I got a chance to catch up with one of Raleigh’s At-large City Councilors, Mary-Ann Baldwin, for a five question email interview. If Mary-Ann can survive the Fire Department Operations 101 class, an orientation to the daily grind, risks, and rewards that Raleigh firefighters deal with daily, held on June 5, 2010, then certainly she can survive our questions. I’ve watched Mary-Ann on Raleigh City Council for the past few years and have become more and more impressed. She brings a much needed marketing and communications background and understands business principles such as communication, customer service, and team work. If you follow her on Twitter (she’s @maryannbaldwin by the way) then you know she’s interested in business innovation. See what Mary-Ann has to say about moving the Lightner Center forward, the gang situation in Raleigh (and how you might be wrong about it), how government can foster innovation, and much more in our interview with her.
1) City Council budget hearings are coming up this summer. How is city council going to deal with the budget shortfall and what sacrifices will the City and citizens have to make?
Like many private citizens who are cutting back and living on tighter budgets, the City must do the same. This means that Capital Improvement Projects are going to be (more…)
At Tuesday night’s budget hearing (6/1/2010), it was standing-room only as many different groups were on hand to get in their budget requests to City Council. Support for the arts was strong and kicked things off. Then the jockeying began at the podium.
I would first like to thank all the folks who attended to show their support. We had a good number of people from South West Citizens Advisory Council (SWCAC) attend and stand during the request to show city council that we really need some attention in South West Raleigh. We can only make things happen in our neighborhoods if we take the initiative to make them happen.
I was very pleased to present the budget requests for the SWCAC and excited that we had so much support from our neighborhoods. SWCAC had a total of eight items that we asked for, two of which stood out and got some heads nodding on city council: (more…)
Image is licensed CC-BY-SA. Attributes opensource.com See: http://www.flickr.com/photos/opensourceway
At the May 2010 meeting of the South West Citizens Advisory Council (SWCAC), one of our main topics was budget. The context is things we need money for in our neighborhoods. One thing we’ve learned in SWCAC is that if you don’t ask the City Council for it, you’ll never get it.
The most recent example is the neighborhood park we’re trying to establish at the corner of Lineberry Drive and Sierra Drive. (more…)
District D Neighborhood Alliance (DDNA) met on May 15, 2010 at the Whole Foods community room at Wade Avenue. District D Councilor Thomas Crowder was unable to attend so Jason Hibbets ran the meeting in his place. At-Large Councilor Russ Stephenson was in attendance. The group got a report on this years intercity Chamber of Commerce trip to Fairfax, Virginia from Councilor Stephenson. Additionally, we discussed the upcoming Raleigh budget review, Union Station, the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), and got an update from the neighborhoods around the district. (more…)
A few weeks ago, we told you about the New American House project, a great opportunity to have green, sustainable community right here in the Lineberry area. The City of Raleigh recently announced it now offers a green building certification program to construction professionals. See the details below for more information.
CITY OF RALEIGH ANNOUNCES GREEN BUILDING TRAINING CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
The City of Raleigh Office of Sustainability has developed a Green Building Training Certification and Community Education Program. The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly referred to as the stimulus package. (more…)
I got a chance to catch up with one of Raleigh’s At-large City Councilors, Russ Stepenson, between his day job, city councilor duties, and a recent Chamber of Commerce Intercity trip to Washington DC and Fairfax, Virginia. Russ is very knowledgeable about a variety of topics. Often on City Council, he’s asking lots of questions to make sure he understand the issues. As an At-Large Councilor, he represents citizens from all of Raleigh. It was great to get his thoughts on the Lightner Center, Raleigh’s New Development Code, water conservation, city council goals, and community involvement.
Memo #2 referenced in your question was produced by Councilors Crowder, Gaylord and myself. It explains why we think the current Lightner Center proposal is more expensive and less secure than it should be. Memo #2 also describes an alternate proposal that accomplishes three very important things for the citizens of Raleigh: (more…)
Frustrated over years of complaints, city officials are finally considering banning shopping carts from all retail establishments. So what’s a shopper to do? “Bag it,” said one city councilor. “The number of abandoned shopping carts on our streets and in our neighborhoods are overwhelming. We just need to get rid of them all and start using those cool bags that Harris Teeter has.”
Speaking to a city attorney who preferred to remain anonymous, they informed us that there were numerous options on the table. One option was to enforce a locking mechanism on shopping cart wheels to prevent them from leaving retail parking lots and stores. Another option was to put a tax on every shopping cart. But locks are boring and new taxes are sure to get people excited. (more…)
I became a FaceBook fan and completed the survey for Google Finer to come to Raleigh. If you are interested in this, keep on reading, become a fan, and check out this video to learn more. The survey must be completed by March 26, 2010.
Over 30 citizens from around District D joined on January 16, 2010 for the first meeting in 2010 of the District D Neighborhood Alliance (DDNA). On the agenda, the UDO (Unified Development Ordinance) with special guests Mitchell Silver and Christine Darges.
A message about the upcoming 2010 environmental awards offered by the city of Raleigh:
“In an effort to recognize outstanding work in sustainable development and environmental stewardship, the City of Raleigh has created the Raleigh Environmental Awards.
The program will award individuals or organizations that have demonstrated a commitment to the environment. There are two types of awards.”
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