I’m happy to have Clark Rinehart (@clarkrinehart) back for another AMA session here on the Community. We have local elections coming up and early voting starts October 15. Clark will be available at 12pm on Wednesday Sept 16th so get your questions in now.
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Post questions ahead of time and Clark will answer them during the timeframe above.
Thanks for another great opportunity to connect and chat with neighbors, Leo. Looking forward to engaging with yall next week. My email is clark@clarkforrlaiegh.com and cell is 305-968-0087 if you want to hit me up beforehand or miss the chat.
We really appreciate you engaging with us! As an east Raleigh resident (State Street Village represent) I see you engaging with our community and committed to understanding what our diverse population values and needs from the city. Looking forward to learning more about your platform and vision, which I’m loving so far!
It often feels like when the city of Raleigh or associated entities do public engagement sessions, they often want to ask the public for engineering advice. So, staff wants to bring engineering drawings, and only engineering drawings to BRT engagement sessions (well Go+ branded swag as well). How can we work to meaningfully engage the public, without asking the public to become traffic engineers?
The city recently closed off the Wilmington Street Entrance to GoRaleigh Station. I support this believing that in order to take the safety concerns seriously that have been levied against the station, something had to be done, and I like that we did that quickly. However, I worry that will become the end of the conversation, not the start of another one. How do we continue to improve safety and the perception of safety at the station? Would you be open to investments that would eventually make it safe to reopen that entrance?
The city owns a lot of parking decks in downtown that are underutilized and a financial drag on the city, back in May of 2024 I heard that we still owed $46 Million in debt on them still. I don’t imagine that’s gotten much better since. At the same time many of them are in disrepair, damaged elevators, doors that don’t close very well, and generalized neglect. What are some ways we could make them less of a drain on the city’s financials? Are there ways we could build buy-in within the downtown business community for those ways?
Do you agree or disagree that downtown is struggling right now? Why and compared to what?
NCDOT owns some notable streets in downtown Raleigh, Dawson/McDowell, Blount/Person, Morgan/Edenton. Much of these streets aren’t safe for any mode and are especially unsafe for users outside a car. They are also noisy and unpleasant to be on. One time I got yelled at to get out of the road when I was on my bicycle in the bike lane on Blount Street. Do you believe it possible to work with NCDOT to make these safer and better, under the current NCGA?
Except for speed limits – a topic on which the NCDOT engineers seem to be very opinionated – I wouldn’t expect NCDOT to reject reasonable proposals from the City that don’t cost much money to implement. If you want a major project, put it into the STIP process and take a number.
I have a solution: Double the police budget to raise their pay substantially and hire way more officers. I’m not running for office though, but it seems pretty simple.
Are we pizza saturated downtown? Don’t get me wrong, I’m a pizza lover, but wonder what the group thinks with Pizza Times and other spots (seemingly doing well). Is there more demand? Or, should we think of another concept that might offer a grab and go option. I miss Happy & Hale and would love to see more interesting retail, F&B options throughout the urban core.
I’m a proponent of more public safety and security. We have to hold the tension of under-policing and over-policing our city. We have to protect vulnerable neighbors (sometimes even from the feds) and ensure that everyone is safe. Coming from Miami, I have always experienced Raleigh as a “safe” place (including downtown where I live and mostly work from if not with clients; perhaps that’s my privilege as a young, straight, white guy). But, we clearly see from recent reports that we need a change.
I think we have to continue to invest (training, better wages, and additional multi-disciplinary units) on our city teams, especially first responders. It is painful to see folks avoid downtown because of a perception of no parking options and a sense of it not being welcoming and/or safe to experience.
I’m not inherently opposed to this notion. Where would you suggest the money come from to support that proposed solution…(1) from other budget line items (if so, which, ideally) or (2) additional taxes? combo?
Always down to geek out with yall and learn from each of you. One of the coolest things about running has been meeting new, incredible friends across Raleigh who have untapped expertise. We need the whole village to participate. So, thank you thank you thank you!
I think it’s the Council’s responsibility to disseminate the info in a clear, concise, and compelling way to neighbors. It is the City’s (comms staff) as well, but the mic is typically in the Council Members’ hands, so those of us running (and, especially those seated) need to continue to ensure neighbors understand the intricacies of the project(s) in a way that is approachable and said plainly. I suspect this will continue to be a challenge, but the ball is in Council’s court to do a better job.
Btw I’m not some super pro-cop person, but I think (like you said), if people aren’t feeling safe enough to come downtown, that’s a problem.
I don’t have visibility to the budget, but I’d think some amount of tax increase or something like the downtown tax certain businesses pay could fund some of this. It seems like a spend money to make money kind of situation at this point. If we don’t spend the money to have enough police to make downtown feel safe, businesses there (retail, restaurant, office, etc) won’t survive, which drastically drops the city’s tax revenue.
TBH, I have the same worries. It is a short-term remedy to understand the overall flow of the station, but it shouldn’t be the end of the convo. You’re spot on there. I would support reconfiguring the station on a number of levels and, in strategic ways, changing how we route buses as we grow. I think Bill King at the DRA State of Downtown hit the right tone. I’m all for innovation and creativity (that is backed by data and community feedback) around solutions. I think, as a city, we have to be more willing to try things and see what works for today, tomorrow, and continue evaluating. Transit is a KEY part of my platform and why I’m running. We have to move differently as we grow and we need more ordinary people to utilize public transit (including activate mobility) as a preferred option along with a reliable/safe option. Right now, the situation at the bus station is untenable (and has been for months) and will require everyone to ensure we don’t just hide poverty. Additionally, my emphasis on homelessness as a housing problem will eventually support neighbors, especially those who live closer to the margins in our city than I do, as we build more supply that ordinary Raleighites can actually afford.
