...days since Raleigh City Council defunded Citizen Advisory Councils (CACs) with NO REPLACEMENT.
Read up on our latest news…
Emerging possibilities & hope
In the three years since their abominable vote, the City has continually promised to bring forth new and revolutionary citizen engagement opportunities. We’re still waiting. But now we have some reason for hope. With your help, four new council members were elected in November who value restoration of community engagement as a high priority.
3 Years Ago a Sneak Attack on Raleigh’s Community Engagement System took place: Residents Lost, Developers Won.
Three years ago on February 4, 2020 Mayor Baldwin and her City Council majority voted to stop supporting Raleigh’s Citizen Advisory Councils (CACs). Three years later that void still exists. There are no new community organizations run by Raleigh residents with City support. Fortunately for Raleigh residents there are quite a few Citizen Advisory Councils that survived the sneak attack on February 4, 2020. Even without City funding and support, these survivors have continued on with their mission of two-way communication between Raleigh residents and their City government.
Raleigh residents find renewed respect at City Council
Livable Raleigh wants to call special attention to how the presence of Raleigh residents and the information presented by speakers impacted the outcomes of the items on Council’s agenda. Never doubt that showing up and speaking out can have a strong impact on the decision-making process of our elected officials.
Raleigh City Council Retreat — January 28, 2023, Day 2
HIGHLIGHTS Councilors Jones and Black ask for agenda changes to address priorities Community Engagement Board’s immediate focus will be on improving public comment process and access to community centers for CACs New councilors ask to be involved in reviewing and...
Planning Commission Highlights- January 24, 2023
HIGHLIGHTS Meeting lasted one hour. The recording is at Planning Commission (granicus.com) Z-81-22 – Deferred to 14Feb meeting for the contemplation of the suggested conditions. Report from Strategic Planning Committee - Wakefield Small Area Plan unanimously approved...
Councilor Mary Black: The plan to build low-income housing in a flood zone is “eco-apartheid”
Putting affordable housing for low-income and working class predominately Black and Persons of Color adjacent to a flood zone is eco apartheid.
January 24 City Council Meeting Highlights
Most rezoning cases were sent to committee or held for further discussion.
Dix Park Edge Study – Be Bold
To say the Dix Edge area study is long-awaited is like saying that Wolfpack football is a little overdue. The fact is that this study by the city’s planning staff of how to manage growth in the Dix Edge area – the large swath of land and neighborhoods east and south of Dorothea Dix Park – is 10 years late.
The Density and Growth Dilemma
The false dichotomy that one must be either pro-growth or anti-growth serves no one. A sensible and balanced approach to development would promote growth that is equitable, environmentally sustainable, supported by adequate infrastructure, and compatible with existing development.
Pouring Gasoline on Raleigh’s Affordable Housing Bonfire
Raleigh’s highly promoted public information sessions about Missing Middle Housing rules got off to a rocky start last Wednesday evening, being held a year and a half late, after the city’s neighborhood densification rules began going into effect.
City Council Meeting – January 17, 2023
WORK SESSION Raleigh Police Department – ACORNS Program UpdateFocus on homelessness, mental health concerns, and substance issuesNine dedicated staff membersProvide referrals to community partners across Wake CountyWork with RPD Crisis Intervention Team, RPD Crisis...
Support the general welfare of the inhabitants of the city
I hope this new Council does more than Looking but not Seeing the poor and houseless, Listening but not Hearing those who advocate on their behalf, and remembers the words: “That what you do for the least of these, you do for me.”
Finish writing the ordinance.
Add a buffer zone and noise ordinance around reproductive care clinics. Our requests are reasonable, legal, and in line with the type of city we would all like Raleigh to be. One of love and respect for all.
City Council Work Session – January 10, 2023
Planning Director Pat Young states that a driver for Missing Middle is housing affordability, but Raleigh’s Missing Middle ordinance doesn’t seem designed to achieve affordability unless you believe in trickle down and their metrics haven’t looked at affordability.
Are six better than three?
To paraphrase Myrick Howard of Preservation NC, you can’t tear down an existing structure and expect to get affordable housing in its place. If we continue this process of tear downs, Raleigh will become a city where only citizens working in the professions and other highly compensated tech workers will be able to live.
Council’s 2023 Retreat: Another Baldwin Shell Game?
Mayor Baldwin knows the most important goal of City Council’s upcoming 2-day retreat is to set strategic priorities for action in the coming term. She also knows that the chances of her priorities prevailing will depend on her ability to prevent other competing Council priorities from being adopted. That is why the first line of defense in Baldwin’s retreat agenda this year is to make sure it is chock-full of plausibly interesting things to see and do, minimizing the time available for other Councilors’ ideas about the future of Raleigh.
Trickled on by the Missing Middle
Whatever aspirations Raleigh has for the Missing Middle, affordable housing is not one that will be realized. As a principal catalyst, the Missing Middle in other cities has shown the opposite effect—higher taxes, less affordable housing, higher land costs, rent increases, and higher house prices.
Starting off on the wrong foot
Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin really stepped in it at the first City Council meeting of 2023. It was announced that Day One of the council’s retreat, an annual event of team-building and setting their collective direction for the year, will be held at an undisclosed location in Durham that has no ability to live stream the event for public access. Worse yet, the venue can’t even record the event for viewing after the fact. So much for improved community engagement!
January 3, 2023 City Council Meetings
HIGHLIGHTS Consent agenda items will be reviewed with council before meetings in future. Hearings that needed to be rescheduled due to insufficient notice will now be heard at a special council meeting on Tuesday, January 24, at 5pm. And staff has put in place...
Hey City Council: throw CACs a lifeline! We’ve been doing the City’s business and need your help.
At the first meeting of the new Raleigh City Council, I spoke about what our Hillsborough-Wade CAC has been accomplishing over the past almost 3 years since the previous City Council majority voted to abolish City support of CACs.