Mecklenburg County and the State of NC. Habitat for Humanity, League of Women Voters Members, Housing Coalition of NC Staff, Church Leaders, Educators, Realtors, Builders and even average citizens who were just concerned and supportive of affordable housing efforts in our state attended the tour. These homes were very inviting. A long way away from my memories of affordable housing that were complete with concrete floors cinder block walls and tons of roaches. After meeting all of the players associated with affordable housing, completing the tour which lasted almost four hours, I am a fan of their efforts and will support affordable housing legislation in the NC State Senate.



To all those who think affordable housing discriminates, decreases your property value and/or increases crime rate, think about something for a moment. There is no place for such selfishness as public and private partnerships lend a helping hand to your fellow North Carolinian who aspire to live the "American Dream". Let's take some time out of our busy schedules and go visit the faces and places of Mecklenburg County Affordable Housing. You will be suprised, as was I, to see what appeared to be quality construction and the many ammenities at each location.

Life Reflections: Past, Present and Future

I love Beatties Ford Road and all of the communities of North Carolina (NC) State Senate District 38! I have planted trees, mowed lawns, unclogged toilets and drains, cleaned gutters, hauled junk and many other various and sundry tasks all over the district. Why? Not for money, not for praise, but for my appreciation of life and the hard times it can bring sometimes.

In fact, taking care of nieghbors and other community members is what Geraldine F. Scott (Ma) taught me to tell you the truth. Ma is my grandma. She would feed members of our community every day of the week. Especially on Saturday and Sunday when my aunts, uncles and cousins visited. She would cook three meals a day taking a break from her "slitting" work at Willis Hoisery in Concord, NC.

I had a really good childhood even though Larry Wayne Morrison (father) was never a part of my life. Even now he has remain invisible in my life and the life of my four children. Eleven aunts, seven uncles, two grandmas (Ma and Nina Kirkpatrick (Grandma Nina), one great-grandma (granny), one mother, Carol Scott Peek (Carol), one dad-David C. Kirkpatrick (Mac) are just the immediate short list of family to whom I owe my career acheivements. They all built my leadership and character skills. Sometimes with a spankin' and sometimes with a speak. I think they called that child abuse in today's terms. Not me though, I call it love! Love for life, fairness, honestly and American pride.

I hope I am blessed to formally serve this community as Senator. This community reminds me of my childhood in so many ways, and as I remember the neighbors and family members who always made sure Ma's house and my Mama's house were 'kept'---who taught me everyone deserves the respect for which they earn, and that life is about working as hard as the Lord will let you work....