CityView Magazine

26 June 2021 Fascinating FAYETTEVILLE "Fayetteville owes a lot to Bill," said John Smith, who was Fayetteville's town manager at the time, a position that can sometimes lead to contention with a town's mayor. "Bill understood the role of mayor better than anyone I've ever known. He was very good at getting people's attention and making people want to work with him. He won over the city council by winning over the community. I had a great affection for Bill." Hurley was 85 when he died Nov. 26, 2018, from a form of leukemia. e procession for his funeral stretched from Haymount United Methodist Church, where he was a longtime member, to Hay Street and through downtown. It was a fitting tribute "He was the real deal," said John Malzone, a real estate agent and longtime friend of Hurley's, who himself helped lead the effort for a revitalized downtown. "He was a faith-driven politician, but he also had an open mind." Hurley first ran for City Council in 1975. He lost that bid, but then won two years later. en in 1981, he ran for mayor on the platform of cleaning up downtown. Smith remembers working late one night shortly aer arriving in Fayetteville. "My first experience with the 500 block of Hay Street was driving home that night," he said. "Women were knocking on my windshield and sitting on the hood of my car. It was infamous. ere were city cops and military police everywhere." By May of 1983, a crane with a wrecking ball began to knock down buildings on the 500 block as people gathered to watch and celebrate. "I was there and saw that wrecking ball," Sandy Hurley said. "And now I can't believe here it is 2021 and how different downtown looks. Bill had a commitment to the city. He had a genuine calling. I miss him so much. I don't want the things he did to be forgotten." at isn't likely. ere are so many people who remember his remarkable accomplishments, which include helping to start the annual Dogwood Festival, helping to raise funds for the statue of Lafayette in Cross Creek Park and, perhaps his proudest moment – leading the effort to earn Fayetteville the designation of All-America City from the National Civic League in 1985. at designation, for which a delegation Bill Hurley led the delegation that helped Fayetteville earn the designation of All-America City from the National Civic League in 1985.

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