November meetings summaries, final days of election

We had regular City Council meetings on October 18 and November 1. Below is a summary of some pertinent actions: 1. We approved $2.75 million in gap financing for The Pines at Peach Road, a 119-unit affordable rental development serving low to moderate income households. This financing continues our efforts to provide more affordable housing while we also work to allow more types of housing citywide to increase housing supply. Increasing both supply and subsidy are important steps to address our affordable housing crisis. To that end, last week Raleigh and Wake County announced a new multimillion-dollar fund to assist with preserving naturally occurring affordable housing. The Wake County Affordable Housing Preservation Fund was started last October with $10.5 million from Wake County and $4 million from Raleigh. Three banks, Truist, First Horizon, and Wells Fargo, just contributed $61.5 million to the fund to officially launch the program which will provide loans to help acquire and rehabilitate affordable housing. 2. We approved the renaming of the Performing Arts Center (formerly Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts) to Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts. Duke Energy's sponsorship had concluded, and Martin Marietta, a longtime local company, stepped forward to increase funding and acquire the naming rights. Martin Marietta is paying the city $518,000 per year for 20 years with a 3% increase annually. 3. We authorized a contract with a landscaping company to plant more than 1,000 trees along city streets. This street tree planting project is aimed at improving the urban forest and reducing environmental inequalities across the city, as outlined in our Strategic Plan. The project also supports the Community Climate Action Plan. 4. We authorized a 4-year agreement with the North Carolina High School Athletic Association to host high school championships in Raleigh and Wake County. These events historically bring an estimated economic impact of $3.2 million and over 40,000 visitors to our city annually.We're in the final stretch of my re-election campaign. Early voting continues through Saturday, 11/5 and Election Day is Tuesday, 11/8. Thank you so much for your support during my first term. I need your help to make sure I can continue my service on Raleigh City Council.Please make sure you're registered to vote and check your voting site: https://jonathanmelton.com/vote/Tell your friends, family, coworkers, and others about my campaign and ask them to vote for me. It's a long ballot, and my race is on the back. Here are my endorsements: https://jonathanmelton.com/endorsements/Volunteer to assist with poll greeting or lit drops (leaving doorhangers on residences): https://jonathanmelton.com/volunteer/A contribution in any amount helps: https://jonathanmelton.com/donate/