We have a bike plan, we just need to get it implemented and funded. Bike/ped funding is still a very small portion of our city’s transportation budget. Also, I feel like the City can’t get out of its own way sometimes. It shouldn’t take 2 years to research and implement a several-blocks long bike lane. Bike/ped projects are perfect for tactical urbanism, where we can setup the project on a temporary basis, let folks use it while we gather feedback and make tweaks before it’s installed permanently. I also think we should look to other cities, like Amsterdam and Paris, that have both in different times completely changed their car-dependent culture. However, it’s easier to do there because their built environment is better. I think as we continue to work to eliminate exclusionary zoning, and build a more dense, mixed use city, the bike/ped improvements will be even more important and better utilized.
Please come speak at City Council, or maybe make a bunch of yellow yard signs SUPPORTING zoning reform and put them out all over the city…
I think I’ve answered most of these in my other responses.
I think our height limits downtown are arbitrary. Folks hear 40-story tower and react like it’s the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Probably all of our peer cities build 40, 50, 60 story towers regularly; there are several in Charlotte. We also spend so much time, staff resources, and money going through the rezoning process downtown just to approve 40 stories. There’s a better way.
We’re not going to solve the housing crisis doing things the exact same way that got us into this mess. If missing middle is reversed, we’ll see more of the same. VOTE!
I love doing stuff like this!
SROs and we need to find ways to incentivize construction of the types of housing we’ve legalized. I think that’s the next step.
Will non-Fire and Police staff pay be considered again in the future? The 2% is great, but was the only cost-of-living increase in years that I’m aware of (asking for a friend). Thanks again for doing this!
My immediate political aspirations are to serve as your at-large Council Member for another term 
If you’d like to help accomplish that goal, you can request a yard sign here: https://jonathanmelton.com/volunteer/ or make a contribution here: ActBlue
Something I’ve learned over the past 3 years is that serving in a nonpartisan seat is really tough. You never know from where you’ll get support and where you’ll get criticism. Some of my loudest critics are self-proclaimed progressives and Democrats (oddly, the Democratic president supports the types of reforms we’ve passed in Raleigh…), while some of my biggest supporters are folks who I know I disagree with on state and national issues. It’s an odd, upside down world in city politics!
I believe, but I could be wrong, that the City applies COL adjustments every year. This year, it was applied early, before the next budget cycle, to try to help with inflation, and in addition to COL adjustments there’s merit-based raises and bonuses applied every year. But this is really an issue handled by the City Manager, we approve the budget and set policy. I’ll discuss with her, and I’m happy to follow up. Send me an email and we’ll connect: jonathan.melton@raleighnc.gov
That said, we need to make sure we’re adequately compensating ALL of our city employees, including part-time. Our part-time pay should be $15 per hour. We should lead the changes we want to see.
Also, you might be interested in or work session this Tuesday, where the City Manager is updating us on bonuses: https://go.boarddocs.com/nc/raleigh/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=A4EMF95B00BF
I second this question. (well more of a comment). Raleigh Greenways are a wonderful city / regional asset. Great for recreation and exercise, but to make them to the next level, a network needs to be built around it to make it useful for bike commuting, with spurs and trails to to popular commuting destinations. The most glaring void in the green-way system is a connection into / through downtown. This is desperately needed.
Agreed! 100% I asked for a work session on this issue very early in this term. We finally got an update to our greenways master plan a few months ago that addresses several of these issues, specifically how to leverage our greenways as part of our transportation system. Now we just need to get it implemented.
This was great! If you have other questions feel free to email me directly and share the response: jonathan@jonathanmelton.com
Or you can post them here and I’ll try to loop back later today and answer a few more. Thanks again.