Raleigh Mayor talks convention center repair, Shop Local Raleigh controversy

It's been a little over a year since Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell took office in December 2024 after serving eight years as State Treasurer and several years with Raleigh City Council. 

At the end of her first year in office, Cowell discussed a variety of topics with WRAL News on Tuesday, including a reduction in violent crime, the upcoming noise ordinance going into effect, development projects and the controversy around Shop Local Raleigh.

Cowell shared her perspective on steering one of the southeast's fastest-growing cities into a new year.

Q: So you've now officially been in the position for a little more than 1 year. How has it been? Anything that surprised you about the role?

A: It's been a good year in Raleigh overall, like we've had fun things like the Stanley Cup Final for the Hurricanes (The mayor misspoke: the Canes made the Eastern Conference Final), the Gibson Play Plaza and no tax increase. Overall, things have been good. There have been moments, of course, like the convention center fire and other incidents, but in general, Raleigh is a great place, and we've had a good year.

Convention Center repair timeline

Q: On the convention center fire - I know that got a lot of attention not just from those in Raleigh, but also from all across the state. Do you have a timeline on the repairs and when people can be welcomed back?

A: I know they are coming along well and we've got most of the January events happening ...[Public Information Officer Julia Milstead then clarifies] the week of Jan. 8 is when they're hoping to get the crane in and get the chiller off the top of the building.

Q: In general, the economic impact of the events that had to be canceled and postponed from the convention center, are you aware of that and just what that did to Raleigh business?

A: You know, I think because we've gone through the holidays, all the other holiday things, my sense is that downtown's been good. I'm sure there will be some minor impacts from some of the canceled events, but it'll be fairly insignificant in the grand scheme. And the city of Raleigh just gave a reminder that the noise ordinance goes into effect Jan. 1.

Glenwood South safety and noise issues

Q: There was a lot of back-and-forth discussion, particularly from business owners in Glenwood South who are worried about the impact on their income late night. How is Raleigh working to bring noise down but also address those concerns from business owners?

A: One of the surprising issues coming into office was just this whole issue of noise, and how do you get the balance right between the dynamic, vibrant downtown and residences, which we now have 15,000 residents in the downtown area. I feel like hiring someone from Austin, Texas --  I went to high school in Nashville, so I'm all about big music towns --  was the right way to go. I feel like we got a national expert where if Austin can do this, Raleigh can do this, and I'm very confident that this new ordinance is going to find that right balance between allowing that vibrant nightlife scene but also letting people sleep.

Q: On the topic of Glenwood South, when you came into office, a big topic at that time was public safety around downtown, around Glenwood South. You had three major priorities when you came in - public safety, affordability, and sustainability. What has your progress been in those areas?

A: Another success of this year was getting Rico Boyce as our new police chief. I think he has hit the ground running, and I love his direction, which is all about building social connection in the community, and he's done that in many ways, but you know, on Glenwood South we've seen our violent crime flatten and our property crime is down 17%. I just got those numbers from him yesterday and obviously we would like to do better on the violent crime. Any violent crime is too much, but I think on Glenwood South we have had a few issues that were disturbing. But I feel like we have a lot of focus on that area.

I think this noise ordinance is going to be a positive influence, and I think Chief Boyce has got all the right people on the jobs. It is tough in a world where there's a lot of guns out on the streets. They've done a lot to recover illegal weapons, including on Glenwood South, but you know all across the city. And I think gun violence is going to continue to be a core area of focus in Raleigh, both with the police chief and city manager, I know, is acutely focused on this as well, and certainly council. And was that 17% across the city of Raleigh or for downtown across the city of Raleigh, and I think part of that was we had a unit really focused on larceny and these crimes where people are breaking into cars trying to steal guns. And that's where I think we saw some really big improvements on that issue, um, as well as some of the other just property theft.

Affordable housing

Q: What about for affordability and sustainability?

A: That, you know, is an ongoing challenge. I think we've done a lot this year on affordable housing. I've gone to a lot of groundbreakings and ribbon cuttings, and we've done some innovative projects. Like we have a tiny home village being built for veterans. That is new.

We did a Raleigh area land trust where the land trust keeps the value of the land, and then that way people are paying for their house, not the land, keeps it more affordable. So we've tried some new approaches.

We are planning for the next affordable housing bond to be on the ballot this Nov. 26, and I think that has been maybe just the most effective right of having the city have financing that helps subsidize and make it more affordable. So I think you'll see probably a $100 million-plus affordable housing bond on the ballot this fall.

And then we're talking development here. There are a lot of projects underway, including Red Hat, which we mentioned earlier.

Q: Are there still unresolved questions there or any reason for further delays with Red Hat?

A: No, I think all motion is forward. I live right near there and I've seen all the progress out there. They're doing a lot of the groundwork, the infrastructure that goes in, so I think that's all on schedule and moving forward. And then for Dix Park, health and human services is moving out.

Q: Any plans for what will take its place in those buildings?

A: Yeah, I think Dix Park has really been amazing in that we estimated when that play plaza opened that maybe we'd have like 1 to 2 million visitors, and I think it's going to be more like 2 to 3 million at that park based on the play plaza and the trolls, which has just been a knockout success, even over the holiday. I think there were just so many people out there.

In terms of what's next, you're going to see some demolition out because the State Department of Health and Human Services has moved off the campus. Some of those big, old office buildings in the big field near the dog park, all those are coming down in the next, I would say, 3 to 4 months. And then we will turn our sights to the older campus where there is a lot of infrastructure work on those old pipes and chillers.

That thing's like a 1950s Stalin village out there. It's got just a lot of degraded infrastructure, and so the city's going to have to figure out the next round. But I think the positive will be there's a lot of community interest from arts groups and others to renovate some of those old buildings and have them add even more to an area that's already super popular.

I think you're going to see more food and beverage with the flower cottage becoming a cafe and kind of beer garden, and then you're watching all the restaurants open across the street. All good news.

MLB to Raleigh prospects

Q: What about plans to bring Major League Baseball to Raleigh? Any updates there? What are your thoughts on that?

A: We've been working just locally, lots of conversations. I know the chamber just hosted some of the MLB advocates around building up the local muscle and resources to be able to field a team and be competitive in the national landscape. We all know there's maybe a window as they expand the league in the next 2 to 3 years to be one of the cities that is working with all the parties.

In the meantime, we've also got women's soccer. The Carolina Courage, we need to improve their field, and I think that is part of a building block to showing that we can actually attract a Major League Baseball team, by doing right by the Carolina Courage.

Q: We've covered a few patients escaping from the juvenile facility at Holly Hill Hospital several times, and then today WRAL Investigates is doing a story about a patient escaping from the adult facility there. Does the city of Raleigh have a role to play in making this hospital safer in preventing some of these elopements, and what are your plans there?

A: I will say mental health is definitely a focus area right of city council because we know that is critical to public safety overall and just serving the residents here in Raleigh.

I have made inquiries about Holly Hill several times to the city manager after some of your stories, and we do not have any direct contractual relationships with them, so I think at one point there was some story that maybe the police were working directly with them, but I think it's more just working with Wake County and the state to make sure there are enough beds in Wake County and that the services offered to people who do suffer from mental illness in Wake County are meeting all the standards and criteria as these incidents being investigated and remedied if there are situations where somebody is allowed to or somehow gets out of the facility.

Social media comments from Shop Local Raleigh director

Q: Jennifer Martin, the executive director of Shop Local Raleigh, is at the center of some social media discourse about a comment she made on her personal page. (The comment was posted to a closed Facebook group.) Greater Raleigh Merchants Association is now looking into this. Do you have thoughts on the situation and how it reflects on Raleigh?

A: Yes, I mean the whole diversity, equity and inclusion, which is obviously a controversial topic in our state. The legislature is sort of insisting that under their new rules, under President Trump's rules, that DEI initiatives are not to be specifically pursued. The city is complying with that.

I would say all the nonprofits though, we still do believe in serving all the small businesses in our community, and I think you see a lot of diversity in the small businesses, particularly in downtown, and you know, just smaller businesses tend to be highly representative and so it is important that we respect and serve all people who are running businesses in the city. It was concerning to see the remarks that from a LGBTQ perspective [that we] aren't as maybe you know inclusive as they or just aren't as inclusive as they need to be.

Q: Do you have concerns about what this means for small businesses who've said that they're going to withdraw membership from Shop Local Raleigh or participate in Brewgaloo?

A: I just saw the story last night myself, so I would definitely want to touch base with the new LGBTQ Center downtown, which we just did the ribbon cutting there, which I think was really positive to get them back into the downtown framework, talk to Downtown Raleigh Alliance and just understand the impacts of this and sort of what they're hearing, how we can support small businesses that may have concerns to let them know, and I think that Shop Local has already said this is not their perspective. It is not the city of Raleigh's perspective, and we need to work with the small businesses who may have concerns that these are not the values.

Q: Now I want to move on to questions about your neighbor, the town of Cary. You know, this is an area where there's a lot of moving in and out of different municipalities, and recently we've been doing a lot of coverage about the town of Cary and their now-former town manager who was at the center of some financial concerns there. It raised a lot of questions about what policies and systems were in place. Does the city of Raleigh have systems in place to prevent this from happening, and did you retroactively put in policies or systems to prevent this from happening?

A: As you can imagine, as a former state treasurer  -- and I've been on a lot of audit committees -- you know, I was following all of this, and we've definitely had some internal conversations over the holidays and I'm sure as council comes back in in January, we'll be having more.

I feel like Raleigh's got good systems, and I don't have the suspicion that there's things like some of the incidents that occurred in Cary happening here, but I certainly think it just is another opportunity to kick the tires and make sure.

One thing I've talked about is having more internal audit, understanding those work programs, and at least having council be a little more aware directly. We'll see. I've talked to the city attorney about that and the city manager, um, just to have that independence. I think that was one of the challenges in Cary was the city manager had so much of an umbrella of control that people somehow did not feel confident raising these issues if they had concerns, either to council or to some independent city attorney. So checks and balances are super important. We'll be revisiting just to make sure, but I have no suspicions that we have anything happening in terms of large financial decisions, etc. being made by our city manager.

Q: How do you want people to view your work as mayor and you as the mayor of Raleigh?

A: Well, I would just say we are one of the most successful cities in the country. When I travel and I'm with other mayors, we are the envy of many communities and that doesn't mean we don't have our challenges, right? We've got more to do on crime, more to do on the unhoused, more work to do on affordability. But overall, I think this is an incredibly, not just high-growth community, but I think caring community, and I think even just in many incidents over the last year we've seen a rallying of people coming out to help their neighbors when we did have a few incidents with the police, you saw all the police forces coming in to help the Raleigh PD handle whatever it was, be it the convention fire with the firefighters or other things. I feel like we've just got a really strong community here, a very resilient community, and we're just as well-positioned as any city in the country to fare well in 2026 and beyond.

2026 goals for the city

Q: What are your goals and priorities for the coming year?

A: Well, goals and priorities for 2026 are very similar to the goals and priorities of last year. It's just continuing to work on affordability, making sure we have enough housing units coming online and are doing affordable housing bonds so we can help subsidize additional units.

Public safety: trying to make sure that we reduce violent crime and continue to make progress on the property crime which was down 17%.

And then in terms of environmental sustainability, continuing to invest in our green infrastructure, stormwater, so that we are resilient to floods. We were fortunate in 2025 that we did not have some of the serious incidents we saw west of us over in Chapel Hill and Mebane, but we've got a great stormwater team and I think we're doing sort of nationally, innovative work on leaning into plants and stream restoration so that we have a resilient city.

Q: Anything else you wanted to say that you think we missed?

A: Well, one thing that I do think - NC State is a huge pillar to our community. With the R&D funding and federal support of R&D and grants and science and technology, I just feel like that is what has made the Research Triangle great. So any chance I get, I just want to reiterate the importance of that. I want to support Chancellor [Kevin] Howell in pursuing R&D funding, both federal and anything we can do at the state level to continue investing in that because again, that is what has made the Research Triangle area internationally renowned.