I think that, as others have said, we should absolutely not have mud-slinging or name calling on this site. However, we cannot avoid policy issues and laws that either affect downtown’s physical development, or its occupants: commercial, retail or residential.
The reality is that everything is political: transit, zoning/land use, public accommodations, low income housing policy, schools, etc.
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Working on an idea that I think might work. Stay tuned.
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5401 North is already annexed by Raleigh. But they are doing it piece by piece as the sections are being built. It falls within the Raleigh ETJ and has to be annexed it order to build. You can look at IMAPS to get a current snapshot of what is being built and what is already annexed.
I actually did look at iMaps just a little while ago. Thanks for that tip.
As for annexations in general, petition for annexation is almost exclusively limited to within Raleigh’s ETJ. Raleigh’s ETJ, including area that’s actually ITB is around 200 square miles total inclusive of the existing city footprint. It would seem that a fully realized Raleigh to the edges of its ETJ would result in a core city that’s around 650,000 by today’s density metrics. Bump the city density in alignment with what’s happening downtown and at future transit stops, and it’s easy to imagine Raleigh proper nearer 3/4 million.
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I think there are some issues that are important to people in our online community that would be difficult to discuss in a meaningful way if there were a blanket ban on discussing “politics.” I certainly would not want threads on this site to devolve into meandering arguments about Trump or Republicans vs. Democrats, and so I think rules to corral that sort of stuff are entirely warranted. But the Raleigh City Council makes decisions that affect our lives in very tangible ways, and I think it’s entirely appropriate to discuss those votes, and the people who cast them, when necessary. Just my .02.
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For me, I enjoy local politics cause it seems to be less important what party the person is registered with. It’s more a stance on certain local issues versus aligning with a collective set of philosophies. (give or take)
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Random question here: When Bonner Gaylord was on the City Council, did he have to recuse himself from votes pertaining to projects developed by Kane Realty, since he works for them?
From the city council minutes and news articles I’ve read he recused himself whenever anything Kane related came up. Well, North Hills for sure.
Correct, he did. I remember that there were a few nail-bitters because of this…
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I agree, but what I’m seeing in this forum that is making me feel it’s more political are the “stamps” placed on the current folks in office.
One solution I’ve experienced on another forum involves making a sub-forum devoted specifically to political and religious topics, and limiting the replying privilege to those who request it. Basically, the only people who use it are those who want to use it. I don’t know if that would work for this forum, but it’s an idea you could consider.
Our issue with this stadium site is because of one entity: the NC Legislature. That’s the ONLY reason this deal hasn’t moved…period. “Everybody else” is on board
Can we get a separate thread for complaining about the legislature?
Don’t even get me started on the Raleigh Stormwater Management Advisory Committee.
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Complaining about the legislature is another good candidate for beer-fueled conversations.
How do you propose we ‘separate’ it when one is explicably linked to the other? The reason we DO NOT have a stadium site approved is the NC legislature, which is controlled by the GOP…period.
Everybody keeps saying ‘let’s separate politics’ from this board but you can’t complain about ‘why a stadium isn’t being built’ when politics is the very reason for this delay. I can assure you that I, nor does anyone else want to have to discuss how negatively our political climate is affecting Raleigh’s downtown (and North Carolina as a whole) BUT the fact is that the two are linked and one is impacting the other…whether we like it or not.
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Hell yeah Jesse. Drain the swamp!
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At the end of the day, everything that happens is connected to politics in some way. I have to wonder if those who don’t want to talk about politics feel that way due to the nasty nature of the most hostile discussions.
In my opinion, I think it’s fair game to talk about policy as it pertains to downtown issues. I also think it’s fair to make politicians own their policy positions that either work for or against downtown issues.
If it’s dealt with objectively, and not emotionally, and you don’t like that an issue is sticking to a politician, party or political narrative that you support, then perhaps it’s time to reevaluate your support of said people, parties or narratives?
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That is a very subjective opinion you have. Some would say that how positively our political climate is affecting Raleigh’s downtown and North Carolina as a whole. We discuss politics in some ways in our past posts, but the real issue is those who do it in a mean spirited Facebook manner or in a positive discussion pros and cons way that keeps to the pertinent points. I think some people would just spout political diatribes because they simply cannot help themselves…
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Are you trying to infer that our legislature has done anything ‘good’ for Raleigh’s downtown? You realize the resurgence of Raleigh’s downtown core began long before 2010? Very few, if any policies issued by this current legislature have been ‘positive’ for Raleigh or charlotte, or Winston-Salem’s growth. Hell, just ask Asheville about the stormwater system that the GOP tried to take away control from the City. Think water control doesn’t directly impact growth and development? The GOP voted to take that control away from the City and given to the ‘rural’ contingent who ‘didn’t wont nobody telln’ em what they culd do wid thur land’…hence unchecked development. It would be very difficult to argue that our current policies being generated by this legislature have been ‘positive’ for urban cores. City cores have grown ‘in spite’ of those policies in many cases but if you spend a little time researching what policies have actually been passed by this legislature, you’ll be hard pressed to find legislation that is beneficial to the Urban Cores of North Carolina…
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I am simply trying to infer that is your opinion. Maybe the reason that the Urban Cores have grown “in spite” of those policies is because of all the other polices they have put into place… it is hard to argue negative results from policies when you also seem to say that they are doing quite well…You are kind of proving my point with that unnecessary comment about the “rural” contingent… And I have worked downtown for 16 plus years and downtown was not doing all that well prior to 2010… Practically the only things built back then was through our tax dollars and not by the private sector.
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