Very surprised that this and many other comments in this trainwreck of a thread haven’t been flagged, but I’ll just say this: Chelsea Cook of Durham’s city council is Jewish and queer and voted for the ceasefire resolution, and much of the activism surrounding ceasefire resolutions in the Triangle was organized by Jewish Voices for Peace. I’m queer, and my circle of friends includes queer Palestinians. These issues intersect, and I expect elected officials – including Melton – to stand up for justice independent of their personal identities. I’m glad to see that didn’t sway his vote here, but I remain unconvinced and unimpressed by his explanation for what did. Going back to mute on this thread.
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From the river to the sea! Am i right? A real bonafide slogan for peace. Yeah, Palestine and its supporters haven’t done much to convince me they are actually interested in ceasefire nor do I think its unreasonable for a queer city council member in Raleigh North Carolina to not want to align themselves with Islamic extremists who stone outed homosexuals to death in the streets. Its also reasonable to be of the opinion that both sides fucking suck in this situation. But go ahead, keep insisting that anyone who doesn’t think like you should be flagged and mute the thread so you don’t have to listen to an opposing view. Super mature.
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I mean, my approach with most topics like this is that people typically tire out and it fades. If you want to say something, by all means, I’ll let some of it sit here if that’s the point you want to make and tie it to your account. You do you.
At the same time, is this forum really the place to argue a topic like Israel and Palestine? So after a few days I start to cut it off.
I’ll be tightening it up soon and getting us back on topic. Going forward, after people have had their moment, I’ll just flag and delete posts on the topic cause typically it’s a few that get into a pissing match while the many just roll their eyes. Pro tip: If @Phil is arguing with you, you should just check out at that point.
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I do not realish your, or anyones, job of moderating boards, particularly these days. Thank you for your hard work at this.
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Harsh…but fair.
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Phil’s posts have been growing on me. I usually find myself agreeing or laughing or both. Maybe it’s this new optimistic thing I’m trying out.
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Regarding Raleigh city council adopting a stance on the Middle East:
I think of it in simple terms: Good Guys don’t take hostages.
To me there’s zero relevance for what the Raleigh city council thinks about the Israel/Palestine conflict. Local political leaders have enough issues to deal with here, anything they do about national foreign policy like the middle East is pure virtue signalling directed towards whichever group.
By the way, I’m gay but not “queer.” I’m part of the LGB community. But saying I should think or vote a certain way because of that one personal characteristic is kind of narrow-minded. I have LOTS of different qualities to describe myself, not just who my partner is and sexuality or religion. But like the moderator said: you do you.
But jeez "queer palestinians? they can’t even go home without being killed for who they love based on their society and religion. Yikes. Israel is very progressive, and you’d think the “queer” palestinians would applaud Israeli’s tolerance of gay citizens, but instead they’re the “infidels” and “colonizers.”
It’s quite telling that none of the Muslim countries are accepting or welcoming the people from Gaza to relocate into their respective lands.
I prefer local politicians stick to local issues. When they get involved in things like “sanctuary cities” look how that’s blown up on NY.
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Now that’s a controversial opinion. Sorry but I’m flagging this.
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Y’all… the original intention of even bringing this up was SPECIFICALLY to call attention to the fact that J. Melton announced his re-election campaign, and how a majority of comments on his IG post were calling him “pro-genocide” and “baby killer” esque names, and how the whole debacle is ridiculous and not at all the city’s jurisdiction. This was never meant to spark internal debate here about the Israel/Palestine conflict because, again, it’s OUT OF OUR JURISDICTION. Enough with the infighting and name calling. None of us have all the answers, none of us are foreign policy experts. Cut it out, now.
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Changing gears here.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article286865970.html
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He sounds like a reasonable person, and having Meeker’s endorsement carries weight with me. And he has experience rescuing someone from a burning building, so maybe he could help the fire department figure out how to navigate string lights.
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On top of that, he’s running in Christina Jones’ district. Anything is better than someone who, when pressed about the unaffordability of homes for all residents here, says that instead of needing a large sweater, we need a medium.
While I disagree with the other members of the council that were supported by Livable Raleigh, I can at least appreciate their nuanced responses and opinions. I rarely hear a good or thoughtful take from Christina Jones. And, I watch almost every single Tuesday meeting.
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Completely agree. Patton has been the biggest surprise for me. Would be completely fine with her staying on the council.
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He has experience going down more than 40 floors of stairs too. 
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The self-described “Democrats” doing endorsements for WCDP really need to get on board with Biden here and BUILD BUILD BUILD townhouses:
An entire chapter of the annual Economic Report of the President is devoted to housing costs, with much of it talking about how the federal government needs to pressure cities to loosen zoning laws and say no to NIMBYs.
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I hope this doesn’t actually go through. I have no idea why we’d want to subject ourselves to more ads in our city when we already have some of the more pleasant billboard free roads. I see no benefit to allowing this when we already don’t.
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Former City Councilman David Cox emerged from hiding to throw some shade on Nextdoor about the Transporation Bond from 7 years ago.
It reads :
“Seven years ago (2017) the citizens of Raleigh overwhelmingly approved a $206 million transportation bond to make improvements to 16 roads. How are those projects coming along now that seven years have gone by?
From the October 2023 update:
Out of 16 projects, one (I repeat ONE) project has been completed.
What in the world is City Manager, Marchell Adams-David doing? Why aren’t Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin and the rest of Council providing any oversight to get our much needed road improvements done? One project a decade doesn’t cut it.”
(17) Seven years ago (2017) the citizens of Raleigh overwhelmingly approved a $206 million transportation bond to make improvements to 16 roads. — Nextdoor
Like it or not, he’s right. This is sad, and before you come to their defense about Covid, costs, materials, etc. The private sector does not seem as handcuffed with these issues the public sector has.
Luckily in the comments section it appears everyone is done with voting for these bonds, thank god.
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You can’t compare road projects with private sector stuff because the permitting process and ROW acquisition process for government funded transportation projects is immensely complex. NEPA/SEPA regulations make most any public road project a ten year process at the very least, easily, as well as Clean Water Act, and other regulations and permits. Plus design, jurisdictional delineations, hydraulics/stormwater, utility relocations, bid letting, Environmental Impact Statements, appraising historic structures, etc.
My view? I’m actually impressed they got THAT much going on already. 2017 was not that long ago when you look at road projects.
I mean…look at 540 and how long that’s been going on.
If you think a major tax-funded road project can be done in just a few years, I highly recommend you read up on the NEPA & SEPA processes.
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Yeah he’s not wrong. Whatever the reasons, the result isn’t acceptable and the process needs to be changed.
He’s not wrong, but there was also this big worldwide event that completely fucked up supply chains back in 2020. Context is key.
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