Raleigh may issue alerts to residents and business owners before future protests
The city of Raleigh could start sending text messages to downtown residents and business owners ahead of upcoming protests.
Several merchants asked the city for more communication in the aftermath of protests last summer, in which law enforcement agencies fired tear gas and buildings were vandalized and had windows broken.
The city is considering using one of its current messaging systems, GovDelivery, to send out the alerts.
“Our goal is to get more information out to more people in a more frequent manner,” said Jim Greene, assistant city manager, during a Raleigh City Council meeting Tuesday.
GovDelivery has normally been used to send people a weekly email about upcoming events, Greene said, but it could be used for street closures and planned protests. And the emails could send an immediate notification for “time-sensitive events.”
GovDelivery is able to send emails and text messages.
Raleigh plans to work with the Downtown Raleigh Alliance to promote the messaging system so people can opt-in to get the information.
“With some of the protests we had in our downtown over the past six, eight months, council heard comments from downtown businesses about improving communication,” Green said.
Council member Corey Branch asked that the City Council think about expanding the alert system to notify neighborhoods or areas outside the downtown area.
“If something were to happen in another part of the city we would need to notify those residents as well as business owners,” he said.
The Raleigh City Council will discuss the alert system at a future committee meeting.
This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 6:24 PM.
