October 2023 meetings summary: new City Hall, Moore Square redevelopment, parades

It was a busy month with Raleigh City Council and my campaign.  Earlier this week, I hosted an early 2024 fundraiser for my birthday. I appreciate all who showed up in support, including Rep. Deb Ross, who introduced me.  

If you're inclined to contribute, you can here.

Below is a summary of our October City Council meetings:

1.  We took additional actions for the Moore Square South Redevelopment Project.  Last year, the City Council selected Loden Hospitality to redevelop several vacate and underutilized parcels adjacent to City Market and Moore Square.  Since that time, the city and Loden have worked to finalize plans.  Loden was able to purchase some additional privately-owned properties adjoining the city-owned parcels.  They also formed a partnership with ArtSpace, a local nonprofit visual arts gallery, to create an arts district as part of their project near City Market.  At our meeting last month, we approved transfer of 3 additional city-owned properties in City Market to Loden, so they can fully achieve their vision for the redevelopment.  In total, the redevelopment will include affordable and workforce housing, 2 hotels, a 20-story apartment tower, gallery space, and co-working space.  The project will be built in phases, and phase 1 will include the affordable housing and hotel, gallery space adjacent to City Market.

2.  We authorized the construction contract for the new East Civic Tower Project, the new City Hall.  This process started in 2016, when the city conducted a master plan to build a new City Hall. Presently, city services and departments are scattered in various spaces downtown.  Many offices and services are housed in the Avery C. Upchurch Municipal Building (where we have our City Council Meetings), but others operate out of other city-owned and rented spaces.  Our facilities are aging, lack technology and amenities for a rapidly-growing city, and we're paying rent for certain spaces.  Building a new City Hall and moving all city offices and services into one building with space to grow will increase efficiencies and customer service and save the city millions of dollars per year in rent and maintenance costs.  Construction on the new City Hall will begin soon, with the first visible signs of construction being demolition of the former RPD headquarters presently occupying the space of the new City Hall.

3.  We received an update on the Six Forks Road Improvement Project.  This project was initially funded by the 2013 and 2017 transportation bonds.  After years of community engagement, the final plan for the corridor calls for a 6-lane street, with a median down the middle, and sidewalks and protected bike lanes along the sides.  This area has seen immense growth over the past decade or so, and planning to move more people through the corridor is a priority for the city. Unfortunately, initial cost estimates were off; the current project budget is $46 million but the actual project cost now is about $120 million.   Staff presented us with options, including canceling the project, modifying the project, or scaling the project and building in phases with another transportation bond.  The city is now seeking additional public feedback on how to proceed before we make a decision.  If you have ideas, thoughts, or concerns, please contact me!

4.  We finally launched participatory budgeting in Raleigh!  For years, since I was first elected, I've encouraged the city to implement participatory budgeting, which is when residents are directly involved in deciding how a portion of the city budget is spent.  This year, for the first time, the city is asking residents how to allocate a total of $1 million, $200,000 for each of the 5 districts in Raleigh.  You can vote now on how the money should be spent.

Finally, parades in Raleigh have been a topic of much discussion and concern in the past few months.  In an effort to provide some transparency I am sharing here all of the information I have, and what I believe should happen next:

Anyone seeking to host a parade in Raleigh must apply for a special events permit. These permits are reviewed and decided upon by city staff.  We have a manager/mayor form of government in Raleigh, and the city manager and her staff are responsible for administrative decisions, like parade permits.  The City Council is not customarily included in these decisions.  For example, with the the Christmas Parade, I did not know in advance that staff had initially denied the permit. However, afterwards, several Council Members and I tried to gather more information and work with staff and the organizers to find a compromise solution for the Christmas Parade this year.

The compromise solution was to allow the Christmas parade without floats and motor vehicles.  While disappointing, I understood this decision to be for this year only, upon the advice of our City Attorney’s office.  I promised the organizers I would personally work with them early in their process for planning the 2024 parade to make sure it would return in full form.

There were other parades permitted with floats and vehicles since last year’s Christmas Parade.  I asked city staff why. I learned those parades were smaller; they had significantly fewer floats and vehicles, between 0-24, the routes were much shorter, and there’s no active litigation regarding those parades.

This week, I was informed that city staff learned the Veteran’s Day Parade would have over 100 vehicles.  I asked why this information was not known sooner, and I was informed our parade permit application does not seek that information in advance. I think we should request this information upfront as part of the application.  

I was told city staff notified the Veteran’s Day Parade organizers earlier this week that they would not be allowed to have motor vehicles in their parade this weekend, consistent with the decision regarding this year’s Christmas Parade.  As a result, the Veteran’s Day Parade organizers canceled the parade but plan to proceed with the ceremony.  

It is clear to me that we need to review and change how these parade permit decisions are being made.  We need a revised application process and policy so parades can return in full, with increased safety measures.  It’s my understanding that the City Manager is working to bring forward a policy for City Council review before the end of the year.  We will get this right.