The next election for Raleigh Mayor and City Council will be held Nov 2026. But there’s a brand-new primary election first, in March 2026. With a deadline for candidates to file and get on the ballot THIS YEAR — in Dec 2025. That’s right: To run in 2026, you must file with the Board of Elections in 2025. Here are the changes to know about …
A few weeks ago I wrote in a blog that I would consider running for Mayor of Raleigh. I stated that there is much concern about the direction of the City and many have asked that I consider returning to Council. I identified three major areas of concern. I see these as essential issues facing the City and its future. Only with citizen involvement and a Council and Mayor willing to support its citizens will Raleigh be sustainable in the future as a desirable and affordable place to live. We can choose to be Raleigh or we can choose to be New York or Atlanta.
The City Council’s decision to approve the rezoning case on West Street (Z-12-25), adjacent to the Glenwood-Brooklyn neighborhood, is hard to understand – unless, that is, you understand that a majority of Council always approves rezoning cases, no matter how outsized, because the development industry controls them.
The city has grown enormously in the past few years, as people from all over began to recognize it’s a great place to live. But this growth was accompanied by absolutely no planning – or bad planning – which means we are now living in a helter-skelter atmosphere akin to a Third World city in which anything goes. Along with this has come a lapdog attitude when it comes to the city council’s relationship with developers. Sound familiar? This commentary was written 5 years ago in 2019.
I was elected three times and was honored to serve District B and the City for seven years. Despite not being on Council since 2022, I continue to hear from people. There is much concern about the direction of the City and many have asked that I consider returning to Council. As with the first time I ran, I need good reasons to run. I take serving seriously and never had a desire to run just for the sake of running. I want to be clear that I have not made a decision to actually run. If I do, I will run for Mayor. And here are some of the reasons why.
I honestly have to ask – why seek public input if it’s not reflected in the analysis? Community engagement should serve as an opportunity to either mitigate community concerns or provide a transparent and respectful explanation when disagreement exists.
City Councilors, it is your job to make sure that city staff knows that their job is to protect the interests of the people that live in Raleigh, not to just make things easy for businesses and developers.
Staff reports carry weight in Planning Commission and City Council deliberations. When they misclassify sites, turn a blind eye to policies, minimize area plans, and claim no adverse effects, they create the illusion of consistency where none exists and inflate the benefits while minimizing impacts. This clearly affected the Planning Commission deliberations and stunted debate necessary to make an informed decision.
Staff made 4 simple analysis errors. We go through each of those errors, show you the language from city documents that was misinterpreted and give you the updated results.
It would be reasonable for you to believe that once Silver was elected to City Council in November 2024, just one year after being paid to represent the West St property owner, he would feel obligated to recuse himself from any future City Council actions related to this property. But, Silver has stated publicly that he has no intention of recusing himself from voting on this rezoning case when it comes before the City Council.