“I thought you had respect for me.”  — Alderwoman Jameesha Harris to Mayor Dana Outlaw   Maybe the city attorney sent them a memo, but it sure seemed odd that the Board of Alderman had a nearly half-hour, frank and open discussion on Tuesday about an appointee whose name they took great pains to avoid saying. So we won’t, either. Background Suffice it to say that tumult arose over the last week or so about this Board Member Who Shall Not Be Named (or BMWSNBN for short; we’ll just call him “B”). Many people are offended by a Facebook page that “B” started that reflectsRead More →

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Mayor Dana Outlaw’s appointment of the conservative founder of the Citizen in New Bern Facebook page to the New Bern Housing Authority Board of Directors has drawn scorn from civil rights activists. “Abhorrent action taken by Mayor Outlaw in appointing Chris Ormond to the Housing Authority board — a committee that disproportionately impacts the lives of our marginalized communities here in New Bern,” Kelly Rogers posted to the Facebook group, NB Against Racism. “Atrocious action by the New Bern Mayor appointing a hateful bigot such as Chris Ormond to the housing authority. What does Chris know about these issues? What experience does he have? HeRead More →

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New high quality affordable apartments will soon be coming to New Bern, partially filling a gap Hurricane Florence left in Trent Court in 2018 when 218 units were damaged beyond repair. Carolina Avenue Apartments will be an 84-unit apartment community located southwest of downtown at 801 Carolina Avenue. Mosaic Development Group, Inc. (Mosaic), a Charlotte based nonprofit organization, and Better Vision Housing Corporation (Better Vision) which is an instrumentality of the Housing Authority of the City of New Bern (Housing Authority), are partnering to develop Carolina Avenue Apartments. The apartments will serve residents who earn up to 60 percent of area median income with someRead More →

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Despite earlier obstacles, a storm-stricken New Bern Housing Authority appears headed toward buying acreage off of Carolina Avenue to build apartments that would replace flood-prone tenements at Trent Court. City Manager Mark Stephens and his staff are preparing paperwork to sell 8 acres between the Pembroke community and Trent Road, and U.S. 70 and Carolina Avenue. A decision is expected at the next Board of Aldermen meeting later this month. During the public comments portion of the meeting, New Bern resident Kathy Adolph, a retired teacher and school principal, urged the city to give the Housing Authority the parcel, saying that Trent Court is substandardRead More →

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Tune in to Tuesday’s Board of Aldermen meeting, when officials with the New Bern Housing Authority will give an update about the status of Trent Court. Trent Court was hit hard by Hurricane Florence. Alderwoman Jameesha Harris and several other volunteers braved rising floodwaters to evacuate residents who had sheltered in their homes during the storm. Several feet of water flooded the rows of apartments closest to Lawson Creek, and recovery has been a question, especially considering what has been said in the past about Trent Court’s future. The Choice Neighborhood Initiative (CNI) plan calls for Trent Court to be razed and replaced with mixed-incomeRead More →

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