Oh – I forgot to talk about Fire. We need overall more headcount for RFD before we look at equipment for 60-story buildings. We’re understaffed and underpaid there – far below what a city our size should be looking like. Again, a little un-sexy, but being able to staff an older truck with a full crew of 4 is much more important than staffing a new truck with 3 (i.e. our current understaffed situation)
I completely agree with you. I think this can be difficult, though, when many of these lot owners are basically land banking, waiting for the value of the property to max out and then sell for the biggest profit. How do we get them to do something with the space in the mean time? This has seemingly eluded us, although there are tax mechanisms potentially. I would think that needs a change to state law, though…
Thanks for the love!
I believe the people of Raleigh genuinely want what’s best for the city. It’s on the elected leaders to be motivated, energetic, and action-oriented in getting these desires built into reality.
TBL would not have existed were it not for the people in Raleigh. There was such a big base of support once people saw that TBL is more focused on “being” than “seeming” – esse quam videri!
We’re all hungry for cool, entrepreneurial small businesses. We’re also hungry for better transit, protected infrastructure, and gentle density. And leaders that walk the walk.
There’s so much mistrust between residents and the government, mainly caused by unfulfilled promises and deteriorating conditions. I hope to ease that a bit, partly by being myself and partly by actually following through with the promises I make. That’s why I’m starting with small, concrete goals like UDO changes, more zonal service, and armadillos on more bike lanes. Most of what I’m trying to do is fairly easy to do. The hard part is to get elected! Tell all your friends, donate to the campaign, get involved – let’s do this!
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I’d have to take a look at it a bit deeper, but maybe a text change limiting DX zonings to be a bit more restrictive. I.e. DX can be used for this and this, but not for parking lots.
Definitely a tough battle to fight! Worth it, though.
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Since I am mainly focused on downtown as this community would suggest, it was my understanding that the recent rezoning didn’t change entitlement, but maybe I’m wrong? Height seemed to be the issue in North Hills like it was recently with Smoky Hollow adjacent rezoning last October. Given that you are more plugged into North Hills than I am, were there rezonings that changed entitlement? Without a change to entitlement, wouldn’t traffic concerns remain neutral?
Also, I am confident that density doesn’t accelerate traffic, rather it encourages walkability in the long run, and there’s no where better to do that than in downtown and its edges.
In short, we have to stop requiring the same things out of small developers – like a few individual investors who want to go in on a quadplex – as we do large developers – like Kane or Hoffman.
Adopting UDO text changes regarding minimum lot size in R-4 thru R-10, setbacks, and allowable building types will build on the progress we’ve already seen in the last few years.
Creating a streamlined process like Pony Express with particular stipulations for small developments is another option for making it easier to build more diverse units into neighborhoods.
Opting in to the Exempt Plat/subdivision is another option. Jenn from Citybuilder initially informed me about this possibility. Essentially, if the lot is small enough and you only want to split it into three lots, it’s much easier than other subdivisions. It’s a useful remnant of an old law, but that’s a discussion for later!
A walkable neighborhood is one where you can access food, parks, and other daily amenities without needing to 1) get in a vehicle or 2) cross multi-lane dangerous traffic at-grade in order to get where you’re trying to go. There are tons of ways to build these types of neighborhoods.
Correct – it didn’t change entitlement, just height. I am just quoting the opposition. I agree with you, though, that since density won’t change, traffic shouldn’t either.
Also, I agree that in the event that density does increase, it doesn’t necessarily have to affect traffic, unless everyone gets to and from daily needs via private car. That’s why I’m focusing on building robust transportation systems.
…and while we wait for robust transportation, let’s focus on walkability downtown? Right?
Yep! That’s exactly right.
That’s where I think we need to focus our efforts downtown for maximum impact and effectiveness. We need downtown to offer more by foot for more folks so that we can better leverage our existing RLine, bike share, etc. Of course, we continue to build upon our infrastructure, but we can’t let our opportunity today slip away with crappy development.
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Large projects are heavily influenced by Regional (CAMPO) and State governments (NCDOT and SPOT office) funding sources. I wouldn’t expect the City Manager to completely understand all of the regional and state complexities leading to large municipal projects being stalled or cancelled by regional/state decisions.
How do you plan to hold the Mayor (who is on CAMPO’s Executive Board) and Staff (who are on CAMPO’s Technical Coordination Committee) accountable when informing council on regional and state transportation funding opportunities and decisions?
Personally, the north star for downtown is a place where people can walk, bike, or take the bus just as easily as driving. It breaks my heart when I hear people say they drove from Transfer Co. over to Boulted – that should be an easy, safe walk.
This vision comes hand-in-hand with development that allows people to live in or near downtown somewhat affordably. This won’t always be high-rise apartments; it can be rowhomes or walk-ups.
Partnering with the State in an amicable way and listening to community stakeholders + neighborhood organizations will also help us push towards this goal.
In the immediate term, we need to incentivize building small grocery/corner stores downtown!
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When a plan gets stalled, I ask what can we do in the meantime to make progress? For example, if the BRT project is delayed, can we run articulated buses on the 15? Yes, there are larger forces at work funding these huge projects, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make a difference with lower-cost options.
One of my contacts at NCDOT has told me about numerous times he’s offered to roll in City improvements to his projects, but has been unsuccessful in bridging the gap to City staff. These are opportunities we can’t afford to miss.
This “by any means” mentality is key to making progress even in a stagnant fiscal environment.
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I only walk downtown. I don’t see anything unsafe about walking from Transfer Co. to Boulted Bread, rather I just see folks choosing not to walk. I do agree that the walk needs to be more engaging, and we do need more reasons for folks to choose their feet instead of their car. Having places that you can visit/engage/patronize along major routes downtown is key, and the city should be prioritizing those major routes for “high street” activity. While Fayetteville Street is an obvious candidate, others like Glenwood South, Hargett, Lenoir, Person, and West should also have focused plans to enable them to succeed as more engaging pedestrian thoroughfares. We need them in both N/S and E/W form to connect the city center by foot and bike.
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Thanks a lot, @cameron.zamot for spending some time here and sharing your thoughts.
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