Re: [DDNA] Invitation: To Hillsborough CAC Thursday, w/ Kay Crowder (!) in the hall :)

[Susan Adley-Warrick]

Bob,

Many thanks for providing the background on this topic, it does look interesting and important.  Forwarding to West Morgan Neighborhood in hopes you will participate.

Sue

On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 2:32 PM, Bob Geary <rjg...@mac.com> wrote:

I’m sharing the invitation we sent to neighborhood groups re: Hillsborough CAC meeting this Thursday, 1/19.

Everyone is welcome to attend; only residents of the HCAC district can vote, but very little voting will occur at this one — and the subject (Civic Engagement) should be of interest to anyone on this list. And, we have Kay Crowder herself coming to fill us in! 

Read on — 

Bob Geary

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This Thursday, the Hillsborough CAC will meet for the first time in 2017 at a new location, Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, 1801 Hillsborough Street. 

(The old location, at Pullen Park Arts Center, is about to close for a year-plus renovation.)

We’ll meet at 7 pm in the new addition to the church — the shiny part, upstairs, in Poteat Chapel. 

The entrance to the chapel is on Cox Avenue, right next to the main church entrance.

**

We have new CAC officers this year, including me as chair, Will Hooker as vice chair and Francesco Visone as secretary.

This “inaugural” meeting will focus on the suddenly hot topic of Civic Engagement in Raleigh (more on this below). 

City Councilor Kay Crowder will join us to share her perspective.

If you live in Cameron Village, Cameron Park, Pullen Park Terrace and Kirby-Bilyeu, you are both WELCOME and INVITED. 

Even better, if you come, you’ll be a full-fledged member of the Hillsborough CAC — a “citizen” of our Citizens Advisory Council. 

How cool is that!

(The only requirement for membership in a CAC is to show up!)

Please do come if your schedule permits. The meetings last 90 minutes or less.

**

A little background on our topic: The City Council created a special Citizen Engagement Task Force recently to examine how regular folks interact with city officials — and to look at whether some improvements are needed.

The task force was a response to a proposal by all of the 19 CACs in Raleigh to strengthen citizen input on rezoning cases and major development projects. The proposal came from the Raleigh CAC, an umbrella group comprised of one representative from each CAC. To help with our discussion Thursday night, Carole Meyre, who is chair of the Five Points CAC and current chair of the Raleigh CAC, will join us, as will Donna Bailey, co-chair of the Wade (Avenue) CAC. 

Carole and Donna were instrumental in bringing the CACs’ proposal to City Council.

Carole Meyre is one of the nine members of the Citizen Engagement Task Force, which was formed in December and has had three meetings so far. (The fourth is tonight at City Hall, 6 pm, Room 305.) Donna Bailey and I have attended each of the meetings thus far, and we’ll be part of the discussion Thursday, as will Councilor Crowder. 

But I want to emphasize, this isn’t about us, and the floor will be open to everyone’s thoughts.

The BIG question at hand is how citizens can be helped to engage and influence the city’s decisions. In that vein, the task force is also looking at how citizens even know what their city officials are doing.  

The role of CACs is central to  both subjects. It’s no exaggeration to say that everything about the CACs is therefore under review.

Thursday night promises to be interesting, and maybe even important! Please come if you can.

Best regards,

Bob Geary

Chair

Hillsborough CAC

rjg...@mac.com

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