“I miss coming down here,” my wife said as we headed to downtown Fayetteville for dinner a few weeks ago. I moved back home last year to East Tennessee and returned to spend a couple of days at her mom’s. For years, we enjoyed Pierro’s Italian Bistro for date night. So, we headed there for dinner.
Fayetteville is a town that constantly churns. Politically, Fayetteville, Cumberland County, and Fort Bragg present a complex and dynamic political environment. It is also a place where families are made and where they break, often setting bad examples for kids.
Fayetteville is a city of Yin and Yang. Fayetteville is known as the “All-America City” and the home of some of the bravest heroes on earth. It is the home of Putt-Putt Golf, Golden Corral, and the first franchised Hardee’s restaurant. On the other hand, it is nationally known as “Fayettenam”, “Fatalburg”, and post 9/11 “Fayettestan”, due to its strong military presence and its reputation for high-profile crimes. I know the locals don’t like that reputation, but Fayetteville and Fort Bragg have inherited those three unflattering monikers over the last half-century.
It was a beautiful evening as we sat outside Pierro’s on the patio enjoying our dinner, as we watched Hay Street turn itself into a two-lane spectacle of mayhem. Trucks, cars, motorcycles, and Sling Shots (those three-wheel cars) paraded up and down the street—some with ear-piercing exhaust pipes and music so loud that it would make your head explode. Motorcycles lined up and did wheelies up and down Hay Street.
I looked at my wife, pointed down the sidewalk to the police station, and said, “If the police just rolled a chair out the front door with a radar gun, they would make thousands of dollars a night, and we could have free parking.”
Downtown Fayetteville should be the nicest place on earth, with as much money as has been put into those few blocks. Since the 1990s, city officials have focused on revitalizing downtown. In the mid-90s, the city acquired Rick’s Lounge. The city leadership believed that businesses like Rick’s Lounge were the reasons for the high crime rate and the seedy reputation of the town.
It is hard to find data on whether Fayetteville is better off now than it was back then. That is because the crime methods have changed, but in the end, it just depends on whether you feel safe living here. Lately, gun violence has been highlighted due to the recent shootings at a Cliffdale Road carnival and Fayetteville’s annual Downtown Dogwood Festival, which was held only a couple of blocks away from the police station.
I admit that homelessness is now an epidemic in America, and it plagues some cities more than others. It is hard to go downtown Fayetteville and not be asked for money by a panhandler. I quickly discovered that it is easier to put a few bucks in my pocket for them when I go downtown. But sometimes, I am unsure if I am telling myself that I am helping my fellow man, or if I’m just giving them money to distract them so they will move on. On the other hand, I would much rather give a homeless person money than pay for parking downtown. Our roads have been built with taxpayers’ dollars, but before paid parking was a thing, it hurt everyone in some form or fashion, which also feels like extortion.
I will tell you that when people lack the courage to insist that Fayetteville police enforce something as simple as local traffic laws outside of their building, the police force is reactive, not proactive.
Eventually, these little criminals mature into big criminals, and victims will only breed criminals or more victims.
As we sat on the patio finishing our meal, my wife said, “I was wrong, I do not miss it here”.
As I write this, a news flash just came in saying the Mayor of Fayetteville is calling for a meeting to discuss the violence and the possibility of a curfew. Well, after 26 homicides since January 1st of this year, Fayetteville leadership weighs in, again, with too little, too late. People need to stand up for their community. If the residents of Fayetteville continue to allow their community leaders and elected officials to endorse policies of LESS law, LESS order, LESS enforcement, and LESS accountability, maybe a more appropriate nickname for Fayetteville should be “FayetteLESS”.