Raleigh

Community-focused posts

There are 776 posts filed in Raleigh (this is page 37 of 78).

New option emerges for Mordecai park center

I was quoted in today’s Midtown Raleigh News on the new option for Mordecai Historic Park’s Interpretive Center. (Also, see the parks fees story. Two articles in one day!)

An earlier proposal involved using part of the park’s main lawn for a contemporary, window-lined building to house the center. Opponents banded together to fight the proposal, saying the building would clash with the historic charm of the park, home to Raleigh’s most significant antebellum plantation.

“We heard it loud and clear: Nobody wanted to put more buildings on the property,” said Mark Turner, chairman of the city parks board. “This solves that problem.”

via New option emerges for Mordecai park center – News – MidtownRaleighNews.com.

More Glorious Church

Seems I was wrong when I said the church has removed from its Facebook page the inflammatory post from Dr. Cooper. It’s still there.

Also, a Facebook visitor named Adul Siler posted this as a comment on the church’s page:

“thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself! Has anyone thought about it being 10:30 at night that it is not acceptable to have loud noise blazing in a residential neighborhood. Christians are not to do of this world but yet churches have service when it is clubbing time and when the freaks come out. Then get upset when folks complain. Not even is St Aug down the street immune from having late night functions. They must get a permit to have any loud or sport events at night. Remember that St Aug had to make their football field smaller due to noise restrictions. So all those false comments being made about the cops and all is basically making all of us christian folks look bad. How would you like it if someone blasted rap or even hard rock during service on Sunday morning? You’d call the cops too to stop all the noise. Watch how you make accusations for most of the advertising out there is not for MLK on that day but for what you all and who were in the church advertised the event for. Ya’ll making yourselves look bad and everyonre else not involved. Also remember 10 or so years ago that area was drug, prostitute, and crime infested being mainly a black neighborhood. The city and private companies cleaned that area up when they began working on downtown. The only racist thing that happen was they moved many of us out of the area which was blighted, cleaned it up and gave the white folks tax incentives to move in the new or refurbished homes.Doubt ya’ll be having any kind of service late at night if it was like it use to be in that area all the way to Shaw. Admit someone made a mistake in church,everyone got carried away, and things got noisy like in the past. Don’t be surprised karma might come your way while your preaching on Sunday morning and you hear loud music outside. Sometimes its not the devil but just plain ignorance. God bless and be an example for the Lord………..”

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Saying goodbye to the East CAC

This evening I chaired my last meeting of Raleigh’s East Citizens Advisory Council (East CAC). It was a bittersweet moment for me, knowing how much work I’ve put into it over the past three and a half years.

And yet, I leave it in very good shape. I accomplished almost everything I set out to do. The new leaders are engaged and ready to take it to new levels, too. It’s time for me to turn over the reins and let some of my fantastic neighbors take over.

As I said last night, I don’t know what the future holds in store for me but I don’t know if I’ll ever do anything more rewarding than what I’ve done with the CAC.

Highlights of 2011: Mordecai Historic Park

It was a bit unexpected that Mordecai Historic Park would become a milestone of the year 2011. I’ve served on this sleepy little board as the Parks Board liaison since I joined the Parks board but the last year was by far the most eventful.

Things really heated up in the spring when the board was presented with the location options for the Mordecai Historic Park Interpretive Center that’s been on the books for a number of years now. I’ve extensively covered on the blog the pros and cons and the thoughts behind my decision-making process, so I won’t do so again. Highlight entries are for reflection from a bit more distance, though, so from this perspective I see the growth opportunity this event provided me.
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The Rise Of The Mayor-Entrepreneur

Here’s an interesting take from TechCrunch about how mayors need to think like entrepreneurs. If Raleigh is gunning to be a city of innovation it might want to take this advice.

On stage at last month’s Le Web conference Shervin Pishevar, a Managing Director at Menlo Ventures, stated “The World is a Startup.” It’s an interesting perspective, and I think what’s true for the world is also true for countries, states and municipalities. With developments like last month’s announcement that Cornell was selected to build a new tech campus in New York City, it seems to follow that if “a city is a startup,” then the best mayors are the ones who are looking at their cities in much the same way as entrepreneurs look at the companies they have founded.

via A City Is A Startup: The Rise Of The Mayor-Entrepreneur | TechCrunch.

Big water bills coming due

I spent a little time this evening attending the inaugural meeting of the Midtown CAC. Among the presenters was the City of Raleigh’s Public Utilities Director, John Carman. Carman (as he’s known around the city) has been meeting with CACs and other civic groups on a speaking tour. He gave a similar talk to the East CAC back in April.

In his talk, Carman explains the many challenges of running his department, among which is the conflicting problem of water conservation. As you may remember, the city’s droughts have prompted many residents to drastically cut back on their water usage. This was good news to almost everyone but Carman, who has to fund his department through water bills. Thus when folks used less water, they actually get charged more because public utilities needs to make up the balance.
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Taking a u-turn on the one-way street

City of Raleigh Transportation guru Eric Lamb shared this story of one successful conversion of a one-way street to two-way in St. Catharines, Ontario. It provides hope that East Raleigh may also enjoy a renaissance once it banishes its one-way streets.

Two years ago, city crews went to St. Paul Street — the one-way spine of downtown St. Catharines, Ont. — took down the “no entry” signs, painted new lines and opened up the street to two-way traffic. According to planners, it would slow cars down, make the downtown more pedestrian friendly and spur retail development.

People, especially businesspeople, didn’t like it. And then they did.

“A prominent local businessman came up to me the other day and said, ‘I didn’t support it from the start, but this is the best thing you’ve ever done.’ ”

via Taking a u-turn on the one-way street | News | National Post.

New Citizen Advisory Councils to kick off with first meetings

I was quoted in today’s Midtown Raleigh News, discussing the city’s new CAC boundaries.

Chelsea Kellner wrote a great, concise story which explains CACs perfectly. I love how this turned out!

“The new CACs provide one cohesive community organization for neighborhoods that were right on the boundary of the old CACs, to bring people together and focus more on the needs that are specific to that area,” said Mark Turner, chairman of the Raleigh Citizens Advisory Council.

via New Citizen Advisory Councils to kick off with first meetings – News – MidtownRaleighNews.com.

It’s about quality of life


I attended this morning’s official announcement that Red Hat is moving to downtown Raleigh. While that’s a welcome announcement, it isn’t itself news. What CEO Jim Whitehurst joked was “worst-kept secret in town” has been known for months. What did capture my atention was one of the reasons Whitehurst mentioned to another open-source company as a reason to move here: quality of life.

Quality of life is one of the most important “incentives” a company looks for in a new location. If your employees aren’t happy where they are they’re more likely to go elsewhere. A good job market, a city with the right amenities, good government, and good schools are all important ingredients to an attractive business environment.

Raleigh has had the foresight to keep investing in itself so that it remains one of the best places to live and work. That strategy continues to pay dividends.

More ink in the N&O

An alert reader pointed me to today’s edition of the Midtown Raleigh News, where an abbreviated version of my RCAC press release ran in the Notables section on page 2M:

Turner to lead citizens council

Mark Turner, outgoing chairman of the East Citizens Advisory Council, has been elected to lead the Raleigh Citizens Advisory Council. The RCAC is made up of the chairmen and other leaders of each of the 18 geographically based Citizens Advisory Councils in Raleigh. It provides a forum for the leaders to discuss citywide issues.

Turner, who lives in the Bennett Woods neighborhood, became involved in the East Citizens Advisory Council after he attended the Raleigh Neighborhood College in 2008. The series of classes is sponsored by the Community Services Department to inform residents about the work of city government and how they can have a role.

Turner also serves as chairman of the City of Raleigh Parks, Recreation and Greenway Advisory Board.

I’m glad they mentioned Raleigh Neighborhood College, too. Hopefully other folks will be encouraged to step up and do great things for the city.