A commuter bus service connecting Rocky Mount and Raleigh is moving forward, officials said.

On Monday, according to officials, the Rocky Mount City Council approved the matching funds for a $3 million grant awarded by the North Carolina Department of Transportation for the bus service between eastern North Carolina and the Triangle.

According to Rocky Mount officials, the $3 million will be used towards startup funding for the service’s vehicles, operations, and marketing.

City officials said they are now looking for a qualified vendor to implement the project.

Regional said they intend to turn Rocky Mount into a transportation hub that connects eastern North Carolina with jobs in the Triangle. They are considering future routes to other areas, including Wilson, Roanoke Rapids, Greenville, and Elizabeth City.

“Companies today are recruiting from a much larger geographic area,” Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Roberson said in a statement. “If we want to compete for new investment and help the businesses already here grow, we must think differently about how people get to work. This commuter service expands the workforce available to Rocky Mount and gives people another option for connecting with good jobs.

“Supporting the retention and expansion of our existing businesses is just as important as recruiting new companies,” he continued in his statement. “We have employers who need workers today, and we have people who want good jobs but may not have reliable transportation to get there. This initiative helps address both sides of that equation.

“This is about preparing Rocky Mount for the future. Our economic growth cannot be measured only by the number of companies we attract, or the number of jobs created. We also have to make sure people can connect to those opportunities. This investment moves us closer to a region where communities work together, employers have access to talent, and people have more choices about where they live and work.”

https://www.cbs17.com/news/local-news/rocky-mount-secures-3-million-ncdot-grant-for-commuter-bus-service-to-raleigh/

Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Roberson said recently that the city is looking at four or five letters of intent from various developers who have pitched an intent or a desire to acquire and develop municipally owned land southwest of the Interstate 95 interchange for U.S. 64.

“It ranges from everything from data centers to mixed use,” Roberson said in a phone interview Tuesday of the types of interest in the land.

Generally, a letter of intent outlines the initial terms and conditions that parties agree upon before finalizing a detailed contract in a business transaction.

According to Roberson, the City Council reviewed those details in closed session and deputized Rocky Mount City Manager Elton Daniels to be able to go forward and negotiate with those who have made pitches to see whether the city can get the highest and best price.

Roberson said that the next step is going to be to reconvene and decide who the city is going to partner with going forward.

“That is in process,” Roberson said. “It is in work. There is still a robust amount of energy and excitement about folks who want to develop that property. So, I’m feeling very good about that.”

Of the interest, Roberson said that, “I can say without question every single one of them are at a much higher strike price — in other words, an offer price that is higher than what our cost basis is in the property.”

Roberson also made clear that, “It’s less about that for us than to make sure it gets developed the right way” and with the right kind of tax revenue.

Roberson was referring to 336 acres of land off North Old Carriage Road and across from the front entrance to Nash Community College.

Mayor: Developers interested in Project 336 land west of the city

Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Roberson said recently that the city is looking at four or five letters of intent from various developers who have pitched an intent or a desire

William F. West Staff WriterRockyMount Telegram

Filipino culture and food can be found in downtown Rocky Mount at Kabayan Bites.

Kabayan Bites, which is Rocky Mount’s first Filipino restaurant, is in the 100 block of Southeast Main Street and on the east side of the CSX rail line between Hill and Tarboro streets.

It’s a family operation, with Jm Yravin Gaspar in charge and getting help from her mother, Marynol Gaspar, a third grade mathematics teacher at Middlesex Elementary School.

One of Kabayan Bites’ enthusiastic customers is Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Roberson.

“I’m telling you, it has just been fantastic,” Roberson said over the phone on Wednesday afternoon of his experience getting food via takeout or dining in.

“I give it a two-thumbs up,” Roberson said.

Roberson also spoke about the continuing redevelopment of downtown.

The mayor said that a vision started with then-interim City Manager Peter Varney to create a concentration of restaurants in the heart of Rocky Mount.

“Anywhere that you create that density of restaurants and these little bistros, you’ll create some traffic down there,” Roberson said. “It’s a good complement to what we’re trying to do downtown already.”

Additionally, Roberson said that Rocky Mount has a growing Filipino population.

“A lot of our teachers are Filipino,” Roberson said.

Roberson said that about four or five years ago, he was invited to a Christmas party where about 20 Filipinos were gathering.

The mayor went this past year “and if there weren’t 200, I’d be surprised,” he said of the gathering.

“And most of them were teachers,” he said, adding that they were working in the school systems in Edgecombe and Nash counties or further east.

Kabayan Bites is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays and from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the other days of the week.

Filipino restaurant downtown serving customers

Filipino culture and food can be found in downtown Rocky Mount at Kabayan Bites.

William F. West Staff WriterRockyMount Telegram

Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Roberson has Monday marked on his calendar.

That’s when the Rocky Mount Raising Cane’s officially opens.

Roberson said he intends to be on hand Monday morning at the chicken fingers restaurant off the busy North Wesleyan Boulevard in the northwestern part of the city.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Roberson said. “I have heard a lot about Raising Cane’s from friends all over the country or the Southeast — and I have never tried it. So, I am eager to find out what all the fuss is about.”

Roberson said that friends tell him that Raising Cane’s is the best in class.

And there’s a ton of competition for that title in the chicken restaurant world, including Zaxby’s, Bojangles, Chick-fil-A and Slim Chickens in Rocky Mount alone.

“But we’re going to find out,” Roberson said. “We’re going to give it a chance on Monday.”

Rocky Mount Raising Cane’s set to open Monday morning

Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Roberson has Monday marked on his calendar. That’s when the Rocky Mount Raising Cane’s officially opens.

William F. West Staff WriterRockyMount Telegram

In recent months, it has become far too easy to divide ourselves into camps.

Some say Rocky Mount's challenges are an Edgecombe County versus Nash County issue. Others frame them as black versus white, Republican versus Democrat, City Council versus the more informed, or those who have versus those who have not. But none of those divisions will solve a single problem or create a single opportunity for our future.

The truth is much simpler.

Rocky Mount's success belongs to all of us, and so do its struggles.

When a business opens its doors, we all benefit. When a neighborhood thrives, we all prosper. When a family succeeds, our community grows stronger. Likewise, when our city faces difficulties, every one of us feels the impact.

That is why now is not the time for finger-pointing. It is not the time for assigning blame or retreating into opposing corners. It is time for something more difficult — and far more important. It is time to work together.

The American experiment has always been built on spirited debate. We will not always agree, nor should we. The freedom to voice different opinions is one of our nation's great strengths and a defining feature of our democracy. Healthy disagreement helps us find better solutions.

But eventually, every community reaches a moment when it must decide whether disagreement will become division or whether differences will become strength.

Rocky Mount is at that moment.

We can continue to focus on what separates us, or we can focus on what unites us. We can dwell on yesterday's mistakes, or we can build tomorrow's successes. We can rise together, or we can fall apart together.

I know which future I choose.

I choose a Rocky Mount that believes in itself. A Rocky Mount that values cooperation over conflict, solutions over excuses and community over division. I choose a Rocky Mount where neighbors stand beside one another and work toward a common purpose.

Because when we come together — regardless of race, politics, geography, income or background — there is no challenge we cannot overcome.

The road ahead might not be easy, but our best days are still before us.

Let us choose to rise, together.

Because together, Rocky Mount is unstoppable.

Mayor Sandy Roberson

Letter: Focus on unity, not division

In recent months, it has become far too easy to divide ourselves into camps.

RockyMount Telegram

Despite financial cuts by the city of Rocky Mount, the 2026 Juneteenth Community Empowerment Festival will go forward with events set Friday and Saturday at three locations.

Mayor Sandy Roberson said in a recent phone interview that it’s great that the organizers are continuing the Juneteenth tradition they started years ago.

“It’s unfortunate the city didn’t have this money to fund that as well as a lot of other things this particular year, but it’s just not prudent for us to spend money in that way,” Roberson said.

“So, anytime I think that the community gets involved and puts together these festivals, it’s a good, positive thing,” he said.

The Rocky Mount City Council came to a consensus to allocate more than $736,000 to renovate and upgrade two buildings in the heart of Rocky Mount. The decision was reached on June 10 at a council budget workshop chaired by Mayor Sandy Roberson.

The funds are going to be in the form of incentive grants of $554,678 for the May & Gorham building, which was once a drugstore, and $181,436 for the Epstein building, which was once an upscale clothing store. The plan is for the two locations to be for commercial and residential use.

City finds ways to fund renovation, improvement of two downtown buildings

The Rocky Mount City Council came to a consensus to allocate more than $736,000 to renovate and upgrade two buildings in the heart of Rocky Mount. The decision was reached

William F. West Staff WriterRockyMount Telegram

A prominent local businessman said that more than $320,000 has been committed by sources to help keep United Community Ministries in operation.

“It was probably the easiest money I have ever raised — and it was the quickest I have ever raised,” Tom Betts said Saturday in a phone interview.

“And I got some pretty substantial checks, as you can imagine, to get over $320,000,” Betts said.

UCM’s mission is to bring hope to hungry and homeless people in the area.

The nonprofit organization operates a community center off McDonald Street downtown, which serves the homeless and includes a pantry and a soup kitchen.

UCM also operates the Bassett Center off Branch Street in the Southeast Rocky Mount area. The Bassett Center provides a transitional housing program for homeless families with children.

Roberson said in a phone interview on Saturday evening that he believes that UCM is a needed service in the community.

“The Bible tells us to take care of the poor among us — and try to minister to them and their needs,” Roberson said. “And I think that this is just an excellent sample of a community that wants to do that — and is doing it and has been doing it.”

More than $320K raised to help shelter

A prominent local businessman said that more than $320,000 has been committed by sources to help keep United Community Ministries in operation.

William F. West Staff WriterRockyMount Telegram