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I grew up in good ole Fayettenam and many of you basically hit the nail on the head. Fayetteville needs to diversify it's economy as there are not a lot of good jobs outside of military. Also not that there's not a lot to do, but there could be more, especially for teens since when you actually look at crime, in any city it's usually people between the ages 15- to early 20s and just growing up there, I knew tons of people that were into some **** even when their families were doing relatively well. Bunch of kids honestly did things they shouldn't have and hung out with people they shouldn't have for no other reason than they were bored. Even a close family friend, who granddad was the Mayor of Spring Lake, and both his mom and dad had good paying jobs to where he didn't want for anything still got into slinging dope.
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Fayetteville also has a terrible layout, Just growing up there, and leaving to Greensboro for college, Briefly living in Augusta(aka disgusta ga lol another place that's basically fayetteville with a riverwalk) and eventually coming back to NC, briefly in Charlotte before finally moving to Cary, Fayetteville layout makes it feel like you are driving forever to get to A to B. Downtown actually has character but a lot of people don't even go and I blame the layout making it feel like a hike for most people in fayetteville to get to.
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I will say that people EXTREMELY EXAGGERATE how bad Fayetteville is. It's no where near as bad as people say it is, and it has potential. Basically if you are hanging around shaw rd, bragg blvd, or the Murc and you don't live there you was probably doing something illegal yourself lol. I believe in maybe 10 years how people hype Durham now as the cool place to be, you will start to see Fayettville get hype as it's downtown revitalizes. Especially if they can incorporate the cape fear river which is right by downtown and maybe make a riverwalk at some point in time.
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I agree with you drrck. I think Fayetteville is a little behind the times, but it does have potential. It's just that for so long they had a reactive attitude and worked on fixing the bad stuff (see Hay Street) instead of having a proactive attitude. I think the ballpark downtown is a big step in the right direction.
I think Fayetteville is making a good start with the ballpark development and talks of a downtown performing arts center. There are some events downtown like the International Folk Festival. But for a city of over 200,000 it feels too small. High Point is half the size of Fayetteville in population and it has a denser and taller downtown even though much of that is due to the Home Furnishings Market. Asheville is another example. Its smaller than Fayetteville and has a larger skyline. Heck Asheville's skyline is bigger than Durham's. I think the lack of a nearby major airport, particularly an International one, has made it difficult to attract industry to the area so Fayetteville has relied on the military.
It also suffers from being in between media markets. Fayetteville gets all the Triangle stations and also gets the Wilmington stations so it has never really had it's own strong voice in the media besides the Fayetteville Observer and various radio stations (FOXY, etc).
It also suffers from being in between media markets. Fayetteville gets all the Triangle stations and also gets the Wilmington stations so it has never really had it's own strong voice in the media besides the Fayetteville Observer and various radio stations (FOXY, etc).
Fayetteville is slightly isolated as well. It's not a part of the Piedmont Urban Crescent along I-85 which is seeing the most growth in the state.
But to be fair in regards to its small town atmosphere. Fayetteville just recently grew north of 200,000 which was mainly due to large annexation. So it's not like Fayetteville is an established city of 200,000 plus people. But I do find Hay Street quite nice with its tree-lined streets and wide sidewalks. I also like the brick like street. It actually has one of the nicest main streets of the large cities in the state. Even though its a small stretch of road downtown, it reminds me of Greenville, SC a little with its lush "main street". The building set back being further away from the street really makes it a pedestrian friendly stretch of road. It's inaccurate to say its a terrible place. True its not Raleigh, Greensboro, Durham or Winston-Salem, but it has its own appeal to people.
The problem is Fayetteville needs to fill these streets up more with people at night.
Y'know all that hardscaping (brick pavers, etc) is newer Gsoboi, rather than really historic. It was just a regular old road in the 70s and 80s and lined with topless bars and strip clubs. It was pretty rough and I guess it has taken a really long time to recover from that. I think the brick pavers happened in the 80s or 90s. Not sure.
Fayetteville isn't a conservative city. It votes blue consistently.
Democrat isn't always a proxy for liberal. Demographics help explain why it votes Democratic consistently but as a military city, I'm sure it has a pretty significant socially conservative streak to it.
Democrat isn't always a proxy for liberal. Demographics help explain why it votes Democratic consistently but as a military city, I'm sure it has a pretty significant socially conservative streak to it.
I most definitely agree with this;I remember someone tried arguing about Fayetteville being liberal to me and I couldn’t take it very seriously. Sure, Fayetteville has a black plurality but that doesn’t make it this super duper liberal place. There’s also a large military presence there, and places like that aren’t known for being super liberal. Fayetteville’s previous mayor was also a Republican as well.
Y'know all that hardscaping (brick pavers, etc) is newer Gsoboi, rather than really historic. It was just a regular old road in the 70s and 80s and lined with topless bars and strip clubs. It was pretty rough and I guess it has taken a really long time to recover from that. I think the brick pavers happened in the 80s or 90s. Not sure.
Fayetteville is growing up and growing nicely. I made my first visit there in November '04 and moved there in Summer '05, there are some marked differences from just then to now. My parents still live there and I spent two weeks across Christmas there, it's funny how I can now ride around Fayetteville and recall what "used to be", it's actually a little strange because my family and i aren't natives and have no roots there...
The ballpark and the continued redevelopment of downtown is more than a big deal. Fayetteville isn't a great place to raise a family for me: it is very conservative, the military culture is oppressive, the city lacks a creative class of note, is a low wage and crappy economy, lack of an educated populace, and just overall too small Town America for me. However...
The small town-ness works for many people and Fayetteville has its charms. It can be quite pretty in Spring, the crime is avoidable as it in most places, and I've said this many times, the retail and restaurant culture/scene in Fayetteville is above average for a city typically its size. I can see how someone can get comfortable and enjoy living in Fayetteville. My parents are going on 14 years in their home there and will probably die there...
I've been to many places worse. Fayetteville isn't for me but I find myself defending it from consistent bashing...
I don't know. I disagree. Fayetteville is not very conservative. I grew up there. Went to school with the Republican mayor, Nat Robertson. He lost his bid for re-election, btw. He was one of two Republican mayors in Fayetteville since 1961 and neither won reelection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...North_Carolina
There are some conservative people, there, sure, but as a whole the city is not conservative, but it is also not very progressive. The young military members are mostly not in the socially conservative culture if you're thinking prim and proper type social conservative. They like to party like any young red-blooded Americans — whooo! Lots of places to cater to that kind of attitude, but thankfully they are not downtown so much anymore. Already established that Fayetteville does not vote along conservative lines. There are a LOT of American flags, though. Lots and lots and lots.
I agree that the creative class is lacking. There are some old money folks who are into the arts, but there's never been much of a music scene and it's not a hipster place for sure. People get happy that Three Dog Night is coming to Crown Coliseum. I do think the Cameo theater seems nice (opened in early 2000s). I've never been there, though.
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