The year is moving quickly, below is a summary of highlights from our April 2024 City Council meetings.  

I was also reflecting the other day and realized I announced my first campaign for Raleigh City Council 5 years ago, on April 1, 2019 and held my first kick off event May 1, 2019.  Thanks to everyone who has supported my service.  My re-election kick off is June 17, 2024, please save the date and join me if you can! I hope to earn your support for a third term.

1.  We discussed a zoning change to allow co-living.  Co-living, or single room occupancy, is (for lack of a better explanation) like a grown up dorm.  Typically, folks rent their own room but share common spaces, like bathrooms and kitchens.  It can be a more affordable and sustainable housing option. Presently, this type of housing option is mostly prohibited or restricted, and under our current code, no more than 4 unrelated persons may reside in the same residence.   We discussed several options for revising our code to allow co-living, and we instructed staff to proceed with an option that would allow co-living within mixed-use residential districts.  These mixed-use residential districts are mostly along our major transportation corridors, and as we continue to increase the frequency of our transit system, would also provide access for folks who seek co-living spaces to also get around without much need for a car.

2. We authorized the City Manager to sign a longer-term (three-year) contract with a security company to provide additional assistance at our GoRaleigh Station.  The city signed a short-term contract with a private security company late last year, after increased safety issues and requests for more patrols by residents, transit operators and users, and nearby businesses.  The company focused on de-escalation tactics and patrolling for safety issues.  We received positive feedback from these services, particularly from our GoRaleigh bus operators.  The new, longer-term contract will provide 2 security staff members, 7 days per week, from 4 AM until midnight.  They will conduct patrols to support a safe, secure environment and will work closely with our transit operators, Downtown Raleigh Alliance, and Raleigh Police.

3.  On a related note, we are finally making strides in establishing an Alternative Response Program in Raleigh!  I have been advocating for this type of program since I was first elected.  The road to get here has been slow, but work has been quietly happening behind the scenes, and we are finally ready to move forward with our program, similar to the Durham HEART model.  Earlier this year, the city engaged in some community engagement about our alternative response program, to make sure that folks were able to guide what type of program we create.  We are moving forward with the following:

-Crisis Call Diversion: licensed clinical/mental health professionals will be embedded in our 911 call center to screen certain calls for assistance.

- Co-response: teams of social workers and Raleigh Police officers will respond to certain calls together.  911 will dispatch these teams to "higher acuity calls" or calls that pose severe danger.

- Community Response Team: social works, EMS, and peer support specialists will respond to certain calls without a Raleigh Police officer.  911 will dispatch these teams to "lower acuity calls."  This team would function entirely outside and separately from RPD.

-Care Navigation and Case Management: social workers and peer support specialists will follow up and connect folks with resources after RPD has been called or engaged.  We presently already have this model up and running in a more limited capacity through our ACORNS program (read more here:  https://raleighnc.gov/safety/services/acorns). It would be ramped up and expanded.

Of these four parts, the community response teams will require more work, as we need some assistance from Wake County to coordinate EMS and transport.  But I anticipate this entire alternative response program will be included in our upcoming budget!

Read more here: https://raleighnc.gov/engage-city/services/developing-alternative-response-program-collaborative-effort/alternative

4. We extended $6.5 million in low-interest loans (gap financing) to support development of 230 affordable rental units in three rental housing developments.  The three developments will provide a mix of affordability, including some as low as 20% of area median income (AMI).

5.  We directed staff to revise our sidewalk petition program.  Under the existing program, neighbors petition the city to install sidewalks in their neighborhoods.  Neighborhood support for the sidewalks is determined by a balloting system, and the entire process is driven by requests.  We learned that there were many issues with this approach, including a large backlog of requests that were granted, but not funded or built.  With last year's budget surplus, we cleared out the backlog and paused requests to review whether there's a better way forward.  Turns out, there is.  Upon a deep dive, we learned that the petitions were overrepresented in whiter, more prosperous areas, meaning neighborhoods without as many resources and time to petition for sidewalks were being excluded.  Based on these findings, we directed staff to reform our sidewalk program, removing the neighbor-initiated petition component and developing instead a simple, data-driven framework to identify, score, and rank sidewalks in neighborhoods to provide more equitable outcomes.  The new approach will also include a clear policy to direct the proportion of resources that go to each of these project types, so projects aren't approved and left unfunded for long periods of time.  Staff will bring the revised program back for final City Council approval.

We had City Council meetings this past Tuesday, and our next regular City Council meeting is Tuesday, May 21 at 1 PM.  I'll follow up with a summary of these meetings next month.  Until then, jonathan.melton@raleighnc.gov