New Raleigh Councilman brings extensive background in urban planning to City Council

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Mitchell Silver is no stranger to the City of Oaks.

He worked for the City of Raleigh as Planning Director and eventually Chief Planning & Development Officer from 2005 to 2014. There, he was the visionary behind Raleigh Union State, Downtown South, and the evolution of Hillsborough Street.

When he left, he went on to serve as New York City's Parks Commissioner. However, Silver always intended to come back to Raleigh, and made good on that promise in 2021.

He works as a consultant for McAdams, advising on urban planning, urban design, and parks, and also serves as a Professor of Practice at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Last week, voters in Raleigh elected him to serve as City Councilman for District A, and he is excited to bring his experience and passion to his new role.

"I've always loved this city, and when I chose a place where I'm going to retire, for me it was a no-brainer. I said, I'm going back to Raleigh and here I am," Silver told ABC11.

As he moves into his new role on the city council, he's ready to amplify what he believes is the city's identity: "Our southern hospitality".

"This is just a great place with wonderful hospitality, a great place to live, that's easy to live, and it's hard to go beyond that. It's just a very charming place," Silver said, adding that he spent months trying to figure out what the "soul of the city" is in Raleigh.

On city council, he said one of his biggest priorities will be creating sustainable and affordable housing.

"I'm going to look very carefully at what works around the country, but look at our development regulations. How do we make it move faster in terms of areas that are vulnerable? I'm very concerned about it. As a planner, that's my training," Silver said. "I've worked in other communities on anti-displacement strategies to make sure those that are most vulnerable can stay in place."

He's also focused on bringing new vibrancy to downtown, hoping to bring fun, joy, and happiness to the heart of the Capital.

"I walk around cities and watch people laughing. It's therapeutic. It's healing. And those are places people want to go, and so I want to make sure our city has those ingredients," Silver said.

He also added that as he watches areas like North Hills, Raleigh Iron Works, and Fenton in Cary continue to grow and attract visitors, he wants to make sure downtown Raleigh can compete.

Silver wants to be strategic with how development happens downtown.

"I'll be focusing on putting development in the right places, higher rise development in the right places, which will help offset taxes throughout the city by making sure we collect those property taxes," Silver said. "Having development and higher buildings in the right places helps keep taxes low or stable."

He also believes that part of being a great city is being a safe city.

"We have to make sure that we look very carefully at our police, make sure they're paid an appropriate competitive salary, look at all of our first responders, make sure they're happy working here and living here," Silver said.

With a revamped convention center coming to downtown aimed at attracting more events, Silver wants to make sure convention-goers have a reason to come back to the city and visit.

"They're going to be in a convention from 9:00 to 5:00. When 5:00 comes, people looking to have fun where they're going to go. I don't want them to get an Uber to go to Glenwood South. We want to make sure there's something in walking distance adjacent to the convention center, adjacent to Red Hat, so they can have that full experience of being in a great downtown," Silver said.

He has more big ideas for Raleigh as he enters his city council term.

"I want to start by talking about how can we re-imagine Capital Boulevard, the Capital City needs a boulevard, a gateway that people can be proud of. So, I'll be very focused from 540 coming all the way into downtown," he said.

Before our conversation with the new councilman ended, we learned something about Silver that many might not know.

"When I was young, I aspired to be an actor and a dancer. So, I trained at Alvin Ailey School early in my career and then decided that acting and dance probably weren't in the cards," Silver said. "It taught me a lot and realized what a beautiful art form dance is... I was not a professional dancer, but I trained and I aspired one day to be an actor and a dancer. That didn't pan out, and now I'm a city council member."