News & Observer endorsements: Our choice for Raleigh mayor

Raleigh has a three-way race for mayor, but it’s really a contest between two views of Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin.

One side wants to “dump Baldwin,” saying she’s a pawn of developers who are profiting at the expense of Raleigh’s livability and affordability. The other side sees her as an experienced city leader who has united a once fractious City Council and is effectively guiding Raleigh through a period of explosive growth.

Count us among the latter group. We recommend the reelection of Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin to a second term.

We understand the frustration that comes with more construction, rising taxes and a higher cost of living. And it’s true that Baldwin, despite her experience in marketing and public relations, has hurt her image at times by appearing dismissive of those frustrations.

Baldwin’s challengers, Terrance Ruth, a lecturer in NC State University’s School of Social Work, and DaQuanta Copeland, vice chair of the Wake County Health and Human Services Board, say they will listen more to the public about how to control growth and will do more for residents who are being pushed out of the city by rising housing costs. Those are laudable goals, but both Ruth and Copeland lack experience in managing a city and their campaigns have attracted little funding. On the ballot, they mostly represent a chance to vote against Baldwin.

Despite problems of image, Baldwin has delivered on issues of substance. Development is occurring rapidly, but it is following a master plan. She is pushing to create more affordable housing by city investment through an $80 million housing bond and by encouraging denser development. She stumbled by supporting the end of Citizen Advisory Councils (CACs) without providing new avenues for neighborhoods to address the city, but she supports a new office of community engagement that should be more effective than the CACs.

Parks, trees and green space are distinguishing features of Raleigh. Baldwin wants to protect and expand them. A $275 million bond issue on November’s ballot to renovate and expand parks could make a major difference in opportunities for recreation and exercise. The bond will also help the evolution of Dix Park, a large and ambitious park that will serve residents throughout the city as well as visitors.

A former longtime member of the GoTriangle board of trustees, Baldwin has made mass transit a priority. Construction of the city’s first Bus Rapid Transit line (BRT) line is getting underway along New Bern Avenue. She has pushed for a commuter rail system that will connect the Triangle and she has supported efforts to make the city friendlier to bicycle riders. Promoting alternatives to automobile travel helps a city being choked by growth.

Despite progress under Baldwin, her critics are implacable. Mostly, they’re upset about denser residential development in neighborhoods of single-family homes and commercial development near residential areas. They resist being called NIMBYs, but at times their opposition evokes an emerging acronym, BANANAS (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone). For all the objections raised against Baldwin, an effort to recall her went nowhere and well-funded and well-known challengers have not emerged.

Raleigh can’t be brought to a standstill. Certainly, it can’t go back to the smaller city of nostalgic memories. It enjoys a good climate, good schools and still relatively low taxes while the tech portion of its economy is booming.

Raleigh is attracting nearly 2,000 new residents a month. They’ll need places to live, ways to get around and parks and pools for recreation. Baldwin and the City Council are trying to meet the needs of those coming and those already here.

The disruptions of the present are hard to avoid. What matters more is preparing Raleigh for a more populous and prosperous future.

Under Baldwin, that preparation is taking place. Should she win another term, she should continue that course and encourage all of the city – her critics and her supporters alike – to join her in making Raleigh ready to be better.

This story was originally published October 20, 2022 at 4:30 AM.