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A comparison of Durham’s successful $95M Affordable Housing Bond in 2019 with Raleigh’s proposed 2020 Bond reveals stark differences: Unlike Durham’s precise commitments, Raleigh’s bond lacks details required for accountability and for judging if the spending will address Raleigh’s most pressing needs.

When Mary-Ann Baldwin recently called for “flexibility” in spending Raleigh’s proposed Affordable Housing Bond funds, what she really wants are fewer constraints on how the money will be spent, thereby creating more opportunities to parley taxpayer-funded development deals with supplicants in Barnhill’s…

This is likely your last chance to speak out and help save Umstead Park from the RDU Quarry.

Since Baldwin & Co’s election, early dismissals from the Planning Commission have come at a rapid pace. Who’s getting dismissed? Anyone not employed by the development industry or beholden to the Baldwin bloc on Council.

Raleigh’s new Council summarily abolished Raleigh’s 18 Citizens Advisory Councils (CACs) without any notice or public comment. Three months later, the CACs’ community-run zoning review process has been replaced with a quickie substitute controlled by the rezoning applicant — i.e., the developer.

Moonshots are easier when Raleigh’s economy is humming and surpluses can be diverted to social benefits. The true test of the new Council’s commitment to bold, revolutionary and transformative change is at hand now, at this time of recessionary crisis and opportunity.