Raleigh OKs Creation Of Downtown Safety Patrol

RALEIGH, N.C. — The City Council on Tuesday approved spending more than $220,000 to create a downtown safety patrol.

Representatives of the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, who traditionally keep streets litter-free and provide directions to visitors, would help police patrol parking garages. The move comes in reponse to the death of Cynthia Moreland, a Wendell woman who was kidnapped from a downtown parking garage and killed two months ago.

Training for the new patrols could start as soon as December, officials said.

The council also approved spending another $600,000 on a new underground parking garage on the former site of the convention center.

Adjoining property owners expressed concern the building plan would cause nearby property to collapse, so funds that were added to the original plan and brought the total to $600,000 will be used to improve the design, officials said.

The new cost of the deck amounts to $30,000 a parking spot.