The City is its people, and we have not asked for this rezoning. This neighborhood is a City success story in saving a historic neighborhood from previous urban renewal rezoning policies. It is a kick in the teeth now for us to be once again fighting for our neighborhood.
I heard that since the City Manager was named Interim City Clerk, she has stopped the practice of recording and filing minutes of closed session meetings. And, she has stopped allowing anyone from the Clerk’s office to attend closed session meetings.
Public comments focused on gentrification, homelessness, crime, Glenwood South, transit, traffic calming, historic preservation, and several criticisms of Mayor Baldwin and her actions or lack thereof.
One of the greatest problems with Missing Middle is that it takes a machete approach, chopping through city neighborhoods. A scalpel would be a better instrument for cutting out areas where denser development would be promoted. There is no appreciation for context.
I have been coming here since December 2022 to talk about Glenwood South crime and noise issues. When I was here May 2nd I brought up the recent issue which happened at Governor and Mrs. Cooper’s personal residence. Now onto noise, for about 1-1/2 years the city has been talking about revising the current noise ordinance which is horrible and almost impossible to enforce. On Dec 6th the previous city attorney said, in the council meeting, the new noise ordinance would be out in about 2 months.
Survey results from biennial survey were presented.
Council unanimously approves FY24 budget.
I follow a listserv to see what people are saying about building, growth and change on the New Bern Avenue corridor since that is where I live, The latest conversation is about the city purchasing the DMV building at more than the appraised price. If I talk about the evils of putting more unaffordable housing in the community, I am called a NIMBY (not in my back yard). They never seem to understand that I am not advocating for the haves, but for the have nots. If you have no back yard – that is who I am fighting for. I could be one of them.
As more and more people from across all sectors and neighborhoods discover how the Missing Middle, and its various iterations, is dangerous to their wallets and single-family neighborhoods they are rising up to challenge the base thinking.
Intentional or not, staff’s interpretations of the Comp Plan and Missing Middle rules are not promoting affordability. Instead they promote the destruction of existing affordable units in favor of market rate and luxury units that drive up land and housing costs. Over 4,000 units lost each year according to the city’s own data, making Raleigh’s affordable housing crisis worse, not better.
You may be creating more density for increased ridership for public transit but you are destroying the reason that people continue to live in a City of deep, rich culture and historic heritage. Let’s not lose our past and present character while making room for a ridership that may never develop, especially if it does not provide for the housing needs for the population that actually depends on public transit for their livelihood.
Highlights from June 5 Budget Work Session — focus on budget notes and parking rate/fee changes
Last week we explained why you know in your heart that the Shaw rezoning application should not be approved. Now we will explain how in your head you can understand the proposal is not in line with the policies of Raleigh’s Comprehensive Plan.
Many of Raleigh’s residents have been reaching out to their representatives on City Council hoping to have a discussion about the city’s Missing Middle policies and what can be done to modify them to make them less harmful to established neighborhoods. But, they are being told no discussion can be had.
Years of Jim Crow segregation and neglect have given way to a new era of gentrification. Unimpeded, it will soon sweep away any sense that freed African-Americans were here, emerged from slavery here, lifted themselves up by their bootstraps here, created communities here, and mattered greatly to the Raleigh we became and the Raleigh we hope to be. Unimpeded, it’s entirely possible that Shaw will be swept away too, or moved to a distant place not central to the city to make room for “higher value” development.
We at Livable Raleigh are mourning the loss of Conen Morgan. Conen was instrumental in launching Livable Raleigh 3 1/2 years ago.
Please tell our Planning Department to stop dedicating staff time to demolishing our historic neighborhoods, and instead work on redeveloping these parking lots. I’ll bet Planning staff would rather be doing that anyway!
If you watched the two City Council meetings on May 16, 2023, the Work Session discussing election reform at 11:30 followed by the City Council Afternoon Session at 1:00, we wonder if you noticed what we noticed. We were disappointed but not surprised at the way city survey data was perceived differently by some councilors at these two separate meetings.
Every month Councilor Jonathan Melton publishes a newsletter summarizing the actions of City Concil for that month. In his April report, he included a bonus from the May 2nd meeting which was an explanation for his vote on the zoning case Z-54-22, Peace & West Streets. It’s filled with misinformation.