Vote Yes Fayetteville

Troy Williams- Community Advisory Board Here is the scenario: Two people — and it’s mostly men — get into a confrontation over, you know, generally something stupid, and nobody will back down. They call it protecting ones’ “street credibility.” And before you know it, somebody pulls a gun and it

By Karl Merritt It is extremely rare in America that there can be a civil and informative discussion where focus on race, meaning allegations of racism, is confronted by a thoughtful presentation of facts. I recently had the astounding experience of watching such a conversation. On 7 June 2021, Mitch

Myron B. Pitts | Fayetteville Observer June 9, 2021 Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin invited former Mayor Tony Chavonne onto his local radio show Monday. The main topics were Chavonne’s desire to change the city council’s structure and the Fayetteville Police Department response to the protests and riots last spring. But toward

Sunday, June 6, 2021 Karl Merritt, Guest Columnist In 2006 and 2007, I led the opposition to an effort to restructure the Fayetteville City Council. I was wrong. Vote Yes Fayetteville is a current attempt to change the council make-up from nine single-member districts to five single and four at-large

Note from Publisher Bill Bowman: There are many urgent needs in the Fayetteville community. I am yielding my space this week to James Baker, a retired Army officer and Fayetteville resident advocating for a local government initiative that would better serve residents by giving them a much greater voice in

Myron Pitts – Fayetteville Observer – April 13, 2021 A little more than 7,200 people voted to dramatically change the number and kinds of seats on the Fayetteville City Council in 2007. At the time, the city comprised 174,000 residents. A group called Yes 2 Referendum had pushed a citywide

Fayetteville Observer – April 10, 2021 A lot of Americans are persuaded that crime is on the rise in the U.S. However, many of the experts say they are wrong. But how do you squash someone’s fears? Statistically, reported crime is down, but Americans still don’t feel safe. It’s puzzling

Rachael Riley The Fayetteville Observer Area law enforcement agencies have seen a decrease in the number of officers on staff within the past year, which officials say is part of usual attrition and is not affecting response to public safety.   In Fayetteville, there are 434 budgeted sworn, full-time officer positions and 10 part-time

Abby Church, Fayetteville Observer USA TODAY NETWORK Chalmers McDougald said his main reason for stepping away was because he liked his current “peace and quiet.” Chalmers McDougald, former city councilman and the only Black member in the group Vote Yes Fayetteville’s effort to change the City Council’s structure, backed out