From the City of Raleigh “At Your Service” Newsletter:
It only takes three simple steps to report a malfunctioning streetlight:
- Identify It: Make a note of the street address or you can also get the ID number from the pole.
- Report It: Call 1-800-419-6356.
- Provide Your Information: We need your contact information to ensure that our technician can find and resolved the problem promptly.
A new blog has surfaced from the Avent Ferry part of town, http://raleighwood.net/. It’s going to be a fun blog to read, with their first post on the Best Chicken Sandwich in Town. I think we will be hearing a lot of interesting posts from this SouthWest Raleigh Blogger. Stayed tuned as they build up the content on their site.
From the City of Raleigh Enewsgram:
COUNCIL COMMITTEE TO REVIEW PROP ORDINANCE
The Raleigh City Council’s Budget and Economic Development Committee will review the effectiveness of the City’s Probationary Rental Occupancy Permit (PROP) ordinance. The full council decided Feb. 19 to refer the PROP review to the committee.
According to a report given to council members, the number of code enforcement cases in Raleigh has dropped by 9 percent since the PROP ordinance took effect in 2005. Under the ordinance, a landlord must obtain a PROP if he or she has violated unsafe building, minimum housing, zoning or noise or party nuisance ordinances at a rental site and has failed to bring the property into compliance by a City-established deadline. Landlords who have a pattern of repeat citations at a rental property also must get the permit. The permit prohibits the landlord from renting the property until it is brought in compliance with City code. The City Council approved revisions to the PROP ordinance in 2006. The goal of the PROP ordinance is to assure better quality rental housing for tenants and the surrounding neighborhood.
In addition to the 9 percent decrease in code enforcement cases, the City has had a 3 percent decrease in the number of requests from citizens for inspections associated with public nuisances since the PROP ordinance took effect, according to the report presented to the City Council. Increases in City administrative fees and fines imposed on violators, combined with increased awareness of the PROP ordinance, have helped lead to better compliance of City codes by landlords, the report said.
I previously posted my notes from last weeks Emerging Issues forum hosted by NC State. All the presentations and audio are now available at: http://www.ncsu.edu/iei/forum/2008/look-listen.php
As we continue to follow the infill debate in Raleigh I’ve noticed a few things that I wanted to share. First off, I am hopeful that their is a conversation happening between Raleigh SCALE leaders and Renew Raleigh leaders -or- at least, about to happen. I’ve had some correspondence with At-Large Councilor Mary Ann Baldwin that indicated attempts are being made to make this converstation happen. That’s the first step. Unfortunately, I’m not helping much by blogging about this issue (but perhaps bringing some awareness).
(more…)
Residents of the Trailwood Springs community, a single-family home neighborhood that includes 160 homes off of Lineberry Drive, may be interested in their new on-line community at Yahoo! Groups. Check out http://groups.yahoo.com/group/trailwoodsprings/ and sign-up to get updates specific to the Trailwood Springs neighborhood.
Good luck to Trailwood Springs on getting folks organized. It’s not an easy task. 
District D Neighborhood Alliance – February 16, 2008
Attendees
Meetings Notes
Captain Mise provided some updates coming from Raleigh Police Department (RPD). With the new Police Chief coming on-board, things are starting to materialize. He gave us a brief overview of District 26.
First, the district numbering system is going away, however, the district system will remain. District 26 will now be known as Southwest District. The SW District is 25.2 square miles, which is 18% of Raleigh. It’s estimated that there are currently 76,400 residents, 21% of Raleigh. There are 31,000 NC State students and 2,100 Meredith students. When those individuals are factored into the mix, the SW District is the largest in Raleigh.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008 was the second day of the Institute for Emerging Issues Forum on energy. The first speaker of the day was a very energetic Majora Carter, Executive Director of Sustainable South Bronx. This topic was right up my alley. She talked about empowering the neighborhood to accomplish things and took things a step further than some of my community involvement, economic development. She told a story about creating a park in the South Bronx where a water treatment facility was planned. She talked about green roofs and the business opportunity that came along with it and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED).
Next, Director of Institute for Emerging Issues, Anita Brown-Graham, reviewed some of the results from yesterdays breakout sessions. Since I participated in the Market Transformation, I captured some notes from that session. (more…)
On Monday, February 11, 2008, I attended the Institute for Emerging Issues Forum (http://www.ncsu.edu/iei/) titled North Carolina’s Energy Futures: Realizing a State of Opportunity. The forum was held at the McKimmon Center with a solid speaker line-up. The forum was kicked off by former North Carolina Governor, James B. Hunt, Jr., NCSU Chancellor James Oblinger, and Institute for Emerging Issues Director, Anita Brown-Graham.
We had a wonderful start to the forum, Amory Lovins, Cofounder, Chairman and Chief Scientist, Rocky Mountain Institute focused on improving efficiencies in our current power systems. Looking at the entire system, from power plant to the end user.
Thomas Friedman, Foreign Affairs Columnist, The New York Times and author of “The World is Flat” was our next speaker. Wow. He talked about going Geo-Green. This was prefaced with the description of three global trends occurring: global warming, global flattening, and global crowding. In order to go Geo-Green, the globe needs to 1) Rename what it means to be green (ie Geogreen), 2) make it a movement for sustainable growth, and 3) be able to scale. The United States should be a leader in this area and needs to scale by 2050 to meet the worlds energy demands, which will double by that time. There are no current technologies that meet all three requirements, so innovation is needed. (more…)
From Deputy Director, Ken Bowers, Department of City Planning [Raleigh]
We are pleased to announce the release of the report summarizing the November Visioning Workshops on the Comprehensive Plan, and the launch of a new web portal offering an innovative new way to gather public input on planning documents. We hope you will visit the website to review the report and offer your comments. The portal can be accessed at http://raleigh-consult.limehouse.com, and a PDF version of the report can be downloaded from http://www.planningraleigh2030.com.
Three months ago on November 13 – 15, more than 330 of you took time away from your evenings to attend a workshop on the Raleigh’s Comprehensive Plan, and another 150 of you completed detailed comments on input forms and submitted them to the Department of City Planning. Staff have reviewed each and every one of these comments and produced a summary report of the outcome. The report clocks in at 96 pages—34 for analysis and conclusions, with the remainder consisting of the unfiltered input. To highlight the key attributes of this report:
The release of this report also marks the official roll-out of a public consultation web portal, which is implemented via the Limehouse Software system, a unique suite of document creation and public input tools specifically geared to complex planning projects. It is the first of many documents, including the draft Comprehensive Plan itself, which will be posted on the portal for public review and comment. The implementation of this system is representative of the City’s focus on customer service, and this planning effort’s focus on transparency and accountability.
Again, we thank you for your input and look forward to seeing you at future meetings, including the next round of citywide workshops to be held on March 25 through 27.
Sign up for our email list
Join us on Facebook