In last week’s paper, Leigh Tauss wrote about four Raleigh lawyers who are taking an RV into lower-income neighborhoods and giving advice to residents. The problem: What they’re doing might fall under the city’s restrictions on mobile retailers.
“Instead of asking if they’re breaking rules,” asks Toni Chester, “shouldn’t we be asking how we can support and institute change that will help a service that is so obviously needed succeed in our community? We know our legal system is broken. This is a real, tangible solution to a small part of the problem.”
“I love this creative way to get help where it is needed,” writes Jena Matzen. “As a former Legal Aid lawyer who also did a lot of outreach, I can attest to how the need for legal services in low-wealth communities far outstrips the current publicly funded supply. I hope that they can keep it up.”
“With the gutting of Legal Aid for the poor,” adds Kathryn Welch, “I would think those offering their services to the poor for free would be celebrated. There must be a way for them to continue as they are now and for the overly rigid rule followers look the other way for once.”
The Raleigh City Council is expected to take up a mobile retail ordinance on May 7.
In other Raleigh news, developer John Kane has asked for a zoning change that would allow him to build a forty-story skyscraper downtown. As the INDY has reported, even if Kane includes affordable units, the council might not go along, as some members are worried about development downtown. Last week, the city’s planning commission approved the zoning request.
“Sorry, that lot near downtown is zoned to be a gravel parking lot,” writes John, assuming the voice of the council’s majority. “We can’t add buildings to this town, because the neighbors don’t like change. We laughed at them when someone proposed building in the city. Our millions of roads can’t handle adding density.”
“Raleigh is not a young city,” writes David W. Jones. “It was founded as the capital city in 1789, the same year as the founding of our nation. Learn something about Raleigh if you want to manage it. I am an eighty-year native of Raleigh, and it has become the city I never wanted to live in. It is not a young city, and it is no longer a Southern city, just like the rest of our state.”
Leah Abrams wrote recently about the increased stay times at Urban Ministries of Durham.
“I understand they’re trying to make Durham a better place, but long as [landlords] keep asking for a six-hundred credit score for rental properties, some people will always stay homeless,” writes Wanda Lowry. “How can people in an urban neighborhood afford a $600 deposit, $600 down, and first month’s rent, an appliance fee of $100, an application fee of $50, and they want three times the rent? A lot of people don’t make it.”
Finally, Jeffrey C. Billman wrote last week about the voluminous lies and misdeeds of the Trump administration brought to light by the Mueller report.
“The single biggest problem with Trump, even more than the fact that he is crude, disrespectful, and sociopathic, and likely the reason for it, is that never before in his entire life has he been told no,” writes Mark Ellis. “And now that he is, he can’t stand it. A spoiled brat.”
“Nothing can be done about the 35 percent who support him fervently,” adds Donovan Verrill. “We just have to hope the rest see the light. I’ve heard numerous politicians tout the intelligence of the American voter—Trump’s election proves how low it actually is.”
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Where in the linked article is Raleigh referred to as a young city? I’ve looked it over top to bottom and back up again, and the closest I can find is someone quoted near the end as saying “This is not old Raleigh anymore.”