It’s our city and we can take it back!

Bob Gilbert has lived in Raleigh since 2002 in a small, original 1925 Bungalow in Five Points. He shares his concerns about the current Council’s elimination of residential zoning.

I have watched as much available, affordable rental housing has been eliminated and developers have been given a blank check to tear down and build whatever they can cram onto a lot.

Thanks to our “bought and paid for” City Council, virtually every Raleigh residence is now affected by their developer land grab, which essentially eliminated zoning in all residential neighborhoods in Raleigh.

And thanks to Mayor Baldwin and her City Council virtually eliminating any citizen input or feedback, there’s nothing you can do about it.

The issue is not growth or no growth. It is out of control development and infrastructure as an after-the-fact band-aid to a poorly-designed, oversized project.

What Raleigh needs right now is well-planned, well-executed development that includes actual affordable housing at every turn and incorporates transportation and environmental infrastructure up front.

So what can you do about it? 

Volunteer now and be sure everyone you know votes early and votes for the Livable Raleigh slate of “smart growth“ City Council and Mayoral candidates.

The only way to stop this terrible onslaught making Raleigh unlivable and restoring citizen input is to vote the current City Council and Mayor out now.

They say all politics are local and this is as local as it’s going to get.

The city council elections can turn on as little as a few hundred votes or less and everything you do right now from talking to your neighbors, volunteering to hand out flyers and door hangers, or working at the polls during early voting to inform voters will make a difference.

In 2019 Mary Baldwin won with just 38% of the vote – approximately 20,000  votes.

Successful City Council District Councilors averaged about 14,000 votes, so just  a little over 7000 votes can win a Council seat.

Let’s take back our city and our democracy now to ensure Raleigh remains the  City of Oaks and one of the highest rated cities in the country.  We do not want to be like Charlotte or Atlanta with constant traffic jams and endless, nameless high rises

So on Election Day (November 8), or during early voting (October 20 – November 5), flip your ballot over and be sure you vote for the Livable Raleigh slate of new City Council members, including Terrance Ruth for Mayor. These folks are committed to stopping out of control development and restoring citizen input to our city decisions about zoning, growth, actual affordable housing and adequate infrastructure.

It’s our city and we can take it back!

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