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The Dorothea Dix Hospital was slated to close in early 2008 as mental patients are transferred to another facility. State and local officials are debated what to do with the 306-acre Dix campus south of downtown Raleigh.
Gov. Pat McCrory and Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane on Thursday asked the General Assembly to give the city and state about 10 months to rework an agreement for the Dorothea Dix property, but leading lawmakers balked at that idea.
House lawmakers voted unanimously Wednesday on a bill that would dissolve the lease for the Dorothea Dix property but offer the City of Raleigh concessions for not fighting a rewrite of the deal.
The lease Gov. Bev Perdue signed allowing Raleigh to build a destination park on the Dorothea Dix property could be challenged and invalidated, a lawyer for the state Department of Justice warned the day before it was signed.
The committee chairman with jurisdiction over the Dorothea Dix bill says it will move eventually but that he would like to see the two sides compromise.
Gov. Pat McCrory says there is a way that the City of Raleigh can have a park on the Dorothea Dix property but that the state can save some land for human services offices and a possible future mental hospital. He stopped short of endorsing legislation undoing a lease for the Dix property but did not say he opposed it.
Wake County residents brought concerns about legislative action to lawmakers in a follow-up meeting to a public hearing last month.
The history of the Dorothea Dix campus stretches back to the decades before the Civil War. As lawmakers and Raleigh officials debate what to do next with the property, step through the additions, subtractions and legislative intentions throughout that long history.
The state Senate on Tuesday approved voiding Raleigh's lease of the former Dorothea Dix site, calling on the city to pay more for a smaller piece of the 325-acre parcel to create an urban park.
Local business leaders and others told Wake County lawmakers Monday that they need to stand behind Raleigh's lease of the former Dorothea Dix site, while advocates for the mentally ill said a psychiatric hospital should be returned to the 325-acre site.
Local business leaders plan an angry response to a legislative attempt to void Raleigh's lease of the former Dorothea Dix site.
A Senate committee advanced legislation Thursday morning that would void Raleigh's lease of the Dorothea Dix site.
Companion bills filed Thursday in the House and Senate would wipe away the lease of the Dorothea Dix site inked by Gov. Beverly Perdue on her way out of office, throwing into limbo a plan that would turn the central Raleigh campus into a park.
Companion bills filed Thursday in the House and Senate would wipe away the lease of the Dorothea Dix site inked by Gov. Beverly Perdue on her way out of office, throwing into limbo a plan that would turn the central Raleigh campus into a park.
Plans to convert the former Dorothea Dix Hospital property into a major park near downtown Raleigh picked up some support this week.
The lease for the Dorothea Dix property was finalized by the City of Raleigh four weeks ago, but it could be several years before local residents see any changes to the 325-acre parcel of land in Southwest Raleigh.
The city of Raleigh and the state will sign a lease Friday afternoon to turn the Dorothea Dix Hospital campus into a park.
State and Raleigh officials on Tuesday approved a plan to lease the 325-acre Dorothea Dix Hospital campus to the city, which plans to convert the site into a "destination park."
Groups that back the idea of turning the Dorothea Dix Hospital campus in downtown Raleigh into a park on Monday pledged $3 million to the city to help plan the conversion.
Senate leader Phil Berger says the Council of State should reject the deal to turn the Dorothea Dix campus into a park.
The Dorothea Dix campus will become a 325-acre "destination park" under negotiations between the City of Raleigh and Gov. Bev Perdue's office that could be final as soon as next week.
After years of debating whether the Dorothea Dix campus south of downtown Raleigh should be converted into a Central Park-type destination, rumors are swirling that N.C. State University could play a role in the site's future.
The Dorothea Dix Hospital campus near downtown Raleigh is worth $60 million to $86 million, according to an appraisal the state obtained in anticipation of converting the property into a major public park.
Raleigh's outgoing mayor said Thursday that he hopes to get a land deal worked out with the state before he leaves office that would allow the city to buy the Dorothea Dix Hospital property and turn it into an urban park.
The state's oldest mental hospital transferred some of its last patients Monday, effectively closing the facility in an effort to save the state an estimated $17 million.
Most mental patients will be out of Dorothea Dix Hospital by early next week, and Gov. Beverly Perdue says she would like to privatize services for those who remain.
Raleigh's mayor wants to turn the 306-acre Dorothea Dix Hospital Campus into an urban park, but what happens when the hospital closes is still unclear.
Most of the patients at Dorothea Dix Hospital will be moved to other facilities by Dec. 23, and the hospital could close its doors as early as next fall, the Department of Health and Human Services says.
The state Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday that it would move most operations from Dorothea Dix Hospital to other facilities by the end of the year to save money.
The Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday that it plans to relocate the remaining children and adolescents at Dorothea Dix Hospital to a new state mental hospital by the end of June.
Employees of the Dorothea Dix Hospital received notice Wednesday that about 300 positions will be eliminated with the planned move of patients from the downtown Raleigh facility to the new Central Regional Hospital in Butner.
Eight adolescent patients at Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh were moved Thursday to the state's new $130 million mental health facility in Butner.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will ask a judge next month to lift a temporary restraining order that prohibits the state from moving patients to the state's newest mental hospital.
Patients at the Raleigh mental health facility were to move to a new state facility last October but a judge issued a temporary restraining order.
Dick Jenrette, the co-founder of Wall Street investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, has pledged his support for a plan to convert the Dorothea Dix Hospital campus to a destination park.
The state facility in Raleigh formerly known as Dorothea Dix Hospital will continue to provide limited care for the mentally ill for three years.
In a statement, the Department of Health and Human Services said it has agreed with a disability rights advocacy group to postpone a hearing scheduled for Oct. 6.
Disabilities Right North Carolina is asking a judge to delay the transfer of 170 patients from Dorothea Dix Hospital to a new state psychiatric hospital in Butner.
The co-director of the state's mental health system is responding to concerns from doctors wanting to delay a controversial transfer of patients from Dorothea Dix Hospital.
The head of Central Regional Hospital in Butner says the state should begin the transfer despite a Catch 22 situation created by a law passed this year.
Brad Dean, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said that about 110 patients were transferred from John Umstead Hospital in Butner to Central Regional Hospital.
North Carolina's new mental health facility in Butner has been mired in controversy and safety concerns, but hospital officials said Thursday that it's ready to open.
Workers said the new hospital, Central Regional in Butner, will be understaffed and dangerous.
Workers say understaffing is creating unsafe conditions at Dorothea Dix Hospital, and those will only get worse when the new hospital in Butner opens.
An advocacy group for the disabled claimed Tuesday that the state Division of Mental Health is discharging patients from psychiatric hospitals without proper planning.
Gov. Mike Easley says patients are dying in North Carolina's psychiatric hospitals and that needs to stop. In response, new guidelines require all deaths in state-operated mental-health facilities to be reported to the medical examiner's office.
If Dorothea Dix Hospital closes May 1 and its patients move to a new mental-health facility in Butner, hundreds of acres of rolling hills near downtown Raleigh will need a new purpose.
The state's top health official announced Thursday he is delaying closing Raleigh's Dorothea Dix Hospital and the opening of a new mental health facility in Butner.
A spokesman for patients at Dorthea Dix in Raleigh said the move to a new facility in Butner will be a major disaster for them.
A legislative oversight committee met Wednesday to detail what will happen with patients when Dorothea Dix Hospital closes next year and patients are moved to a new facility in Butner.
What happens to the Dorothea Dix Hospital campus could be unknown for some time, officials said Friday.
A group of private supporters on Thursday pledged $7 million to help Raleigh transform the Dorothea Dix Hospital property into a massive park near downtown.
In a move that could push state lawmakers to make up their minds, the City of Raleigh plans to publicly announce an offer to purchase the Dorothea Dix campus from the state at a news conference Thursday morning.
City and state leaders are still trying to decide what to do with the Dorothea Dix property. A public meeting will be held Monday to discuss options for the land in Raleigh.
The Wake County Mayors Association voted Friday in favor of a plan that would transform the Dorothea Dix campus to an urban park.
The governor's budget includes money to start on a "green" state office for mental health employees on part of the land the city is hoping to buy.
A legislative panel on Monday chose to support a list of recommendations to help craft legislation on the future of Raleigh's Dorothea Dix Hospital property.
Another idea for the future use of the Dorothea Dix campus was expected to be introduced at Tuesday night's City Council meeting.
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