
Strange Bedfellows? Baldwin, Robinson are the Indy’s “Worst” for a Reason
They say politics makes strange bedfellows. Not so strange, however, when the thing they have in common is big-money backers like our good friend developer John Kane.
They say politics makes strange bedfellows. Not so strange, however, when the thing they have in common is big-money backers like our good friend developer John Kane.
To say the Dix Edge area study is long-awaited is like saying that Wolfpack football is a little overdue. The fact is that this study by the city’s planning staff of how to manage growth in the Dix Edge area – the large swath of land and neighborhoods east and south of Dorothea Dix Park – is 10 years late.
Mayor Baldwin knows the most important goal of City Council’s upcoming 2-day retreat is to set strategic priorities for action in the coming term. She also knows that the chances of her priorities prevailing will depend on her ability to prevent other competing Council priorities from being adopted. That is why the first line of defense in Baldwin’s retreat agenda this year is to make sure it is chock-full of plausibly interesting things to see and do, minimizing the time available for other Councilors’ ideas about the future of Raleigh.
Mary-Ann Baldwin, the mayor of Raleigh, has some $500,000 banked for her election campaign. It’s a tribute to how completely she’s owned by Raleigh’s developers – led by mega-spender John Kane, a right-wing Republican known for backing, among other crazies, our very own GOP Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson. (And, of course, Trump.)
This Mayor and Council need to be reminded that they unanimously supported the Midtown – Saint Albans area plan in December 2020! We have asked the developer, Kane Realty, to address fundamental or conditional changes in Z-67-21 before the Council hearing on July 5.
It is no secret that John Kane donates to anti-LGBT politicians, including our very own Lt. Governor Mark Robinson, who has taken to calling people like myself “filth.” And yet, we have council members and a mayor who refuse to return John Kane’s donations and to call him out on his anti-trans sentiments and funding.
To be clear, we support development, but we do not support the scale of development that would result from this Rezoning Application. At both of the neighborhood “meetings” held by Parker Poe on behalf of the Applicant, there was a consensus among residents that the Rezoning Application was simply too much. These comments have not been provided to the Commission in any materials I reviewed. However, the public comments included in the Staff packet echo many of these comments and concerns. In addition, I am a proponent of the idea that you “Plan the Work and Work the Plan.” In this instance – that “Plan” is the Walkable Midtown plan.