{"id":9539,"date":"2011-11-15T20:35:01","date_gmt":"2011-11-16T01:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=9539"},"modified":"2011-11-15T20:44:49","modified_gmt":"2011-11-16T01:44:49","slug":"council-keeps-temporary-bike-lanes-denies-occupy-protesters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/city-council\/2011\/11\/15\/council-keeps-temporary-bike-lanes-denies-occupy-protesters\/","title":{"rendered":"Council Keeps Temporary Bike Lanes, Denies Occupy Protesters"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the city’s blessing, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission<\/a> will be requesting an extension of the temporary Hillsborough Street bike lanes from the North Carolina Department of Transportation.<\/p>\n

The lanes, which run along the state-owned thoroughfare between Gardner and Enterprise streets, were part of a pilot program approved in 2010. The temporary lanes were installed in August and were to be studied for two to six months.<\/p>\n

BPAC members want the observation period extended for another few months while the city completes other bicycle projects on Oberlin Road, Clark Avenue and Faircloth Street.<\/p>\n

Occupy Raleigh Request Denied<\/strong>
\nOccupy Raleigh protesters will be spending more time on the Capitol sidewalk after Councilors denied the group’s request to use a small park near the municipal building as a home base.<\/p>\n

The unanimous vote came one week after the Law and Public Safety Committee voiced safety and maintenance concerns. The committee encouraged the group to seek private property.<\/p>\n

While the city would allow the protesters to occupy the park during the day, they would be forced to leave at night. Protesters are looking for a place where they can set up a semi-permanent camp.<\/p>\n

Raleigh\u2019s Occupy protest is part of a national movement of 24-hour protests that began with Occupy Wall Street in New York. Since Oct. 15, Occupy Raleigh has set up a small encampment on the sidewalk along Morgan Street aside the Old State Capitol building. The Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York were evicted by police early Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

Mayor-elect Nancy McFarlane said she has been in touch with property owners trying to find a space for the group. Occupier Kurt Zehnder said so far he has had negative responses from the property owners he has encountered. He said he thinks finding a private space will take awhile.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think eventually it will happen,\u201d Zehnder said.<\/p>\n

Auditor: City in Good Financial Shape<\/strong>
\nAn independent auditor of the city’s finance records found the City of Raleigh to be in good financial standing with the expectation that it will maintain its AAA credit rating.<\/p>\n

A report from Cherry, Bekaert & Holland, LLP found no evidence of financial mismanagement of the city’s funds.<\/p>\n

Last year, the city received management letters regarding issues with internal control. City Comptroller Allison Bradsher said the city has since corrected those issues.<\/p>\n

The report found the city is exceeding its goal to maintain of 14 percent of the succeeding year’s expended budget. The city has an extra $1.3 million in unassigned funds. Staff decided to keep the money in the fund balance because of unknown costs that could come up.<\/p>\n

Chief Financial Officer Perry James said the city continues to watch the cost of health care for how it will affect future budgets.<\/p>\n

Some key numbers:<\/p>\n