I support Vote Yes Fayetteville because this structure change would give every citizen more voice in our city council with six council members accountable to them versus just the current two.

I served on City Council under both structures as an at-large and district representative, like most of the major cities in North Carolina. During my service when the council had at-large seats as part of the structure, I saw that the major issues of the city were given adequate attention.

While serving as a district representative, I witnessed continued infighting over what benefited the elected person’s district and less attention to the big picture.

For example, it took over eight years to get the Parks & Recreation bond to a vote while we argued over which district received what new facilities.

Even today, commitments made to District 2, like the Fields Road Park and the Cape Fear River Park, remain undone because money gets moved to other districts.

We were never able to fully fund stormwater to protect our most exposed citizens from the next flood because flooding only threatens a few districts but is costly to everyone.

Our major gateway to Fort Bragg continues to include the Shaw Heights blight because of City Council’s unwillingness to spend the funds to address this citywide issue.

Our community has changed over the years. There are 38% more Black voters than white in Fayetteville today. Both Blacks and whites have a similar voter turnout, and Black candidates continue to be elected in many at-large seats, including the fact that two of our last four mayors were Black.

I served alongside Marshall Pitts, who was first elected at-large and then became mayor.

We have tried the current model for over 20 years and can clearly see that Fayetteville is not keeping up with the rest of the state.

Our growth rate is lower than NC’s other major cities while our crime and poverty rates are higher.

We should recognize that the progressive cities in our state use a model that provides more representation for every citizen and more balanced attention to city-wide issues.

Most recently, we have seen our mayor and some council members spend thousands of taxpayer dollars to keep this referendum off the ballot. They were unsuccessful as the courts ordered the referendum be placed on the ballot and citizens be given the right to vote.

I encourage each of you to support this Charter Amendment and to Vote Yes Fayetteville on Nov. 8 to provide for more representation on our City Council.

More representation. Not less.

Editor's note: Bobby Hurst served on Fayetteville City Council from 2007 - 2017.