‘Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la, la Fayetteville!
It’s time to jump up on Santa’s lap (sorry, Santa, I’ve gained a little weight since we last sat together) and deliver our Christmas list. Not mine, but my list of gifts I wish I could give this year to Fayetteville and Cumberland County.
And, Santa, let me start by assuring you I’ve been nice, not naughty. Please don’t believe what the county commissioners are saying about me. Really, I’m a nice guy.
Kids are right up there at the top of my list, Santa. All of our kids—in the city, in the county, and across our region. We aren’t doing right by them. Too many are becoming adults without the skills and abilities they need to succeed, and it’s hurting us as well as them. Like all the other counties around us, Cumberland has a poverty problem. For a lot of kids, it’s a trap they may never escape.
We need a stronger, better education system. Way back in the previous century (really, that long ago!), the courts ruled that the state was violating its own constitution by failing to provide equal education to all its children. The decision has never been enforced, and the latest state Supreme Court hearing on the Leandro case has led nowhere—two years later, the justices are still avoiding the justices are still avoiding it.
Anyone who can read knows that public education in North Carolina isn’t supported the way our constitution demands. And so, poorer counties like Cumberland still struggle to provide the kind of education that counties in the Triangle, for one example, can easily afford. Those kids are far more likely to find good jobs and success in life. Our kids can’t. Let’s fix that.
Speaking of the obstacles that our kids—and just about everyone else—face, there’s the issue of violent crime. We’ve got too much of it here, an issue that’s certainly related to the poverty that’s too prevalent.
While the overall crime rate in Fayetteville is down this year, the murder rate isn’t. Violence is claiming too many lives, and both victims and perpetrators are often young. Lives are being destroyed before they have even a tiny chance of thriving. Santa, we need some help here.
It’s not a policing issue—the problem starts long before the cops are called. Our kids need support, from their families, from schools, from our “social safety net,” from community organizations, from churches—from every one of us in the community. They need role models who can give them hope and a pathway to a good life.
And here’s a basic thing, Santa: How about a real municipal effort to make this a walkable city? How about giving us a plan to create sidewalks, crosswalks, and other things that make it safe—and dare I suggest it, even fun—to walk around and leave our cars parked and unnecessary?
While we’re at it, Santa, could you give us a hand in finding more creative, even visionary, leaders for the city and county? We’ve got some good ones, but not nearly enough.
Too many of our young and middle-aged best and brightest are sitting on the sidelines and deciding against offering their talents for public service. Too many of our perennial candidates—including some who keep getting elected to important posts—have a hard time finding solutions to our biggest problems.
Getting a new fire station in your district is a lot easier than building and executing a plan to improve the economy, strengthen our schools, improve our cultural life, and make this a community that people want to live in. That requires big thinking and the ability to execute an effective plan. Greater Fayetteville has people who can do that, but not enough of them are stepping up to offer their time and expertise.
And while we’re talking about our leaders, Santa, please give us a gift we so desperately need in this time of divisiveness. Give us our local, nonpartisan elections back.
Even at the city council level, some candidates are campaigning on their party identities, although the posts are still nominally nonpartisan. Please, get that corrosive nonsense out of local elections.
Street paving isn’t a partisan issue. Nor is waste disposal. Nor is the location of the next rec center or deciding how to fight crime.
Partisanship shouldn’t be an issue in county government either. Taking care of public and mental health isn’t a place for partisan politics, nor is running a jail or a courthouse.
And speaking of courthouses, judicial races shouldn’t be partisan battles either. The law is the law, and judges need to invoke and interpret it with common sense, not party orthodoxy.
What do you think, Santa? Can we apply some of that common sense to the electoral process, too?
Merry Christmas, everyone! See you in 2026.
Read CityView Magazine’s “The Holiday Issue” December 2025 e-edition here.
