Raleigh’s budget is a blueprint for our lives
Our city’s budget is far more than just a financial ledger—it’s a blueprint for our lives and futures. It shapes the services we depend on every day, from police and fire protection that ensure our safety, to public transportation that keeps us connected, and parks and green spaces that enrich our quality of life.
Mayor Cowell: “It’s going to take focus, attention and every tool in the toolbox.”
Day two of Council’s annual retreat kicks off on January 25th with a discussion of affordable housing. It will be interesting to see if Mayor Cowell can convince her fellow Councilors to move beyond the kinds of fuzzy math that has concealed the real size and causes of Raleigh’s affordable housing crisis. Effective solutions will be fact-based, data driven and will reform current growth rules that promote the loss of five thousand affordable units each year.
Be strong, be resolute, preserve Raleigh’s cultural resources
Raleigh finds itself on lists of superlatives, and one factor that places us there consistently is our collective effort to maintain the character of our fair city through preservation of our historic landscapes, land use patterns, architecture and rich cultural heritage.
JANUARY 21, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS
Highlights from January 21, 2025 Council Work Session and Afternoon Session
Make sure they fund the things that matter
Attending the city’s budget listening sessions was more informative than just how the budget is created. It showed people have a lot to say. They have a lot they care about. Of these things, the 3 that kept coming up were Affordable Housing, Transportation, and Public Safety.
January 14, 2025 City Council Meetings
Council discussed the strategic plan during the afternoon work session and heard public comments in the evening.
The Attack on Single-Family Zoning
I have experience valuing homes that are next to duplexes, fourplexes and apartment buildings; I see what’s happening in these neighborhoods. Once zoning is changed from single-family to multi-family, developers move in and start competing against families for older homes. Unfortunately, the builder always wins because they have more money and are willing to pay cash. Homes, perfect for a starter family or in need of being rehabbed will be purchased by a developer who will tear the house down to make way for a new multi-unit building on a small 5,000-square-foot site. (It’s called the highest and best use of the land). The moment construction starts, the value of a nice condition single-family home next door goes down; the appraisal term is called external obsolescence. Welcome to capitalism in America.
Jan 7, 2025 City Council Meeting
Highlights from the January 7, 2025 City Council meeting
Every Resident Has a Stake in the Comp Plan Update
The city is starting to write a new Comprehensive Plan, When adopted, it will replace the current 2030 Comp Plan, which was adopted in 2013 after several years of public input and dialogue. What is a Comp Plan? It’s a set of policies meant to guide every decision made by city leaders.
Time to Prioritize People in the City Budget
Community engagement for the 2025 / 2026 Raleigh Budget has started. I attended the first virtual session in December, not October, thinking that they would actually engage with the audience. Instead, input was gathered through a number of questions, rather than an informative session and discussion with the public to gather more information about resident priorities and needs. My session had a well educated audience, yet little time was afforded for actual public input.