Category: City Council

Southern Coalition for Social Justice Calls out City of Raleigh’s Lies on Redistricting

Posted on | by Wake County Housing Justice Coalition | 2,136 Comments on Southern Coalition for Social Justice Calls out City of Raleigh’s Lies on Redistricting

Last week, in response to how the City of Raleigh voted on the redistricting, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice (Twitter: @scsj) have sent a letter to the City of Raleigh, urging the city to correct their attorney’s “inaccurate statement about Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (“VRA”), and correct mischaracterization of SCSJ’s statements provided to the Study Group on Council Terms/Salaries and Voter Engagement/Participation in December 2021, and show support for a community-informed process before the March 31, 2022 deadline to adopt a revised map.”

The SCSJ has stated that the variations within the maps “may substantially impact residents”, and yet the city said that the changes “will not have a substantial impact”. The SCSJ stated in their letter that claiming the changes would have “no substantial impact” on voters of color, “was incorrect and incomplete.”

To make matters worse, Councilmember Patrick Buffkin asked the City Attorney whether or not the city should follow VRA’s Section 2, and following discussion, Councilmember David Knight made the motion to approve the changes to the map, followed by everyone on council, except Councilmember David Cox, voting in favor.

For the city to be willing to lie before the public of the severity of the impact their redistricting plan will have on the voting powers of the communities of color, and for the city council to find ways to get out of having to follow the Voting Rights Act instead of doing better about adhering to it or even strengthening the voting rights, is downright disgraceful.

The people in the City of Charlotte have sued against their city for diluting Black voting power this past month. The City of Raleigh should also be sued for violating the voting rights of the Black, Latinx and Asian populations.

Read the full letter sent to the City of Raleigh by the SCSJ below:

SCSJ_Letter_to_CouncilDownload

Rage-Chalking at the City of Raleigh’s Racist Redistricting (Gerrymandering, Gentrification, Genocide)

Posted on | by Wake County Housing Justice Coalition | 1,881 Comments on Rage-Chalking at the City of Raleigh’s Racist Redistricting (Gerrymandering, Gentrification, Genocide)

On Tuesday, March 1, 2022, the Raleigh City Council scheduled a public hearing on the redistricting of the city.

The council voted 7-to-1 to approve a scenario that not only will move 55,000 people to different voting districts in Raleigh, but moving majority-minority precincts into whiter districts – effectively diluting Black voting power and separating communities of color in the city. This is effectively gerrymandering.

Please know: “Gerrymandering” also happens in the city, when you are changing district lines that changes voting powers.

Please know: “Gerrymandering” aligns with “Gentrification” and “Genocide”.

We recommend people to watch the youtube video to see for yourself the atrocity that the Raleigh City Council is committing against communities of color and immigrants, but we have also done the rage-chalking last night right in front of the Municipal Building to summarize some of the main takeaways from the hearing.

Enjoy the art, learn the corruption, vote out the Raleigh City Council in November 2022.

Raleigh City Council Patrick Buffkin asked the City Attorney if they are required to follow the Voters Rights Act (VRA), to which the attorney said no. Councilmember Buffkin was happy to know he’s not required to follow the VRA. He’s now running for NC Senate-13.
Is this the man you want on your NC General Assembly?
Why is it that the cities always move the precinct with the majority-minority into a whiter district? Why not the other way around?
There was a resident, who is an immigrant currently living in Brentwood in District B, who plead for the city not to separate her family and communities. The city continues to talk about the redistricting issue as if it’s just about balancing the numbers. They continued to ignore the impact on race.
The city has committed grave injustice, and they all must be held accountable.
Councilmember Cox was the only one who spoke and stood up for the communities of color.
The decision is clear.

They all must go. At this point, the City of Raleigh is too corrupt as they are boldly crushing the rights and powers of the Black communities and immigrant communities in the city without any fear of repercussion or consequences, and the city staff and attorney are all assisting them in their endeavor to consolidate the power of the white supremacy.

Remember this on November 2022 when you see the ballot for Raleigh City Council. Do not vote for any of the incumbents.

Wed, Jan 19, 6 PM: Stop Raleigh from Using Transit to Displace Black Families!

Posted on | by Wake County Housing Justice Coalition | 1,310 Comments on Wed, Jan 19, 6 PM: Stop Raleigh from Using Transit to Displace Black Families!

Take action now…!!! We must stop the City of Raleigh from using the BRT to displace Black families in Heritage Park!!!

Please join the Zoom Meeting onWednesday, January 19, 2022 at 6:00 PM

Zoom link: https://tinyurl.com/BRT-Gentrifier

Or call: 301-715-8592, Meeting ID: 86130995028

Please Join the City of Raleigh’s Rezoning meeting and let the decision making political power that be… know that our votes and voices matter.

This rezoning project does NOT support housing affordability and walkability for low income Black families and communities like Heritage Park. This project will only further homelessness, gentrification, displacement and the genocide of the Black community and Black culture. We must take action now…!!!

The City of Raleigh & Raleigh Housing Authority & Dorothea Dix stakeholders, developers and gentrifiers are the ones who will benefit from wiping another Black community off this side of the earth.

Furthermore, this project is being funded by the Dept of Transportation(our tax dollars) thus there are certain protections that our civil rights grant us.

We must hold the Federal government accountable to their laws and truth and not allow them to push more Black families out of their own community, just so the gentrifiers can ride the bus to their Destination Dog park.

If needed, see the attached document to find out if your address is included among the impacted neighborhoods: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TtN3NB-XW-_HeOMZxx1gNo0ZKcJemISY/view?usp=sharing

The Call for Housing Justice in the New Year

Posted on | by WCHJC | 2,012 Comments on The Call for Housing Justice in the New Year

On June 1, 2020, the Wake County Housing Justice Coalition has submitted to the City of Raleigh a long document titled, “Written Recommendations to Raleigh’s Proposed Affordable Housing Bond, Framework for Equitable Economic Development”.

Since Wake County Housing Justice Coalition came into being, the core members have advocated for housing justice, starting with the call for Raleigh’s affordable housing bond to commit to building affordable housing to people at 30% AMI level.

Wake-County-Housing-Justice-Coalition-Written-Recommendations-Affordable-Housing-Bond-To-City-Council-6_1_20-1-2Download

Our call for housing affordable to 30% AMI has led the city to change the policy to discuss 30% of the AMI, but not to our satisfaction by the time they proceeded to put the affordable housing bond on the ballot in 2020.

Since the passing of Raleigh’s affordable housing bond, evictions and displacements have been at an all time high, as property values in lower wealth communities continue to soar, prompting media outlets to highlight and publish investigative series on gentrification and the exacerbated eviction crisis caused by the current pandemic but undergirded by gentrification and inequitable growth occurring in Raleigh. 

Growth friendly rezoning decisions by the current Raleigh City Council have caused certain neighborhoods to be labeled “Tear Down Street,” by the Raleigh News & Observer. City leaders continue to discuss the building of future affordable housing in other areas but refuse to lay out a plan for preserving current naturally occurring affordable housing. In a recent meeting around the possible future displacement of Quail Ridge residents, a Raleigh City planner stated that preserving affordable housing is difficult, while continuing to talk about how future land use maps allow the rezoning of the Quail Ridge apartment area for future mixed use redevelopment.  

Advocates have raised solutions but city leaders spend most of their time chasing fires that they’ve created through their rezoning and growth policies. Such policies fail to ground equitable development. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CYIGm5yLXvz/

Equity is not just in the process of policies, equity has to be the outcome of housing policies. Evidence of such rezoning polices include the city council’s approval of the rezoning of Downtown South to the development and rezoning approval around Dorothea Dix Park. Lower wealth residents around Dix Park were recently given notices right before Christmas that they would have to move. Yet, city planners discuss how “housing for all,” will be the goal for housing in this area. This objective ignores the human damage occurring currently because of the current planning and rezoning of this area.

The city claims to be building housing for all, but what they kept quiet about is the teardowns of the existing naturally occurring affordable housing, and how they consistently give away city-owned properties to private developers. Such is the case with Heritage Park, which the WCHJC is fighting hard to protect right now.

On July 2021, the city voted to approve the text change TC-5-20, which would put an even bigger target on low-income housing. The city and the press praised themselves for building their own vision of “affordable housing”, but in reality, communities are being erased by their gentrification and displacement.

May be an image of tree, outdoors and text that says "NEW 1511-1517 Poole Road, Raleigh, NC $550,000 2 Beds,1 Baths, 0.3 Acres, 962 ft2 ACTIVE Residential MLS® #2424679"

How is anyone in the area going to afford this? Who is getting evicted to allow for wealthier people to occupy the space?

The practice of gentrification is no different from the practice of colonizers. It is the same game, but just a different name. Be aware. Fight back against the gentrifiers and colonizers.

This is why our work continues in 2022.

City of Raleigh Considering More Teardowns of Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing! This time with Quail Ridge Apartments!

Posted on | by WCHJC | 775 Comments on City of Raleigh Considering More Teardowns of Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing! This time with Quail Ridge Apartments!

Developers Are Tearing More Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing

This Time It’s Quail Ridge Apartments in North Raleigh…

There is a Neighborhood Meeting Today At 5:00 pm.

Working Class Families Living at Quail Ridge Apartments on the corner of Millbrook Rd & Falls of The Neuse are at risk of being pushed out of their homes… for the sake of capitalism and density!

The developers/investors from New York have plans to tear down the existing affordable community & rebuild 5-story apartment buildings for more expensive rent.

Where will these families go…??? There’s barely any affordable housing left in the City of Raleigh… And the homeless shelters are at capacity!