![[UPDATE: Council’s 7-1 vote snuffs buffers] More zoning buffers could be voted away: more folks living in the shadows.](https://livableraleigh.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/50-Feet-e1647793454618.jpg)
Council’s vote will hasten the trends of gentrification and teardowns in older Raleigh neighborhoods, especially our historically African-American neighborhoods. It’s a money grab, pure and simple.
After 1916, Oberlin Village was a textbook case of white gentrification of a formerly black community. Dial ahead 100 years: The gentrification of formerly all-black Southeast Raleigh is history repeating itself.
“My quick analysis is that the recommendations are better than nothing, but they fall far short of what’s needed to help those in the greatest need. … Raleigh, we STILL have a problem.”
Unless you act, voters will be forced to guess what the bond is for, because you will have failed to tell them. Specifically, how will the $80 million help Raleigh residents with the greatest need for safe, affordable housing?
Speculation, of course. But would Ruffin quit with Raleigh in turmoil, the city looking to him for leadership, and no new job in sight, unless his working conditions were intolerable?