Leadership. Community. Partnership.

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Leadership. Community. Partnership.

Meet Janet

An experienced public servant and business leader with a record of bringing people together to accomplish positive, progressive change.

Janet has proven she can bring positive, progressive change to Raleigh and North Carolina by working in partnership with the community. She’s done this as a Raleigh City Councilor, a North Carolina State Senator, the State Treasurer, and now as the President and CEO of the nonprofit Dix Park Conservancy, which is partnered with the City of Raleigh to create Dix Park.

In these roles, she ensured the AAA bond rating for North Carolina and Raleigh through diligent oversight of taxes, spending, and debt. She protected our environment and neighborhoods by establishing a stormwater program to prevent flooding, preventing development in our drinking supply watershed, protecting trees and expanding recycling. She also established mental health parity in the state health plan and supported early efforts at community policing to keep our community safe. She’s worked to make sure both public and private boards and the leaders of organizations look like the communities they serve by increasing the number of women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals.

Everyone in Raleigh is feeling the effects of our city’s rapid growth. As a result, the cost of housing has skyrocketed and is preventing teachers, firefighters, law enforcement officers, and others who serve our community from being able to live here.

Janet will work to solve this problem by diversifying housing options across the city, while ensuring that any new developments keep the character of our neighborhoods. We must also be willing to invest in our infrastructure such as water, sewer and public transportation to reduce traffic congestion. The City must work with nonprofits like DHIC and others in the space that have specific mandates to work with low-income families to build affordable housing. Finally, the City must find process improvements to rehabilitate existing housing and ensure it’s habitable and safe.
Improving our quality of life and keeping Raleigh’s character can only be done through broad public input and careful planning. The city’s comprehensive plan ensures we have equitable and accessible citywide transportation, sufficient housing, and spaces for businesses of all sizes to find success. Janet will implement a forward-looking rezoning plan, which will help build a community that works for everyone through public input and comprehensive review.
Keeping our community safe is the most important job of the Mayor and City Council. We’ve watched our police officers stand up for our community during the Hedingham shooting and they deserve a mayor who will invest in them.

As Mayor, Janet will work to support our law enforcement officers by ensuring they have appropriate personnel, equipment, facilities, and training. They also need competitive pay and affordable housing options so they can live in the city they serve. They should also have the same degree of accountability as any other city department.

Janet will ensure our police officers can focus on crime. She’ll work to build and strengthen partnerships with the state and Wake County government to ensure mental health providers and paramedics can be involved when someone is experiencing a crisis that is not necessarily a crime. She’ll also work with Wake County to ensure we have enough white flag shelter beds to accommodate the unhoused and with nonprofits to divert the mentally ill from hospitals. Finally, she’ll work to develop both permanent and temporary housing options with services needed to help our most vulnerable neighbors who are unhoused.
Raleigh’s open spaces, green spaces, and parkways provide some of the most beautiful parts of our city. They are also cultural hubs and gathering spaces for neighbors that foster connection, creativity, and economic development. Janet will work with the City Council and Wake County to refine and enhance programs to protect the tree canopy, open spaces, and develop management plans for public spaces. She’ll also work to reduce city emissions and address resiliency for our city so no one is left behind after a natural disaster.

Janet's Priorities for Raleigh

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Endorsements

Nancy McFarlane

Raleigh Mayor 2011-2019

As a member of the Raleigh City Council, North Carolina State Senate, and NC Treasurer, Janet Cowell proved she could bring people together to accomplish positive, progressive change. I trust her to build a city that works together for everyone.

Orage Quarles III

Former Publisher Raleigh News & Observer and Member of the Dix Conservancy Board of Trustees

Janet Cowell has worked her entire career to build partnerships that have made our community stronger. She’ll be a Mayor who will take on the immediate issues facing our community by working with nonprofits, the local business community and state and county government to keep moving Raleigh forward. By working together, we can address housing affordability and growth, keep our community safe and help our neighbors in need, and protect our environment.