Raleigh Leaders To Revitalize Eastern Part Of City

In January, city planners met with downtown residents like James Williams. He worries the influx of higher-income families will force lower-income residents out.

"The concern is whether the community is going to maintain its historical significance because, if not, it will lose all of the black entities in the downtown area," he said.

City planners want to meet again with downtown residents. This time, the community meeting will focus on plans for what they're calling the "East Gateway Neighborhood."

"I think the neighbors and residents want to see the area improve. Their concern is the uncertainty of the tradeoff and impacts they'll have to deal with," said Raleigh planning director Mitchell Silver.

The meeting, which begins at 7 p.m., will be held at the Chavis Community Center.