It was hard to process the complete lack of interest or support by this City Council for the concerns repeatedly raised by residents. Countless emails, phone calls, meetings, and petitions were met with silence. Council was misled—partly by a Planning Department analysis that failed to identify any policy inconsistencies, and partly by Council member Silver’s one-sided defense that dismissed legitimate concerns raised by residents.
Glenwood South and surrounding neighborhoods are simply not safe. We unfortunately have to live with what former city leaders created and you have allowed to fester. The sad, shameful truth of it all and everyone knows it is that if any of you lived in the area and had to live with this ‘vibrancy’ it would have ended years ago.
The City does have a plan to support that growth. It is called a Comprehensive Plan. Does the City follow that plan when adding density? Most times, the answer is no!
The current proposal to eliminate boards — or to merge multiple community-focused efforts into a single entity — is deeply disappointing. As a volunteer commission, the HRC is not structured to provide adequate attention and voice to the wide range of community issues.
The approval of Z-12-25 was a huge disappointment to many of the residents in Raleigh’s neighborhoods. What is most disappointing is that there was a workable compromise that would have respected all parties.
Byron Laws spoke to the Raleigh City Council on the topic of the City Council approved African American Affairs Board that has never been seated. Byron is an Aggie and says Aggies DO! If you don’t, GET OUT THE WAY!
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.
The public hearing for this case will be held Tuesday, October 7 at 7pm. This public hearing will allow ONLY 8 minutes in TOTAL for those in opposition to present their case to City Council. Watch this video outlining the full fact and policy based opposition to Z-12-25. The 240’/360′ towers, in a transition area, 776′ along Historic Glenwood-Brooklyn Neighborhood only 190′ to 240′ feet from homes violates all plans, polices, urban planning guidelines and logic.
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.
For a site to be designated as a Transit Land Use category, it must meet the definition “fronting along a corridor programmed for high-capacity, frequent bus transit.” The West St site meets ONLY the frequent transit criteria but fails the other two. It does not qualify for the Transit Land Use category.