Public Forum: Will New Bern’s Mass Upzoning Revitalize Neighborhoods or Eliminate Them?

Public Forum: Will New Bern’s Mass Upzoning Revitalize Neighborhoods or Eliminate Them?

Join us on Sunday, January 21st at 2pm at the Tarboro Road Community Center (121 N. Tarboro Street, Raleigh) to learn how you can help stop the city’s urban renewal of New Bern Avenue. Stand up for Raleigh’s Black history and for revitalizing existing neighborhoods and businesses along the New Bern Avenue Bus Rapid Transit line rather than forcing them out.

City Council’s Election Survey is so biased, it’s useless

City Council’s Election Survey is so biased, it’s useless

The questions are worded with a bias intended to guide the respondents to answer the way the mayor prefers. So, the results of the survey will be meaningless because the questions weren’t inclusive and were engineered to lead to a predictable outcome.

Councilors Melton, Forte & Branch betray the people to serve Baldwin

Councilors Melton, Forte & Branch betray the people to serve Baldwin

ALL voters should remember this betrayal when next year’s election comes around. All four of the councilors who voted to restrict the time of the speakers have made it known they plan to run for re-election. What the four of them all said at this meeting is that voters CANNOT TRUST  them to honor the commitments they make to the people of Raleigh.

Raleigh City Manager quietly receives whopping 10% pay increase

Raleigh City Manager quietly receives whopping 10% pay increase

As an over 50 year resident of Raleigh, I write in opposition to the action taken yesterday afternoon by the council to give a mid-year raise to the city manager of a whopping 10% to her already $323,977 annual salary. As a taxpayer and Raleigh resident, this huge mid-fiscal year raise, while our city’s public safety and first responder workforce are in critical need of human resources and competitive compensation, along with the embarrassing lack of action for a year on the highly public and negatively media focused parade permitting process is embarrassing at the very least while sending very negative, questionable signals to city employees and the public of what the Mayor, City Manager and Council value most.

Former Planning Director Mitch Silver is back – now as a lobbyist paid to undercut Raleigh’s planning rules.

Former Planning Director Mitch Silver is back – now as a lobbyist paid to undercut Raleigh’s planning rules.

Speaking before Council Tuesday, Nov 7, Mitchell Silver repeated a false claim he previously made at the Planning Commission – that the Glenwood-Brooklyn neighborhood cannot have Transition Area protection from 30-40 story buildings without first completing an expensive city-mandated Area Plan. But when a Councilor asked city staff if Silver’s Area Plan requirement was true, the simple answer was ‘No’.

Show the Voters Where You Stand

Show the Voters Where You Stand

One year into the terms of the four newly elected Councilors, and with Mayor Pro Tem Branch having filed to run for Mayor, I offer the following thoughts. By now, even our new Councilors own the positions by which Raleigh is currently governed. Your current record and what you do to distinguish yourself over the coming year will determine your perception by the voters in the election one year from now.