The final meeting of Raleigh’s 37th city council last week had the sentimental quality of the last day of high school.
Council members hugged, shed tears, shared reminiscences, and said goodbye to mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin and District A representative Mary Black, who will not return next term.
Heartfelt goodbyes
Audience members with the stamina to sit through Tuesday’s five-hour meeting (with an agenda packed with staff reports and public hearings to close out the year) saw an unusually casual and tender side of the city council. The eight members had clearly developed a camaraderie over the past two years—despite occasional disagreements and strain.
“No one will ever know what this is like except for the folks who are sitting here,” at-large member Jonathan Melton said, prompting knowing nods and smiles from his colleagues. “We are all bonded for life.”
“You give a lot,” Baldwin said. “You take a lot of abuse. But there’s also incredible satisfaction in making a difference.”
Baldwin, who opted not to seek a third term and will be succeeded by Janet Cowell, did indeed seem satisfied as she rattled off a list of accomplishments.
In the course of her 15 years serving the city—10 as an at-large city council member followed by five as mayor—Baldwin developed a reputation as an effective and unapologetic leader. She helped launch the Oak City Cares program, guided Raleigh through the pandemic, championed Bus Rapid Transit, and led the charge on passing progressive Missing Middle housing reforms. Under her leadership, the city exceeded its goal of creating 5,700 units of affordable housing by 2026 (and now has 6,647 affordable units in the pipeline, by Baldwin’s count) and invested in major development projects including the Lenovo Center entertainment district, the Raleigh Convention Center expansion, and the redevelopment of the former DMV headquarters.
Baldwin also drew criticism on multiple occasions for a perceived lack of transparency—incudling in 2020, when she helped organize a surprise vote to disband Raleigh’s Citizen Advisory Councils, and in 2021, when the council held a secret vote to postpone city elections by one year. Despite these controversies, Baldwin never lost an election.
“Love her or hate her, everyone knows the Notorious M.A.B.,” Melton said.
City manager Marchell Adams-David thanked Baldwin for being a “visionary” who “loves this community” and went above and beyond for it.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself after midnight,” Adams-David said. “I don’t know that Janet [Cowell] is going to let me talk to her at 11, 12, 1 o’clock at night like this one.”
Black, who is also departing the council, was elected in 2022 as one of its youngest-ever members (she was 28). An advocate for tenants’ rights, workers’ rights, and environmental justice, Black was unafraid to break from the pack on various issues. As the continuing council members said goodbye to her on Tuesday, it was clear they respected her activism.
“I know we haven’t always agreed,” District C representative Corey Branch said. “But we’ve laughed, we’ve cried, we’ve checked on each other, and I want to say thank you, because you’ve made me a better person.”
“I am so proud to know you, and I’m so proud to have sat with you at the table,” Melton said.
During her reelection campaign, Black expressed ambivalence about serving a second term on city council—having experienced racism and personal attacks during her first. On Tuesday she said she was “very happy to no longer be an elected official.”
“I do, however, feel a loss for the issues that I wanted to dedicate more time to,” she added.
Former City of Raleigh planning director and New York City parks commissioner Mitchell Silver will replace Black on the council next term.
Final thoughts
The two outgoing council members took advantage of their bully pulpit one last time to share parting words of advice with the next council.
Baldwin says it’s past time to re-evaluate the city council’s low salaries and part-time classifications.
“When I tell people the mayor makes $37,000 a year…they’re in disbelief,” Baldwin said. “It’s very hard for people to even do this work because of the very low salaries. It’s not even minimum wage.”
In Baldwin’s 15 years on council, the job has become more demanding and the scrutiny has increased, she said. What’s billed as a part-time commitment is actually a full-time job.
Baldwin also got candid about redeveloping the former DMV site. The city purchased the land earlier this year with the goal of turning it into some kind of mixed-use affordable development, and convened a group of community volunteers to advise on the process.
“It’s great we’re doing the public engagement now, but this cannot drag on for nine years,” Baldwin said. “We’ve got to get it forward because we need housing.”
Baldwin added that the city will need to issue another bond or add another one-penny tax rate increase to finance the creation of more affordable housing as demand continues to rise.
Black said the City of Raleigh has a long way to go before it reaches the equitable, renter-friendly, green ideals it aspires to. She also urged her colleagues to support the development of an independent mental health crisis unit that is external to the police department.
“We asked the people most affected by public safety decisions what care, service, and protection truly looks like, and overwhelmingly we heard back that we need new forms of safety,” Black told the council.
Later on in the meeting, city chief of administrative services Michele Mallette announced that Raleigh’s nascent alternative response program has a new name, CARES (Crisis Alternative Response for Empathy and Support). The program encompasses the ACORNS crisis response unit within the police department, a team of licensed clinicians taking calls at the Raleigh-Wake 911 center, and soon, a case management team within the Housing and Neighborhoods department. The city plans to hire three new staff members for this team in January.
Black also cautioned her colleagues against overlooking renters like herself, who make up about half the population in Raleigh but will have no representation on council next term.
“Raleigh needs bold tenant protections,” she said. “This includes bolstering rental inspection protections, meeting with your local tenant organizers, and funding legal aid. Many renters in Raleigh, we live under slumlords while struggling to survive skyrocketing rents and cost of living increases. [Our] voices are often unheard because many of us are consumed with trying to survive, but we’re here.”
Black then addressed Raleigh’s renters directly, hinting that she’s not going to disappear from civic life now that her council term is finished.
“If you need help,” she said, “let me know.”
Chloe Courtney Bohl is a corps member for Report for America. Reach her at [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].