Bob Mulder, Former Chair Raleigh Planning Commission, is tired of hearing lame excuses about why City Council defunded Citizen Advisory Councils (CACs).
Recently I again came across a comment by Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin that one of the reasons she gives for getting rid of CACs was because some survey indicated that 90% of citizens in Raleigh did not know they existed. A very hollow excuse at best.
If that logic is to be extended, since this council was elected by only 13% of eligible voters, maybe they should have “disbanded” themselves at their first meeting. I could make an equally sound argument that 90% of citizens (rounded up from 87% who did not vote in the last Council election) are also totally unaware of what’s going on in Raleigh and are not familiar with our City Council.
Just as Councilor David Knight thinks that he “disbanded” the CACs, maybe we should “disband” the City Council.
When I served on the RCAC there were multiple occasions where requests were made of staff to do city wide random mailings to inform citizens that CACs existed. Those requests were never honored.
I became involved in 1988 in my West Raleigh CAC because I received a random mailing in a duplex apartment we were renting at the time. Someone at the City made the effort to do a random mailing including renters.
It infuriates me to continually hear all the nonsensical reasons for getting rid of CACs. The current city council–with the exception of David Cox–have made their bed and should lie in it despite it being uncomfortable.