Exhale. Yes. I am the new @NYCParks Commissioner. Thank you Mayor de Blasio and New York City.
— Mitchell Silver (@mitchell_silver) March 21, 2014
Congratulations to Mitchell Silver on the new job. Raleigh has accomplished a lot while he was here.
What’s next for Raleigh planning?
Similar Posts:
- Weekend Listen: City Planning In One Of The Fastest-Growing U.S. Cities | January 24, 2014
Comments
Comments are disabled here. That's because we're all hanging out on the DTRaleigh Community, an online forum for passionate fans of the Oak City.
Since he arrived in 2005, downtown Durham has improved its game. Now RTP is improving its game, too. Suburban office parks in Cary, Brier Creek, etc have proved that reports of their demise were exaggerated. Downtown Raleigh no longer wins by default.
With the UDO in place, the next major question is what happens with mass transit. For that, Raleigh needs a consensus-builder. The political outcome of mass transit in a county-wide vote remains uncertain.
The County Commissioners’ elections this fall really are the most important part of that. Vote out the Republicans that won’t “let the people decide,” as they’re so fond of saying for everything else.
Jeff, thank you for your advice. We’ll make sure that subhumans like Republicans with a different view don’t have the right to be elected (by the people). We’ll make sure we’ll bring some “open minded” big spenders so we can all be happy. A different opinion should not be tolerated, especially when it comes from Republicans.
What a nice way to build bridges!!!
I’m not saying they’re subhuman. I think it’s stupid and short-sighted to keep paying for road construction and not let the voters of Wake County decide if they want to pay for other transit options. It’s the 1-member Republican majority on that board that is holding it back, so since this is a republic, I would encourage people to vote them out if they don’t agree with their policies.
They are holding us back. Some think it’s good some may not. Either way they are not letting the people decide. That’s the problem. If the PEOPLE say no that’s one thing. But a one vote majority holding back the entire region? Not to mention the power grab attempt with the schools.
@ernest – Look at that victimhood complex. The region needs mass transit. That would go a long way toward encouraging dense urban growth that adds character to the city. It’s important to have multiple transportation options in a major city. That’s called ‘competition’: something right-wingers espouse the gospel of, but seem to only selectively want when push comes to shove.
Guys- let’s all relax and agree on one thing; we’re gonna miss Mr. Silver, and someone’s gonna have some BIG shoes to fill!
The only thing that I see in these forums is the continuous blaming on Republicans – right-wingers according to some – but from my many years worth of exposure I have yet to meet a serious “accuser” who actually HAS spoken to any of these people. If you ever had a chance to speak with conservatives like Fetzer and Isley in person, when they knew they didn’t have to deal with fanatic liberals, you would hear a very different view of things.
Since most of you speak of Paul Coble, let me say this and you can ignore or disbelieve it. He is not anti-mass transit. He has gone on record in the past about the improvements in the bus system, which is FAR more flexible than light rail. His opposition to the light-rail is not a shot against this form of transit. It is the implementation of the plan and the financing part. Not to mention that the rest of the county will revolt against that funding.
Also, keep in mind that many who want light rail don’t even own a home, therefore they don’t pay real estate taxes. Many who do own a home, especially in Central Raleigh, would vote “yes” just as long as the light rail doesn’t go through THEIR neighborhoods. You know which way Central Raleigh residents lean politically ;)
Last, but not least, let me clarify my position, in case somebody decides to put a label on me. I am definitely not a Liberal. I am fiscally Conservative/Libertarian and socially I am a hybrid. I would vote YES on a light rail line, provided it was done right. That is, lure developers and get some commitments for redeveloping land around the stations. I would encourage all friends (liberal and conservative) to vote YES, as well. However, I would encourage city leaders to get our city’s debt under control and decrease it as soon as they can.
Anyway, Mr Silver’s departure is not a good thing and it will be an uphill battle to find someone with his vision and clarity of ideas. I wish him best of luck and I hope he returns to Raleigh some day.
“Since most of you speak of Paul Coble, let me say this and you can ignore or disbelieve it. He is not anti-mass transit. He has gone on record in the past about the improvements in the bus system, which is FAR more flexible than light rail.”
Improving the bus system is a red herring the right has used since the 90s to avoid implementation of rail. It has always been presented as an either-or proposal, when adequate mass transit for the triangle would clearly have to involve both. Buses get stuck in traffic with all the other cars and their effectiveness decreases over long distances during rush hour. Buses are best used as an extension of a rail system to cover the last mile that the trains can’t be built out to.
Essentially the tactic has been to move the goalposts in perpetuity. Raleigh will never be large enough or dense enough to be suitable for light rail for these people, regardless of how large and dense Raleigh is at the time the question is asked, or how much it’s projected to grow. The cost of rail will always be too high, even if the cost of finishing the rest of 540 is similar in magnitude and the maintenance cost of new highway infrastructure in the Triangle will be higher than the maintenance cost of new rail. They will cite the freedom of movement of cars as some sort of randian ideal that rail transit detracts from, despite the fact that both are government subsidized utilities, and you’re far more free to move in a city where you can walk to things when you’re not taking transit, than in a city where everything is car dependent, and nothing is walkable.
“His opposition to the light-rail is not a shot against this form of transit. It is the implementation of the plan and the financing part. Not to mention that the rest of the county will revolt against that funding.”
He can say that the implementation is where his problem is, but he has yet to come up with a better plan, which leads me to be skeptical that the implementation is really where his problem lies. Funding constraints and ROW rights pretty much constrain us to 1 possible plan. As for the rest of the county… let’s see about that. Let’s see what happens if it goes to a vote. I strongly suspect that prediction is false.
As for Mitch Silver… agreed. That’s a huge loss.
I have one question. Will the rest of the county revolt when the roads look like a parking lot? In 10-15 years! This is not about Charlotte but why do we always seem to be years behind them? Leaders with no vision. And plainly no guts!
The flip side: rail transit would serve a fraction of the Wake County population, at best — although it would certainly increase wealth of downtown property owners as well as developers who have been buying up (on speculation) properties that the rail line, if built, would pass nearby. Is mass transit about moving people while saving energy, or is it really about social reengineering? If you want it merely to move people efficiently, the answer is bus. If you want social reengineering, the answer is rail. But the advocates of rail had better be careful about who benefits and who pays — or else their referendum will go down in defeat.
I don’t think the 85% of Wake County that lives outside I-440 cares much about what Charlotte did or did not do. Anybody who likes Charlotte that much is free to move there. And as a former resident of Atlanta (and someone who rode MARTA rail to work), don’t tell me that spending a billion dollars on rail will stop sprawl. It certainly didn’t in metro Atlanta, and it didn’t in metro Washington either.
Light rail benefits DTR, commuter rail benefits the whole county if people choose to use it. In my opinion it should be 100% tax supported, and I bet ridership would be extremely large. Why do I care what developer took a risk and may make some money? Free market…
@ct – I suspect neither of us will make much progress against each other if we keep going at it.
Social reengineering – this argument cuts both ways. We were already ‘reengineered’ as a society when car companies were allowed to buy up all the railcar tracks in many cities throughout the country. Advocating for car-dependent development is also a form of social engineering. It certainly isn’t efficient. Buses alone won’t solve traffic problems and never have in any major city in the US.
Buses – are and always will be a red herring. A comprehensive bus system is part of the larger transit picture, but at the end of the day trains are just more effective at moving people in large transit corridors (such as the I-40 corridor that would be the centerpiece of the TTA line) it’s been shown in countless cases that the presence of trains in a transit system increases bus ridership in that system. Trains have also outperformed ridership projections in nearly all cities they’ve been built–including very car dependent cities in the southeast like Charlotte and Houston.
The limitations of buses begin to add up when a city grows beyond a certain point, and Raleigh is past that point. They lose their effectiveness across larger distances. The delays and randomness of big city traffic create difficulties in timing. Buses also lack a psychological component that rail has: stability. A train will never change routes on the weekend or on holidays, never get caught in traffic, never get redirected during rush hour. Trains have a psychological draw that buses don’t as far as motivating people to use mass transit goes.
Advocating for buses is the biggest non-argument ever. It is an argument for the status quo essentially: car dependent suburban development. In order for mass transit to be used on a significant scale it has to have actual advantages over cars in some cases.
The referendum isn’t just about rail. Bus service would get upgraded and expanded as well, and that would happen a lot sooner than any rail line. Bus proponents should support the referendum every bit as much as rail proponents.
Mitchell Silver was a real asset to the city. Maybe there is another hotshot out there willing to pick up where he left off.
In response to ct’s first comment in this thread, I’d say that DT Raleigh never won by default. In fact, I’d say just the opposite: RTP won by default for decades. Along with RTP, Cary, north Raleigh and other suburban areas won by default. What’s been happening in both DT Raleigh and DT Durham has caused pause for the burbs and for RTP to step up their games to remain relevant. Unfortunately for them, the tide is shifting for the under 30 crown who eschew the suburban dream in much larger proportions than several generations before them.
Mitchell Silver will be greatly missed but I suspect his success while in Raleigh (both in getting things done and professionally for him in a national leadership role) will tempt some of the better candidates to apply for the job. Raleigh’s strength is in its state of becoming the future. Raleigh is much more about what is to come than what it was. This should excite any candidate whose heart and soul lives in the profession of city planning.
Oops! typo alert. I meant to write crowd, not crown.
It’s unlikey that Vatnos and I will ever agree on these points, but he has stated his case and I have stated mine. That’s what a forum is for.
Ultimately the question of bus versus rail for Wake will be settled when a proposal — the details of which will probably depend on who gets elected to the County Commission in November — is put to Wake voters. If it passes, then we will have transit per whatever the plan says. If it fails, transit advocates will have to figure out how best to revisit the referendum.
I agree that RTP, suburbs, etc won by default for decades. But when Meeker took office, there was a window when he pushed DTR aggressively while the traditional alternatives had stalled but before DPAC and the buildout of ATC and Diamond View had brought life to DTD. It was during that period when DTR became trendy. My point was merely that the alternatives and DTD are now scoring some wins of their own.
Enjoyed this forum, and loads of good points were made…thanks Leo for letting it run – I know your finger was hovering over the button!
“Many who do own a home, especially in Central Raleigh, would vote “yes” just as long as the light rail doesn’t go through THEIR neighborhoods.” – Ernest.
Very true.
“Will the rest of the county revolt when the roads look like a parking lot in 10-15 years?” – Adrian
I personally predict gridlock in 10-15 months not years, but I like your optimism!
“We were already ‘reengineered’ as a society when car companies were allowed to buy up all the railcar tracks in many cities throughout the country. Advocating for car-dependent development is also a form of social engineering. It certainly isn’t efficient.” – Vatnos
Well said! I don’t think very many people know the real historical details of this country’s sudden change in direction from bus and rail over to cars. The long-term affects of that change have been (and continue to be) catastrophic to our civilization and completely unsustainable.
“What’s been happening in both DT Raleigh and DT Durham has caused pause for the burbs and for RTP to step up their games to remain relevant.” – John
As a huge fan of urban density, I’d love to think that Cary and RTP are no longer even relevant. But if you think really long-term, I predict that Raleigh-Durham will be a much bigger city than you can imagine, with Cary and RTP having a density similar to the Glenwood South/Cameron Village areas of today. Consider this: the Washington-to-Boston megalopolis is now over 50 million. If 10% of them (or their descendants) move south…do the math.
“The limitations of buses begin to add up when a city grows beyond a certain point, and Raleigh is past that point. They lose their effectiveness across larger distances. The delays and randomness of big city traffic create difficulties in timing. Buses also lack a psychological component that rail has: stability. A train will never change routes on the weekend or on holidays, never get caught in traffic, never get redirected during rush hour. Trains have a psychological draw that buses don’t as far as motivating people to use mass transit goes.” – vatnos
This comment is consistent with my own experience in cities around the world.
“Mr Silver’s departure is not a good thing and it will be an uphill battle to find someone with his vision and clarity”. – ernest
I’m a big fan of Marshall Silver, but I do feel that he’s an “idea man”. I’d like to see a more aggressive down-in-the-trenches mountain-moving champion of urban density and pedestrian-focused infrastructure.