EDITORIAL: Bill Hurley: A leader who transformed his city

Nov. 28--Bill Hurley lived his life at the intersection of vision and integrity. That's where he built the foundation that would become the living, breathing success of Fayetteville's downtown today -- a thriving arts and entertainment district filled with shops, galleries, restaurants. It's also the home of the Fayetteville Woodpeckers, the minor-league baseball team that will begin playing next spring in the city's new downtown ballpark.

Mr. Hurley died Monday at the age of 85. We wish he had lived to see Opening Day -- he would have been the perfect choice to throw out the first ball, because he was the one, decades earlier, who got the downtown renaissance ball rolling. It began as a wrecking ball.

Mr. Hurley may not have foreseen the new stadium when he became Fayetteville's mayor in 1981, but he had a crystal-clear vision of what wouldn't be there: the tawdry bars and topless joints and all the moral decay and blight they attracted to the city's core. He ran for mayor on a downtown cleanup platform, and he delivered: Less than two years later, a big crane with a wrecking ball arrived in town and as Mr. Hurley and hundreds of others watched, it began knocking down buildings on Hay Street's notorious 500 block, and some on the 400 block as well. Today, that space is filled with the Medical Arts Building, the Airborne & Special Operations Museum, the police station and City Hall. The Prince Charles Hotel is being renovated into apartment units as the new baseball stadium is rising next to it. Soon, a parking deck, hotel and office building will be added.

We know all of this pleased Mr. Hurley. His face would light up as he talked about it. He was quietly proud of his adopted hometown. Yes, quiet. That was a key to understanding him -- it wasn't his style to be a loud or shrill cheerleader. Rather, he preferred to have low-key conversations about what the city needed and how to accomplish it, and then stand back and enjoy watching a host of players make it happen. That's how he was instrumental in founding the Dogwood Festival, and countless other initiatives that drove the city forward and gave it a unique identity.

Mr. Hurley left the mayor's office in 1987 but he couldn't stand on the sidelines for long. He won a seat in the N.C. General Assembly the following year and except for sitting out one term, served until he left politics for good in 2002. His time in the General Assembly was marked by the same quiet effectiveness he showed us as mayor. In a place when so many politicians were prone to influence-peddlers and willing to bend the ethical rules, Mr. Hurley showed continuing integrity, doing things the right way instead of taking the easiest route or lining his own pockets.

When he left the General Assembly in 2002, Mr. Hurley said he wanted to spend more time with his wife and family, who were so important to him. He did that, but he never disappeared from the life of the city. He continued running his insurance business and working on a variety of volunteer projects, always ready to lend a hand. Even though he was slowed by a form of leukemia, he didn't clean out his office until a few weeks ago. "He never wanted to be labeled as 'being retired.' He never liked that name," his son, Mark Hurley, said Monday.

A celebration of Mr. Hurley's life will be held at 1:30 p.m. Friday at Haymount United Methodist Church. An endowment in his name has been established at the Cumberland Community Foundation. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to The Mayor Bill Hurley Legacy Endowment for Fayetteville, in care of the Cumberland Community Foundation, PO Box 2345, Fayetteville, NC 28302, or by going online to cumberlandcf.org. Proceeds will support programs that promote, improve or celebrate Fayetteville, with a priority for programs in downtown Fayetteville, foundation Executive Director Mary Holmes says.

That's just the right legacy for a man who inspired his city to greater things, and never stopped helping it thrive.

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