Apparently, it’s only Raleigh that must stay silent out of fear that the politicians on Jones Street might do something to hurt the straight, cis, white residents of Raleigh and we can’t risk that. As long as they are only attacking the LGBTQ+ community, Raleigh’s City Council is good.
To date, there hasn’t been any communication on project status unless specifically requested by residents. So again I ask, please direct this to the appropriate committee so there is a path forward. We may be achieving the objective of slowing motorists but I don’t think we are achieving that goal in the safest, most effective manner.
We had some grand architecture, but we have gradually lost most of it. We still have some interesting historic districts that tell the story of our City. But these historic districts will survive only if they are protected by a historic overlay. And in the last few years, City Council has allowed pieces to be taken out of several historic overlays.
What we do not accept is people routinely breaching, vandalizing and stealing from our property, casually vandalizing city property (street signs) and actively being funneled to our residential neighborhood at 3am directly as a result of city policy.
This budget does NOT adequately provide for affordable housing, despite the $80 million bond. The parks bond is $250 million. Apparently the Dix Park and Smoky Hollow Parks are more important than making sure our residents are properly and affordably housed. The small amount allocated for rehabbing naturally occurring housing is not getting the job done.
Councilor Harrison parted ways with the other three new members of Raleigh’s City Council (Black, Patton and Jones). The group usually forms a coalition that is more skeptical of intense development outside the Central Business District and close to established neighborhoods. Instead Harrison provided the swing vote for the pro-developer faction of Council and voted to approve the controversial rezoning of Shaw University. Minutes after being instructed by the City Attorney that this case is a LAND-USE decision, Harrison tossed out the land-use policies that should have guided her decision and based her decision on an irrelevant point about the Prince Hall Overlay District.