Raleigh City Council District B
Jakob Lorberblatt
Are you an incumbent?
No
1. Do you support the City of Raleigh’s $275 million parks bond on the ballot this November?
Yes
2. Do you support the $353.2 million Wake Tech bond on the ballot this November?
Yes
3. Do you support the $530.7 million Wake County schools bond on the ballot this November?
Yes
4. What is your long-term vision for growth in Raleigh?
I would to see Raleigh grow into a major tech hub. With carefully planned growth to avoid the housing crisis caused by sky rocketing property values seen in other parts of the country. I would like to see a city with adequate green space and plenty of available public transportation options.
5. What do you see as the city's number one challenge?
Growth, too much of a good thing has strained the cities resources and made long term goals more important than ever. Balancing these goals with immediate needs.
6. What are you hoping to achieve as an elected official that will foster a healthy and innovative business environment in both the near and long term?
Balancing the desire to bring in larger investments from external companies with the organic locally grown businesses that make this region so vibrant and unique.
7. The Wake County Transit plan will expand bus service countywide, implement four bus rapid transit lines, and initiate a regional commuter rail system. What would you like to see the City of Raleigh do to complement or modify this enhanced transit service?
Improvements for non centralized bus routes between outlying regions would make the rest of the systems coverage greater. Connector routes and adequate sidewalk / bike lanes are essential to getting people to the rapid transit conduits.
8. How do you plan to involve the community in the decision-making process in our city, especially area businesses?
I would love to see a new community engagement model developed where open forums made available in a asynchronous manner, possibly using an online platform to help enable more people to share their opinions even when scheduling conflicts prevent a single meeting time for everyone from being possible.
9. How will you balance increased infrastructure and personnel funding needs of the city while also addressing economic growth, affordability, and quality of life?
There are a variety of angles to take on affordability. Balancing profit of housing investment companies with the actual ability to pay is only part of the issue. Fully staffing civil servants is essential and part of that is providing adequate wages to live within the city. Additional perks can help offset these costs, take home cars for police, housing stipends for teachers, etc.
Transportation/Transit – Continue to promote and implement an effective transit plan to optimize service delivery and position the city for ongoing growth.
Connector routes for outlying areas are a huge focus if we want Public transportation to actually reach everyone in the city. In addition alternative transport such as bike lanes need to be standardized city wide in an incremental rollout.
Economic Strength - Create a business-friendly environment to attract, retain and grow business, diversify the economic base, and create job opportunities for all citizens.
Ensuring proper protections for small and local businesses to effectively compete with larger and wealthier national outlets needs to remain a focus. Employment and opportunity should be available for everyone.
Affordable Housing – Develop an effective affordable housing plan through collaboration with the government, the private sector, the community, and individuals.
I would love to see more mixed density development to prevent the separation of the community based based purely on economic lines. Affordable housing starts with providing a variety of different levels opportunities. In single family home developments some portion should be rowhouses to allow a lower barrier of entry to ownership for the working class. In addition rental properties should include a range of available options within each development. From there we can begin to work on a more comprehensive plan for those still too economically challenged to thrive with what has been provided.
Great Government - Promote a vision of a city government that partners with all levels of government to empower, protect and serve its citizens through a culture of respect, collaboration, and innovation.
I believe we should try to cooperate and provide synergism where possible. If there is a state or county program to help with affordable housing we can tack ours on top of that to provide benefits specific to our region.
Growth and Sustainability - Establish a deliberate and realistic approach to address growth and mobility while preserving our environment and healthy communities.
I believe maintaining green space makes our area more sustainable, pleasant to live in and is nearly impossible to add later. These spaces can also facilitate Greenways that offer pedestrian and cycle traffic a safe route.
Public Safety - Provide a safe, secure, and healthy community through coordinated, efficient, and effective public safety services.
Fully staffing our police, fire and rescue services is essential. This will require offering competitive compensation with surrounding regions. In addition I would love to see additional training opportunities for them.
Social and Economic Vitality - Improve economic and social opportunities in vulnerable communities through strategic partnerships.
Gentrification is probably the biggest threat to many of our struggling communities. We need to ease this while still allowing growth to continue. I would love to see greater representation options throughout the civic process for members of all communities. If this requires translators and meetings at times more reasonable for the working class we should begin to reach out in these ways as well as any others identified.
Are you an incumbent?
No
1. Do you support the City of Raleigh’s $275 million parks bond on the ballot this November?
Yes
2. Do you support the $353.2 million Wake Tech bond on the ballot this November?
Yes
3. Do you support the $530.7 million Wake County schools bond on the ballot this November?
Yes
4. What is your long-term vision for growth in Raleigh?
I would to see Raleigh grow into a major tech hub. With carefully planned growth to avoid the housing crisis caused by sky rocketing property values seen in other parts of the country. I would like to see a city with adequate green space and plenty of available public transportation options.
5. What do you see as the city's number one challenge?
Growth, too much of a good thing has strained the cities resources and made long term goals more important than ever. Balancing these goals with immediate needs.
6. What are you hoping to achieve as an elected official that will foster a healthy and innovative business environment in both the near and long term?
Balancing the desire to bring in larger investments from external companies with the organic locally grown businesses that make this region so vibrant and unique.
7. The Wake County Transit plan will expand bus service countywide, implement four bus rapid transit lines, and initiate a regional commuter rail system. What would you like to see the City of Raleigh do to complement or modify this enhanced transit service?
Improvements for non centralized bus routes between outlying regions would make the rest of the systems coverage greater. Connector routes and adequate sidewalk / bike lanes are essential to getting people to the rapid transit conduits.
8. How do you plan to involve the community in the decision-making process in our city, especially area businesses?
I would love to see a new community engagement model developed where open forums made available in a asynchronous manner, possibly using an online platform to help enable more people to share their opinions even when scheduling conflicts prevent a single meeting time for everyone from being possible.
9. How will you balance increased infrastructure and personnel funding needs of the city while also addressing economic growth, affordability, and quality of life?
There are a variety of angles to take on affordability. Balancing profit of housing investment companies with the actual ability to pay is only part of the issue. Fully staffing civil servants is essential and part of that is providing adequate wages to live within the city. Additional perks can help offset these costs, take home cars for police, housing stipends for teachers, etc.
Transportation/Transit – Continue to promote and implement an effective transit plan to optimize service delivery and position the city for ongoing growth.
Connector routes for outlying areas are a huge focus if we want Public transportation to actually reach everyone in the city. In addition alternative transport such as bike lanes need to be standardized city wide in an incremental rollout.
Economic Strength - Create a business-friendly environment to attract, retain and grow business, diversify the economic base, and create job opportunities for all citizens.
Ensuring proper protections for small and local businesses to effectively compete with larger and wealthier national outlets needs to remain a focus. Employment and opportunity should be available for everyone.
Affordable Housing – Develop an effective affordable housing plan through collaboration with the government, the private sector, the community, and individuals.
I would love to see more mixed density development to prevent the separation of the community based based purely on economic lines. Affordable housing starts with providing a variety of different levels opportunities. In single family home developments some portion should be rowhouses to allow a lower barrier of entry to ownership for the working class. In addition rental properties should include a range of available options within each development. From there we can begin to work on a more comprehensive plan for those still too economically challenged to thrive with what has been provided.
Great Government - Promote a vision of a city government that partners with all levels of government to empower, protect and serve its citizens through a culture of respect, collaboration, and innovation.
I believe we should try to cooperate and provide synergism where possible. If there is a state or county program to help with affordable housing we can tack ours on top of that to provide benefits specific to our region.
Growth and Sustainability - Establish a deliberate and realistic approach to address growth and mobility while preserving our environment and healthy communities.
I believe maintaining green space makes our area more sustainable, pleasant to live in and is nearly impossible to add later. These spaces can also facilitate Greenways that offer pedestrian and cycle traffic a safe route.
Public Safety - Provide a safe, secure, and healthy community through coordinated, efficient, and effective public safety services.
Fully staffing our police, fire and rescue services is essential. This will require offering competitive compensation with surrounding regions. In addition I would love to see additional training opportunities for them.
Social and Economic Vitality - Improve economic and social opportunities in vulnerable communities through strategic partnerships.
Gentrification is probably the biggest threat to many of our struggling communities. We need to ease this while still allowing growth to continue. I would love to see greater representation options throughout the civic process for members of all communities. If this requires translators and meetings at times more reasonable for the working class we should begin to reach out in these ways as well as any others identified.