Partisan Criticism and Reviving Our NC Vision

Friday I had the honor and the privilege of having the opportunity to talk to Observer Contributor Phillip Hoffman about some of my concerns facing this coming election.

As you can see in the some of the spliced footage, although they had us roped and corralled, I was willing to still find a way to stand out and push the boundaries!! Although my dream to serve as the District 38 Senator is a very serious matter I had a lot of fun with the crowds of people who showed up for some BBQ.

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As the other politicians pressed quietly to be closest to the front of the 'handshaking line' you could find me at the very end of the corral where I could not only shake the hands of those that passed by but where I was also able to use the gift of my voice to entertain and exercise the minds of those that sat in idle as they waited for their boxes of BBQ to be delivered curbside. I was the only one willing to take such a chance...maybe to embarrass myself, maybe to speak my mind, maybe to say what they are scared to say....What I will say is that this is what you should expect out of those that are there to serve you. They should be unrelenting, fearless and persistent---fair, representative, and outspoken--- and they should know how to balance these things so they can make things happen. Any less should be insulting!!!

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Please take a moment to watch this brief interview with The Charlotte Observer to learn a bit more about where I stand.

please click link below

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/420/index.html?media_id=23970641

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