Summary
No, we're not going to get Dix for $10 million, and we're probably not going to get it for twice or thrice or even - but let's not negotiate against ourselves, OK? The point is that Raleigh's finally come to the table to buy, and buy for the purpose of creating a "great destination park" - no more talk of selling off part of it to developers. "It is a site that is so important," [Charles Meeker] declared at his press conference, "it should not be divided or turned into some office park."
Step two, then, we need a park agency - a conservancy, as they call it. Who's on it? Greg Poole, certainly. The soft-spoken leader of the Dix Visionaries, he's already lined up $7 million in prospective donations from wealthy patrons like himself, and he says there's a lot more where that came from once the park's established. Bill Padgett from Dix 306. Jay Spain and Joe Huberman from Friends of Dorothea Dix Park. Myrick Howard, president of Preservation North Carolina. He's going to want to preserve the whole campus. But you know, he might have a point.Jay Spain was right when he warned against sacrificing one good cause, Dix park, for the other good cause of desperately needed mental health services. Even if Dix were sold for $100 million or $200 million, and all the money put into mental health, it wouldn't begin to cure what's wrong with the [Mike Easley] "reforms." Benton will find that out soon enough, if he doesn't know it already.See the full content of this document
Extract
Dix: The Deal
What did I think of Mayor Charles Meeker's offer of $10.5 million from Raleigh to buy the 306-acre Dorothea Dix Hospital site? a friend asked archly. I thought it was a good thing, a good opening bid, I said.
To which he said: "It was like, Hey, we can g...See the full content of this document
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