When Will City Planners & City Councilors Learn From Their Mistakes?

When Will City Planners & City Councilors Learn From Their Mistakes?

by | Oct 26, 2026 |

The Planners Pledge is a serious document, including a formal apology for the role planners played in creating the most inhospitable elements of our cites, including car dependent sprawl and its host of toxic environmental and health maladies. For those who resisted the legions of planning professionals and their transportation cohorts, the newly-discovered wisdom of designing cities for people and not cars has come much too late and has been replaced by a new and equally pernicious monetization of our lives.

Unfortunately, the planning profession’s old mantra of suburban mobility planning under the influence of the automobile industry has been replaced with a new mantra of density everywhere, under the influence of corporate real estate financialization.

Don’t Turn Lassiter Mill Road Into an Unsafe Service Road

Don’t Turn Lassiter Mill Road Into an Unsafe Service Road

by | Oct 7, 2026 |

A developer wants to build a 15-story building on Lassiter Mill Road at North Hills. Instead of putting shops or restaurants on the ground floor with windows you can look into, they want to build giant blank walls with huge garage doors. This space would be used for trash pickup, heavy equipment, and large tractor-trailer trucks driving in and out at all hours. Neighbors worry this will make Lassiter Mill Road dangerous for people walking, riding bikes, or driving.

Offsides: is this development getting ahead of infrastructure?

Offsides: is this development getting ahead of infrastructure?

by | Oct 4, 2026 |

Before approving Z-43-25, I respectfully ask Council to require a meaningful examination of emergency access, overflow parking, Johnsdale Road capacity, school-event traffic, pedestrian movement and evacuation conditions. The question is not simply whether the proposed development can accommodate its own residents under normal conditions.

When Success Outpaces Parking: A Five Points Challenge

When Success Outpaces Parking: A Five Points Challenge

by | Jun 21, 2026 |

Our neighborhood is a microcosm of Raleigh’s traditional neighborhood values married with new development. It is regarding one such development, Trophy Brewing, that we seek your assistance in addressing issues created by the removal of minimum parking requirements.

May 19 City Council Meeting

May 19 City Council Meeting

by | May 19, 2026 |

Highlights from May 19 Raleigh City Council meeting, including information about a 1.7 cent property tax increase as well as various fee increases.

State of the City Poem

State of the City Poem

by | Mar 27, 2026 |

“We’re growing! we’re glowing!” the press release says. The Mayor’s got plans and a very nice suit, Telling us Raleigh is “ripening fruit.” Just remember, dear Leader, amidst all the hype: If you don’t fix the potholes, the fruit’s overripe.

CITY COUNCIL TO MIDTOWN: DROP DEAD

CITY COUNCIL TO MIDTOWN: DROP DEAD

by | Mar 15, 2026 |

It turns out that at that January hearing when North Hills traffic was lightly discussed, the referral to the Transportation Committee – which had been previously promised to opponents – was not for any  review of North Hills traffic at all but rather for the Six Forks Corridor Project – a dead project that would have provided little if any relief for traffic congestion in North Hills.