In May of 2022 we ran a piece challenging voters to restore democracy to the City of Raleigh by dedicating the November election to restoring former Mayor Clarence Lightner's vision for community engagement in Raleigh. Well, the voters responded to our challenge in...
HIGHLIGHTS Work Session – Apparently the Office of Community Engagement spends a lot of time engaging with City staff and people who serve on Boards and Commissions – not necessarily with the actual larger community. They also spend a lot of resource on branding....
The election is over and people have spoken. Baldwin and Council have forced unpopular and failed policies on Raleigh. With very few financial resources, challengers pushed back and have taken back Council despite incumbents and candidates endorsed by, and heavily financed by, wealthy developers and realtors.
With this win, let the citizens of Raleigh look forward to better days as well as to more changes in 2024.
Your campaigns are making statements like: “Mary-Ann believes that everyone’s voice deserves to be heard”. But, she changed her twitter feed so only those she “follows” can reply, silencing her critics.
If you were asked what lessons you have learned from the Missing Middle, as a mayor and council, I have no idea what you would say. Never mind, here are the lessons for a new mayor and council
HIGHLIGHTS Many public hearings scheduled for November 15 afternoon meeting despite a question about whether mailed notice would arrive in time and despite Councilor Cox bringing up concerns about it being difficult for members of the public to attend afternoon...
Jonathan Melton and Council talk about ‘getting to yes’ even though they never reach out to the public to discuss equitable outcomes. On important citywide issues where you’d expect a vigorous, inclusive debate before voting – it never happens.
The council must have a procedure which contains advance public notice, public opportunity to respond, and a required city procedure for neighborhood preservation and respect for existing neighborhood architecture.
Former Planning Commission Chair Bob Mulder highlights the need to improve Raleigh’s missing middle housing rules. Focusing debates on criticisms of pro and con stakeholders only diverts attention from what we all (except the greediest) agree on: Adding density in the right places is good, but the missing middle rules should be improved – with a more open, public engagement process about how to actually retain, replace and produce housing that’s affordable to current working families and households.
I’m disappointed that while the numbers show engagement has decreased significantly, it’s being reported in a way to make the public think improvements have been made when they have not, All of this during the City Council election as a way to fool the voters. You can’t correct the lack of trust Mickey Fearn found in this Council with this type of deception.