A view of the city

Fangs removed from neck, part II

Horseshoe Farm will live on as a nature park.  Rodger Koopman gets the props for his ride to the rescue.

For the first episode of the Fang Removal project, see here.

Hillsborough Street: Already 100% happier

Well, it's true: As long as former councilors Jessie Taliaferro and Joyce Kekas had their fangs in Hillsborough Street's neck, no initiative for that street on the part of Mayor Meeker or his supporters could go anywhere.

But since Monday, a 7 to 1 city council majority for re-investment and revitalization of this important urban corridor -- the front door to the state's flagship land-grant university -- is in play.

Word's in from the first meeting of the Hillsborough Street Partnership since the new City Council was sworn in Monday night:  The mood was encouragement -- relief -- and renewed hope that Raleigh's long-neglected main street will soon be on the mend, with the institutional buy-in that's now possible with a working, pro-Raleigh majority on the city's elected board.   

Change won't take long, either.  In May, construction will begin on the first two Hillsborough Street roundabouts, along with landscaping, parking, and median improvements.  The ugly aerial utilities will come down, and streetscape improvements to sidewalks and other street furnishings will be installed.

Next up for consideration, on December 11: choices for another roundabout, at Morgan Street. 

The last time Council looked at the question, it was still mired in the same voting deadlock that impeded progress on so many other issues in the last two years. 

Meanwhile, at the staff level, the highway dinosaurs in the city's Public Works department (and the consulting engineers they hired) were still advocating for a high-speed thru lane to circumvent the roundabout -- as if Hillsborough Street were just another Taconic State Parkway. 

Expect a different approach next week.  And over the next two years. 

Side note:  Woe betide those city staffers who don't shift gears (or perhaps we should say, match their stride) to the new council's more inclusive, pedestrian-friendly approach.   

 

Down to the wire

City councilor Jessie Taliaferro is losing ground to pro-neighborhood challenger Rodger Koopman as the calendar closes in on the election this Tuesday. 

A new poll released by Public Policy Polling on Friday reveals that the two candidates are running neck-and-neck at 40% each.  Only two weeks ago, Taliaferro held the lead at 35% to Koopman's 21 percent. 

A hard-hitting grass-roots campaign by Koopman explains the erasure of Taliaferro's lead.  For weeks, dozens of citizens alienated by Taliaferro's actions on council have been pounding the pavement in neighborhoods across District B to get the word out to their fellow voters.  Meanwhile, other residents of District B have been hosting "meet-and-greet" events for Koopman in their homes -- on an almost nightly basis in recent weeks -- to introduce Koopman to neighbors and friends.

Why does Rodger Koopman have so many friends in neighborhoods across District B? 

Because, unlike Taliaferro, Koopman supports:

• Raising impact fees on new development, to make growth pay its own way
• Protecting natural areas at Durant Nature Park, and preserving Horseshoe Farm Park as a nature park -- while building new gyms and ballfields in other, more suitable locations
• Enacting reasonable rules about infill development and tear-downs to protect the character of Raleigh's neighborhoods
• Putting citizens (NOT Big Real Estate) back in charge at City Hall.

The word is getting out about Taliaferro's shabby record as the developers' "go-to gal" on City Council.  With scant coverage from the N&O, neighbors have taken the story to neighbors in a shoe-leather campaign across northeast Raleigh. 

Word of mouth is effective, but slow.  Will enough Raleigh voters get the story in time?   

Bread and butter

City Council candidate Jessie Taliaferro received the overwhelming majority – 77 percent – of her campaign funds from developers and their allies in the real estate and building community, campaign filings with the Wake County Board of Elections reveal.

Moreover, in the most recent month of September, Taliaferro received 93.8% of her campaign funds from developers and the real estate industry.

Taliaferro’s filings with the Wake Board of Elections reveal that the vast majority of her contributions in the 2006-2007 campaign cycle came from developers, developers’ lawyers, spouses of developers, and others in the real estate and development industry.

Developer John Kane and his wife, Willa, contributed a total of $2000 to Taliaferro’s campaign. Taliaferro has been criticized for supporting Kane’s proposal to build a private parking deck for luxury condos using $75 million in taxpayer funds (Independent Weekly, August 15, 2007).

Developers’ attorneys Clyde Holt, Elizabeth Trahos, Mack Paul, and Isabel Mattox were among those who contributed at least $250 each to Taliaferro's campaign. They have appeared regularly before the Raleigh Planning Commission to advocate for rezonings and other development approvals on behalf of real estate interests.

The analysis, performed by the Rodger Koopman campaign, was based on public record filings for the current election cycle.

The campaign contributions that Taliaferro received from developers help to explain the incumbent’s position in favor of development interests, such as the Kane parking deck subsidy.

Taliaferro also opposed the mayor’s proposal to increase impact fees so that development would pay more of its own way, leaving Raleigh taxpayers paying 75% of the costs of growth according to an independent study performed for the City of Raleigh by Duncan Associates (News & Observer, April 19, 2006).

The election is on October 9.

Hand over your cash, Raleigh citizens

This flyer explains how you're handing it over to developers at the rate of $38 million a year. 

Download Flyer.pdf

And who voted last year to keep you footing 85% of the bill, while impact fees on new development cover only 15% of the cost of growth?  Jessie Taliaferro, that's who.

Toxic

Have you ever noticed how Jessie Taliaferro's political signs always seem to be located on vacant parcels and in waste places ...

... or derelict establishments, perhaps awaiting a rezoning proposal ...

... and so often in association with a commercial real-estate sign?

 

It's almost as though Jessie handed out a bunch of signs at the weekly meeting of some developers' or real estate brokers' organization, and all the owners of large vacant parcels dutifully posted them on the very sites they'll be hoping to develop during the next City Council term.

The one below, however, has to be the most apt placement we have run across.

We hope the unfortunate underling who installed this sign has plenty of this stuff on hand ...

   

After all, we can sympathize.  Many of us have had the same itchy, blistered feeling after a run-in with Jessie and her hand-picked, pro-developer Planning Commission.   

Of course, when you look for political signs in actual people's front yards -- signs that were placed by a Real Person and not a Realtor ™ -- here's the kind of thing you are likely to find.

Now that's more like it.

A shot across the bow

The following letter has been circulating widely, apparently, among Raleigh neighborhoods.

Dear Raleigh neighbor,

I'm writing to you because of your involvement in a rezoning case or other neighborhood concern, and I would like your assistance, if you can help.

As a former Planning Commissioner, I am deeply concerned about the current situation at City Hall. The current make-up of the Planning Commission heavily favors development interests, to the extent that even long-time Raleigh residents cannot recall a time when these interests were so dominant.

You, like many others, may have suffered through a long drawn-out review process in front of the Planning Commission in the last couple of years. The Planning Commission seems unwilling to deny almost any development proposal, preferring instead to address even the most incompatible rezoning request by continuing it through a long series of daytime meetings that require citizens to take time off from work and home life to attend meetings at City Hall.

The composition of the Planning Commission, as you know, is critical to the future of our city as it grows. This board reviews and recommends action on rezonings to the City Council, and has final decision-making authority over some other types of permits. The Planning Commission is appointed by the City Council, so the question of who sits at the City Council table is directly related to the composition of the planning board.

We have a problem on the City Council, and the name of the problem is Jessie Taliaferro.

• It was Taliaferro who took the most active role, and was the deciding vote, to defeat a meaningful increase in impact fees. The proposal she helped defeat would have taken the burden of paying for growth OFF the average taxpayer and put it on development, where it belongs. But because of Taliaferro, Raleigh's impact fees still only pay for 25% of the costs of infrastructure for growth. Raleigh taxpayers pick up the other 75% of the tab, or about $4,655 per new house constructed in the city -- that's a subsidy for sprawl that costs Raleigh $21 million a year.


• Working with pro-sprawl county commissioners, Taliaferro engineered the removal of neighborhood-friendly planning commissioner, Erin Kuczmarski, who had just been elected Chair of the Planning Commission in a surprise move that dismayed the pro-development faction of that board.


• Every pro-developer appointment to the Planning Commission in the last two years has occurred with Taliaferro's support. It has been her choice of pro-development representatives to gain spots on the Planning Commission almost exclusively for the last three years.


• Taliaferro has worked behind the scenes to thwart the overwhelming public support for a nature park at Horseshoe Farm, a pristine spot nestled in an isolated bend of the Neuse River and perfect for camping, canoeing, picnicking, and wildlife watching. Instead of serving the clear will of the citizens, Taliaferro has been a prime advocate for hard development of the site with incompatible active recreation (gymnasium and ballfield) facilities.


• Most recently, Taliaferro has been trying to reduce the effectiveness of Citizens Advisory Councils by re-organizing them according to her own goals and failing to effectively fund them. Citizens Advisory Councils (CACs) are currently the only official representation of neighborhood interests at City Hall, and they have been a powerhouse of grass-roots citizen involvement in our community. But developers know that the CACs are often effective in preventing them from having their way with rezonings, so they are pushing to limit their involvement by reducing the staffing and resources that make citizen communication possible.


• Taliaferro has consistently opposed efforts to apply quality development standards -- to ensure that new and infill development is well-designed and appropriate for its setting -- throughout the city. Instead, she has stated that the existing process -- a case-by-case, convulsive approach that is highly susceptible to political influence, gamesmanship, and back-room tactics -- is adequate to protect Raleigh neighborhoods.


• Why is Taliaferro the developers' go-to gal on City Council? The biggest source of Taliaferro's campaign contributions is from the development and real estate interests that have a stake in keeping City Hall pro-sprawl and limiting the ability of neighborhoods to protect themselves from incompatible development.

Needless to say, I strongly disagree with Taliaferro on these issues. I've been hoping for a long time that there would be a challenger coming forward to re-claim this crucial seat at the table, on behalf of Raleigh neighborhoods and ordinary citizens.

Fortunately, my hopes have been realized. A challenger has come forward to help Raleigh neighborhoods and citizens reclaim their rights at City Hall.

That person is Rodger Koopman, and I strongly support him for District B councilor.

Rodger is an Air Force combat vet, a small business owner, teacher, coach, and civic leader. He stands for fiscal responsibility and open government, where citizens are involved and in charge. You can visit http://www.rodgerkoopman.com for more about Rodger.

But the best way to get to know Rodger is to meet him yourself. I hope you will join me at his campaign kickoff on Wednesday, August 29, at the home of Esther Hall and Brad Miller. I've attached the invitation below.

I hope that you will support Rodger Koopman with your votes on October 9 (if you live in District B), with your time, your support, and yes, with your donations. Not only the citizens of District B, but those of us who live all over Raleigh will benefit from his presence on City Council, as citizens take back our power from Big Real Estate.

Yours for a better Raleigh,

Betsy Kane
Former member, Raleigh Planning Commission

P.S. If you are wanting a fuller explanation of what has happened on City Council and the Planning Commission, I urge you to consult the website www.belowthebeltline.org . Having myself spent over 600 hours at City Hall over the last three years, I can vouch for the accuracy of what you will read on those pages.