A week from now, the city of Clinton will know if it is a two-time recipient of the All-America City award, a designation steeped in 60 years of tradition rewarding the efforts of municipalities that enrich the lives of their own residents.

Clinton and 31 other municipalities across the nation are finalists in the competition, which will be held next week from June 17-19 in Tampa, Fla. The city has brought home the award once before, in 2007, and has been named a finalist all four times it has applied for the honor (2004, 2005).

Clinton’s 26-person delegation, consisting of local business owners, city officials, community leaders and everyday residents, is taking three projects with them to Tampa.

The projects, to be presented to a national panel, include a District 5 makeover; the city’s continued downtown revitalization effort; and the “Dancing with the Clinton Stars” fund-raising extravaganza that successfully placed high-technology learning in all city classrooms.

As one of four municipalities selected to represent North Carolina in the AAC competition, Clinton has been busy.

Leading up to next week’s trip, Mayor Lew Starling has said he felt going after the All-America City award was worthwhile because the city has a lot to showcase. The mayor felt so strongly he handed over his mayoral salary for the rest of his term, insisting the AAC pursuit be devoid of tax funds.

City manager John Connet said the impetus in seeking another AAC award was simple: there are positive projects going on and, quite simply, two is better than one.

“The motivation behind (pursuing another award) is the mayor felt that, in these economic times, he wanted to provide something positive for the citizens of Clinton to focus on,” Connet remarked. “And, as we attempt to recruit new business to the community, that it would look better if we were multiple winners. It would show to these potential industries that this was not a one-time thing.”

Since the program’s inception in 1949, more than 4,000 communities have competed and over 500 have been named All-America cities. Thirty-two municipalities have been named an All-America City three times or more, including a trinity of North Carolina municipalities — Laurinburg, Hickory and Asheville. Each has taken the award home three separate years.

Clinton hopes to add a second very soon, Connet said.

“I feel real good about our projects,” the city manager stated. “I feel they’re very strong.”

District 5 facelift

In the last two years, city officials have renewed efforts in revitalizing District 5 and those improvements have gone a long way, residents said.

Irene Hill Thomas, who will be a part of Clinton’s AAC delegation’s Tampa trek, said the difference in the city’s fifth district is like night and day.

“With the progress we have made, we’ll have a good showing,” said Thomas of the AAC competition. She knows firsthand just how bad District 5 had gotten before turning back around. “I grew up in this neighborhood. This was a neighborhood where you knew everybody and played with everybody and weren’t afraid to go out.”

That changed.

“I went away and, when I came back, it had changed a great deal,” Thomas recalled. “We did not know who our neighbors were. It seemed like the whole neighborhood had kind of gone down. And those problems spilled out of the neighborhood into other areas. I’m not saying the neighborhood was a perfect neighborhood, but we didn’t have the crime atmosphere then — the shooting, the abusive language. People respected each other.”

Welcome mats had been replaced by “no trespassing signs,” a change that disheartened Thomas and others.

Clinton police chief Mike Brim noted District 5’s dubious distinction of having the highest crime rate in the city. However, at a district meeting last year, Thomas and others made their voices heard — they were tired of hearing gunshots, seeing people in the streets at all hours and having criminal activity take over their neighborhoods.

With an increased police presence, Brim said, criminal activity has dropped in District 5 by 30 percent, even as calls for service increased by 1,000.

Also, in June 2007, the Council accepted a Parks and Recreation Trust Fund grant on behalf of the Clinton Recreation and Parks Department to refurbish the Sampson Center and surrounding area, including the ballfield.

Previously used as a “hang-out,” the center became a haven for fun and learning under the guidance of the center’s supervisor Tim Boykin. And it looks much better, city and recreation officials said.

A new patio garden, landscaping, overhauling gym renovations and a baseball field realignment would follow, with other improvements still on the horizon as part of the three-phase project. The final phase will include a picnic shelter with a grill and a walking trail.

Also among the strides made in District 5, the City Council has purchased eight properties on Lee, Williams and Barden streets with the goal of redeveloping them and making them more attractive and useful to nearby residents.

“With the support of the city officials ... you can walk out on the street without being afraid,” Thomas remarked. “City officials really have helped a great deal. Too bad we don’t have a ‘before and after.’ You could hear me say it, but when you see it, it tells the whole story.”

Downtown revamp

While endeavors have been made into the city’s fifth district in recent years, the city has focused for the last 10 years on revitalizing the downtown and surrounding areas — and is now developing a third phase in that effort.

Phase III will center on the need for parking and green space and will include a paved walking trail, trees and benches around the area of the old jail off Vance Street. Utilities will also be placed underground in an effort to rid the downtown of hanging wires and other utilities that may act as eyesores.

The city is no stranger to such revitalization efforts, having already focused two other phases around the downtown, bringing notable overhauls to Fayetteville and Main streets. Earlier this year, the city received statewide recognition for one particular project.

The city of Clinton was the recipient of the North Carolina Main Street 2008 Best Public Private Partnership Award for its Clinton City Grill Project.

The Clinton City Grill was a property purchased by the city following a fire that gutted the building, formerly Kaleel’s City Grill, in the summer of 2005. The building was re-tooled by the city and later sold at a loss to encourage renovation. Sold in an upset bid process to Geraldine and W.F. Carr, it is now the site of the Clinton City Grill, owned and operated by Ronald and Nathan Gooden.

Following the opening of Clinton City Grill last year, Ronald Gooden said the down-home, family feel was something that attracted he and his son to the area. He said he wished to enjoy the same kind of success as Kaleel’s did.

Gooden will accompany the AAC delegation to Tampa to talk about the success the business has enjoyed — success achieved from rubble.

Dancing with the Stars

SMART boards will be in all K-8 classrooms by the time students come back to school, thanks to a dancing event held at the beginning of this year that raised nearly $200,000 for the teaching technology.

In January, 24 couples danced across the stage at the Sampson County Agri-Exposition Center in front of hundreds of people as part of “Dancing with the Clinton Stars,” a fund-raising event for the school system.

During the event, every $10 ballot cast by attendees and those watching from home — neighborhood company Star Communications simulcast the event — brought event officials closer to their goal of placing the high-tech SMART boards in the hands of all children in the city school system.

Community participation through votes, DVD and event ticket sales raised $170,000.

The event was a huge success, said the dancing extravaganza’s co-chairwoman Quisan Parker, who will take her two children, Aliah and Zion, to Tampa for the AAC effort. Both now have the technology literally at their fingertips, thanks to the dancing event, she said.

“I’m really excited about (the AAC trip),” Parker remarked. “It’s obviously a wonderful opportunity and it’s nice to see Clinton being recognized on a national level.”

Parker said the desire to make her children globally competitive and provide them with the best resources possible drove her to co-chair the event — and dance for the cause. The outpouring from the community overwhelmed her and others.

“It just shows how much the community came together and we raised $170,000,” said Parker. “It’s amazing what a small town can do when they have a positive intention. If people want to make it happen, they can. It’s about heart. It’s a testament to the spirit of Clinton. They want the same thing that everyone else wants for their children, whether a great education or a safe community to live in.”

With them, the Clinton AAC delegation will take flags to wave proudly. But not just any flags.

According to the delegation, the “F” stands for a better future for children; the “L” for a prosperous life for the community; “A” for a down-home attitude through activities and events; “G” for positive growth conditions for local business and industry; and the “S” for a sense of pride felt by citizens.

They are universal goals had by all, and they are being achieved in Clinton, Parker said. She said she wanted to convey that message to the national panel.

“I’m looking forward to it,” she said. “I think we’re going to come back with it again.”

Connet was more diplomatic, but confident nonetheless.

“I think we have as good a chance as we had in 2007,” he said. “It’s a very strong position.”

Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 121, or by email at sicrime@myclintonnc.com.