Raleigh City Council: Citizen, Indy Week

Breaking: Raleigh City Manager Allen out on 6-2 City Council vote

Bob Geary — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 10:07:09 -0400

The City Council just met in special session and voted to end the tenure of City Manager Russell Allen effective July 1. The vote was 6-2.…

[Updated] Wake County voters are 2-to-1 for Dix Park plan, strongly oppose state reneging: Public Policy Polling

Bob Geary — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 09:36:00 -0400

[Update, 10:30 a.m. Dix Park supporters are gathering on the site this afternoon at 5. See below for more.]

Wow, if there was any question about whether the Wake County Board of Commissioners — the Republican-led board of commissioners — were representing their constituents or their political party by coming out against the Dix Park plan, it's answered in the poll released today by Public Policy Polling.…

Prognosis good: Raleigh Councilor Crowder being treated for testicular cancer

Bob Geary — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:01:45 -0400

Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane began today's budget preview session with news about District D Councilor Thomas Crowder: He's been diagnosed with testicular cancer and will be enduring chemotherapy treatments over the next few weeks. His prognosis is good for a full recovery.…

Senate Republicans to Raleigh: Drop dead. (Contract? What contract?)

Bob Geary — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:26:00 -0400

As expected, Senate Republicans this morning started the wheels in motion to tear up the state's lease with the City of Raleigh for the Dorothea Dix tract because, the GOP legislators said, former Gov. Perdue shouldn't have signed it. Perdue, as is required for contracts involving state land, won the approval of the Council of State before finalizing the lease.…

[Update: Wins by 5-3 vote] Raleigh Council asked to back "Return Our War Dollars" campaign

Bob Geary — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 15:29:56 -0500

[Update, Tuesday: The measure passed by a 5-3 vote, albeit with a friendly amendment to remove the words " ... troops and ..." from the text — as shown below. Voting yes: Mayor Nancy McFarlane, Councilors Russ Stephenson, Eugene Weeks, Thomas Crowder and Mary-Ann Baldwin.…

Meeting tonight: The new Raleigh zoning code and the problem of accessory dwelling units

Bob Geary — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 08:57:59 -0400

Accessory dwelling units. They sound so benign, and in many cases they are — you put up a little cottage out back for grandma, or a college student, or as a place for your guests to stay if they're staying and, uh, staying.…

4-year terms for Raleigh City Council? Mayor McFarlane and Councilor Baldwin go another round.

Bob Geary — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 13:54:15 -0400

One follow-up to the Raleigh City Council retreat story from earlier in the week:

In addition to their wanting some staff help and to push a bolder agenda of economic development tied to strategic transit and other infrastructure investments (click on the story if you missed all that), Council members were considering a change from two-year terms to four-year terms.

Introduced by Councilor John Odom in February, the proposal is — was?…

In Martin Marietta quarry rezoning, the "big pile of overburden" gets Raleigh planning commission's blessing

Bob Geary — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 16:33:00 -0400

Catching up with our story from a week ago, "North Raleigh residents fight quarry expansion," the Raleigh planning commission voted 8-1 in favor of Martin Marietta Materials' rezoning application, finding that it's in the public interest to let the company use a 97-acre tract it owns as a dump site for its RDU quarry rather than be required to comply with the city's comprehensive plan and the residential-commercial zoning that MMM itself sought for the property in the '90s.

The case now goes to the Raleigh City Council, which will make the final decision.…

Saturday: A fair in Raleigh of, by and for 99% of the people

Bob Geary — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 10:14:00 -0400

Bicentennial Mall is the space between the Capitol and the General Assembly building, flanked by the state Museum of History and the state Museum of Natural Sciences. In other words, it's a good place to visit on any given Saturday.…

(Updated x 2) Hillsborough Street & bike lanes go together

Bob Geary — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 23:38:00 -0400

[Update 2, Monday, 11:30 p.m. So if you had Option 3 in the pool, congratulations!…

McFarlane and Baldwin: Rivals on the Raleigh Council?

Bob Geary — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:55:57 -0500

A postscript to what I wrote yesterday about Mayor Nancy McFarlane's "team" on City Council. McFarlane's committee assignments unfolded as I thought they would.…

[Updated] Raleigh council takes stand vs. anti-LGBT amendment; vote is 6-2 against discriminatory measure

Bob Geary — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:31:00 -0500

[Update, Tuesday, 3 p.m. The newly installed Raleigh City Council, led by new Mayor Nancy McFarlane, voted 6-2 this afternoon to go on record in opposition to the proposed anti-LGBT constitutional amendment.…

McFarlane's team: Stephenson, Weeks get key posts on new Council

Bob Geary — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:17:00 -0500

Mayor Nancy McFarlane's inaugural speech last night was cheery. Raleigh's the greatest city anywhere; she plans to keep it that way.…

[Updated-again] Occupy Raleigh City Hall? City Council committee says no, 3-0.

Bob Geary — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:47:00 -0500

[Update, Tuesday, 11:20 a.m.: I just got off the phone with Joe Huberman. The committee voted 3-0 against the idea of allowing Occupy Raleigh to occupy any part of the City Hall/Police Department block.…

Occupy Raleigh: Welcome at Raleigh City Hall?

Bob Geary — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:51:00 -0400

Occupy Raleigh supporters did their part last night, turning out 100 strong for the 7 p.m. City Council session.…

Wake, Raleigh election results a stunning repudiation of Republicans' tea-party politics

Bob Geary — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:42:00 -0400

The voters in Raleigh and Wake County soundly rejected "neighborhood schools" and Tea Party Republicanism Tuesday in favor of centrist Democratic candidates. Click here for a rundown of the vote totals:

* The Republican majority on the Wake County school board is no more, pending only the result of a likely runoff election in District 3.…

Confused about your voting district(s)? It's EZ to look 'em up

Bob Geary — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 10:28:17 -0400

The N&O leads off today with a story about how some people don't know what voting districts they live in for Wake school board elections in particular, but also for Raleigh City Council and Cary Town Council elections. This may because they're getting mail and/or calls (including robocalls) from the wrong candidates.…

Meeker backing McFarlane in mayor's race: ICYMI

Bob Geary — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:19:21 -0400

No surprise, but a nice boost for the McFarlane campaign in front of the TV cameras: Mayor Charles Meeker, who's been a Nancy McFarlane supporter from the get-go but never made an on-camera endorsement, did so today at a press conference: He wants McFarlane to succeed him as mayor.

The event was held in a conference room at the Parker, Poe law firm where Meeker's a partner.…

Forum tonight with the Sierra Club's endorsed candidates: McFarlane, Stephenson head the list

Bob Geary — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 11:28:34 -0400

The Sierra Club's NC chapter — very influential with local environmentalists — is out with its list of endorsed candidates in the Raleigh City Council elections. It will host a public forum with them tonight at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship meeting hall, 3313 Wade Avenue.…

Food trucks OK'd in Raleigh—with lots of restrictions

Bob Geary — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:09:00 -0400

The City Council voted 6-2 this afternoon in favor of TC-5-11, an ordinance allowing food trucks to operate in a very limited number of places under a very restrictive permitting regime. Still, it's a beginning for the upstart vehicular food emporia, and it only took how many months of squabbling?…

Rezoning Raleigh: A forum on Sept. 7, 6-8 pm, on the proposed new zoning code

Bob Geary — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:46:40 -0400

Staff at the planning department and their very capable Code Studio and other consultants have been working on a total rewrite of Raleigh's zoning ordinances for the better part of two years. The new zoning code — a Unified Development Ordinance, or UDO — would give life to the concepts embodied in Raleigh's 2030 Comprehensive Plan, which City Council adopted in the fall of 2009.…

Wake Dems endorse Nancy McFarlane for Raleigh mayor, Christine Kushner in District 6 schools race

Bob Geary — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 14:33:13 -0400

Any lingering doubt that the Wake County Democratic Party would get behind City Councilor Nancy McFarlane in the Raleigh mayor's race — because she's an unaffiliated voter and an independent officeholder — was just dispelled. The party's executive committee met and endorsed McFarlane, according to an enthusiastic statement from Wake Dems Chair Mack Paul.…

(Update) Lent Carr, would-be preacher and City Council member, sent back to prison

Bob Geary — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:49:00 -0400

(Update, 8/18): Poor Mr. Carr is officially off the ballot and in hot water for registering to vote while he was still on probation. The N&O was at the Wake Board of Elections today.

The original post from a week ago:

This really is more sad than anything.…

Wake GOP endorses Billie Redmond for Raleigh mayor over her fellow Republican Randall Williams

Bob Geary — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:45:08 -0400

The executive committee of the Wake County Republican Party met Monday night. The result, just announced, is a party-endorsed slate of candidates in Raleigh that includes businesswoman Billie Redmond for mayor, not Dr. Randall Williams.…

[Update x 2: Odom's opponent withdraws] New candidates in Raleigh; Crowder, Gaylord unopposed

Bob Geary — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:42:00 -0400

[Update No. 2, 4:10 pm: Just spoke to Gary Sims, deputy director at the Board of Elections. He confirms the gist of the story.…