Southeast Raleigh

[ncwebguy]

I'll try to cover several issues with one post.

1. 545 East Martin was a nice house that Mrs. McGhee ran into the ground. One of the doors was regularly boarded up and neighbors regularly complained that squatters and drug dealers went in and out unsupervized. Instead of getting inspections involved to check if the house was up to code, they did nothing. Without looking at the inside of the house, the city paid $95,000 for a house purchased ten years earlier for a little over $10k. A few months later, they tore down the house because it wasn't worth saving. If it wasn't worth saving, why did they pay $95,000 for it???? *That* is/was the tragedy of the situation. The city or slumlord probbaly used the sale of *new* houes on the 500 block of East Martin to justify the higher sale price. But if the house was so bad to be torn down, it should have offered a lot less. Or it should have offered to sell the house to someone who could restore it -- an old house with over 2,000 square feet is rare in the area.

Another downside of the deal is that it sent a signal to other slumlords in the area to demand a higher price for their properties while doing nothing to maintain upkeep. If the city will spend that much for property in terrible condition, they should get a similar deal. Sergant Newman of RPD was also a recipient of the bond money. The purchases in the 700 block have been more reasonable, but seem on the high side for the size and condition of the buildings.

2. The house at 610 Martin (SW corner of Marin and Haywood) caught on fire Easter Sunday 2006 and hasn't been touched since. Since the owner's (Timothy Omar Hankins, Jr, purchased in late 2003 for $61k) time to do something with the boarded up property was almost up, he sold it to a family member, Latimore Hankins, for $10,000. Who in turn has yet to do anything with it in the month he has owned it. I'm sure plenty of people would like to do something with it, since the city has owned just about every other house on the 600 block of East Martin over the last few years. They sold one house on the NW corner of Martin and Haywood, still have another for sale next to it, and several other houses on the block are rentals managed by the Raleigh Housing Authority. Several other houses have been rebuilt on the block of Haywood north of Martin, but the St. Augs Community Development Corporation has not sold them yet. The city boarded up 701 East Martin shortly after buying it a year ago, yet has done nothing with it. Who wants to buy a house in an area where a burned out house can remain untouched for nine months and the city keeps a property it owns boarded up for a year?

I am part owner of 604 East Martin, which is "hidden" behind the church off an alley. It is a two story turn of the century house we are trying to fix up to rent, and eventually sell. It is a lot easier said than done, but hopefully will be worth it. If anyone wants a tour, message me or send an email to my name at yahoo.

The tax base on Martin was low with the property in such disrepair, but is now zero with the city owning the property. Keeping the houses on the 600 block of Martin as rentals also cuts off the potential tax base. There are a *lot* of city-owned rental properties in the area (Eastwod court on Davie, another apartment complex on Camden) not including the "new" Chavis Heights.

3. 608 East Hargett -- I live quite close to that house. Unfortunately, it was mistreated several times over the years. It is actually three stories, with the roof line forming the ceiling on the top floor. When I moved in almost six years ago, that house was a halfway house/rooming house run by a "church" for men recently released from prison trying to get back on their feet. They did just enough to get by, and often didn't do that. It was owned by the Winters family, who owned a lot of land in the area including Wintershaven senior citizens building at Hargett and East and Winters Place at East and Martin. When Mr. Winters passed away a few years ago, his children and grandchildren had a hard time figuring out who gets what. Eventually it was sold to someone who owns several rental properties in the area. He sold part of the lot to Gordon Smith to eventually move one of the houses off the proposed apartment block. He was going to turn 608 back into a rooming house but luckily sold the house to someone else. He made $80k in a little over a year by doing next to nothing other than flipping it.

Part of the deal of the Gordon Smith/Woodpile sale required the granite fireplace to be torn off the east side of the house to put more space between 608 and the yet-to-be-moved house. This took a lot of historic value from the house, but it might not have been able to be repaired. The granite chimney on the west side of the house was removed and the house was deconstructed to the frame. A series of weird extensions were removed, and the cinderblock first floor was rebuilt. I walked through it a few weekends ago. They are doing a lot of modern touches to the inside (and a nice screened in porch on the back), but the historic character of the place is gone, other than the roof.

The houses on Haywood north of Hargett are almost all rentals, which makes it difficult for a potential owner occupant to want to buy into the area.

[zande]

Just got email notification today from the assistant city planner. She says the Olde East Raleigh Gateway Vision has been sidetracked for now and sounds like it could be delayed by 18 months! I went to the last public comment meeting and I heard a lot of negative comments but am still not sure what that was all about. Many of the negative comments were unclear to me.

I think we need to stop obstructing this process and lets get the East Gateway plan underway. I mean geesh! This process has been vetted at many levels and now it gets delayed. How much is this is going to hold up the vital redevelopment the city is doing here in East Raleigh? Does this mean the community development people are going to have to wait and leave their boarded up City owned houses vacant for another year and a half until the planners finish their job?

She said the Southcentral CAC had some objections. Maybe someone can enlighten me and tell me why I should not be frustrated.

Sorry for the vent but this has me really sick of the process tonight.

[ncwebguy]

South Central CAC did/does not have "objections" but is as frustrated with how the East Vision process went and is going or not going. There is no obstruction on the neighborhood's part. There was some vetting, but the action plan behind them was thrown out and replaced by a small area plan. The city is holding itself up but wants to shift the blame to residents.

Over the years, the area has seen several processes with meeting after meeting and plans written up. The plans were then filed away in City Hall and then nothing happened with them. The East Vision process was to be different becaues it was to list the strengths/weaknesses assets/liabilities of the area and have a plan that meant something with identifiable actions and success stories.

As part of the Vision, a consulting company out of Chicago was hired to check how much property was owner-occupied vs. rental, the condition of the housing stock, etc. For some reason, few members of the community attended "core group" meetings, and the city didn't feel comfortable moving forward with little citizen input. When Mitch Silver came in as the new planning director, they wanted to have something to show for the Vision, so they turned it into a small area plan with no concrete goals or action.

The "bait and switch" from a vision to yet another plan to be filed in the planning office is what the South Central CAC objects to. That kind of plan already exists for the area -- Thomson-Hunter I (created in 1976, and was originally set to expire in 2006) and Thompson-Hunter II, adopted in 1977 with no expiration date. T-H I and II are on this map but not in the city's plans for the central planning district.

Martin-Haywood was investigated in 2005, but only covered an eight block area. In minutes from the March 28, 2006 Budget and Economic development City Council subcommittee, it says "the City has recently completed the rehabilitation of 611 and 615 E. Martin Street and 612 and 614 E. Hargett Street." It also authorized the sale of these houses via the St. Augs Community Development Corporation, since the city can not directly sell its property. Two houses have been sold, but two others are still empty.

South Central CAC is tired of seeing plans. It wants something with verifiable milestones to show the community something can get done so things can move forward.

[zande]

The "bait and switch" from a vision to yet another plan to be filed in the planning office is what the South Central CAC objects to. That

Martin-Haywood was investigated in 2005, but only covered an eight block area. In minutes from the March 28, 2006 Budget and Economic development City Council subcommittee, it says "the City has recently completed the rehabilitation of 611 and 615 E. Martin Street and 612 and 614 E. Hargett Street." It also authorized the sale of these houses via the St. Augs Community Development Corporation, since the city can not directly sell its property. Two houses have been sold, but two others are still empty.

South Central CAC is tired of seeing plans. It wants something with verifiable milestones to show the community something can get done so things can move forward.

Then why are we messing with City Planners? Community Development are the people that seem to be getting things done. They have the money (13 million $ this year.) They have earmarked several 100k for the 700 block of Martin Street. The 8 block in depth inventory was part of what CD did. That was as complete a plan for moving forward as I have seen anyone in the City present. It even had litte drawings of what the Birchwood complex and the small stores could look like when renovated. Can CD not move ahead of the planners and get more done?

[ncwebguy]

Then why are we messing with City Planners? Community Development are the people that seem to be getting things done. They have the money (13 million $ this year.) They have earmarked several 100k for the 700 block of Martin Street. The 8 block in depth inventory was part of what CD did. That was as complete a plan for moving forward as I have seen anyone in the City present. It even had litte drawings of what the Birchwood complex and the small stores could look like when renovated. Can CD not move ahead of the planners and get more done?

Planning wants to make sure a redevlopment plan makes sense for the area and the city, while community development has the block grand funds to implement redevelopment and affordable housing initiatives. It is cost and time prohibitive to do analysis like the Martin-Haywood plan on a wider area than the eight blocks covered. There was some inventory taken with East Vision, but that was shelved when the consultant's contract ran out.

Some pieces of the Martin-Haywood plan have been enacted by city council -- rennovation of four houses for sale, several houses rennovated and kept as rentals, and acquiring more property in the area. Empty lots on Haywood have been sold to a church and other area developers to build houses, and a sidewalk will be constructed on the east side of Haywood between Hargett and Martin, and possibly further south eventually. I hope all this improvement continues to extend south and east.

The 700 block of East Martin is a key part of the neighborhood that presents a problem and an opportunity. The *problem* is that it has been an open air drug market for years. Groups of people have hung out there for one stop shopping with the convenience store, etc. This makes it a hard sell to put housing on that block. The *opportunity* is that it could be a community focus point, like the shopping center with the Crowley's on Dixie Trail or the Saunders/South area. Or should retail only be on New Bern and Tarboro/Rock Quarry? The convenience center was built to provide shopping convenience to the housing project units on Camden street and the rest of the neighborhood, but has seen better days. Properties the city has acquired could be redeveloped into live/work studio units, or apartments over retail like in Carlton Place.

Some of this will require rezoning, which is where planning comes in. In the past, community development did what they wanted, angering a lot of the neighbors. Now CD wants to ensure they are moving forward with a plan the community approves of before undertaking a project. The community knows what it needs more than the city ever will. But at the same time, the city wants to manage expectations (single family houses a few blocks from F street for less than $100k is impossible) and get as much value for its development dollars too.

In other SE Raleigh news, the initiative to shut down drug markets is underway. 14 younger, less violent criminals were selected for mentoring and other assistance to get out of the life of crime. Three have since been arrested again and may be out of the program, but the other eleven are moving fowrard. It has become more difficult to find drugs for sale in the targeted area, but the police do not want to consider it a success yet.

[ChiefJoJo]

In other SE Raleigh news, the initiative to shut down drug markets is underway. 14 younger, less violent criminals were selected for mentoring and other assistance to get out of the life of crime. Three have since been arrested again and may be out of the program, but the other eleven are moving fowrard. It has become more difficult to find drugs for sale in the targeted area, but the police do not want to consider it a success yet.

You know back at the Jan Central CAC (that discussed 209 Davie, Nash, and Reynolds), former Chief Perlov was there discussing this prgm. I got the feeling that she and the other officers were really excited about it and believed it could make a difference. (I believe it was modeled after a prgm in High Point?) Of course the folks at the meeting were for it, as they are the older, law-abiding citizens of the community (mainly S. Park).

What affect do you think Perlov leaving is going to have on the plan?

[ncwebguy]

The program/initiative based on the High Point project has been in the works for months. The area selected was a "test run", so I think they will try it at least once more regardless of the departure of Chief Perlov. It isn't the "magic bullet" for eliminating gangs that some people though it would be, but it will make joining a gang less attractive than before. If the program yields "ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" results, it will continue. If only a few of the young, less violent criminals the program is targeting turn their lives around, it will be difficult to keep pouring resouces into it.

At the very least, creating the support/mentorship "gang" should improve the community's relationship with borderline youths.

There is also the problems a known drug market creates. A man from Garner went to the target area to purchase drugs because he knew it was the place to go. Since the police had arrested most of the dealers in the area, it was hard for him to make a purchase. Eventually someone said they would sell to him, but ended up robbing him and left him with nothing.

Foot traffic at another problem area, the 700 block of East Martin, has fluxuated a lot lately. Sometimes it is empty, sometimes it is the same as always, with people "hanging out" all hours of the day. The community hopes they are not "hibernating" for the winter, and the police appear to not want to rest on their successes.

[zande]

Foot traffic at another problem area, the 700 block of East Martin, has fluxuated a lot lately. Sometimes it is empty, sometimes it is the same as always, with people "hanging out" all hours of the day. The community hopes they are not "hibernating" for the winter, and the police appear to not want to rest on their successes.

You are absolutely right ncwebguy. I can sit on my front porch and watch the action on Martin Street. I spoke with Capt. Earnhardt a couple weeks ago and he seemed determined to redouble his efforts out there after I told him I noticed an uptick in action. The next day the area seemed saturated with RPD presence. He said he assigned a Srgt just for that area. Last Sat. the area was so totally quite. That was such a welcome event.

But.. again, the RPD cannot be the only ones in this game. CD needs to do something with those empty bldgs the city owns on 700 Martin. They tell me they will do whatever the council tells them to do. I suggest we all email councilman West and let him that we need the planned redevelopment to move forward regardless of what the planners are doing. Those houses there are used as hiding places for the dealers when the RPD drive by. The Birchwood playground backs up to the back of those houses also.

[ChiefJoJo]

There's some work going on (click here) on 4 houses on the 400 blk of S Bloodworth St. This is the block south of Moore Square Middle School and west of Carlton Place.

Also, I got this from the council agenda:

I. REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF THE BUDGET AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

1. East Vision Plan - Implementation

The Committee recommends approval of the East Vision Plan Implementation including the following five strategy recommendations:

a. Consider small area plan with modifications as presented by staff. Relay these recommendations to the Planning Commission;

b. Proceed with Martin Haywood redevelopment strategy and Moore Square redevelopment plan (includes Stone’s Warehouse);

c. Identify and implement CIP improvements (streetscape improvements and signage as identified in the small area plan);

d. Establish process to address the program and service delivery items;

e. City Planning, Community Development or Community Services must coordinate the program and process with appropriate City departments to address the community issues over a 12 to 18-month period.

The Committee recommends that higher density should be considered when it is determined that land costs exceed affordable single-family home costs, particularly on the western side of the Plan area where downtown is impacting land costs. It is also recommended that the Council ask the Southeast Raleigh Assembly to work with the CAC representatives for input and implementation of program and service delivery items which were unresolved in the planning process.

[ncwebguy]

I'm glad D and E are not going to hold up A, B, and C, which is/was zande's concern. I don't like "modifications by staff" though, especially if they never had community input and/or review...

I've been pushing for higher density on the west side of the area/east side of downtown. This will make approving the Gordon Smith apartment complex a lot easier. And the city has a few parcels west (those houses and the corner store), south (Carlton Place construction staging area) and east (Stone Warehouse) so there is still work to be done there.

The Moore Square plan includes redevelopment of the City Market parking lot space in a few years. I know a UNC class is using that space as a school project this semester and will present something in the spring.

Punting the "plan implementation to the South East Raleigh Assembly gets it out from the city's planning, which will hopefully be good for all parties interested. I just hope SERA listens to the community, instead of telling it what will happen (nothing).

[zande]

I believe that CD was awaiting council approval to move ahead with the redevelopment on Martin St. and Haywood Street.

"Phase Two: North Side of Martin Street (0.74 acres)

This redevelopment project can be launched within a month. CD has assembled all of the

parcels on the northeast corner of Haywood and Martin Streets, just west of the Exum

family

[ncwebguy]

There was some discussion to determine what to do with the space -- detatched homes on Haywood vs. mixed use on Martin with parking (in front or behind/accessed via Haywood). I don't know if this was ever settled, but it would hold up construction.

Since Google's sat photo was taken, the two houses north of the NE corner have been torn down, and the four structures on Martin have been boarded up. The house on the SW corner caught fire last Easter and has not been touched since.

Inspections is requiring something done with that property or they will tear it down near the end of the month.

This area has been a "hangout" for years because there are no residents watching.

A house in the middle of the 600 block of Martin has a for rent sign in front. I don't know how much they want and/or if it is income restricted. A non-income restricted 2-3 bedroom house that faces Martin but will be accessed from Swain will be available soon... message me if interested.

[zande]

It's official now. The council gave community development the go-ahead to move on the several parcels of land that the City acquired in the 700 block of E. Martin street. As most of you know, this area has been one of the most drug-prostitute infested areas of the City for many years. Hopefully we are witnessing the end of an era for Martin street and a new beginning.

The problem is, CD does not know what should take its place yet. According to some of the CD staff, the public input on what to put in the retail area of Martin Street was very thin. I would like to see a destination business that will bring in ppl from other parts of town as well as the locals. Maybe a nice unique diner or club. Maybe a mix of retail and residential. I do not know but the goal will be to put something there that will make it hard for the dealers and hookers to ply their trade in the open. Last Sunday afternoon the weather was warm and I saw many locals coming back from Church and strolling the street, shopping at the store on Martin Street with their children and grandchildren. There were no dealers in sight. The potential is there for this to be a great area of the City once again.

Any ideas for new development that would encourage this trend?

[ChiefJoJo]

^ So are they just empty blocks now? I wonder if that area can support retail or not. Are we talking about CD constucting single family homes or multi-story?

BTW, the council is scheduled to approve about $400k in streetscaping funds tomorrow for SE Raleigh. I can't recall the specifics on locations, but I think it mostly involves plantings and other small streetscaping elements.

[ncwebguy]

On the north side of the 700 block of East Martin, there is three boarded up houses (the structure with the red/orange roof in the Google picture has since been razed), the small "strip mall" that Zande refered to in his post, and a house. There is a Raleigh Housing Authority apartment complex to the north and south of this block along Camden Street.

I walked by a couple of times yesterday/Sunday. The cooler temperatures meant fewer people on the block, but there were still some in the area. I didn't notice any church goers, but it might have been bad timing on my part. Dealers, prostitutes, etc. often move to Swain, Haywood, and Camden when there seems to be problems on Martin. Problems usually just move, but never fully go away.

I think the city owns a few buildings on the south side of this block too, but I am not sure. One master developer could do something special in the area, but it would take a lot of work. The parking lot across from the parking lot near the Camden intersection often attracts groups hanging out.

The shopping center was built to support the nearby public housing tenants. But there aren't enough customers from just that, so they rely on outside traffic. The outside traffic unfortunatly comes in the form of a mix of gang members and other people that want to hang out. There are often yelling matches I can hear from a block away.

There used to be a restaurant in the shopping center, but they couldn't make a go of it because people didn't want to go there at night. Breakfast and lunch business was not enough to keep it open. The current tenants include a laundrymat, a barber shop, a convenience store, and a bail bondsman.

I would like to see 2-3 story buildings up to the sidewalk, with on street parking for ground floor business patrons and behind the building parking for upstairs residents. Street level tenants could include a coffee shop and live/work units, either as gallery space or a law/doctor/dentist office. But the current round the clock loitering scares away the neighbors from existing tenants, let alone people from other parts of town. So the current environment does not encourage any redevelopment investment.

The Carlton Place retail spaces finally have a "for lease" sign, so this area would have to compete with whatever ends up there. Also, there is a large parcel to be redevloped at the Rock Quarry/MLK intersection, which could pull retail development to it since it is on a busy, thorughfare.

The streetscape money will go to MLK, Rock Quarry, and other major roads, not the neighborhoods.

[ncwebguy]

The N&O has a story on some of the items discussed earlier in this thread -- Humble district turns high rent.

I have been watching the house at 608 East Hargett go from the rooming house Jerry lived in to the mansion trying to be sold today over the last six years. And the Meeker/Stewart boarding house rennovation. It has me excited and scared at the same time. Excited in that people who take care of their property are returning to the neighborhood, but scared in that the working and middle classes could be priced out of the area so quickly.

Those two hosues will have a premium sale price because large houses are few and far between in the area. Most houses are in the 1000-1500 square feet range, and shotgun houses are right around the corner. Mr. Kenney is a nice person, but seems to be overvaluating the market too quickly.

Ideally the neighborhood will be "market rate affordable" and not government assisted affordable" but it depends on the property owners. If the middle class is too afraid to move in, the upper class might swoop in and price those "undesireables" to them (but not me!) out.

[zande]

Now I am totally disgusted... why in the world did SERA further delay the implementation of Martin-Haywood at the City Council meeting on April 17?? This was a two year very in depth project that got major input from all who chose to be involved. It is one of the most thorough and thoughtful development plans I have ever read. No one even mentioned the Martin-Haywood plan in a negative way at any of the East Gateway Visioning meetings I attended. The negative input mentioned at those meetings included the hard boundary at Rock Quarry Road. No one ever complained about Martin-Haywood at these meetings.

I am on Camden Street right in the cross hairs of the 700 block of Martin Street. I was very much looking forward to seeing the CD plans move forward in this area. Why has the SERA chosen to hold us hostage to the continued crime and delapidation in that area?

Can someone help me understand this totally inconsistent approach by a few noisy citizens? The City should just move forward with the plan they have held numerous meeting for. These are all new issues. Why were they not raised earlier? Darn!! I am very upset. When can this move forward??

[ncwebguy]

I didn't see or hear what came out of the city council meeting on the 17th. Nothing was mentioned at last night's south central CAC meeting.

The burned out house at the corner of Martin and Haywood is supposed to be torn down in the next month, but I'll belive that when I see it.

The Elks lodge, on the corner of Haywood and Davie, discussed plans to tear down their existing structure and rebuild with three street level retail spaces and a meeting hall/ballroom on the second floor. The corner started as a store on the first floor and residence above it, so they think it should have the appropriate zoning, though the county web site has it as R-20.

The CAC is pushing for mixed use with the building close to the corner to establish a precedent that will hopefully be followed for the redevlopment of 700 block of East Martin.

Another one of the city's rehabbed homes, on Hargett, sold recently and someone moved in last weekend.

There were some Progress Energy trucks on the 600 block of Hargett this morning, so one of the the Woodpile/Gordon Smith houses might be closer to being moved.

[ChiefJoJo]

Here's an article on a huge new development called Olde Town to be built near Walnut Creek along Rock Quarry Road. It will bring about 5,000 new residents to the area.

• 600 acres, golf course, 2,400 homes, 360,000 sf of retail
  
• townhouses start at $140,000 up to 4k sf "golf homes" at $500,000
  

[carynative]

I wonder how local residents will react to this? It seems quite out of sorts for something anywhere near that area. I think it's a good plan.

[urbanvb]

"It's going to add a lot of shops and housing choices. Old Towne is going to give you the suburban shopping center. That's Outside-the-Beltline living."

I wonder if this means as in strip shopping centers.. hoping not.

[citiboi27610]

Here is an image of development. Its pretty small, but it gives a feel of what it will look like. It spans from New Hope Rd to Barwell Rd. Its huge. Positive development for the SE area in some aspects. Its odd to see a 'country' environment transformed into a development such as this, especially considering how rural this stretch of road looks all the way past walnut creek, despite the traffic. If its done well, widening roads appropriately, this will transform SE in a good way. I hope that this won't lend itself to sprawl seen in breir creek.

[ncwebguy]

This is going to be approved to stem the migration to developments in Johnston County like Riverwood. Period. It is suburban in every sense of the word, good and bad. The existing street grid can't support this development and everyone involves know it. To pay for this, do they get charged impact fees? Heck no! They follow the North Raleigh growth pattern in the late 80s/early 90s -- concentrate Southeast Raleigh's road widening and repair money in one place while leaving ITB to rot. Growth will "pay for itself" while being paid for by existing property owners. Build a $500k community center and get tens of millions of dollars of road improvemnts! In five years or so, these new residents will start to complain that 540 doesn't go their way, so hundreds of millions of more dollars will have to "connect" the area that was intentionally unconnected in the first place.

I hope this development does well, but I don't have my hopes up. It is a self-contained place with *no* connection to the surrounding area. Looking at the picture, the golf course serves as a "moat" to keep outsiders out. It might be walkable from the inside, but not from the outside.

The golf course is not a guarantee of success either. The Raleigh County Club, a Donald Ross (Pinehurst No. 2) designed course almost went bankrupt and partitioned out for houses before being bought out. It doesn't relate at all to its surroundings, and the nearest retail is quite lacking. The former Winn Dixie on New Bern Ave, the Poole/440 intersection, and New Bern/440 all give the "suburban shopping center experience", but they contribute to the alleged "inside-the-Beltline stigma". Why is this developemnt going to be any different?

When CrossLink Shopping center, on Rock Quarry near 440, was built in the 80s, I'm sure *that* was supposed to revitalize SE Raleigh too, but that didn't happen. Same goes for the Kroger shopping center at MLK and Rock Quarry, built only a few years ago.

The most offensive quote from the article is this revisionist history:

"When you have neighborhoods that were predominantly minority neighborhoods like inner Southeast Raleigh is and was, that was because the city had segregation," Tulon said. "That was directed living. But when true development comes, you have a normalization process."

What does this mean? If a neighborhood is predominantly minority, the city has segregation? If so, then does the city still actively segregate? I don't know if Mr. Tulon doesn't know the history of the area or actively ignores it. The area was not "segerated" until the area's African-American community actively participated in blockbusting the inner Southeast Raleigh neighborhoods. This is the community that developers need approval from, so everyone blames segration on the city. Win-win! This same community also led the charge to keep outside investment out of Southeast Raleigh. The idea of profits going elsewhere, instead of staying "in the community" was unwanted. So shopping centers went elsewhere for decades due to economics, not the "segregationist city."

With the city partnering with non-profit "community development corporations", the "community" knows inner SE Raleigh continues to be segregated because they *are* the segregationists.

[zande]

With the city partnering with non-profit "community development corporations", the "community" knows inner SE Raleigh continues to be segregated because they *are* the segregationists.

That is a powerful statement. Could this be why SERA is delaying Community Developments effort to revitalize the 700 block of Martin Street? (see my post above) Surely no one wants that to stay as it is?

[ncwebguy]

An N&O story on the condition of alleys in SE Raleigh. I am very familiar with the alley pictured. The city has said it is not repsonsible for maintaining the alley, yet it owns the alley and will not split it up and give the land to neighboring property owners.

There are alleys in other parts of the city -- Boylan Heights, the neighborhood west of St. Marys/north of Hillsborough, etc. Those are functional, this one, and others, are dumping grounds. I cleaned up part of the alley in the picture last fall, but it was filled with trash again within a week or so. One of the properties that backs up to it has a backyard full of empty 40 oz bottles and every window is broken.

The volume isn't any lower than the other alleys, yet the attention shown by the city is zero.