Disagreement brings an opportunity for engagement. It’s a starting point to understand concerns and share information. You are entitled to your opinions but you are not entitled to dismiss the very people you are meant to represent.
Remember – if you want to flip the council, you must flip your ballot!
I rely on resources such a Livable Raleigh to help explain to me why you are doing what you are doing because you are not providing that transparency.
Mayor Baldwin and her City Council majority including Jonathan Melton, Stormie Forte, Corey Branch and David Knight, who are all running for re-election, implemented a tax break policy for developers known as a “Tax Increment Grant” or TIG. Despite Baldwin’s claim otherwise, it can cost the City of Raleigh 5 million dollars in tax rebates every year FOREVER.
I want to clarify some misinformation that continues to be spread, from this council, about CACs and their role in Raleigh’s rezoning process.
At a candidate forum last week, David Knight falsely accused Livable Raleigh of being a Super PAC (Political Action Committee). We’re NOT. We’re a registered 501(c)(4) non-profit organization. PACs are organizations like the “NC Property Rights Fund” and “Triangle Government Alliance” who together supported Knight’s 2019 campaign with spending of nearly $70,000 during an election where Knight got over 70% of his campaign financing from the development industry.
It has been noted that there is a lack of civility at council in addressing Raleigh’s runaway growth. What is the root cause of that lack of civility? Could it start with the name-calling by the mayor and Councilor Knight who refer to their opposition in the pejorative use of Activist and Radical Activist? Could it be fueled by Councilor Knight who refers to citizens who dissent with giving a city staffer unlimited speaking time during the 1-minute public comments period as rude, entitled folks?
I would like to correct some statements that were made by Mr. Knight at the Sept 20th Work Session. Mr. Knight totally twisted the work of the CACs. The only one misleading the public is Mr. Knight.
At a City Council At-Large Candidate Forum held Sept 27, 2022, Councilor Jonathan Melton said “I’ll take ANY contribution” in a response to a question about the influence of big real estate developers on Council. That includes a sexual predator and an Anti-LGBTQ bigot.
David Knight made the Oxford Road Sidewalk Project the centerpiece of his 2019 campaign. Watch this video for details of Knight’s failures.
Are you in the development “Danger Zone?” If you live in a Raleigh neighborhood, the answer is most likely YES. What Zone? The Missing Middle “Danger Zone.”
When our urban forests are gone, our streams are flooding from overgrowth, and Raleigh is one huge Urban Heat Island, Missing Middle Text politics will not save us.
David Knight is struggling to divert voter attention away from his council record of development industry payola, citizen suppression and environmental destruction by lashing out at anyone who dares to fact-check his false claims.
If Cat Lawson’s understanding of being a City Councilor is that it is an “exercise in public trust,” why doesn’t she trust the public to know who she really is when she is asking for their support and their votes? Why is she scrubbing her history of anything that might be problematic for her run for office?
Mr. Knight misunderstands what CACs did. People exercised their right to express their support or not of proposed changes in the city code through non-binding votes.
It is chilling to think that anyone in 21st century America after all our Country has been through to secure our rights to speak freely, to petition our government, and to vote at everything from neighborhood book clubs to electing the President could utter such words.