Buffkin Pushes Alternative Facts
Councilor Buffkin says Raleigh's new district maps were created in public view and with public input. Nothing could be further from the truth. Councilor Buffkin sent out a newsletter making this claim: "the Council’s decision marked a momentous occasion: the end of...
Falls Lake Watershed – Our Drinking Water Source Must Be Protected
A zoning case to add density in the protected Falls Lake Watershed, an area with little to no access to public transit, threatens the safety of Raleigh's drinking water. Bob Mulder, a former chair of Raleigh's Planning Commission, sent the following...
Mayor Baldwin Launders the Facts thru the Spin Cycle
Mayor Baldwin claims moving 55,419 voters out of their current districts is less disruptive than moving 7,760. Mayor Baldwin's spin to the media: “It was the most balanced that I felt we could do,” Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said of option two, the preferred map...
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road… and Raleigh Residential Neighborhoods
Jennifer Irving Kochman is a researcher and editor. Her family has lived in Raleigh for 15 years, and she is the parent of one son who attends a public high school in Raleigh, and another who went through the WCPSS as well, and now attends UNC-Chapel Hill. Early in...
City Council Work Session – February 8, 2022
Mayor Baldwin announced that a decision regarding Raleigh’s mask mandate will likely be made in a couple of more weeks after additional data is gathered. Staff presented some proposals on Tree Conservation options. Despite staff telling previous councils that NC...
Focus housing plans on lifting people out of homelessness and housing insecurity
Joshua Bradley delivered these remarks at the February 1 City Council meeting. In recent times this Council has gone out of its way to approve dense luxury housing, often at the expense of low-cost housing and the environment. The prevailing wisdom on this Council...
Reinstate the CACs and help them improve
Edie Jeffreys is chair of the Five Points CAC and spoke at the February 1 City Council meeting. I’m Chair of the non-city supported Five Points CAC We’ve met every other month on Zoom for the last two years after the city withdrew its support. Our meetings are...
Two Year Anniversary of CAC Vote: the Void is Still Here
It’s been two years since the Raleigh City Council voted to abolish City support of CACs (Citizen Advisory Councils). They promised to replace them with a much improved community engagement system. After two years, that still hasn’t happened. Why the slow progress?
City Council is making decisions in SECRET AGAIN!!!
Mayor Baldwin and her City Council majority selected one of three options presented to them for new election district lines without any public discussion of the merits of those three options. They refused to provide the public with any reasoning for their decision....
CITY COUNCIL MEETING HIGHLIGHTS – FEBRUARY 1, 2022
HIGHLIGHTS 45-day extension granted to Planning Commission on TC-12-21 regarding Accessory Commercial UnitsCommunity Engagement Manager Tiesha Hinton presented plans for a Community Engagement Board which will be operational in 2023, three years after City withdrew...