Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Budget activists press council to fund community response team, restore public comment and adopt participatory budgeting
Summary
Speakers from Raleigh People's Budget Assembly and allied groups urged the council to reinstate longer public-comment periods, fund a community response team separate from police as part of Raleigh CARES, implement participatory budgeting, and adopt meet-and-confer protections for city workers.
Multiple public commenters representing or aligned with the Raleigh People’s Budget Assembly (RPBA) and other community groups asked the council to prioritize non-police crisis response, expand public engagement and adopt worker protections in the upcoming budget.
Laura Harris (District D) read RPBA demands: (1) restore public speaking time (opposing recent reductions), (2) fully fund a community response team separate from police, (3) establish a meet-and-confer policy between city workers and the city manager, and (4) implement a participatory budget process.
Other speakers — including representatives from Meals for the Masses and REFUND Raleigh, and speakers identified as Key and Naquay Williams — echoed those calls and pressed councilors to hold Wake County accountable where county partnership is required for some services. Commenters repeatedly framed the community response team as the missing, unfunded pillar of Raleigh CARES and urged the council to ensure it remains independent from Raleigh Police Department.
Speakers also urged the council to restore a three-hour public-comment session and to direct city staff toward a participatory budgeting process that would give community members a stronger role in allocating local funds.
The transcript records these public comments but does not show any council motion, staff response, or formal decision during the public-comment period.
