To be honest, we’ve had a ton of rezonings approved recently. I’m more interested in seeing which of those actually lead to real buildings, before I start worrying too much about slowed down approvals from a bunch of newbie councilors who don’t even know what they’re doing yet.
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Exactly. And just to add to that, I think another point we often forget is that I think it’s something like 90% of redevelopment happens without rezoning. We have a lot of opportunity to see some great development even without rezoning. It’s just those are the most public to us because they get to be discussed at controversial city council meetings.
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Good point and very true. If the economy holds, we should see some of these approved projects start and even some who develop under the current zoning. AND keep in mind, Raleigh housing is seriously still UNDER BUILT. Fingers crossed.
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if i desired sfh housing and a rapid zoning change could possibly begin to wipe that out i would have concern and likely voice opposition unless it could be moderated into a more existing-neighborhood-character focused way/end result. i don’t find that evil or self-centered exactly. if char grill at the lower level of the 20 story bldg was blowing meat smoke up to your balcony in a very smelly way i expect a complaint would be made…or a 615 am 18 wheeler with the back up siren on as you are in a pleasant dream on the 6ht floor. i don’t equate mega density with unvibrancy. in the 60s teensy Cameron village got national acts, the triangle with suburbs has attracted international known phds in physics and bio-science (30+ years ago)…I’ve met them. I’m all for downtown going up and at this point i think raleigh proper has not too much choice but to go up but sfh neighborhood sanity and desirability i don’t think has to be under a steam roller per se.
The flaw with this type of thinking is that allowing density by no means entails the destruction or wiping out of sfh’s or low density living. It simply allows a variety of options where only sfh’s were once allowed. Just because a lot is legally permitted to go up to 5 stories and have apartments doesn’t mean someone isn’t allowed to build a sfh or buy a sfh elsewhere. Densification is not a steam roller, the suburbs will still exist and continue to sprawl further and further from downtown regardless of how dense it gets, and car oriented living will still be allowed, we just won’t have to limit people to that type of living because ONE sector of the population prefers it.
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ok…my bad then. i thought i had read (true?) complaints from certain groups that in a lot of cases if a property was bought a structure far from an existing norm could be built on it. if those groups are way off i wish they would tighten up their rhetoric.
Yes. The national Democratic party, from Biden to Buttigieg to Booker, is definitely on board with density + transit as a formula for success, so what explains the county party’s backwardness? Would it help to overthrow the county party leadership? To get someone senior at FTA/USDOT/HUD to stop by and congratulate Raleigh electeds on a job well done with BRT+TOD, while unsubtly reminding them that they need to get on board with the party line?
Raleigh’s growth seriously matters to the state and national Democratic party’s future, because Democrats win big in big metros but only split the vote in mid-size metros. I’ve seen versions of this point made by a few Beltway pundits, but here’s a Brookings article drawn from a book by David Damore, Robert Lang, and Karen Danielsen:
As we argue in Blue Metros, Red States, the outcomes in Arizona and Georgia are consistent with the emergence of a pan-metro-area identity anchored by a single large, dense, and more politically cohesive metro space. The same level of metro area cohesion does not exist in Florida or Texas (each with four metro areas with populations over 1 million), or North Carolina, where the state’s metro areas—Charlotte, Raleigh, and the Piedmont Triad—are splintered across a nearly 200-mile swath along I-85.
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I’m really intrigued by this. Is anyone close to the county dems that I can talk to? Do they have meetings or something?
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I’ve got it on my to-do list to raise the idea with some long-ago friends who are now active in the county party (but not on the board), as well as some senior federal staffers who are always on the lookout for ways to flatter their bosses. But beyond that, I dunno.
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I tried to get involved once but they weren’t too pleased with my unaffiliated voter registration.
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So it’s like that? I’m also unaffiliated.
You can switch your party registration before you meet with them. 
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Politicians want to get reelected. Being associated too closely to developers tends to lead to short political careers. No matter what party you are with.
I disagree. MAB has been tied closely to developers and she’s getting another term. It’s not about developers. It’s about what your message is. The message MAB has been sending is that she wants more places to live being built.
Livable Raleigh’s message is that they want places to live to be built. Just not on their street. Or in their neighborhood. Or on that historic parking lot. Also, focus on affordable housing, luxury housing is literally gentrification. But not near me please. Also, we should really consider our options. We need a lot of studies to be run for a few years to see if this makes sense.
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Lol. You did dsagree with me in your first paragraph and then followed it up by completely agreeing with me in your second paragraph.
It was laced with heavy sarcasm. I’m not sure exactly how decrying the methods of Livable Raleigh is in agreement with you.
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Just that the council of “Yes” made a lot of people unhappy. The ebb and flow of politics is older than recorded history. Voters seemingly wanted a littlle more “No”.
Yep. Was basically going to have to do just that. I feel like me voting in 7 Democratic primaries at the age of 28 should be enough to give them the hint 
. it makes sense they want to be extra protective being an organized political party. Just might make it hard for a “take-over” to happen due to the number of unaffiliated people within NC.
Also @xdavidj, MAB got 47% of the vote, whereas the two more/completely anti-development candidates got 51% combined. Just MAB made it so that plurality wins. Meaning the Mayor’s message doesn’t seem to be resonating with the majority of voters. But as was already discussed up the thread, the Wake County Democratic Party endorsement against her can’t help.
Of that 51% combined that didn’t vote for her, I would strongly assume that more than 4/51 people would vote for her over either of the two other contenders in a head-to-head. That’s more of a criticism of FPTP than it is of MAB.
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This state has been a major headache for the Democrats over the last decade and a half. Between the GOP’s hissy fit post 2008, poor timing for statewide races with blue waves, and general top to bottom disorganization for the Dems they just can’t catch a break.
That they replaced rural ancestral Democrats with…nothing, that they’re taking rural African-Americans for granted with zero outreach, and that they cant even get the suburbs to turn out less Chatham County says a lot. And this is before the Halfbacks making the state redder.