“Yes” to helping the suddenly jobless, and “No” to any public money for a soccer stadium
Two competing ideas, one good, one bad, are out there for spending money from the taxes on restaurant meals and hotel rooms in Raleigh and Wake County. The bad idea, pushed hard by Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin this week at a truncated City Council meeting, is to spend it on...
Business as Usual?
It’s clear that the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious threat to our health, safety, and way of life. Please adhere to the guidelines from local, state, and national governments. And please do what you can to help others. We will not recover quickly or easily from the...
Taxpayer-subsidized sports stadiums aren’t good catalysts
Did you know.... from our friends at INDY https://indyweek.com/news/wake/raleigh-soccer-stadium-john-kane-downtown-south/ as catalysts go, taxpayer-subsidized sports stadiums aren’t very good ones. Economists are nearly unified in the belief that they don’t...
Watch Out For Your Wallet – Again!
The massive taxpayer subsidy John Kane is requesting for his Downtown South sports and entertainment project is a startling replay of his 2007 pitch for North Hills East subsidies. In 2007, the News & Observer wrote: "Kane wants about $140 million in local tax...
COVID-19 Resources
Your best resources for COVID-19 information: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – https://www.cdc.gov/ State of North Carolina – www.ncdhhs.gov Wake County – www.Wakegov.com City of Raleigh – www.Raleighnc.gov
DID YOU KNOW?
Local developers want a share of the Raleigh and Wake County hospitality tax. It's the extra six percent you pay on local hotel bills and the extra one percent you pay on restaurant and bar tabs. They're requesting $13 million a year for the next 20 years, for a...
Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) to be discussed at March 17 meeting
The Planning Commission’s Text Change Committee will be discussing Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) at their March 17 meeting. Raleigh Real Estate Broker and Appraiser Bob Mulder recently sent the following memo to the Planning Commission. In it he discusses concerns...
Citizen Engagement and Diversity
We are all likely aware now that Raleigh's City Council disbanded the near 50 year old citizen engagement process of the Citizen Advisory Councils or CACs. And the reasons given by council for this surprise move was that CACs didn't get high enough attendance and...
Raleigh is growing rapidly. Where are we headed?
The attraction of Raleigh's favorable quality of life and cost of living may be their undoing, as continued rapid in-migration translates to more daily trips stuck in congested traffic, more trees cleared for maximum infill, and fewer young and old residents who can...
Tonight: That “neighborhood meeting” on rezonings
The City Council's vote (6-2, Cox and Branch dissenting) to abolish the 18 Citizen Advisory Councils -- the CACs -- leaves a big void where community consideration of rezoning applications is concerned. A hastily prepared substitute was rushed through the Planning...