[Music] do have a quorum and I don't think anybody has an excused absence. Uh so hopefully people will be uh coming but we have uh the sociable city assessment results and so we will invite up Whitney Shfeld and Monnique. Yes. Good afternoon mayor and members of council. Once again I'm Whitney Shonfeld with the office of special events. While our office is well known for managing special event permits, we do have work that extends well beyond that scope. So, we also have a hospitality and nightlife team comprised of two full-time staff members from our office who play a key role in helping support and shape our city's social and nighttime economy. So, each of you has a printed copy of our sociable city assessment plan in front of you in addition to the digital version provided in your agenda materials. Please note that this final report serves as a recommended work plan, outlining potential actions and implementation steps should we choose to do them. We acknowledge that not all of the recommendations presented may be feasible and some of these may fall outside of the city's authority to do. However, there are actional items that we can take. The report generally provides a framework to guide and enhance the work of various city departments, partner agencies, and community stakeholders. At this time, I'd like to introduce Rachel Bane, who leads our hospitality and nightlife team, to share a few remarks and introduce our consultant, who will walk us through the presentation of the findings. We'll take questions at the end of our portion of the presentation. And then we also have transportation staff here to provide updates on the Glenwood South traffic safety study that they've done as well. Thank you, Whitney. Good afternoon, council. As Whitney mentioned, my name is Rachel Bane and I am on the hospitality and nightlife team within the office of special events. Today we are so excited for y'all to see the report findings of the sociable city assessment which has been years in the making. So how exactly did we get here? Our team has been guided by the principles of the responsible hospitality institute. You may hear us say or see it written as an acronym RHI. So, I just wanted to preface that if that rolls off the tongue easier than Responsible Hospitality Institute. We have attended their annual conference for the past four years and we've been able to network and learn best practices from other nightlife offices such as New York City, Nashville Sacramento Austin Washington DC, Philadelphia, Savannah, and more. We recognize that this could be an opportunity to enhance the work that our team is already doing, maybe find some blind spots, maybe bring some national resources for the strengths, challenges, and opportunities of Raleigh's social economy. ARPA funding was reallocated to fund this study in January of 2024. So, first and foremost, we'd like to thank council for supporting this assessment and endeavor that our office has been able to take hold of. We'd really like to thank all of city staff that's been involved. They we couldn't have done it without them. And finally, our community for bringing their lived in experiences throughout downtown Raleigh to be a part of this report. I would like to mention that tomorrow night at 6 pm in the chapel at Dicks Park, we will also be doing an overview of this assessment. We've invited all of our project participants in the community to come out and hear in case they weren't able to attend today's session or tune in. And we are also launching a web page on the city's website so the community will be able to access and read this report in full. You are going to learn in this presentation and read throughout the report that the scope of the study was our Fagetville street district and our Glenwood South district. But we would like to emphasize that there are recommendations in this report that can be implemented citywide. So without further ado, I'm going to introduce Joselyn Kaine from the Responsible Hospitality Institute. She's going to share a little overview of them, what the process was for this assessment, and the findings for the city of Raleigh. Thank you. Good afternoon. Let's see if I can Thanks. Uh, all right. We're gonna maneuver through this PowerPoint. Uh, hopefully you can uh hold your questions till I get through it. Uh, but if there's something burning, let me know. We'll go we'll go through it. Uh, okay. So, RHI, as Rachel mentioned, is a nonprofit. that we were founded in 1983, maybe before some of you were born, uh, with a mission to assist businesses and communities to create safe and vibrant places to socialize. We are the leading North American source of events, resources, and consultation services on nightlife and what we call the social economy. Um, and we have provided technical service like this to over 80, probably closer to 90 communities in five countries. So, I think we know a little bit about what we're talking about. Um, again, as Rachel mentioned, we um had to narrow uh this study uh to two districts uh Glennwood South and Fedville. But again, some of these re many of these recommendations can be thought of uh as assisting and help helpful in other neighborhoods. Um the community engagement process is at the heart of what we do. We didn't come here to tell you how to fix Raleigh from uh our perspective. We came here to listen to the city of Raleigh. So, we were here three times. This is my fourth visit starting in July through October of 2024. We held 26 meetings. Some were virtual and and most were on site to gather background, identify strengths, challenges, and a and actioning. uh the meeting format and I'll kind of go through some more of this where under the guise of listening sessions where we for lack of a better term like do the and moan like get it out so we hear then we go through what we call roundts which are actioning uh in the six core measures I'll explain in a moment we also do a specific women's focus group so that we can listen to what the concerns of women are in particular women's safety is really important uh where women are men go. So for the purposes of right business in this space uh women's concerns are really important. We tried not once but twice to get as many venue operators as we could to hear specifically without city present what venue concerns were and then we did as many individual meetings as we could possibly do uh while we were here on the ground. uh we were here in these lovely photos of us out at night to not just like hear about it but to be in it. And so we were out till closing um uh on Glenwood and we were in public space, right? We went into every venue we could. We watched closing time from a variety of perspectives and then we were right escorted by police for a part of that to walk along um to really meet some people and see how things worked. Um this is the overall view of the participation which we felt was very good. Um great actually. 42 city government employees representing 12 departments. Um 30 plus dining and entertainment venues. um and as many residents as we could get in a room. Obviously, residents from the study areas. Uh we did also attend the Glenwood South Neighborhood Collaborative meeting of their own. Uh the downtown rally, the DRRA, the Downtown Rally Alliance. We met with them separately. Um state government and actually Stacy's here from the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission. She was very important in the work we did as well as the Department of Public Safety. um North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, realy companies, hotels, anybody, right, who we could get who consider themselves a stakeholder in your social economy. Uh the framework we use because nightlife and the social economy is big and in order to like work with it um with some context, we sort of break this down into building blocks. And so governance, right? What does city government do? what are the systems in place and then uh planning, safety and vibrancy. Those are what creates right this framework and then drilling down into that we have core measures. So these areas quality of life which is what you think it is right public safety is safety outside of venues. Venue safety is what's provided inside of social venues. Public space is how do we use how does the city and the residents here and visitors use the public space. Um social venues are those operators themselves. And mobility is how people come and go from nightlife uh and social areas. And so we kind of build around those in order to do this roundtabling and and surface right issues in these areas. Um, overall I'll just say that uh there's a tremendous amount of strength in Raleigh's social economy. We do this a lot in other places and this is one of the most fun places we've been. Uh events and festivals are a big draw here. The public art is fantastic. the murals, the sip and stroll or social district is very interesting and unique and we're hoping right that more cities could learn from how it's going here and you can really use this as a resource your outdoor seating as your weather except for when I'm here clearly is sometimes right a key asset to u having people come and enjoy themselves the diversity we saw in Glenwood was fantastic uh you know mixed all kinds of people different age groups groups super positive. And then the reported sort of visitation and spending at record-breaking highs uh per visit Raleigh is pretty incredible to again bolster this idea. You're doing really really well. Um so after we listened and then we actioned, we come out white with an action plan. And again, I want to stress that I'm going to go through some bullet points, but like these aren't things that we brought to the table. They're things that surfaced through all of this community engagement. So, this came from uh the folks that live, play, and work here in Raleigh. Um so first the governance actions and these are sort of really um important right as the base uh for the systems that are in place relative to how these guys come how can someone come and open a business here and succeed and do well and see government as supportive. Um, so we are recommending right you do some work around helping businesses open and succeed via more educational resources, more support as opposed to here's your licenses, here's your permits, go and wait until something doesn't go right. We're going to ask that you work uh on figuring out how much preparation you're giving your businesses. we around I recommend that uh Rachel uh and and her nightlife and hospitality team rebrand in some way because one of the big takeaways and you'll hear hear this again is that there's a gap in trust a big one between your venues and your operators and government and it comes from a bunch of things. C can you just say what page you're on because you're this says governance actions but okay I yeah the the the report just so you're clear uh has a lot more depth than this PowerPoint and we had to sort of boil it down because it's 90s something page there's a lot in here um so how you do this like what exactly the steps are right um uh is is more inside and I hope some of you maybe got a chance to look at some of this before today, but obviously this is yours, so you'll read through it. So again, getting back to this gap, this trust gap, there has to be uh more trust with your operators uh in order so that they can receive what I think uh Rachel and her team are trying to provide. And right now there's not a lot of trust there. And so there's not a lot of listening going on. And there's a lot of um opportunity for them to teach and guide, but no one wants to hear it yet. So I think that that's um something that will help to just rebrand it, not move it, not grow it, nothing like that. Just rebrand it. I'm so sorry. I don't mean to interrupt, but I I feel like I I'll lose a thread here. When you say that there's a lack of trust, I really hear that and and I want to expound. you're saying from the businesses themselves, not trusting government. That's right. And um I'm hopeful that you'll go into the the reasons why um before we move forward. So, I just wanted to I can try. I don't know if it's better that I don't end up in an Eddie here to just kind of run through all of these bullets and I can come back if that's okay. I'll write it down. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. Awesome. Um, we're recommending improved ABC notifications to the city and I know um Stacy's been um on this to uh provide more data on ABC license businesses opening and closing. There seems to be uh like a missed opportunity in just information sharing with respect to where a new business uh or a change of owner is happening. And these are really important points in city touch where you could do some more education and uh you know get in there and and and be clear about expectations from the uh city side. Um and in general increased internal information sharing. Government is siloed by its nature. Everybody knows that. So we're going to ask and again all of these bullets and action items are like with your nighttime lens on. So, uh, failed inspections of venues and datadriven policy changes come right with sharing data and having act data out in the field available between like fire and building in particular and and the the team over here to make sure that they know what's supposed to be happening in a place while they're out there. Um, and then what we call create an agent of change policy. And this is uh just a colloquial term for looking at development standards in mixed use areas. This report does outline a lot of growth, a lot of housing in the pipeline all over these study areas and more. and mixed uses between social spaces, nightlife spaces, and anywhere I say anywhere there's a pillow, whether it's a residence or it's a hotel or motel, um have a lot of potential for conflicts. So whatever's in that pipeline in in the way that you're able to uh offer incentives uh if you can't require obviously developers to do something but you can let them know that in order right to build a better building like these things are coming at you and there's ways in which you can do that and this report has um model practices in the back of it too. So we're not just throwing it out there. We we do give you some u resources for that. Um, moving to mobility. Um, and again, this is with that nighttime lens on. How do people come and go? Uh, we know Glenwood lets out at a same time. Everybody out in the street, same time. Uh, so, you know, we want to dig in and see how can we do this in the most effective way. So, one of the things we saw and heard uh around is that there the private parking lots near these social clusters are all they're all different. They all have different methods of payment. They all operate differently and it's it's uh creating some standards and regular practices will help safety. I think this will help the police as well because they're in there currently looking for all kinds of like partying in the parking lot, people leaving things in their cars. Um so that sort of look at how can uh the city standardize in some way or or work with those operators so that they're not taking money people parking and then they just leave and then what h happens in that parking lot is not their problem. Uh and it becomes a police problem. Uh enhancing public communication. This is simply just as much as you can do to raise awareness around what options are available in terms of leaving the district more than anything but also kind of coming to the district and uh where do this where does this stuff happen. So you have a known like a PIO and there's many ways to get the word out there and for visitors in particular who don't right live here uh the best ways to move in and out. Um, we've had we had conversations uh with folks around reimagining the RLine as this unique experience to to encourage you have this RLine and it's sort of maybe underutilized a bit and I think we'll hear from your transportation guys about that and then we did hear and again a reminder these are the things that came up in these sessions. So um these are from the people who you know engaged in this process to preserve the public right of way during construction. It seemed like it came up a few times around what is the policy? How come this is not available? Why do I have to cross the street? This feels unsafe. And so we dug in a little and in the report some specifics around kind of what what the city does and what they might want to think about in terms of right away especially with all the development that's coming. uh because it does sort of impinge right on mobility. Uh this one enhancing quality of life is really right about what do the neighbors have to say and so one of the long conversations we had uh was around how to complaint where complaints go feels like I call somebody somewhere and then it dies like I don't know what the status of it. So, we did hear uh that the city's well into this process of creating a 311 so that the current process of complaining using 911, which is problematic for some people, right? A lot of people uh can is going to come online really soon. Uh and um will help really dig into what data it gives you data. Is sound really the problem you think it is? Is this particular place or that like you only know sort of anecdotally right now? We don't have a lot of data. So 311s are great uh and really flexible. So um I know that uh I talked with with Whitney about where they are in that process. I think it's coming out of your city manager's office. Um, and then we suggest reviving that downtown living advocates group which we heard about which used to exist because again there's a tremendous amount of housing coming to your downtown. Fedville I think is really what we're talking about here and uh Glennwood has a fairly robust right community group but but downtown doesn't anymore used to. So uh having that as an entity is efficient for everybody and is you know again looking forward um to the fact that you're bringing many many residents to places with mixeduse uh potential conflicts. Okay. So then we have to look at the safety piece actions to enhance public safety. And this was lots of conversations with your PD uh and folks that support them. So, I know you've heard a lot about noise ordinances. Uh, and they're like a constant living document. Noise ordinances are always in every city. Something that you never find the perfect spot because conditions change all the time. So, we have uh some recommendations around revisiting this uh relative obviously to commercial sound that comes from venues to achieve greater compliance. Um, I know we could talk about that forever, so I'm just going to move on. Um, we learned that the city has something called a a net force, which is basically like an inter agency team that used to go out to visit venues quite more often and and ended up not doing that. And I'm not sure I know exactly why, but it doesn't really matter. The the idea is to bring back that frequency. Uh, I think the lead has always been fire and they had some trouble with respect to being able to work 24 hours and labor laws. So, kind of uh and I and I think when we get to the slide of some of the things that have already started to happen through this process of working with the community like I think some of this is actually happening um we suggest visits to venues that aren't related to enforcement again this gap in trust which I'll talk with you after uh as much as you need um as much as I understand it right needs to close and the way you do This is just be there more often in a way that's supportive and educating and in in a promp compliance way but not in a heavyhanded enforcement way. So preh holiday visits are always this good kind of way to do that right um big holidays where you expect a lot of people St. Patrick's Day, Cinco de Mayo, like drinking holidays, if you will. Um, just to create more interaction that is positive. Um, and then we did surface, right, these challenges out in the street with um, street preachers uh, and fights that have happened. And so, uh, talking about how to use the tools that you have in terms of the noise ordinance and the anti anti-harassment policies that already exist and try to um manage those those interact those negative interactions. Uh, venue safety as a whole, right? So, we talked about safety by virtue of what the police can do on the outside. The inside uh is a really big deal and it's a important place for people to learn, for patrons to learn what behaviors are appropriate inside each venue. Um, so we didn't see any baseline security standards set. Every venue we went into was very different from the next. And uh we would suggest right if there isn't anything coming from the state uh that the city maybe think about how to create a baseline for what venue safety looks like. Um we call security and safety officers that we don't call them bouncers. They're a professionalized kind of thing and they should be treated as such. So, uh, thinking hard about, right, what do we want to do and how do we make sure there's just a a baseline for for security in places that are similar to one another. Educating hospitality staff. Again, this one really is more like uh we heard concerns around people who come in potentially people with mental illness or homeless and not knowing what to do, not the venues not in their staff not being sure who to call. And so there are resources here in Raleigh, but there there's a gap there in sort of figuring out how those folks can um not to call the police, but like refer some of these folks to the right um support. And then again adding to hopefully the um other trainings that Rachel's doing with venues, women's safety training in particular um to prevent sexual harassment and gender- based violence. Um there's work uh all over the country and certainly international internationally around drink spiking and um predatory behavior and this just happens and we'll just admit it right. It happens in nightlife areas and so there is work around how to train venue staff uh and patrons frankly around what the right things to do um so that we don't normalize this behavior. uh the social venues themselves. I've been talking a little bit about that. They these are came from these conversations with them. Uh Fedville has negative uh narratives and that has over time. So wanting to create more positive stories about Fedville. You'll hear me talk in a minute um about DRRA, doing some stuff around that. Um supporting venue employee parking needs. I know this seems like a little on the margin, but this is really important. Uh employees are hard to find, good employees are harder to find in this space of working into the late night and um parking for their vehicles is a concern for those owners and it's really important. And so wanting to right update and raise awareness of things you already have. There's parking in your parking structures. There's programs out there now for free parking for pieces of the day or whatever. I think there's again a gap of just information. Uh we always come to communities and enga and ask that the venues themselves organize. A Raleigh nightlife association is a generic name. you can call it whatever you like to advocate for change with a unified voice so that every venue isn't coming individually and there's more strength behind what their need their needs have to be heard. So we are we always advocate for them to get together and work together because they have needs that are similar in most cases. Um, and then we heard complaints around enhance the loading and unloading of alcohol and bands that come and like just it sounds sort of silly, but it's really important, right? That the loading zones and the physical structure assist with the things that they need as a business so they don't get into conflict or get parking tickets or end up with things that um seem like, you know, this could be just changing the color of a curb, right? are talking about uh parking enforcement uh in the sphere of public space. Uh we talked a lot because as you know like the the office of special events is where the nightlife office sits and so talking about public space and public events uh consistency and event rules. Some events are allowed some things and some things some venues are allowed others. Uh as it relates to the sip and stroll, are you in it? Are you not in it? are you letting people in with their drink? Are you not? Uh so wanting to just encourage consistency in event rules for prod producers as well as for patrons so they know what they're doing. Um, and then this idea of a streetscape plan really I think generated mostly from like sidewalk the size of right the sidewalks in Glenwood in particular which is not supporting right now the amount of pedestrians and people who are going in and out of those venues. When you have a district that had retail for a long time, different kinds of retail that turn into food and beverage, the amount of humans that fit into these are dramatically different and the infrastructure, you know, this hasn't kept up. So there's issues of pedestrians safety in the street and then ADA accessibility. I think these are things you have heard about certainly. So, this slide I'm psyched about because we sometimes come to a community and we get a lot of nodding and talking, but we're in Raleigh seeing actual stuff that started to happen before we even finish this process. And so, we're super like happy to sort of put this in one place. and the safety closure uh out uh on Glenwood. Everybody everybody and I mean everybody loves the way that safety closure works, but there were some complaints around the flashing lights. Uh so the police in response to those right away said, "We're changing we can change them to solid blue so they don't flash so it doesn't look like maybe there's like an accident happening." Um and so that happened without even like they just did it. um the occupancy data accessible to fire marshals in the field, right? They created a new field uh to put in occupancy data that's on record, right? Um but it does not yet link to the fire department's first due system. This gets a little complicated, but ultimately the building and the fire occupancy, the occupancy number for a venue needs to be clear. It needs to be one number. It needs to be on the wall. It needs to be somewhere. It needs to be accessible so that people know if something's over occupied, if this is a safety hazard or not. Um, trash and dumpster. So, we've we had these conversations and solid waste services started conversations with multiple departments about code revisions to enforce placement and usage of private dumpsters. And again, these are like nitty-gritty issues that come up in these meetings, these community meetings that then action already has happened and it's happening. And that's really good. I think that's fantastic because we really rarely see it. Net Force, as I talked about earlier, um, uh, an enhanced team, including RPD's alcohol license coordinator and a building inspector, uh, attended field inspections in November, and that started to facilitate more information exchange. These multi- you know uh agency task forces are so important to break down those silos because what one department already knows somebody else might not and sharing is really important. Um we got approval or or or acknowledgement that state ABC is requesting reports around business closure and o and opening for local use. there seems to be like a lack of information around when is a bu when is a business with an alcohol license open uh where and then certainly if it's closed we need to know. So, uh, Stacy's here, uh, maybe she can tell you, but, um, the idea of just like trying to get that data, uh, to, um, hopefully Rachel's office on a regular basis to make sure they're aware, right, of what's going on before just stumbling on something. Oh, this is closed now. We didn't know. We should know, right? Um, DRA is here and they were a great help in this process. they have agreed to formally include OSE staff in or at least refer those new business meetings to to Rachel's uh folks to OSE so that they are aware again there's a new business opening because the more information that can be shared across all of these agencies the better and certainly if DRA is out there trying to get new businesses to open doing all the things that they can do to great get great new businesses to come they need to let these guys know, especially if they're in the like the social, right, economy space. Um, DRRA has also already engaged a firm to generate positive stories about Fedville Street. Like I mentioned before, this was a request from the businesses down there. They were tired of seeing the media. Just if it bleeds, it leads and that's all they ever got. So, the hopefully that PR firm is doing its thing and there's good stories coming or have come about Fedville. Um and then uh with respect to sidewalk maintenance, it sounds like the city has six new positions approved in the budget to bolster sidewalk repairs and maintenance uh right and trees, vegetation, debris so that all of that intense um activity on Glenwood in particular, right, doesn't degrade faster and faster and faster the sidewalks that already need uh to be made a little bit bigger. So that's like all of it. It's a lot I know. Uh but now we can do some stuff if we want to. And I think really the report itself has a ton of information and it's a living doc and it is not a here you have to do these things or nothing's going to get better. These are suggestions. There is model practices in here from other cities. there's uh more detail about how we think step by step you can do some of these things. Um so if you haven't had a chance go ahead and read it and then you know you've got Whitney and Rachel here uh on a regular I think to like really dig into some other stuff. There's a you know we like I said we had millions of meetings felt like uh and heard so much stuff and had to boil things down. So, um I think we got most of it and I'll stop talking now. Okay. Thank you. Um questions. I'm sure there will be many. Um okay. But I'll I'll start with council branch. Okay. Excuse me. Definitely. Thank you for the information report. A couple questions. Um and this first one actually may be for the city attorney's office. As far as like venue safety, how far can we go in in setting policies and standards for security requirements for a venue? Because as it mentions here, she mentioned professional vendor safety and training of the you mentioned training of the people that work at these locations. So I'm trying to understand from a governmental standpoint, yeah, we're not going into the business and trying to set policies, how far where's that line on the outside? We can certainly I think um it's important to go back to what Whitney said in the beginning, which is some of these things that we can do um and some we can't. I think that we certainly can meet with the business owners and have discussions with them about things they perhaps can put in place, but in terms of mandating that they put those things into place, we would be limited. Okay. Um, and then my other question I had was kind of I'm so sorry. I just want to sort of point something out for the as you think about this into the future. On page 90 of the report, there's this like little chart and we had the department the the North Carolina Department of Public Safety in more than one of our meetings and they were able to sort of give us some idea, right, of where the state already has some requirements and and don't uh and it it sort of if you take some time and read through this, they were open to considering some sort of state level minimum standard ards for folks that are not armed. And typically what we see in social venues is not as unarmed, which I think we would support as the best practice, but um right now there's no training, no guard card, no minimum standards. And so understanding what you can do as a city, but also that we primed this a little bit with the with the uh Department of Public Safety and they definitely were open to um creating because there are other precedents for that that they were looking at from other places. Well, well, I will say prior to my years on council, um, I worked with some organizations that rented out facilities and had events at different venues and there are certain requirements because there's a certain amount of insurance that's required and there's other things that must training that must be in place for these individuals that work at these venues. So, I am aware of that part there. So, definitely thank you for for this part this page. Um my question for staff and not to put you on the spot but of you've read this, you've seen this. Is there anything in here new that would jump out at council that we may not have seen before cuz I'm seeing it for the first time so haven't had a chance to read it. Is there anything new in here we will find? Um, as far as new, I think just with topic recent conversations that the council has had about mixeduse development adjacent to residents. I think that is referenced in here, but again, I do think that we have some limitations based on building code, but we we regularly talk about the noise ordinance and how sound can impact residents in Glenwood South and other areas. We've never really talked about building measures that could potentially be in place, but again, I do think we are limited by that. Um, but that is something that is new that at least jumps out to me in the report. Okay. And my last question is around DRRA and this night there was mention of a nightlife association um being formed and I know we originally set DRRA part of their charter as well as the Hillsboro street is to deal with conflict resolution. Um so is that piece not does conflict resolution kind of cover that or are we talking about building something new to set new standards? I would say that what we are talking about is something outside of DRRA. It doesn't mean that it can't be formed in some way in conjunction with uh but but typically what we see in cities uh is folks feeling comfortable right with their own kind if you will. So having a a just, you know, nightlife association uh is well, I've seen, you know, it it could come in any way. It's really the point is to organize these guys to have a voice. Well, the good thing about Raleigh is we're a place for all people and we all get along and I'm a native son. So, um, but definitely Thank you. And I have other questions. I'll address those to staff at the appropriate time. Perfect. Council Jones, thank you very much for this. Uh, we are having a safe and vibrant committee meeting on the 27th to talk about the mixin. I think uh Whitney mentioned that. So, I will deep dive. I did skim it beforehand um and was like, "Oh my gosh, this is exactly what we're talking about on the 27th." So, I appreciate that. I do want to hone back in on what we were talking about what I uh asked before. What are the business communities what are they saying they don't trust on? Um where where are we as government losing their trust? Do you want you want to give it a shot? Okay. Because again um we're regurgitating or I am what I heard. So go ahead girl. Yeah. So backstory when our office took on these responsibilities related to like outdoor seating and private use of public space was in April of 2020. Um so in the midst of the pandemic. So, our role kind of shifted since people weren't doing so much of those outdoor since we weren't issuing as many permits, we shifted into kind of COVID enforcement. So, we were going to the businesses making sure that people were wearing a mask, that they were seated, that they were abiding by the governor's executive orders at the times. So, we kind of ended up getting the perception of being the COVID police and then obviously restrictions lifted and whatnot. And I think just that initial interaction just kind of set the tone for that mistrust. So that's the backstory there. And it has has you do you feel like it's gotten better since? I mean that was 5 years. So in the five years, do you feel like that trajectory is going more towards trust or more towards mistrust? Um definitely more towards trust. It's just that was their initial perception. So it's been hard to overcome that. I'd also say just everything with the noise ordinance, um the repeal of the amplified entertainment permit and the hospitality district entertainment permit inputting the new noise ordinance and nightlife permit. Like sound is just a very sensitive subject for both our businesses and our residents. Um so that's a part of it too. Awesome. Um I just had one uh maybe two other questions. Um we if we can go to the 311, who runs 311? Is that the city? is that who's in charge of that? If you will recall, we budgeted money last year for the customer experience manager for that program to be built out. We don't have a complete comprehensive 311 platform. However, Karen Ray, who we kind of stole um stole over to our office, is setting up the customer experience um management program, and that will roll out this summer. Cool. So that's the city that will own that 311. And so we when they call they'll be calling the city specifically. Yes. Not 311 yet. Oh. When it when it fully built out, that would be the goal. Yes. Okay. Yes. The ultimate goal is to a full-fledged 311 platform. Awesome. Okay. Thank you. And then my last question and then I'll move on or yield. Um is for DRRA. Um, when we you had a slide on there that said that we are now going to involve the Office of Special Events in new meetings, was DRA not doing that before? Were we not involved in that conversation prior? And then if that's true, how were we getting information about new businesses? Well, it wasn't happening before, right? So, it surfaced as a point uh to change that. Uh, I don't know how you can Can you answer how before? I don't know if it was stumble on or whatever. Um, so this did come up during the assessment because we thought it would be a really great opportunity to educate our businesses on all the different types of permits that they may need from the city and other just support services that we can provide. So typically for the DRRA, it's a lot of Fateville street businesses. So they may need to talk to our office about outdoor seating or if they need a nightlife permit depending on their business operations. So, we just thought that it would be a great opportunity to engage with the DRRA and those new businesses that way because they do introductory meetings. Um, typically if a business serves alcohol, we hear about it from RPD. Um, when somebody is applying for their ABC permit. So, once we know that, we then look into the business more, figure out their operations, reach out and determine if they need a nightlife permit. depending depending on where they are, we'll let them know about the social district or if outdoor seating is an option for them. Um, so we just it just kind of organically happens right now. So, we thought that there could be a better way to be informed about new businesses coming online. Looks like you got a funnel. Yes. Yeah, we got Yeah, you got to go here. I would love I would just love to understand better uh since it wasn't part of the process before um how this will change and then prior to this how were we learning about new businesses? Yeah. So the new business meetings were really orientations to DRA services right so that's outlined in our contracts with you all. So that would be go from everything from hey first Friday sign up for that restaurant week the promotions get on the website here's our social media how would you like us to introduce you do you want a grand opening that type of thing. So it's really introductions to all the services we provide. So that's what we do with new businesses to orient them. And then on a quarterly basis, we provide a list of all the businesses that have opened and closed. And we do that that list is released publicly, but your um team in your small business and economic development office gets that report directly, but we've provided that and we release it publicly every single quarter. So that's got openings and closings in it. So then what we've talked about here is what we asked for from um this office is what is sort of the criteria of who you want to be engaged with. Some of the businesses may not make sense for them to be engaged in. If it's a um you know hair salon on the second floor, that's not one that's necessarily going to have a lot of outdoor permitting or you know night life or anything like that. Uh versus say a new bar or restaurant where you know that would make sense obviously. So what we've agreed to do is on any of those that meet the criteria that they provided, we would make a direct connection. So then all of that that Whitney just outlined would be able to happen. Awesome. Thank you so much, Councelor Silver and then Patton. I'll just limit my questions and and Bill, you may want to stay nearby. Uh I'll limit my questions. No, this question is for you. Uh you put a lot in here about implement or conduct a streetscape plan. And I know the city of Raleigh has a whole manual on streetscape, but based on other cities, uh, cuz I've noticed over time, Raleigh has undersized sidewalks. And there's a very easy guide that says if you're 12 ft and under, it's very difficult to socially distance and navigate a street. If you're over 12 ft, more like 20 ft. Uh, think Chicago, New York City, wide sidewalks. Faithful Street and block 83 uh which is bounded by Hillsboro, Glenwood, Boland and um Morgan Street. Those are some generous sidewalks. So when you say streetscape, was there any comment? We don't often look at sidewalks as public space. If you go to Glennwood South, people are literally walking in the street because the sidewalks cannot uh accommodate that traffic, that pedestrian flow. So, can you talk a little bit more about what you envisioned? Bill, you and I had this conversation many times. People experience cities by the sidewalks and the public space. And my second question is any comments about plazas, public spaces, and parks. We were wolffully underserved by those spaces as well. So, comment on just public rum in general, the streetscape plans, sidewalks, and just plazas, public spaces that really create that experience for people to enjoy. Yeah. So, so again our focus was with our sort of nighttime goggles on uh which is a different look at public space and uh a sense of place than happens in the day and and so certainly you see what is what is needed just to move about in Glenwood and then we had some longer conversations around Fagville. It's used because of the facility it has and the wideness dur for festivals, right, for public activation in the day, but at night, I think there's some history behind um why it looks the way it does now. And there is some activity uh that the city's doing to I don't want to say go back to what it used to be, but change the streetscape and the regulations around using those wide sidewalks and places to support the brickandmortar businesses that are there at nighttime. So does that make sense? So yeah, it does. I I Yes, I have more to say on it, but I have one for Bill King. U you know, we're very excited about the downtown plan. Just want to know based upon some of the action items in that plan what you see in this report. I believe you're now taking a look at reimagining Faithful Street. So, can you just share with me from this report because we're talking about action items. Where do you see the priorities in this report of the work you're doing from the downtown uh plan that was released about a year ago? Yeah, it's a great question. So, I think um following along with what you were just asking about, the Glenwood South streetscape is a big one. And so, that really serves two different purposes. One is some of the safety issues in that district are the physics of too many people on two narrow sidewalks. So, there's literally collisions going on, but it's also the densest part of the city and the fastest growing part of downtown. And so, you got a lot of residents there who have a very inadequate uh pedestrian realm. And so we have people walking in the grocery store on the street because there are streets that blocks that miss sidewalks in that district. So um it's inadequate also for the growth of pedestrians. We're trying to create a pedestrian environment in that district with a grocery store there, get people out of their cars, but the environment is not matching with the infrastructure. So I'd say that's a a critical one. Um there are also alignment here obviously with producing um good PR and stories about the Fateville Street District and all the good things going on there. So, that's another piece of alignment between our study and this study as well. Um, and then the I don't know that it's quite as explicit in this one, but along the lines of what you're saying, the investment in parks and public spaces is how you get more people on the street. And so, there's a safety that is an element of regulatory, a safety that's an element of police, and then there's a safety that's the safety and numbers, right? And that's a lot of what our study was trying to address is if you make a public realm that's more dynamic and interesting, people will naturally be in it, which creates another type of safety as well. So, um, that is where there's a lot of alignment between, I think, what they're trying to do and what we're trying to do. Yeah. I'll just end in this comment. I think as we look at the comprehensive plan certainly would encourage more plazas along streets and not everything to the build to line, which reinforces that small sidewalk. It's something other cities, if we look to the Queen City, uh, they have huge plazas that offer some relief and some spaces. So, I'm just hoping as we take a look at the streetscape plan, public spaces are critical. It gives person a chance just to breathe on a congested sidewalk. Right now, everyone's going to the build to line. Don't know if that's in the UDO. I don't recall. I know we try to encourage more plazas, but certainly having a dynamic city requires also social gathering places including wider sidewalks. So, thank you very much, Councelor Patton. Awesome. Thanks. I think I have four, but hopefully they're quick. Um, one I noticed at the beginning of your presentation you mentioned 42 staff members and 18 residents, so a real different proportionality. Was that intentional? I love our staff. They're great. Was that all the residents we could get to engage or um why so few residents, I guess? Yeah, I think we tried really hard. I mean, if you want to speak to the invitation and the pro like the process of outreach. Uh, we did as much as we could at different times of the day and night to to get as many residents. It's it's not easy uh to get people are super busy. Uh, but go ahead. You give it a shot. So, we also tried to limit the amount of residents from the same area. So, the 18 is spread ac spread across different areas of downtown. So we didn't want 30 people from a particular area all to come. We wanted to make sure that all areas had a representation. Um so that was part of the guidance that we had received was to kind of limit the amount from each particular section but make sure that we had a diverse array. Okay. Helpful. Um and then I also saw you mention parking, private parking in particular. One thing that I hear very regularly from my constituents who live far a field from downtown is um ne they have negative experiences coming downtown because they've parked in a lot that became a predatory lot and they you know overstayed by five minutes and got an $80 parking ticket and they tried to pursue relief from a company that's not responsive or whatever. Um, have you worked with other cities that have found better collaboration between public and private parking providers? Like, how can we Yeah. What are some action items for how we can make that relationship better? I mean, obviously, uh, I don't know right now sort of what requirements there are for people to open a a parking lot and charge money if there are there safety requirements for lighting access like you know. So, first and foremost to be like figure out where you're at in terms of of that uh and then um yeah, I mean barring and I come from California, right? So, we have regulation happy and I get that North Carolina is not that way. Uh but again baseline sort of standards around you know uh what is the city expecting and what is the city sort of bearing the cost of when it comes to them you know just utilizing their resource that they own to a point and then saying it's a free-for-all. It's not my problem anymore. Um it's a public safety concern right before it even then is just a confusion and or a source of pain for right folks who might get a citation or towed out or whatever it is. Does that make sense? So in many cities there's a permit to open and to run a parking lot where you um intend to earn money from it. Uh permits aren't the answer to everything. I don't want it to sound like that's the best way to do it, but at a minimum, right, having just some baseline like expectations communicated in some way so that you know what to expect hopefully. Okay. And then my other two are related to noise ordinance. So, I'll ask them both and you can take them in flow. Um, you mentioned getting better compliance with the noise ordinance. I'm curious if you have suggestions on how we can do that. And then um you mentioned the noise ordinance in relationship with like street preachers. Yeah. And did I'm curious if you looked at the noise ordinance and do you think it's sufficient to to enforce that in a I think with respect to the latter part uh yes. I think you have the tools uh with the noise ordinance I believe uh to manage that sort of negative interactions that have been reported. I think the first question about like how to get better compliance is that it's it's complicated. You've changed your ordinance, which is fine. Everybody changes it. You've changed it a couple of times. I think that personally um I I ran something called the San Francisco Entertainment Commission for 15 years. I did all the regulations and compliance and issuance of permits for nightlife in San Francisco for a very long time. Right. And so very familiar with how this works from the city side. Um the current standards that you're using are tough on venues. like a reasonable person's standard is not objective. It's subjective. And when you're operating a venue, it's very hard to know whether you're being reasonable every night you're doing business. Many many and I know previously your noise or had decel had numbers. barring like a standard like that, finding another standard so that when someone opens for business, they know they're not just set up to fail in terms of this noise ordinance standard. So working individually with every venue that has a permit and being able to work with them so they know where that number is, whether they can set it on their boards, whether they can where, however the system works to do it. And they need to be able to know if I do it this way every night, I will be okay. And they don't know that right now. And I think there's some struggle on the enforcement side of what is reasonable and how do I every night right like not play games with does that make sense? I think I think it's a really tough to use that standard. Uh and certainly with outdoor venues it's even harder. Right. Well, I mean, I haven't exact You're So, we were told that we use this standard because when you have mixed use, you can't pinpoint where the noise is coming from. And so, we moved away from the more objective standard. I don't agree with that. Okay. So, so if you have two businesses directly beside each other and you have a noise complaint and you use a meter to read the businesses, you have to do it from outside a certain distance in order to get the reading, but I have two nightclubs directly beside each other. That exists here in Raleigh. I'm not sure if it exists in California, but exists here is in Raleigh. How do you determine based on the reader which business is violating the noise ordinance? I I'm not a sound technician, but I do believe you can do that based on um it's not just the reader and I think this comes from without not trying to sidestep your question, I think this comes from this idea of what is enforcable after you issue it. What is the process by which we issue a citation and then how do we you know manage through the rest of that process? So is the issue around the citation part or is it around who made the violation because they are two separate things. Yeah. And but I think uh I was under the impression it got changed not directly because of what this problem is but also because uh when you roll down the the pike of adjudicating if you will you're struggled. I believe that you can determine who's making the sound. I really do. Okay. Well, I'll leave that to our our experts and staff who brought the information to us in my engineering degree. Mayor, well, I wait I want to see councelor Patton, were you done? And then we have uh councelor Lambert Melton. I have some questions as well. But yeah, I'll just close. That did answer my questions and I don't have others. I'll just add I think you know maybe there's ways we can maybe what we take from this is that there's ways we can provide some better standards to our venues without changing the enforcement mechanism of the noise ordinance or something. So just that none of this is Hamarab's code and it can all flex and change. So that's all. Okay. Um Yep. Yeah. I just wanted to add a followup to that point. I don't want to get too in the weeds, but I'm what I'm hearing from you is a lot of the feedback you received is a little more predictability. And I have actually heard from some business owners who have said they have an outdoor venue. Um they typically book bands and they're struggling to book their bands because their bands are afraid now that they're never going to get to play because one noise violation will be called in and we're not using the decibel reader anymore. And uh one idea that I had and I believe I talked to someone in our police department or attorney's office about this is can we provide almost like a pre-screening service and I understand that that will take staff resources but if we know that there's going to be a band playing or a party at a venue could we offer someone from our hospitality unit RPD go out there test the noise with them go to certain distances where houses are come back and say hey this level's good keep it at this level tonight if we get a noise complaint we'll know we we pre we pre-screened you and I think that level of service obviously takes staff resources, but I think that could help with some of the predictability. So, I'm just putting out there that I think that may be one thing that we could be looking at um to accomplish a multitude of of goals. I agree with you. Absolutely. Every band that I've ever booked or worked with has a sound check and it's way earlier, right, than they have a sound check for their purposes, but this could be an addition. And so this is just thinking right out through and then who from a staff level and how often is that going to happen and what is that service mean? But absolutely this is the kind of concierge government, right? That then builds the trust that we're talking about. Thank you. Okay, councelor Harrison. Um few questions and a few just check marks as in items I'd like us to, you know, pursue. Um, I'm really excited about some of the ideas in this report and I'm glad that you all were able to have so many discussions. Um, and I'd be curious to see the residents that were included where they live. I don't know if there is a map somewhere just showing the types of residences, you know, that they're in because there are a lot of different, you know, very tall buildings and single family neighborhoods and, um, you know, just be curious to see that. Um, but a couple items. Um, one, I believe you mentioned there'll be a public meeting tomorrow, um, where folks can learn more about this plan. Um, when when it's 6 o' Go ahead. Tomorrow night. Dicks Park Chapel at 6 p.m. tomorrow, Wednesday. Thank you. And everyone who participated, all the residents, all the businesses, they've all received an invite from our office as well. But it's open. Yeah, but it's but it's open to the public. To the public. Okay, great. Um, I liked the idea of shifting liability to the private parking lot managers when it comes to safety. I don't know if that is something, you know, how do we do that? I think I'll just leave that as a check mark, you know, thinking about next steps um, and how we can pursue it. Um, I really like the idea of a downtown living advocates group um, as well as the Raleigh Nightlife Association. there was mention of a prior group like this. Um, can you talk more about it? Can anyone here talk more? I don't know how long ago this was. And certainly you do you remember? Come on, Bill. Uh, yeah. This was a group formed I think a little over a decade ago. Um, primarily downtown area residents. Um, and a number of them are still around. Uh, and really just sort of as downtown was adding people, it was a group to get together. Um, we still have their email list, so we keep that in our database and have used that for resident outreach, uh, as well. Um, but, uh, some elements of it sort of morphed towards the Glenwood South Neighborhood Collaborative because that's sort of was where a number of the residents are. Um, some of those residents have left. Um, some are still around. U, so it's a group that was around a good bit really more of a a decade or so ago, a little bit less than that. And so we've still got that information. And then we've got some elements that we've built. We have a resident newsletter that we put out every month. We've been doing monthly mixers with residents as well to sort of build up that contact base. Uh and then we're doing sort of regular tours with the HOAs as well downtown. So reformulating something like that would not necessarily be difficult. That would be a good thing. So and I think there's some elements of that that would be easy to put together. Yeah, I think that would be great. And I saw DRRA mentioned as being part of that bill. Would it also include any of the edge neighborhoods or would it only be neighborhoods that are within the DRRA boundaries? Uh, I think that depends. Generally speaking, it's it's a little harder to um sort of gatekeep that necessarily. We focus our um HOA engagement inside the district um which pays into the service district, but for all of the events and everything, we've never gatekeeped that. So if people come from surrounding neighborhoods, consider themselves downtowners or interested in downtown, there's no real reason why they wouldn't be included in that. So I think we would see that as um additive to have them feel like they're part of it as well. Yeah, that would be great. Um just a couple other items I noted. Um I guess maybe this goes back to you as well, Bill. Um PR for Fagetville Street. Um that's wonderful. Are you also doing something specific for Glennwood South? I know we've had discussions um you know where are y'all with that? So the PR is actually downtown whole. So we do it for across downtown. So we've done stories for both um Glenwood South, Fable Street and the other districts as well. Uh Fable Street area has had more of a issue with you know some of the negative perceptions around obviously what happened around the transit center a couple years ago and all that. Um and just has had a harder time economically recovering from COVID. Um but we have done some for Glenwood South as well and continue to do so. It's a different PR challenge, but it's also something that we've also sent stories around, you know, around some of our entrepreneurs in Glenwood South and things like that. So, we do it for all of downtown, not just the Fable Street corridor. Okay. And I'm curious, what is your messaging for Glenwood South? There was some note that we are missing marketing to Raleigh residents. We're doing a good job getting the word out to folks maybe from outside the city, but does your marketing focus on Raleigh residents? And does your messaging, you know, kind of hit their interests? Yeah. So, um, our marketing is both rally residents and outside. So, we do it for for all. And a lot of what we're doing is, you know, just appealing to different news sources. So, all the news stations, newspapers, things like that. And then we do advertising in sort of all your radio, TV, um, print as well. A lot of digital advertising. message on Glennwood South has been um it's you know obviously great nightife but it's a great residential district has a lot of great restaurants and retail as well uh really walkable part of the city so there's a lot more to do um the nightlife sector you know has not necessarily needed a lot of help in terms of adding more customers it's doing really well our data shows that what we're trying to support is some of those other retail uses some of those other storefront uses some of our restaurants as well um provide more information around parking parking is pretty challenging in the district. You all unfortunately the city doesn't own parking assets in the district. So we don't have the big decks we have on Wilmington Street to support the district. So it is all private lots and private decks over there and on street parking. So that has been a big challenge of access. Um and so a lot of the message is the district has a lot more going for it as well. So it's nightlife is great but it's not just a nightlife district. Yeah, that's great. Um let's see one other item. I really like the idea of the preh holiday safety visits to venues. So, I think building trust between our staff and the businesses is critical and having those conversations in a non um you know conflictridden uh opportunity. You know, just you know, reinforcing all of our rules and talking through any issues that they're having. Um I love that idea. And I did note there was some messages in here about some closing time procedures in businesses being off-putting and aggressive. Um, and so mentioning of, you know, the lights all of a sudden flashing on and off and even people cussing to say get out of here. And so thinking about how do we kind of create a different culture about, you know, people's experiences in these spaces so that when they leave, go out into our streets in the middle of the night perhaps, you know, inebriated that they don't feel that kind of excitement. So, um I just thought that was something we need to think about for how we're messaging, you know, uh yeah, the culture of the area, right? Just three topics. First, um it's good for me to hear that you think that a decel reader is an objective level that could really work well. And I am curious because I have just I've been I've been mayor for four or five months now and I've seen the police it seems to be put in a very awkward position and the businesses being put in an awkward position and a lot of very frustrated citizens um whose bedrooms I have toured um you know like I really don't want to be in your bedroom but here we are. Um, and so I'm curious since you've talked about you have worked with 80 cities, five countries, do you have a sense of how many cities use sort of an objective decibel sort of metric and how many use a reasonable person standard? Uh, the folks have who have like dug in typically use a decimal standard. Okay. It doesn't and the folks that are really along the way uh good at this or and have spent a lot of time on this uh also attach a specific number to each venue individually. Okay, it's a lot and it doesn't mean you need to go there, right? But the um but the more again the more set up for success you can make businesses the better they can comply. I feel like uh there are also many cities that have administrative like it's an administrative not a criminal citation like the whole construct of sound violations are is different. Um I like sound ordinance. I hate the word noise because some no is noise to others is sound. And anyway, the point is um the you know um the more specific this and and again this is commercial sound ordinances cover all kinds of sound right but in specific with respect to these businesses in the space they need as mentioned earlier some consistency some knowledge some way to know that they're doing what they're supposed to be doing. I know this is complicated stuff and it uh like I said it's not just simply like okay what's the number what happens when a citation is issued can we change behavior uh with the rubric that we have in terms of that administrative or criminal sort of adjudication process what happens to that ticket right and then does that process that adjudication engage neighbors in a way that makes them feel heard and poll. This is we could talk for hours about sound, but it's really important and it's at the base of like emotional responses, not rational, you know, behavior. Well, so then another question and I should interject. I'm really happy the city commissioned this that we used our money on it because this has been I mean I'm just there are so many issues and I know you know many of the folks here at the table have been dealing with this longer um than I have but it is uh a rich topic that is uh you know front burner uh for me. Um the other thing that sort of surprised me a little bit was the sense that we would uh shift the sort of building standards and things to the residences going around these areas rather than have a more sophisticated set of permits and planning and on the businesses themselves. And I guess my observation of Raleigh is we've got a couple really sophisticated professional venues like Red Hat and, you know, others that are, you know, they're experts. They know what they're doing. They're complying. And then we have a cliff drop off to a bunch of backdoor bars that are in an old gas station or a little house and they're blasting the music out and they really there, like I said, there is just no standards, nothing. Um and so in your is is what did you observe in Raleigh? Are there better standards for sound insulation and structures and noise barriers in other cities that we could be Absolutely. And when we use the word agent of change, it implies um sort of what is the thing coming to the sort like is it a new residential building coming or is it a new venue coming to a residential area, right? And who which of those if not both of those need to build a better right building build a better whatever uh or mitigate right things that are there. So when we talk about building standards for new residents, it sort of comes from this information that was given to us and there's thousands and thousands of new residential coming that are not the ground hasn't broken yet and the opport and the mixeduse conflict you know is coming. So how do we given the constraints and the rules here um encourage thoughtfulness on the side of development not necessarily saying you must build with STR rated materials but but saying be cognizant of the ambient sound on a Friday and Saturday night. One of the most important things that we we did this work in San Francisco was to require sound studies before groundbreaking because you want to know where you're you don't do it on a Tuesday afternoon. You need to know this is a the ambient sound here during certain times is much much louder. And if you want to build something where people can sleep, the building needs to with withstand it just like a hospital or library or whatever. And so there are things you can ask of developers. You can bring to the table. You can have conversations. Just um also we encourage the operators to meet with the developers because the operators don't know what the development process is. They just turn around and go, "Oh my god, there's a building there." and they aren't aware of this whole like entitlement process that goes on and the opportunities for those folks who are building something near them to to be engaged in and try to figure out ways that they're the operations get get impacted less. Where's the front door? Where's the of the building? Where are the bedrooms facing? Right? Things that are just thoughtful conversations. Again, not necessarily saying you must require all buildings to do certain things. Yeah. Does that make sense? Yes. Okay. And then final um question, this whole idea that we don't know as much about the alcohol permits that that's you know more opaque. But I I guess as you observe Raleigh and we have this super concentration of bar after bar after bar after bar. I mean, are there cities that and again, North Carolina law is I mean, we're a we ain't California, but it would you suggest that cities just create more breaks on these things and and that you try to, you know, have we made mistakes in our own zoning and and planning over the last few decades that have contributed and other cities have done this better? I don't want to say you made a mistake. I just will say that the consequence of the systems you have in place have allowed a tremendous amount of concentration uh of places with occupancy larger than the uh infrastructure can support. I'll just say it that way. Whether they're drunk or they're not drunk, it's just too it's just too many people, right? And so that process has um yeah allowed and and then when you get same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same use next to another it it's not bad because people have options but it also then can tend to create a sort of race to the bottom in some way to differentiate and and and advertise on alcohol prices as opposed to right having a good mix of comedy club jazz club you know DJ like what a mix for different demographics if you will. Does that does that make sense? So yeah, there's certain places where the city can touch these businesses hopefully early early on. And I guess I want to leave you with that idea that the earlier you engage with these folks about what it is that you expect of them as a city and what you want them to do and um how you are happy they're here and you want to support them, the better. And that nightife and sociable the social economy here is vital and important and not a nuisance to just man it but to support because of the value it brings to your city. Thank you. You're welcome. Yeah. Mayor Prom. Oh, okay. I thought I was done. This is probably your trick question of the day. Uh oh. Um or pop quiz. So, with all the different um municipalities that you've dealt with across the country and uh in all your dealings, have you come up with any strategies for folks who are repeat violators on sound issues or other other issues? Do you have any recommendations or tips or anything along those lines to deal with repeat offenders or frequent flyers uh in the city attorney's office? I guess it depends on what you mean. Uh yeah, it is a that's a trick question surely. Um but but no, I hear you and I I think the important part of that is to say that the majority of your venues, frankly, more than the majority are good operators. There are always just like in kindergarten, right, that the the very small minority that take up all the time and suck up all the energy. There are people who wanna um who just doesn't matter how much you teach them. It doesn't matter how many opportunities. They just don't care and and those are toughies. But you have tools in your toolbox, I believe, that you can bring to bear in Raleigh. Uh you got to use them. And they used to call me the velvet hammer in San Francisco because I was very kind about it. But when you effed up, like when you screwed up, you hurt, you felt it. And there was no it didn't matter who you knew. It didn't matter who you called because I didn't care because I was just going to do what like you need um you're a big city. You have to put your big city, you know, right pants on and in some cases the hammer falls and it's terrible and no one ever wants to shut down a business or take away a right. But if you do this in a case that warrants it and every everyone hears about it, this is not a big community. the social venue operators know each other and if it is deserve it right and it goes through the due process that's required of it. It can be really instructive to everybody else. The longer it takes to respond to folks who do the wrong thing and nobody does anything, the worse it is in general because they go, "Oh, I I got away with that." And they take a little more and that's just kindergarten again, you know. Yeah. Does that make sense? It does. Okay. Okay. I'm done. Thank you. Okay. And I guess I just have one more question for us as a council as we're thinking about all of these different opportunities. Is this something that staff is going to bring back? Hey, we're working on this, that, or the other, or do we need to have further conversation? I think what we'll do is kind of take a deep dive and look at all this because this is the first time I've seen it as well. And then we can kind of um look at the lowhanging fruit, those things that we can do relatively quickly with low impact. Doesn't require a whole lot of time andor resources and then bring back a recommendation and then from there a further conversation is warranted. It may end up in a committee somewhere, but we'll just give us the first glance to to kind of get through and see what we can act on relatively quickly. Madam, if I if I may ask, council members, look through it. If you have questions or suggestions that there are some things we can probably talk about or provide you information on on May 27th when the committee um meets um because a lot of this is tied to that buildup environment um overall. So, that's one thing I just wanted to mention. So, just get to your committee members and your questions for those who are not on the committee. You're such a good chair. I do my best. Good afternoon everyone. Um, Madame Mayor, members of the council, I am Monnique Gant with the transportation department and I am excited to come to you guys with a update for an ongoing effort we have within Glenwood South and that is the Glenwood South safety pilot update. to share some background on how this project came to be. This project was initiated by city council in response to community concerns regarding safety in Glenwood South. Essentially, the Glenwood South that we have today is not that one that we had 20 years ago. We have new residences, new businesses. Essentially, even the way people move within the corridor is different. whether that be driving, biking, walking, and scooting. And so with the $200,000 that was allocated by city council, we essentially have the opportunity to address these community concerns. And that is through improving pedestrian safety through traffic calming and increased pedestrian visibility to vehicles. And we aim to do this through quick build improvements at select intersections on Glenwood Avenue. And those intersections are Glenwood Avenue at Johnson Street, Glenwood Avenue at Tucker Street, and Glenwood Avenue at North Street. So these three intersections are along or right next to each other. So a three street span. And through this pilot, we will be um analyzing pedestrian behavior and developing recommendations that essentially can inform a future Glenwood South streetscape plan and similar projects within the city. At the top of the year, we held some outreach. We had a survey and we met with community groups. We had a tremendous response. We were able to meet with the board members of the Glenwood South Neighborhood Collaborative. And then additionally, um, we had over 750 participants that participated in our survey in just a month's time. And as you can see, we at the top tables, we have the preferred improvements for each of the study intersections. And so you can see that um hardscaped improvements such as race crosswalks and race intersections are the top choice of the participants. And then additionally, when they're asked what is most important to you as a pedestrian, the top values were increased visibility of them crossing and then reducing vehicle speeds. Here's a little bit of overview of the project area. It's a little bit blown out, but denoted with the yellow stars are the pilot intersections. So we have Glenwood Avenue at Johnson, um, Tucker and North Street. And then the image to the right is an example of a painted curb extension. Now this location is very close to us and is at the intersection of Har Street and Salisbury. You can take a little walk and see it for yourself. Um, there are painted curb extensions at all corners at this intersection. So for the safety pilot, we will be approaching this from a multi-phaseed approach. And in the first phase, we will be placing painted curb extensions at all corners. And so it'll model exactly what you see on the screen, very similar to what we have at Hall at Salsbury and Target. And then the second phase will explore a possibility of raised crosswalks at select intersections. We are currently coordinating with our partners in street maintenance for installation. Okay, so what is coming up next? So today's presentation really serves as a little teaser for information that is coming to you very soon. So please look out for a manager's update by the end of the month from us. And then additionally, we will be placing a project update on our project page, which just for reference is on our city of Raleigh website at raleighnc.gov and you can search Glenwood South safety pilot. And we aim for our anticipated implementation is this fall 2025. And with that, do you have any questions for me? Thank you. I see council Patton reaching for the mic. Just just one. Um the ones at Hargan and Salsbury, I remember when they first went in and they were great. I think they were really effective and very beautiful. And now as time has passed, they've faded and worn down. And um I'm curious like what's thought process? I I think as they fade, they they do less of the job they're intended to do, right? Because they're not as eye-catching. So what's the kind of thought on maintenance and upkeep and that kind of thing? Yes, certainly. So our intention with these curb painted curb extensions is visibility. And so for this pilot, we are testing a a new paint that's MMA. Um it's a word I cannot really explain um or pronounce very well but um it's the same product that we used in our newly updated mobility corrals. They are very bright um even in the rain they are striking fluorescent and so very visible and that's different than what's here? Yes. Is this our last presentation? And I know there was a mention that transportation was going to present to her. Is it is this is this the last one? This is me. That's it. I understood it. But I meant about the R line that she mentioned that the consultant mentioned we'd have I just wanted to I wanted to bring that up just briefly um because it's been sort of a thorn in my sight over the past year. I was not at the meeting last year where the decision was made to reinstate fairs in the RLine. I disagree with that decision. I think at the time we were looking to reintegrate all of the fairs on our transit and so RLine got just looped into that because the thought was well if we're charging fairs on our regular buses why the RLine I think the Rine serves a very different purpose. Um for example we have kind of an example with our parking garages now a handful of them we're charge we're not charging for the first two hours because we're trying to get folks downtown make them feel safe nowhere to park. I think the point of the R line is to encourage folks to move about downtown to get out of their cars. There's also an economic development impact to it. I loved the recommendations in this report about removing the fairs for users, painting it, wrapping it, making it look like something different than a city bus. And then I also heard um Mr. King say towards the end of his comments that one of the areas with one of issues with one of our districts is there's no city-owned decks there. Well, that may be something we can take into account with the RLine. Can we move folks from these city-owned decks to these areas that are lacking and help sort of create that connective tissue? So, I would like to see us I know budget's coming to us soon. I would like to see us move the RLine back to uh no cost to user to users. I'd love to see it wrapped. Maybe we get a sponsor for that. and maybe we can reexamine the route to touch sort of these economic hubs and maybe loop in some of these free 2-hour parking decks and there could be a public education campaign. Park here, take the Rline here. I'd love to see it move in that direction. I thought we'd get a chance to talk about that specifically. I don't mean to um derail us, but I just wanted to put that out there. And I knew your transportation. I just meant the RAN, so my apologies. Any other questions or comments? Okay. Can I just make one quick comment? Um, I think just going back to councelor Melton's comment right there when we discussed it and I'm sorry you weren't there for that. It was about equity and it was about how are we charging for some and and not for others. And so that was the reason it was made. I hear your point though and it makes sense. So, I think that since it's been in existence for almost a year, I'd love to see what revenue we've uh the data of how much revenue we've made on it to to justify and say, okay, this is what we would be losing because I don't know uh as we were making that decision last year and bringing fairs back, that was a big portion of it because there's that gap in what we were making for for that. So, that was why part at least from my recollection and somebody else can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that was the reason we decided that. But I I I do believe what you're saying is a very interesting point and the data uh I'd be interested in seeing. So um that would be my request moving forward. Okay, I think that uh concludes the reports. Thank you. Thank you. And uh we are adjourned until 700 p.m. [Music] Hey hey hey. [Music]