You could have negotiated to include the same number of 56 affordable units as a community benefit for the increased entitlement given to the applicant while allowing them to benefit financially from 154 additional market rate units. Maybe even go crazy and ask them to increase from 56 to 60 affordable units while still gaining 250 units at market rate. A WIN-WIN for everyone.
Ultimately, the transformative capacity of affordable housing extends beyond providing a roof over one’s head. It acts as a catalyst for community wide improvements, positively impacting crime rates, mental health, incarceration rates and childhood learning. This isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s essential and it’s a key requirement for a thriving community.
Speaking before Council Tuesday, Nov 7, Mitchell Silver repeated a false claim he previously made at the Planning Commission – that the Glenwood-Brooklyn neighborhood cannot have Transition Area protection from 30-40 story buildings without first completing an expensive city-mandated Area Plan. But when a Councilor asked city staff if Silver’s Area Plan requirement was true, the simple answer was ‘No’.
I am here tonight to talk about noise. In Glenwood South we have been very suspect about the numbers being reported by the city. And we were right to be suspect as we now have evidence that the city has downplayed and grossly under-reported noise complaint calls. Every citizen and every news outlet who unwittingly reported the city provided incorrect statistics to the public should be outraged.
Highlights from the November 21, 2023 Work Session and Afternoon Session
Counselors: You are the responsible party. The ability and duty are yours. YOU are the key players in insuring that the history of Raleigh, its culture, its communities, its monuments, and its traditions survive for the benefit, edification, and pleasure of future generations.
If this work can start now and be completed before March, why wasn’t it started last December and completed in time for this year’s parades? There’s been no answer.
If you weren’t able to attend our Community Conversation on November 16, 2023 for the discussion of Raleigh’s BRT Promises, the video and slides are now available on our “Community Conversations” page where you can find all of our previous events as well.
One year into the terms of the four newly elected Councilors, and with Mayor Pro Tem Branch having filed to run for Mayor, I offer the following thoughts. By now, even our new Councilors own the positions by which Raleigh is currently governed. Your current record and what you do to distinguish yourself over the coming year will determine your perception by the voters in the election one year from now.
Highlights from the November 14 City Council meeting.
In 2016 Raleigh’s Planning Director promised Raleigh’s BRT would serve “some of Raleigh’s lowest-wealth communities .. [and] ensure that these investments benefit rather than displace households and families.” At the New Bern BRT Kickoff Meeting, a senior city planner pledged the city would “make sure the BRT benefits … are shared equitably … so that existing residents of the New Bern corridor … are going to be there to benefit”
I’d like to talk to you tonight about how the city of Raleigh has declined under the leadership, or lack of leadership, with Mary-Ann Baldwin.
Highlights from November 7, 2023 City Council Meeting
Raleigh City Council is doing another survey about election reform. We say another because they did a survey on the topic and published those results in January 2022. But, they didn’t like your answers. So, they are commissioning another survey and this time they are wording the questions differently to try to get answers they like.
Let’s all remember the City has had nearly a full year to create new safety protocols so that these parade cancellations could have been avoided. And, to-date they have made no public statements about what work they have done to develop the new procedures. Or, if they have even started the process. This debacle and the lack of transparency should be an issue in next year’s City Council election.
In 2017, ‘The Color of Law’ landed like a bombshell in progressive housing policy circles. In Raleigh, powerful development interests saw the opportunity to adopt — some would say co-opt — Richard Rothstein’s anti-segregation message by promoting pro-density zoning rules that not only lifted exclusionary zoning rules, but went much further. By 2020, a new alliance of developer money, self-righteous Council aspirants and their white privileged adherents provided the lubrication to fast track pro-density zoning proposals. Novice Councilors were assured that pesky public input needn’t impede this sweet deal to meld profits and equity.
On that one magical day I always think this is something wonderful Raleigh can do that not every city can do. But now, other cities can do it and we can’t.
Please do not vote to pass this decision. There is another way, there is compromise here. The safety of the residents matters. We matter.
When the Raleigh City Council offered an apology acknowledging the city’s past participation in slavery, segregation, and enforcement of Jim Crow it received headlines. But the attention soon faded because there was no follow-up on the most significant part of the resolution — to establish a Racial Equity and Reparative Justice Commission.
Some Raleigh people are showing up at Wake County Board of Elections trying to vote in Raleigh municipal elections. You could be excused for thinking Raleigh is holding city elections now. Every other municipality in Wake County is. And there has been a lot of media reporting about the process and the candidates. Some area cities held primaries so when they have the final election it will result in winning candidates gaining over 50% of the vote. Some allow for runoffs if no candidate does receive over 50% of the vote.