The state of Raleigh's leadership

[ChiefJoJo]

Did you know that Mayor Meeker has run 22 marathons, including a personal best 2:44 (6:15/mi avg) in the Boston Marathon in 1979. I'm VERY impressed.

[RaleighRob]

Kekas has announced she won't be running again for her at-large seat: http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/586521.html

This bodes well for Baldwin.

[ChiefJoJo]

The Raleigh city Council Race keeps clearing up... Paul Anderson is also running for the at-large seats. That gives Baldwin, Anderson, and Stephenson vying for 2 seats so far.

[zande]

Yes, Nancy McFarlane is challenging Tommy Craven in District A.

http://nancymcfarlane.com/

[dmccall]

As a result, Raleighites are impressed by below-average developments like The Dawson - but only because they don't know any better.

[RaleighRob]

The Raleigh city Council Race keeps clearing up... Paul Anderson is also running for the at-large seats. That gives Baldwin, Anderson, and Stephenson vying for 2 seats so far.

[dmccall]

I've had a few run-ins with the Baldwins as they sit right in front of my in-laws at hockey games. IIRC, her husband, Jim, came here with the Whalers and was one of the three guys that Karmanos fired just as the arena opened (remember that Dean Jordan and two others got the axe?). They live in Oakwood and have participated in that Christmas home decor tour they do in Oakwood.

I've met Jim, oh, 6 times or so. Last season in Game 2 against Montreal the Canes were extremely timid with the puck. They were looking for the perfect shot too much (which they slip into doing sometimes), and not pushing the Canadiens hard enough. During a power play, they passed the puck for nearly 20 second in the zone without a shot. Like about 2,000 other people in the area, I screamed, "SHOOT THE PUCK!". Jim turned around and screamed,"Hey, pal,what do you want them to do?" and pointed to the shots on goal talley board (we had a slight advantage.) Had I heard the Dane Cook routine I would have hit him with hombre. Instead I said,"Shoot it, JIM". You don't call someone you've met SIX times,"Pal". I didn't resort to calling him a yankee redneck (which is who uses that terminology in public).

Mary-Ann, on the other hand, has always been pretty nice. I will say that they two of them never miss an opportunity to go the bar at games.

I have to take issue with one of the constructs some of you have stated. Local politicians are not either pro-sprawl or pro"smart"growth. If you add 20,000 people to a city, they have to go somewhere. If they CHOOSE to live in the outskirts' new housing, the implication is that they are dumb. Cameron Village was sprawl at one time. North Hills was sprawl at one time. The big problem I have with the construct is the misuse of the term "smart". Now this could go on for several posts, I understand.

None of you are acknowledging the other facet of local politics: Downtownism. These people want to redevelop downtown into a walkable utopia so badly that they completely IGNORE what's going on in the outskirts. This is in contrast to "smart" growth, and ignores the desires of the vast majority of people who are attracted to this area. Meeker is the most guilty of this. He and others have spent 90% of their energy on downtown stuff while allowing Capital Blvd, for example, to worsen. Not only is it trashy, but now there is a serious crime problem extending all the way to mini-city. They keep allowing divided highways to have unlimited access and unlimited traffic lights - encouraging car idling and pollution. Meeker was adamant against clearcutting and would stop it when he got elected. Meanwhile vast areas +/-2mi from 540 are getting swathed out worse than ever. North Raleigh becomes less walkable because this crowd approves 15 yucky items in N. Raleigh for every nice downtown project. Downtown needs to be nice, mind you, but our outskirts should not be ignored.

Oh, yuck. Marie Watson Nooe. If you want to run every builder out of town vote for her. Not the builders you don't like; I mean the ones building the neat stuff. She was part of the old Raleigh standard of making life so miserable for people wanting to do anything neat, that they give up and go to another city. Instead of being a positive "can-do", let's make Raleigh GREAT, councilor, all she ever did was focus on restricting this and that. no no no with a bunch of whining is all I remember - and no concept of a balance sheet, either.

[plus2]

^ I agree with most of that, but I don't think downtownism is a problem. We need a lot of attention paid to downtown, but we also need some agressive advocates for better development along Capital and in N Raleigh.

Perhaps strong challengers to Tommy Craven and Jessie Taliaferro can bring new energy into redevelopment along Capital Blvd, for example.

[rjgeary]

Dana, I think you're making a great point about lack of concern over the details of development in North Raleigh (and perhaps also overstating the attention to detail about development downtown, which just rocks along pretty much the way Progress Energy and its water-carriers draw it up). But I'm having trouble reconciling your complaint about lack of attention to detail with your other complaint about councilors who just "whine, whine, whine."

I have no specific recollection of Mary Nooe on City Council -- before my attention-paying time -- and am holding no brief for her candidacy. But I do believe that the cultural norm on City Council is to be in the Joyce Kekas mold, always green-lighting whatever a developer proposes without ever offering a thought, let alone trying to suggest a change. Whenever a Council member does try to broker a change, or a compromise, by saying, "look, I can't vote for this project as presented, but if it were changed in the following ways, I could," that kind of approach is so foreign to our Council that the other members recoil and/or ridicule, not the substance of the effort--they won't engage the substance--but rather the sheer audacity of it. "Who're you to fuss about what this fine developer tells us he needs to make his numbers work," is pretty what they say, while sneering. And if there's a small-area plan or site-plan approval criterion at odds with the developer's alleged numbers, the plan is quietly amended or ignored.

Watching this, I want to get up from the bleachers and ask, "Have you seen the numbers? What are they numbers?" But hey, that's just me.

It's kind of like watching Fox News, where the mere mention of "global warming" is sure to produce snickers from everyone at the table--even the token liberals (well, moderates) who should know better, but who fear, if they say anything, that everyone else will turn on them and say, "Oh, all you ever do is whine, whine, whine."

It seems like everyone on this list, especially, should want community input into development, both downtown and around town. We're not out to thwart it. Quite the opposite. What we want, I think, is the most urban bang possible for the private bucks invested, which will only occur if each successive project complements the ones that came before it and ushers in more good stuff after.

You all want input. So do I. The way City Council works today, together with the patsy Planning Commission they've appointed, we don't get to have input, or not much. And we won't until we stop letting every suggestion or critical analysis be dismissed as whining.

[rooster8]

I remember when Nooe ran for mayor back in '95. I was serving as a governor's page the week of the election and we happened to visit Governor Hunt on election day. One of the other pages asked who he thought would win and the governor said, "I believe the Mayor (Fetzer) will win, but I prefer his opponent."

[sax184]

After 50 years of anti-downtownism informing everything we do in Raleigh, and a similar committing of funds, we need another 15-20 years of "downtownism" before I'll say that we're focused too much on the city core.

Also, *NOT* caring about the design of North Raleigh neighborhoods is a major tenet of anti-downtownism. In fact, it's perhaps the calling card of those who don't think we should focus on downtown. Look, I'll be the first to agree with you that North Raleigh and Brier Creek desperately need some urban design. Capital is a disaster. However, the interest of Meeker and others in downtown is NOT what is preventing that from happening. It is precisely the habits and orientation of those who purport to support OTB Raleigh over "unnecessary investment" in downtown that have left conversations about how to design North Raleigh neighborhoods better off the table.

If you want to see that change, I encourage you to ask Mayor Meeker not to curtail his "downtownism," but to extend it to the rest of the city. rjgeary is right about needing to change the culture on the Council, too. There's no shame in asking questions. It's good governance.

[plus2]

Yes! Let's extend downtownism beyond downtown. I like that. Capital is a great place to start because it is a gateway into downtown and it already very industrial and development. We would be redeveloping existing infrastructure, just like downtown.

[ncwebguy]

Capital Blvd. was trashy way before Charles Meeker was elected mayor. 90% downtown? Maybe if Soleil, North Hills, 5401, Wakefiled, and other projects also fall into the "downtown" category. Areas like Poole Road have been left in a state of disrepair since before 2/3rd or more of north Raleigh was built. Would any other part of town be subjected to an artery being torn up for a *month*? No.

It seemed shiny and nice in the mid 90s when the Target/PetsMart/Hannaford complex gave mini-city a run for its money. But instead of upping the ante, mini-city started a race towards the bottom. The closing of Winn Dixie and attracting stores like Colortime was the beginning of the end.

The city is starting to enforce laws already on the books to clean up Capitol Blvd, and people are already complaining. There might be one or two new used car lots, but it is in now worse shape than it was ten years ago. Unless you count Pricillas, but it is better than the two "adult" stores on Capitol ITB. There is even a little *more* density in the corridor, with the addition of the starbucks/sprint/eb games center, the drive through mexican place (formerly Wendy's), and the redevelopment of the former discount furniture/pack and save eyesore where the Best Buy, Total Wine, etc. are now.

I think the shopping center where Mimi's, Circuit City, BJs, etc went in could have been better, and there are too many apartments (and too few townhouses detached houses) going into that area. But if the community wants it and the planning commission approves it, it is hard to reevaluate things in the council chambers. I think the planning commission should work closer with the CACs and the council representative of every project, but I don't know what the rules of order are.

During the last campaign, Russ Stephenson said that as an at-large councilor, he wanted to be the voice of the neighborhoods, cedeing power to the CACs, since he has no way of knowing what is best for every neighborhood in the city. This creates the "pass everything" mentality. We need to do a better job of educating citizens and CACs, especially in the northern parts of the city, to expect more of developments. The new comprehensive plan will also help.

I have no idea where these candidates were two years ago. There were only four candidates for the at-large seats, and three (or four?) district seats went uncontested. The mayor has done a lot to make Raleigh a city people want to govern, as oppsoed to the Fetzer/Coble era of reducing government's role to the insignificance that created the North Raleigh Mess to begin with.

[serapis]

Capital Blvd. was trashy way before Charles Meeker was elected mayor. 90% downtown? Maybe if Soleil, North Hills, 5401, Wakefiled, and other projects also fall into the "downtown" category. Areas like Poole Road have been left in a state of disrepair since before 2/3rd or more of north Raleigh was built. Would any other part of town be subjected to an artery being torn up for a *month*? No.

It seemed shiny and nice in the mid 90s when the Target/PetsMart/Hannaford complex gave mini-city a run for its money. But instead of upping the ante, mini-city started a race towards the bottom. The closing of Winn Dixie and attracting stores like Colortime was the beginning of the end.

The city is starting to enforce laws already on the books to clean up Capitol Blvd, and people are already complaining. There might be one or two new used car lots, but it is in now worse shape than it was ten years ago. Unless you count Pricillas, but it is better than the two "adult" stores on Capitol ITB. There is even a little *more* density in the corridor, with the addition of the starbucks/sprint/eb games center, the drive through mexican place (formerly Wendy's), and the redevelopment of the former discount furniture/pack and save eyesore where the Best Buy, Total Wine, etc. are now.

I think the shopping center where Mimi's, Circuit City, BJs, etc went in could have been better, and there are too many apartments (and too few townhouses detached houses) going into that area. But if the community wants it and the planning commission approves it, it is hard to reevaluate things in the council chambers. I think the planning commission should work closer with the CACs and the council representative of every project, but I don't know what the rules of order are.

During the last campaign, Russ Stephenson said that as an at-large councilor, he wanted to be the voice of the neighborhoods, cedeing power to the CACs, since he has no way of knowing what is best for every neighborhood in the city. This creates the "pass everything" mentality. We need to do a better job of educating citizens and CACs, especially in the northern parts of the city, to expect more of developments. The new comprehensive plan will also help.

I have no idea where these candidates were two years ago. There were only four candidates for the at-large seats, and three (or four?) district seats went uncontested. The mayor has done a lot to make Raleigh a city people want to govern, as oppsoed to the Fetzer/Coble era of reducing government's role to the insignificance that created the North Raleigh Mess to begin with.

[Gard]

I think the shopping center where Mimi's, Circuit City, BJs, etc went in could have been better, and there are too many apartments (and too few townhouses detached houses) going into that area. But if the community wants it and the planning commission approves it, it is hard to reevaluate things in the council chambers. I think the planning commission should work closer with the CACs and the council representative of every project, but I don't know what the rules of order are.

During the last campaign, Russ Stephenson said that as an at-large councilor, he wanted to be the voice of the neighborhoods, cedeing power to the CACs, since he has no way of knowing what is best for every neighborhood in the city. This creates the "pass everything" mentality. We need to do a better job of educating citizens and CACs, especially in the northern parts of the city, to expect more of developments. The new comprehensive plan will also help.

[ChiefJoJo]

Just heard that Mary Watson Noee is entering the race too. ()

So let's see...that's 4 Democrats (all relatively progressive from what I can tell), running for the same 2 at-large seats. Sounds good to me, but my pessimistic side is picturing a Republican coming into the race, and taking advantage of the others "splitting votes".

[tjoad]

The developments and renewed interested in downtown are a great investment for the city. We all know the reasons why. These investments of money, time, planning, and general effort will bear fruit for generations if they are done correctly.

Yes, I agree Meeker is focusing more on downtown than the outskirts. How much more and is it fair? I am not sure. Downtown has been ignored for decades. The triangle, with Raleigh at the forefront, is booming; and investing in the city's core seems logical because of the importance to the city's image and vitality. The addition of all these residences downtown will also help absorb some of the newcomers to the area.

But my real concern is the lack of quality development outside downtown. I can only really name one exception which is North Hills. Other than that it is all car-centric, single use, cul-de-sac crap.

I personally am not sure who to blame. Obviously I could start out with the Mayor for focusing too much on downtown, but downtown is looking better and better because of him. Or maybe the City Council who has a strong North Raleigh representation. Like Mr. Geary said, why are they not demanding sustainable, higher quality of living development. Same with the CAC's and planning commission. They might actually think these developments have some merit ...

I've heard there will be a new comprehensive plan. I'm not sure what it will be but you would have to think that it would SOMEHOW be tied to transit...

[ncwebguy]

I think Pricilla's was/is a good addition to that area. It reused an existing structure and has attractive (but not distractig) displays. But some people (sans pulse?) will consider it contributes to the "ugliness" on Capitol, moreso with its neon lighting than their product selection. We should encourage more clean and friendly stores, no matter what they sell. My point was that Capitol didn't turn trashy overnight, and some of the usual scapegoats (flags, adult stores) are not the cause of the "problem". Would Our Place and Castle do better if they were more, umm, female friendly? I dunno. But there are corridors "trashier" than Capitol. Wilmington south of MLK is "cleaned up" but has a weird, ghost town feel to it. Snapshots burned down years ago, yet the building still stands. Maybe becasue there are no neighbors that complain? The warehouses south of 440 do *nothing* for the street experience, nor do the protected wetlands around the creek near City Farm road.

The city's "We Are Neighbors" program (which I think is tied to Gard's post) recently won some national recognition, so expect to see more of it in the future.

I know Hillsborough (and Glenwood South before it) were in a bad shape for a while, but I thought that was due to other work being done in the area (burying utilities), not "just" a resurfacing like at Poole Road. I remember the Capitol Blvd. widening days, and the recent Tryon Road widening from Gorman to Lake Wheeler. They were not walks in the park, but they were improvments, not maintenance.

The new comp plan will be an undertaking of the newish planning director Mitch Silver. It kind of ties into the forum on the front UP page about new vs. old city planners. Former city planner George Chapman seemed to belive in adhering to the current plan, since updating it would be a big process, and he was close to retiring. I think it will put the city on the right path, but I hope the "right path" is established by this year's council going forward. I don't know if the CACs approved Brier Creek, or they approved one plan but the implementation was drastcially different. That was passed right before I started paying attention.

I don't think 1/4 acre lots in exurbia are "smart", but I don't think they should be outlawed either. They should be built in a somewhat planned manner (Wakefield, Brier Creek) but they should also pay a "luxury tax" in addition to impact fees, for creating their extra space that city services and infrastructure need to accomodate. This will create more "bang for the buck" in high rise units, but still give people who want a "country club lifestyle" that option as well. Developments that intentionally create dead ends (cul de sacs) could be allowed, but should pay their way as well. The added cost will make those neighborhoods all the more "exclusive" and attractive to folks with the money. The rest mostly want a solid roof over their head, a decent economy with a job for them, good schools for thieir kids, and safe neighborhoods inbetween. Raleigh has delivered this for generations, and can in the future if the proper rules are in place.

[plus2]

The end of the filing period for Raleigh City Council elections was today. Mayor Charles Meeker was reelected to another term because nobody bothered to run against him. Philip Isley, Thomas Crowder and Jim West were also reelected. There will be races in Districts A and B, and at-large.

At-large candidates:

Councilor Russ Stephenson

Mary Ann Baldwin

Paul Anderson

David Williams

William Best

District A:

Councilor Tommy Craven

Nancy McFarlane

District B:

Councilor Jessie Taliaferro

Roger Koopman

Angel Menendez

[ncwebguy]

Congrats to Mayor-elect Meeker! It will be interesting to see what the next two years bring. It is interesting to see that there wasn't a libertarian or "hey i got my name on the ballot" candidate.

I was almost thinking about running for District C, but knew I can't survive on the $14k/year. I was hoping someone else would step up, but now it looks like I only need to research the at-large race....

I thought someone said Mrs. Baldwin was running for District A, but now she is an at-large candidate.

It looks like a somewhat crowded race, and will be interesting to see if canddidates align down party lines, or if it will continue to be "non-partisan".

[dmccall]

According to the Wake Co. real estate search, the only property that Jim and Mary Ann Baldwin own is a Cotton Mill condo. That's District A, James West's district. Given the politics involved, there's no way she could win that election, so she is smart to go "at-large".

What happened to Mary Watson Nooe? She got a placeholder website up, but apparently didn't file.

I haven't heard of Paul Anderson, David Williams, or William Best. I guess we should go ahead and rip these guys to shreds now.

BTW, there are so many handles used in this forum. Is anyone on the list running for anything or is everyone just a zealous nut here?

[RaleighRob]

Well good for the mayor...I know he's not perfect but most of the time that things don't work out well in this city it's not because he hasn't tried his hardest. He's ran up against a brick wall in the council more times than we can count.

That said, it looks like we have great opportunities to fix that this year.

If at the at-large race we can keep Stephenson, then all progressives need to concentrate on is making sure Kekas' replacement is an improvement. And at this point, based on what I've learned so far, Mary Ann Baldwin would be that person. She's got a benefit being the only woman running in the race. Her and Stephenson together has alot of potential!

Now the big win for progressives and urban advocates this year would be to replace Craven with Nancy McFarlane. The more I read about her, the more I like her. I can't vote for her, but I will encourage everyone I know who can to do so! It would be a big win....and a major shift for that district.

And for District B, pro-smart-growth candidate Roger Koopman would be a terrific replacement for developer-lover Taliaferro! If y'all don't recall, Roger was the progressive Dem running up against Paul Coble on the Wake Commissioners last year, and unfortunately lost. He would be a MAJOR improvement to Taliaferro, who is often the definition of a "DINO".

So while there's not a lot of competitive races this year, the ones that are could really make a big change on where the council heads!

[dmccall]

Dana, I think you're making a great point about lack of concern over the details of development in North Raleigh (and perhaps also overstating the attention to detail about development downtown, which just rocks along pretty much the way Progress Energy and its water-carriers draw it up). But I'm having trouble reconciling your complaint about lack of attention to detail with your other complaint about councilors who just "whine, whine, whine."........

You all want input. So do I. The way City Council works today, together with the patsy Planning Commission they've appointed, we don't get to have input, or not much. And we won't until we stop letting every suggestion or critical analysis be dismissed as whining.

[ncwebguy]

Zealous nut here. I can't live on $10,000/year, and don't have a job gives me a lot of Tuesdays off.

I think Mr. Anderson gave Tommy Craven a run for his money in District A last time, but is now going for an at-large seat since Nancy McFarlane is running there.

I didn't realize District C (City Council district map) was mostly south of New Bern, east of Capitol from the I-440 intersection south, through downtown along Dawson, and then down the Wilmington Street corridor. I would vote for Mrs. Baldwin over West, but the rest of the district might not.

With all the growth in recent years, maybe the city's districts need to be redrawn? Wouldn't it make sense to have an odd number of votes, including the mayor?

The amount of time/scrutiny some projects get while others don't is probably due to some combination of a) the developer "having their i's dotted and t's crossed" and b) well-connected. Being well connected gives developers insight into know what to expect and how to prepare for it.

I don't know why there isn't more questions asked when projects come up for review, but I would guess the majority of the council knows it *doesn't* know what questions to ask. They'd rather people guess they are fools and keep their mouth shut instead of opening it and remove all doubt. Well, most of them. The non-at-large councilors seem to not care about anything not in their district, which is a disservice to the city as a whole. Rubber stampers, of the "yes yes yes" variety or "no no no" don't bring anything to the table.

Franklin Street (and North Hills west before it) is a good example of doing something different and not being able to see the "neighborhod/area" forest for the "driveway/sidewalk" tree.

For the Kings' demo, it seemed to be more of a county project than Empire, and Kings didn't have to be at that location to be successful. That being said, it is bad that months have passed without an announcement from the previous owners/operators of that establishment. In the area, Kulture (at Cabarrus and Dawson) has also closed. It will reopened as a "Deep South" bar. After this year's bookings for Raleigh Downtown Alive, I don't know what they will do there. Maybe have a jukebox stacked with the Romatics, Warrant, and Night Ranger?

There is some nightlife west of the Convention Center with White Collar Crime, Ess, Sin City, Humble Pie, and the will-open-one-of-these-days Depot bars, and a lot of underused-unused buildings that could house more. But that isn't an issue city council concerns itself with.

[RaleighRob]

I didn't realize District C (City Council district map) was mostly south of New Bern, east of Capitol from the I-440 intersection south, through downtown along Dawson, and then down the Wilmington Street corridor. I would vote for Mrs. Baldwin over West, but the rest of the district might not.

With all the growth in recent years, maybe the city's districts need to be redrawn? Wouldn't it make sense to have an odd number of votes, including the mayor?