"To accomplish this, the agency sells that land at a deep discount — or transfers it for free — to affordable housing developers like Community Roots. It’s a win-win-win concept that gives affordable housing developers access to pricey neighborhoods, mitigates the gentrification that flashy new transit projects can cause, and even helps bolster transit ridership in the process. "
This is the core of what I was getting to in my initial comment; a couple new bus stops and corresponding retail and housing developments off the main stretch of New Bern will not magically make this area less Wild West. This corridor is going to need some TLC, and lots and lots of time and patience. And I’m 100% with you in that we can’t ignore the fact that these are still PEOPLE we’re talking about.
I don’t believe large stand alone affordable projects are the answer, you need to intermix the various price points. There was an article a while back about when residents in affordable housing units are placed amongst market rate units in the same building, it leads to a better community. The problem with a large 100+ unit affordable complex is that everything is low end and the residents tend to not treat the building nicely.
Were there military tanks and planes flying over dropping bombs? Lol
But seriously every major thoroughfare needs to be lit up with bright streetlights on every corner or intersection for pedestrians. I’ve been nearly run over myself. They need to be lit to the point you can see the next intersection.
This. Getting the city to add lighting anywhere is a PITA. Hell, I myself go online and report online the lights that are out when I see them (esp in this part of town) and it’s a miracle if any are ever fixed in under two months from when I report them.
tough one…im not sure what level of infill (and the price per unit) will change what apparently/allegedly is happening on new bern. sometimes I look at yonkers ny (more than twice the density of raleigh but a bit smaller for comparisons of what might be?) Properties – Municipal Housing Authority this map of municipal housing shows several properties close together and some more scattered out from the core… i recall some housing I think in 71 being put at the end of wexford drive in south raleigh…numerous units on a dead end street were completed, and more crimes did start to happen and whites left. as far as push-arounds…i think avent ferry before it was widened had a row of small houses along it…i think majority white at the time and the city built up a 6 or 7 foot berm in front of each house…despite complaints and house reduction values ‘at the time’. it has changed. as far as north hills…the old apartments there I think had various races in them and were torn down. the tear downs may actually be slanted in one direction, but i have read that various growth patterns in cities do strange things at different times, and i don’t think they are always based on race. boundary restrictions and then infill as tastes and age and open space desires and family patterns change. bahama in durham kinda comes to mind. developers may actually chase trends more often in what they are hearing in the markets…good or ill. maybe just a bigger better safer shelter if its a homeless issue…I’m not sure how national immigration policy may have affected states and cities exactly as well. i know the city put up signs in Spanish saying not to eat the fish out of crabtree creek
if true, it has certainly worsened since I lived in Longview 75-80. it was a wonderful street then. i assume socio-economic issues have changed a great deal in the nearby area. so what various levels subsidized of housing would make a meaningful impact? 10% at 50% ami? with an additional 5% at 70% ami ??
I’m not an econ major. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/towards-a-new-paradigm-in-monetary-economics/979889E54EEC2286E5C3C0AE2E0ED44B didn’t finish the book. perhaps there are impressions that native people have of slower housing rate increases in not too far off decades of the past that so much didn’t seem as far out of reach. housing variety is now 1000sqft vs 1600sqft all in the same building and perhaps(?) outpacing median wage growth? and I am not certain of how sprawl restrictions may have also affected prices of varying dwellings.
Why don’t they just go LED? Btw I’m Having a similar situation at my place.
Ya know if they do pass a other infrastructure referendum it should be on short-term
upgrades to things operating now like street lights, bike lanes, and traffic lights. Like across from my house I’ve been almost hit 4 times there a light at the intersection but there no arrows it just solid light.
Glad to see you pop back up and always for some back stories!
I’ll only have a bit of a quibble. Octavia is very passionate but her complaints are often incoherent - for example she references her efforts in East College Park but she was the one that advocated and won for lower density instead of more gentle density that would have added more opportunities for those lower down the income spectrum instead of the single family houses that require mortgage qualification. Then a few years later complained that there weren’t enough apartments for that same demographic. I’ve lived in the area for a few decades and known her for several decades and this pattern repeats itself.
Johnny has shouted ‘gentrifier’ at people a few feet away from him in community meetings and other negative behavior that discourages genuine community building.
What I don’t hear from those two are solutions that they’d like to see. It’s usually diatribes about the wrongs and not about the rights. And when efforts are suggested by others, they spend their admirable passion on tearing them down instead. There are great leaders doing great things along this corridor - thank you for your great book! However, I think they do more harm than good as others simply tag on to their rhetoric instead of spending their own energy on building up. It’s too easy for tag alongs in every part of the city and any community to follow those that shout the loudest.
It’s also concerning that a lot of the people that show up to city meetings gripe about issues much larger than the city, but don’t advocate at the state and federal level to emphasize more systematic change to the actual problems (fair housing laws, inequality, earned income tax credits, etc.), not the symptoms.
Pretty big potential development on the boards near the intersection of New Bern Ave & Raleigh Blvd. My guess is mid-rise apartment building on the wedge facing New Bern and townhomes along Hawkins St.
If this is one I think it is, it’s supposed to be mostly market but with a percent set aside for people under the Median income? I think…
I think the city is really pushing mixed levels in this area with the TOD.
Technically you can go up to 8 floors with a 5 story by-right zoning using the density bonus. The unit count of floors 6 and up are required to be 20% affordable, so if the floor plate of a 7 story building is 30 units, that means the building would have 12 (2x30x20%) affordable units located wherever on the property.
