While it would be nice to ensure that the mayor gets an adequate salary, the role is not full-time. We are in a mayor-city manager city. While we as a city are growing, and the mayor’s office will be more of a part of that as time goes on, I would never make a decision on terms without effectively engaging my constituents to ensure we as a city believe that a 4-year term and staggering would be most beneficial. Most of the time local elected officials tend to have jobs outside of government in order to compensate for their paychecks. There’s no reason to raise the mayor’s salary when they are living comfortably enough. Especially when the burden is on the taxpayer’s dime. And adding a new district seat is generally a good idea- after all, we are one of the fastest growing cities in the country, and have to compensate for that. However, I wouldn’t change these maps until further consultation from community leaders and experts as to how to draw the lines for a new district. At the end of the day, more representation is necessary to ensure that all Raleigh residents are heard. Having an extra representative of the community at the table is something that should always be welcomed by the City Council. Having more council seats will allow for a broader amount of voter participation- and we should be seeking every avenue we can to increase that.
I can’t predict whether the Office of Community Engagement will live up to its name or not. To support or oppose something that I haven’t seen implemented would be shortsighted. I’d like to have an outcome of how the Office of Community Engagement affects Raleigh residents, and whether community leaders and neighborhoods feel represented by the new system before making any conclusions.
For the second part of your question- I think there needs to be restructuring on how the city council acknowledges and is reached by its residents. It’s clear that folks want to be involved in issues that affect their lives on a daily basis, and that input is valuable. The demands of daily life are less structured in our WFH era, and it leads to hours conflicting with evening Council meetings often too. In a decentralized approach where community is engaged within their area, we relieve the full-time job that staying informed and active has become. My Town Halls and Meet & Greets have been centered around coming to a group, as opposed to asking them for one more scheduling and travel commitment. I did notice that we as a city may now be moving in that direction when receiving a mailer recently. So I am optimistic of the approach if it is executed as expressed.
As for BRT and commuter rail- I’ve paid close attention to the research that the city (and GoRaleigh in particular) have done into the correlation between affordable housing, public transportation, and economic development. There was a paper distributed a few years back by GoTriangle that goes over the intersection of housing and transit, and one thing in particular stuck out to me- affordable housing is more than just the housing itself - and it’s why policies like these are so important. I would find ways to involve more community input, to ensure that any logistical oversights from lack of proximity to use case are avoided or offset. Without that, the potential risk is we will be left with an upgrade concentrated in only areas fully explored and considered, as opposed to a solution for a set of problems often overlooked or unheard by leadership.
Absolutely! Having different ‘weird’ attractions is what makes Raleigh such a unique and desirable city, both to visit and live. Personally, I would love to see the giant water slide on Glenwood S. on a Summer day again. I’d hope it would open early so locals can enjoy as everyone else is coming in to share in the fun. It was an example of something different or niche that Raleigh residents enjoyed for all different reasons and hours. I want to revive Raleigh, and its character. At The State of Downtown, one of the speakers mentioned how our buildings and city has character. He said that his business was an example of trying to demonstrate Raleigh’s experiences and atmosphere. I think we need that to stay ‘weird’ and continue to be an attractive city for strategic growth, as well as enjoyment for all of us already here.
Thank you for explaining your thoughts! I agree that it’s too early to tell about whether the city’s new community engagement infrastructures would work, but it seems like they’re thinking about things in the right way (and I’m happy to hear that you concur with that view).
If I could follow up (and also address your response to @Samuel from earlier), could you talk more about where you personally draw the line between seeking community consensus and being decisive as a representative of your constituents? It’s my impression that you really want to thoroughly seek the consent of as many Raleigh residents as possible in all decisions, but that’s also time-consuming. Every month spent on committee meeting deliberations or public comment periods is also another month when people could get evicted, lose business opportunities, defer weather-sensitive construction for green infrastructure projects etc., so I imagine this is a philosophical, yet practically relevant, challenge that will be on your mind frequently.
Apologies everyone. I believe in trying to abide by the reply limits, I accidentally removed the original portion of my response. I will do my best to recreate from memory and edit again shortly to add.
Our city currently operates on Housing First framework, but we’re at a shortage of homes to address our own approach. The Housing First approach states if you house a person additionally it will address the accompanying concerns and problems linked to housing insecurity.
The residents in Hayes Barton are joining many others who have felt excluded from decisions surrounding their home and neighborhood in Raleigh. I’ve had the chance to hear from several neighborhoods uncomfortable with their limited opportunity to voice concerns or input around it. Overall, a listening tour to gather if there is a foundational view from residents, and what it is, is the first step to anyone developing a position on the development in question. City and policy planning experts collaborating with aforementioned residents would also be key. Overall, my largest position of note is that I strongly support comprehensive planning, and strongly oppose cutting corners.
Could you please explain what are some of the core issues that you have in common with your opponent? What are some of your differences? Do you have any specific items you would like to see stay the same? Change? If you were elected.
Hey guys- thanks for giving me a little bit of your time to answer your questions today! These were all fantastic questions, and I wish I had a lot more time to answer all of them in-depth. I hope that our time spent gives you a little more insight into our campaign and what we’re looking to achieve after November 8th. If anyone has more questions to ask, we’ll be at The Berkeley today until 6:30, and I’ll be happy to answer more questions then.
If you’d like to learn more about the campaign, you can find us on our website at truth4raleigh.com (also linked at the top of the page). You can also find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. I really appreciate all of you, and I hope you all have a blessed day!