WRAListens recently went to Wake County to find out what are the most pressing issues to community leaders. The group met at the Raleigh City Museum where they talked about the revitalization of downtown Raleigh and the challenges of handling the county’s rapidly growing population and the demands on the area’s infrastructure.

Former WRAL-TV Anchor Charlie Gaddy hosts the half-hour program which will air on WRAL-TV on Saturday, Sept 22nd at 7:30pm.

The panel included

• Beverly Clark, Vice Chair of the Wake County School Board,
• Daniel Coleman with the Southeast Raleigh Assembly,
• Karen Rindge, Chair of Wake Up Wake County,
• Tim Minton with the Wake County/Raleigh Homebuilders Association,
• Melanie Sills with the Raleigh News and Observer,
• Tracy Lovejoy with the Downtown Raleigh Alliance and
• Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker.

The biggest debate among panel members came over how the county needs to deal with growth and the demands it is making on the area’s infrastructure.

There has been a lot of controversy over the school board’s proposal to increase the number of year round schools to deal with the growing number of students. Beverly Clark said the school board felt it was the most cost effective way to deal with growth. Other panelists chimed in with opinions.

WRAListens Raleigh will air on WRAL-TV on Saturday, Sept. 22nd at 7:30pm.  WRAL-FM will air the audio of the program the morning of Sunday, Sept 23rd. The interviews will also be available online at wral.com.