Follow Planning Best Practices: Use BRT to Revitalize Neighborhoods, Not Remove Them.
Livable Raleigh’s position is that while adding density along BRT corridors is a desirable goal, the impact of the $97M New Bern Avenue BRT project alone will create a tremendous incentive for dense organic redevelopment that incentivizes economically viable affordable housing height bonuses up to 5 stories – and not above. The effect of the proposed 744 parcel upzoning, Z-92-22 (which ironically leaves out the zero-density Raleigh Country Club) will not only eliminate most opportunities to incentivize and negotiate affordable housing units, but will also accelerate the displacement of all low wealth and Black households in the corridor – in direct conflict with the city’s adopted ETOD vision to reverse displacement.
Gun Violence Higher in Gentrifying Neighborhoods
One of the solutions to the problem proposed by the authors is to support policies to reduce the displacement of longtime residents, which would include affordable housing. Instead, along the New Bern Avenue BRT, our developer-friendly city planners have increased the height threshold for affordable units from three stories to five, which guarantees that no affordable units will be built because of the increase in cost of construction materials when height exceeds the five stories allowed under stick building.
Raleigh City Council Retreat, who knows where, who knows when?
We’ve been waiting patiently for the details to appear on the City’s Events Calendar so we can add the information to our calendar and publicize this important event. With less than three weeks to go before the retreat is scheduled to occur, the City’s Events Calendar still does not give us the time, the place, the agenda or even an indication as to if the event will be live-streamed or recorded for those who cannot make it to the undisclosed location.
Create an Area Plan for New Bern Avenue
The solution is simple. You are half way there. You have exempted one and two story homes from the TOD. Well done! Now, fix the core of the problem by amending TC-17A-20 so that NCODs, HODs and residential properties take precedence over the TOD! You amended this ordinance once. Let’s send it back to the drawing board, amend it again, and put equity and neighborhood protection back in.
January 2, 2024 City Council Meeting Highlights
Highlights from the January 2, 2024 City Council afternoon and evening meetings
Baldwin’s Council Cronies Erect Housing Hurdles
This gentrification–cruelly forced to be funded by the council’s constituents through taxes and fees–is not done with respect to or value for the history, culture, and communities of Downtown. It’s for the investors; for the migratory wealthy who seek new investments for their capital in an expanding city.
BRT, New Bern Ave, & Z-92-22 – some quick facts
Livable Raleigh supports BRT. We do NOT support proactively upzoning 744 properties on New Bern Ave in a giveaway of the city’s only bargaining chip to negotiate for affordable housing. BRT can be built without the upzoning.
Public Forum: Will New Bern’s Mass Upzoning Revitalize Neighborhoods or Eliminate Them?
Join us on Sunday, January 21st at 2pm at the Tarboro Road Community Center (121 N. Tarboro Street, Raleigh) to learn how you can help stop the city’s urban renewal of New Bern Avenue. Stand up for Raleigh’s Black history and for revitalizing existing neighborhoods and businesses along the New Bern Avenue Bus Rapid Transit line rather than forcing them out.
‘Twas the night before Council
‘Twas the night before council, and all through the city, Affordable units demolished, oh what a pity. The ADU pilot awaited support with care, In hopes that affordable units soon would be there. The developers nestled all snug in their beds, With visions of profits and luxury spreads.
City Council’s Election Survey is so biased, it’s useless
The questions are worded with a bias intended to guide the respondents to answer the way the mayor prefers. So, the results of the survey will be meaningless because the questions weren’t inclusive and were engineered to lead to a predictable outcome.