Dear CAC Friends,

I hope that you have already seen this email about Dix Park from other sources, if so pardon the duplication. Our City Council is working hard to get the NC Legislature to honor the lease that they signed last year with the City of Raleigh so we could build a ‘world-class’ destination park. If you have ways as leaders in your community to share this information with your neighborhoods & friends, please do so. This is important not just for Raleigh but the State.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL to friends and neighborhood groups &

And PLEASE JOIN US this Monday @4:00 at the Legislative Building (see details below)

Thanks, Bill Padgett

Past RCAC Chair & Wade CAC Chair

PS Some of the scheduled speakers for Monday that you may know include: Mary Belle Pate, Jason Hibbets, Mark Turner, Philip Poe & Bill Padgett.

Mayor Nancy McFarlane City Councilors: Mary Ann Baldwin, Russ Stephenson, Eugene Weeks, Randy Stagner

Wake County School Board: Dr. Jim Martin & Kevin Hill

Please come and support Dix Park!

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Friends of Dix Park,

Call to Action: Please Help Save the Vision for a world-class Central Park for NC

1) Please join us for Round #2/Dix Park with the Wake County Legislators

Where: Legislative Office Building, 300 N. Salisbury St. - Room 643

When: 4:00 pm Monday, April 8^th, Raleigh NC

What: Dix Park – Honor the State’s Lease with the City of Raleigh to create Dix Park

2) Please continue voicing your support to our legislators with calls, emails (see below for contact info) or e-cards (http://www.dix306.org/)

Please Come to the Public Hearing – It has been your support & energy that have gotten us this far – let’s finish the journey. THANK YOU!!!

Let’s try to get a great crowd to show our support – 53 folks are scheduled to speak – including our Mayor Nancy McFarlane and Councilors from the City of Raleigh. Join us, wear GREEN, come early and help our legislature understand that keeping the state's promise is the right thing to do.

The week’s Recap:

The turn-out on 3/25 at Wake County Legislative meeting was nothing short of astounding. Folks spoke passionately for honoring the State’s lease with the City of Raleigh to build a 325 acre destination park (50 more were waiting and thus the meeting has been carried over to April 8^th @4:00); 300+ filled the room; and ~100 over-flow crowd were in the halls.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/03/25/2779856/supporters-of-dix-park-appeal.html

A poll on Dix Park (by Public Policy Polling) was released April 2^nd that shows by 2:1 margins that folks in Wake County folks strongly support the park, want the lease honored and should this bill get to McCrory’s desk, thinks he should veto it. All parties: Democrats, Republicans and Independents; young & old were supportive. The press release and full crosstabs can be found at:

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2011/DixParkResults.pdf

Dix Park Flash meeting: This past Tuesday with just 5 hours notice an email for a ‘Flash meeting’ to discuss the poll was sent out and 50+ folks (plus kids romping in the fields) joined Dix306 & Friends of Dorothea Dix Park on the hills overlooking the City of Raleigh. At the Flash meeting 3 Resolutions were passed unanimously asking the Legislature to:

1) Support the creation of a world-class park on the 325 acres of the former Dix Mental Hospital.

2) Honor the Lease: The State should honor their contract with the City of Raleigh.

3) Governor McCrory: Please veto this bill should it reach your desk.

An hour before the ‘Flash’ meeting began, a fun video was made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQUQSHLGYNU Enjoy!

The pictures below were made before and as folks were gathering to: Asking our State to ‘HONOR’ their lease.

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Unfortunately, The Senate’s bill SB334 to ‘NOT Honor the Lease with the City of Raleigh’ passed 29-21 last week in the Senate.

http://www.wral.com/senate-oks-tearing-up-dix-park-lease/12270517/

However, HB 319 is in the Judicial Committee in the House (this bill also would also break the lease with the City of Raleigh), and this is where our appeal for the State to honor its lease of Dix Park to Raleigh is focused.

Let’s pack the meeting again this Monday April 8^th to save Dix Park and ‘honor our word’.

Thanks for all you are doing to make DIX PARK a reality!

Dix306 (http://www.dix306.org/)

Also please share this page as a central location for Dix Park advocacy: https://trianglewiki.org/Save_Dorothea_Dix_Park/

Please make a special effort to join us Monday in Raleigh and also contact the Wake County Delegation (especially the Wake County House delegation & House Speaker Tillis and the Governor and let them know that you support a 325 acre world-class Dix Park! And if you would like to send them an e-postcard of the Dix Campus with your message, please visit http://www.dix306.org/ and on the left of the page select ‘Send A Dix306 ECard’ or http://dix306.org/ecard.php.

Email all (copy/paste):
governorsoffice@nc.gov, Thom.Tillis@ncleg.net, Marilyn.Avila@ncleg.net, Nelson.Dollar@ncleg.net, Jim.Fulghum@ncleg.net, Rosa.Gill@ncleg.net, Duane.Hall@ncleg.net, Yvonne.Holley@ncleg.net, Darren.Jackson@ncleg.net, Chris.Malone@ncleg.net, Tom.Murry@ncleg.net, Deborah.Ross@ncleg.net, Paul.Stam@ncleg.net, Josh.Stein@ncleg.net, Neal.Hunt@ncleg.net, Dan.Blue@ncleg.net, Tamara.Barringer@ncleg.net, Chad.Barefoot@ncleg.net