"you'll have to run the low-income people surrounding the area out"- check out the home values around Dix, they have gone up and up and up. There is very little "low income" anything around there now. Heck, even the rents are getting scary high.

"Treat it like any other surplus property. Auction. If Raleigh has the most money fine"- then we should put up EVERY State park for auction then. Why should one part of the state get a park and others not?

"so the mentally ill have somewhere other than the streets to go"- they have a brand new hospital in Butner to go to. The old buildings would have cost more to refurbish than to build new.

"although the list of supporters is a who's who of Raleigh's rich and elite"- just like the ones who supported and got Central Park done in the mid 1850s. It wasn't the politicians, it was the people of means who wanted to make sure there was something for everyone to enjoy.

Just to correct some earlier comments - the property was not donated to the state, nor did Dorothea Dix found the hospital. During the 1840s, Ms. Dix lobbied a number of states to improve care for the mentally ill. In 1851, the NC legislature approved funds to purchase land and build the hospital. The property, formerly part of the Hunter Plantation, was renamed "Dix Hill" in honor of her grandfather (she would not let her own name be used). In 1959, 72 years after her death, the State Hospital at Raleigh was renamed Dorothea Dix Hospital.

(Google "Dorothea Dix Hospital History")

Maintain it as a mental health complex. That is the proper thing to do. Making it into a park will only benefit people living in Raleigh. Whatever is done, it should be of benefit to all of the citizens of the State of North Carolina.

What about care for the cemetery on the Dix property?

No scubagirl, it's not necessarily a totally foregone conclusion, although the list of supporters is a who's who of Raleigh's rich and elite. Though, according to the news today, it's just a rubber stamp away.

There's not a thing preventing it's return to it's donated purpose except the rich and powerful of local ilk who started the process of moving the mental health facilities off the land years ago.

They have their eyes on the surrounding land for development. Much of which they already own. Follow the money. It'll lead you to the core of the matter.

I don't hold out much hope that justice will be done, the influential have always gotten their way on this earth. And they're looking at a big payoff again with the taxpayers footing the bill as always.

Once again.. the real money's not in the park land itself, it's the land around it. Much of it filled with low-income people that will be moved out of the way the same as the patients were.

I agree, the absolute BEST thing to do with this is allow the patients who have been relocated to return and fix the place up so the mentally ill have somewhere other than the streets to go. However, I thought it was a foregone conclusion that the patients were/have leaving/left.

By the way geosol, I believe it' your girl ol' Bev who is pushing for this to go through. Forget the mentally ill who need this facility.

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