Community engagement for the 2025 / 2026 Raleigh Budget has started. I attended the first virtual session in December, not October, thinking that they would actually engage with the audience. Instead, input was gathered through a number of questions, rather than an informative session and discussion with the public to gather more information about resident priorities and needs. My session had a well educated audience, yet little time was afforded for actual public input.
Open letter to Mayor Cowell. Our proposal is a simple one: Council should not vote immediately after the hearing on the matter addressed by the hearing. Instead, it should take time to consider what the hearing was about, and what was said – and give the public a chance to think about it also, and to react.
Highlights from the December 3, 2024 City Council meeting
Neighbors are generally supportive of affordable housing, stating “Given Raleigh’s commitment to providing affordable housing, … eventually an affordable housing development will probably be placed on this site. Our efforts are to assure that a smaller number of units will be allowed and thus the development will be more compatible with our neighborhood and the environment.”
Highlights from November 19, 2024 City Council meeting.
An article like the one in the N&O (11/17/2024) about Mary-Ann Baldwin’s self-described “record of progress” is to be expected but there is a lot to unpack here that could help give the new mayor of Raleigh Janet Cowell some direction.
Councilors cringed at Baldwin’s childish bullying. But, most voted with her anyway, packing one last council meeting full of developer approvals while cancelling the public’s last comment opportunity. So much for improving public engagement councilors!
On May 7th of this year City Council voted to switch to 4-year staggered terms without putting the issue on the ballot for voters to decide, effectively buffering city council from the corrective action of Raleigh residents’ voting power. While I have heard and respect the arguments in favor of 4-year terms, it should be voted on by residents.
No one wants to be told their street is going to transform in the next five years, and there’s no way for them to even voice their thoughts and concerns. This pattern of transformation is going to take place, how we guide it is what’s most important. By adapting the zoning code to ensure that everyone comes together, working for the MUTUAL benefit of our city and its housing supply is not some far fetched ambition, but should be the baseline; the bare minimum respect shown to Raleigh’s amazing people. Transparency and working together is what is needed for beneficial growth. It is what the people of our city want.
Council is being asked to legalize an illegal parking lot at 2601 Vanderbilt Ave near NC State. The applicant says the parking lot rezoning (Z-33-24) is a minor change, but in the big picture of West Raleigh’s sustainable growth, putting parking lots before people is a giant step backwards that will only legitimize more parking lots to come.