I have been coming here since last year to talk about Glenwood South vandalism, brutal assaults, stabbings and gunfire. Raleigh citizens do not think you are doing anything about this issue. People in Raleigh want a safe place to live. In honor of what the city has let Glenwood South become I am wearing a t-shirt I had made. It reads ‘I went to Glenwood South and made it out Alive.’
This issue has been on City Council’s agenda for nearly two years now going back to Sept 2021. The Council has been very timid in their responses over this time. Council’s response to the latest wave of crime and neighborhood vandalism was all talk and no action, except to ask staff for another report in a month or two.
Preservation isn’t Nimbyism, it isn’t classist, it isn’t fossilization. It is care by design; it happens when people show up and participate.
Actions speak louder than words, and the action city council took on the Shaw University was one that allows religious discrimination to continue, and the enabling of an administration looking to avoid the consequences of their own actions. Government is supposed to protect the community, not to create investment opportunities for the wealthy. And Raleigh City Council chose the latter. It’s a disgrace to democracy.
Please do us all a favor, spare us from the dramatics of making us believe that 1) policy matters and 2) that community engagement is the key to a progressive, vibrant city for ALL if you are going to deliberately ignore the voices of SOME.