Mayor Nancy McFarlane established a new practice Tuesday for how City Council members should communicate during meetings. From now on, ask to be recognized before you speak, McFarlane told her colleagues.
"I would appreciate that a great deal," the mayor said at the start of Tuesday's meeting.
In borrowing $147.6 million for transportation and park projects, the city will take advantage of the lowest interest rates it has secured in the past two decades.
That's the word from chief financial officer Perry James, who attributed the favorable terms to the city's healthy credit rating.
Former N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Burley Mitchell will deliver the May 5 commencement address at William Peace University, school representatives said Thursday.
Mitchell will receive an honorary degree from the university along with Harvey Schmitt, president and CEO of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, and alumnus Josephine Chadwick, a 1943 graduate and longtime donor.
The commencement marks one of the final official gatherings before Peace welcomes male students this fall for the first time in its 154-year history. The coed switch has been met with loud protests from groups of alumni troubled by the break with tradition.
This is the second year that Peace has awarded honorary degrees. The 2011 recipients were Lib Averill Harkey, class of 1938; W. Trent Ragland Jr.; the late William G. Ross and state Rep. Deborah Ross.
Mitchell will be honored for his support of the university and distinguished legal career. His wife, Lou Willett Mitchell ’62, is an active university graduate, and the couple co-chaired the largest fundraising campaign in the university’s history – the $30 million Promise of Peace Campaign, which ran from 2008 through 2011.
Chadwick previously received the university’s Distinguished Alumna Award (1974), Distinguished Service Award (1992) and William Peace Medallion (2007), the university’s highest award. She is one of the university’s largest financial supporters.
Schmitt, president and CEO of the Chamber since 1994, has helped the university connect with civic and business leaders. Previously, Schmitt served six years as president and CEO of the Greater Greenville (S.C.) Chamber of Commerce.
The council chamber at City Hall will go dark this week, literally, while maintenance workers install a new lighting system.
These aren't your typical bulbs.
The new system will consume 30 percent less electricity than the current lighting, which was part of the building's original construction in the early 1980s.
A Triangle developer has added a high-rise apartment building to an initial phase of the Edison, an ambitious downtown project showing signs of life after a recession-induced slumber.
The glass-and-steel tower will represent a bold addition to Raleigh's skyline, Gregg Sandreuter told City Council members this morning at a Budget & Economic Development Committee meeting.
Raleigh joined dozens of U.S. cities this week in calling for the federal government to boost spending on public water systems.
The nation's public water utilities face a $23 billion annual investment gap, according to an open letter to President Obama and lawmakers signed by John Carman, Raleigh's public utilities director, and dozens of local officials from around the country.
We've got a scoop for you on Tuesday's Raleigh City Council meeting.
To celebrate its arrival in the Triangle, representatives from Blue Bell ice cream will hand out free samples to the City Council at 2 p.m., in the council chamber, 222 W. Hargett St.
Afterward, the public can visit the first-floor lobby to enjoy free samples of vanilla.
Starting Monday, you can buy Blue Bell ice cream right here in the Triangle at Kroger, Lowes Foods and Walmart stores, along with some independent grocery stores, drugstores and convenience stores.
A nod to my colleagues at our Centsible Saver blog for the reminder. Blue Bell managers are looking around the Triangle for the best location to build a distribution facility, Raleigh officials said.
A City Council committee will meet Wednesday to consider how to revamp the layout of Hillsborough Street near the YMCA.
The city is weighing options for a road diet that will be implemented this summer when the street is resurfaced between Woodburn Road and Park Avenue.
There is urgency to reach a decision because city transportation planners are trying to keep the project on schedule as part of a citywide resurfacing program.
Should the city take over the shuttered YWCA building on Hargett Street?
It's a possibility worth considering, City Councilman Eugene Weeks told his colleagues Tuesday. "This is something I just wanted to throw out there," said Weeks, who asked whether the parks and recreation department could find a use for the facility.
The idea appeared to gain little traction. The focus, council members said, should be on helping former YWCA clients connect with other agencies that can offer help.
Raleigh City Councilwoman Mary-Ann Baldwin was walking on St. Mary's Street last month when she was nearly struck by a car whizzing through an intersection.
More recently, Councilman Bonner Gaylord was headed on foot to Tuesday's City Council meeting when a car almost hit him next to City Hall at McDowell and Hargett streets.
The frightening near-misses led Baldwin and Gaylord to voice support for a public awareness campaign to discourage speeding.
