ON NOVEMBER 8, 2022
Home
Raleigh Deserves Better!
Since February, 2020, one Raleigh resident
created 31+ videos to document
just some
of Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin's
bad behavior and bad decisions
25 Awful Things Raleigh Mayor Baldwin Has Done
Below is a partial list of some of the very bad decisions and actions of the mayor of Raleigh, Mary-Ann Baldwin. She:
- Emotionally abused an
innocent little girl at a hockey game by
screaming that she was going to call the police on her -- and
then the mayor LIED about it to
the media.
- Approved the destruction
of trees and bird habitat on
private property when it
easily could have been avoided AND would have saved tens of thousands of taxpayer
dollars as part of a sewer project. (Note:
The property belongs to Lorilyn Bailey, who created this website in
order to warn others of the damage Baldwin is
doing to the city of Raleigh.)
- Repeatedly ignored residents'
pleas to not approve
developers' rezoning requests that would negatively affect their
quality of life. (Developers
are her biggest campaign donors.)
- Abolished support for
"Citizen Advisory Councils" (CACs) that were started
nearly five decades ago by Raleigh's first Black Mayor. She did so without any public discussion or
feedback and kept the plan secret from
one council member until it was announced.
The CACs were an opportunity for residents to learn more about the city and to interact with fellow citizens and city staff, including law enforcement. The mayor's real estate developer donors did not like CACs because rezonings were sometimes discussed at meetings, and the donors did not want any potentially negative feedback on their rezoning plans.
- After
she abolished support for Citizen Advisory Councils, some of the groups
survived. So she banned
City of
Raleigh staff members from accepting invitations
from residents to attend those meetings. (Staff
members are now allowed to attend.)
- Stated
that residents could not
call in to partcipate in the Public Comment period of city
council meetings (as
they did during the COVID lockdown) because "it
was against state law." There
is no clear law against this.
The Town of Cary enables its residents to call in to make public comments during their in-person city council meetings. There is no reason Raleigh can't do the same -- and residents, especially those who are physically challenged, disabled, or have transportation challenges, will then be able to engage with their city. (The mayor does all she can to PREVENT citizen engagement and make it SEEM as if she's encouraging it.)
- Called
security guards on residents for merely applauding at city council meetings.
- Changed laws to enable developers to avoid
paying multi-millions in taxes --
THEN raised taxes of
Raleigh residents.
- Was widely criticized for violating voter laws when
she made redistricting decisions.
- Publicly threatened
a council member (with whom she often disagrees)
with censure and/or
removal because he violated the "Code of Conduct" (he
didn't!) -- but she ignores
the violations of the code by other council members who agree with her
on issues.
- Blatantly
ignores citizens during city council meetings
during the Public Comments period.
- Approved tens of thousands
of taxpayer dollars to
be spent on red, ineffective
bus shelters when classic black ones cost less, are safer, and are more
effective.
- Plans
to approve the building of a multi-million-dollar park that is adjacent
to, and will enhance, a real estate project of one of her big developer
donors. There is no parking planned
at the park for ANY residents to visit it.
- Been
criticized by the governor of North Carolina for her anti-resident
decisions regarding
her manipulation of election dates that enabled her to stay in power
six additional months. As usual, the mayor provided no opportunity for
public discussion.
- Received wide criticism for the authoritarian
way she handled the protestors during
the Black Lives Matter protests in Raleigh in the summer of 2020, yet
she brags on her Linkedin account that she "led the city's response"
during that time.
- Approved a
multi-million-dollar project for
a construction company that, a few short months later, gave her
a job.
- Stated, during a city council meeting,
that she planned to create a "communications
task force" using taxpayer-paid resources, based on the advice
of marketing people she knows, and that task force
would end at election time. It
appears very obvious that it was suggested by her marketing friends to help her win the
November election.
- Hired a citizen engagement
consultant without identifying exactly
what he was going to do, started
a citizen engagement department, and started the process to create a hand-picked citizen
engagement "board" --
yet still, more than TWO YEARS later after she abolished support for
citizen engagement groups, there is little to no citizen
engagement. (Her
developer donors do not like citizens who may protest their
anti-citizen rezoning plans.)
- Approved
the purchase of a $350,000
"Citizen Engagement Bus."
One reason she abolished support for Citizen Engagement groups, she
claimed, was their cost, which was a fraction of this
amount; residents met in community centers
throughout the city, and NOW if they want to meet, they must pay rental fees for
the community centers. The
bus is unnecessary and wasteful.
- After raising taxes, added
items
to the budget or is considering items that taxpayers don't need or want at this time, including:
$350K for a "citizen engagement" bus (mentioned above), $135K
for an artist-in-residence program, and a $1 million for a giant LED screen at
the convention center.
- Starts "boards"
and "commissions" to
address issues, but it's clear she often IGNORES their
advice, and they serve no real purpose except for her to pretend
to show she cares about
the issues.
She also hand-selects groups, thereby ensuring they come to conclusions that meet her wishes.
For example, the "Study Group" recommended 68 percent raises for the mayor and mayor pro tem, and 89 percent for council members. (This amount includes money for "expenses" -- that don't need to be documented. Local media did not include that amount in the total percentage. But it is money the mayor and council are paid that they can use in any way they want to.)
- Despite
strong protests from residents and organizations, approved rezoning to
allow a developer to build 112 condos adjacent to Shelley Lake, which will seriously affect the
wildlife as well as the serenity and beauty of the area.
- Wrote in a June 2022
fundraising letter, "It's
absolutely critical I raise a LOT of money in the coming days to scare off Dark Money groups
that are considering pouring money into this race to defeat me."
WHAT "Dark Money groups"? (This is just one more example of her ease in lying and her manipulation of Raleigh residents.) Last year, she made a similar false accusation.
She said in her letter that it's "absolutely critical" that she receives donations. As of July, 2022, she already raised $500,000 -- most likely more money, due to her wealthy real estate developer donors, than any mayoral candidate in Raleigh history. Yet she begs for $25, in a fundraising letter, from people who, unfortunately, may believe her lies.
- When asked for
her response by the News & Observer to the Wake County
Democratic Party endorsing her OPPONENT, she said, "I have $500,000, and I'm
going to take my my message to all the voters of Raleigh and not just a
few radical activists."
Baldwin is a registered Democrat. Why is she calling Democrats "radical activists"? In the past, she has said this about those who disagreed with her actions: "They're retired. They have nothing better to do."
She continues to show us she has no respect for Raleigh residents -- unless they agree with her.
- Circumvents the Open Meetings
Act
by conducting two
separate non-public meetings with council members to
discuss official business, before
the official, open, city council meetings.
According to the Open Meetings Act, it is a violation if a meeting is
held if the "majority" attend and official business is
discussed, and
it is not open to the public. In
this case, that "majority" would be 5 of the 8 members of
the council.
So to circumvent the law requiring that a meeting discussing official business be open to the public, she has two separate meetings with 4 people attending each, and both groups discuss the same official business.
During council meetings, it's clear that they have discussed and decided upon many issues at an earlier time, and the council meeting, with some of it predetermined by the mayor, is nothing but a dog-and-pony show for the public. She has no respect for the rule of law or for the residents of Raleigh.
