So, on one hand, I too see a lot of potential for positive change as a result of the DMV relocating, and I’m very hopeful that this relocation will allow the current DMV site to be redeveloped with housing that will increase density and create more affordable options in Raleigh.
But I think that we should all be mindful of how changes in neighborhoods that we don’t live in (based on what your phrasing suggests) will impact the people who do live there. Notwithstanding my cautious optimism about this change, I can understand why local residents would be concerned, not just about the jobs, but also about gentrification and displacement. When neighborhoods transform, sometimes they transform in ways that are not entirely positive for existing residents.
I don’t think that the solution to this problem is to try to keep neighborhoods locked in amber, of course. But I do hope that once this land is redeveloped, it’s redeveloped in way that maximizes equity and helps to ensure that the transformation is as beneficial to existing residents as possible.
Everything seems to indicate that state leaders want to locate the DMV headquarters to a less affluent part of the region with higher unemployment and cheaper land. My question is whether the state decides to sell the property or lease it, and I can’t imagine the state government trying to maximize social equity.
This section of New Bern Avenue could definitely use a strong anchor for the immediate neighborhood. Tarboro Road, N. King Charles Road (Longview S/C), and Sunnybrook (WakeMed) are equally distributed from the State Capitol along what will be the New Bern Avenue BRT. If done right, a new development at this location cold provide jobs, housing, and new opportunity for this area for the people that already live here. There is a lot of uncertainty to contend with.
As far as the DMV headquarters, I tend to lean towards accessible and central locations for government and civic buildings. I think these governmental office project should be located in a way that it adds to the city/neighborhood.
Mixed-use with a lot of affordable housing. Plenty of folks are being pushed out as it is to make the area more affluent as its proximity and connectivity to downtown is desirable. Not providing alternative places to live for people priced out of homes just increases the risk of homelessness and I know we all don’t want that.
It isn’t going to happen because developers can’t really pad their bank accounts with a project that contains a lot of affordable units, but, I’m glad to see city and state government thinking about consolidating their offices outside of this sprawl that was prevalent a few decades ago.
I assume the state, should they choose to sell the property, would simply sell to the highest bidder. I think Alek is right that no developer would voluntarily include affordable housing without getting something in return. At least no developer who would be willing to pay top dollar for a pretty prime piece of real estate.
That being said, this and the Exploris site are probably the two largest tracts on this corridor, and whatever goes there will have a lot of influence on how the corridor develops.
This is two things…one is that the convenience of getting an ID for voting (thanks folks who voted for that amendment) in a predominantly minority neighborhood is being taken away, and two, it IS a rapidly changing area and I am sure some lucky donor will get dibs on it when it goes to ‘auction’. My guess is that a satellite DMV office ends up in Cameron Village and they’ll call that ‘equal services’. I live a block away and, sure, the building and site currently are terrible, but if any proposal lacks a satellite DMV office in the site plan or very nearby, then it’s as I am thinking, a 100% voter suppression facet. Also I am screen shoting this and will repost as a pic, so if you flag it, speak up, so we know you are in favor of voter suppression too. The ideal situation would be mixed use commercial and retail wrapping, a new, say 6 story building and parking deck for DMV to stay onsite in and maybe some residential along Hargett (both sides)
wow i’m actually agreeing with something you posted! at this point i dont put anything past the GA and their motives. i didnt think of it this way, i thought of it as just another way to take something away from a democrat-filled downtown of a city. but the stupid voter suppression amendment goes perfectly hand in hand with moving the dmv out. sigh, i can’t wait for enough liberals to finally move to this state that turns the tide back.
I rarely comment on politics but let me say that this voter suppression scheme cooked up by the NC GA (which is more than voter ID) is not an isolated effort. It is no mere coincidence that other such efforts are occurring in other states. The hollow justification for these bills is to “ensure the confidence and integrity of our elections process” yet these same folks (such as in Florida and in the WH) cook up wild conspiracy theories of rampant voter fraud without offering substantive proof. So much for confidence in our elections process.
I’m not sure of the legality or whatever, but they “instructed” the DMV to seek property “outside of Raleigh” but some of the proposals are still inside the city limits (admittedly none are close to DT). I think the state really wants to make them move somewhere like Rocky Mount or Goldsboro but I don’t know if they have the ability to force them.
Textbook example of the GOP not giving a crap about the urban areas and somehow thinking you can just spread the state capital across the state. They will completely ignore the fact that you will impact people with jobs in Raleigh by moving the DMV to Edgecombe county where it will be more difficult to fill ‘senior level’ talent because the top talent pool is much larger in the urban areas…one the reasons Amazon is going to NYC and DC.
I’m not going to apologize for the GA, but I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that the current DMV office would be moved out of East Raleigh just to disenfranchise minority voters. Whether that was a consideration in the plan, I cannot say, but I’d like to be optimistic. There are a multitude of other reasons why the office would be moved away from it’s current location. The current facility is aging and needs either repair or replacement. Siting large, sterile, government facilities in predominately single-family home neighborhoods is no longer acceptable. It makes sense to have a large DMV office in the state capital, and perhaps that should remain so, but Raleigh has plenty of economic opportunities when compared to struggling towns in the eastern counties so there should be at least some consideration to spreading the jobs around.
That said, I’m in favor of keeping the DMV in Raleigh, but I don’t think this is the right site for it. It would be a shame for the multitudes of employees to be uprooted to some other town, so I think the best solution would be to find another site not too far away.
Just throwing this out there… What if the State built a parking deck on one of their many surface parking lots and built a new DMV on a portion of the same block within the State Govt complex. What a crazy concept, no?
Exactly! There is so much underutilized land that the State already owns to house a new DMV facility. I hadn’t even thought of that place, but it’s so obvious that it slipped right past me. The only question is whether the State is willing to take the initiative (and funding) to make it happen.
No offense but this hopeful, puritan view is super naive. Maybe you have to be down there swimming in it every day like I am. There isn’t one altruistic move, or any move made by Moore and Berger, that isn’t hitched to some larger scale initiative being handed down to them. They are quite intent on keeping that 10/3 margin in NC’s Congressional delegation. Here’s how it’ll work…in two years the voter suppression tactics reclaim the veto proof super majorities, and then 2 years after that, the Board of Elections and Judicial Appointment amendments go back up. If the economy crashes or any other initiative gets stopped, they’ll campaign on liberals breaking government and not letting conservatives do their job enhancing the chances of success in one of those elections. Anyway, lets see where they propose to move the DMV HQ to…my guesses are either Morganton (tons of State facilities already there) or a split HQ between Hyde and Wilkes Counties.
I just wanted to point out that the DMV location on New Bern Avenue is a License Plate and Vehicle Registration location. It is not a Driver License location.