Nancy McFarlane has seen a lot of changes in Raleigh in her 12 years on the City Council. She was first elected in 2007, just before the recession slowed growth around the nation.
Many considered McFarlane to be a neighborhood activist when she first joined the City Council. After serving two terms, she ran for mayor, and in 2011 she became the second woman in Raleigh to hold that office. Today Raleigh is one of the fastest-growing cities in the state, and as the challenges and issues facing the City of Oaks evolved over the years, so did McFarlane. Now she is known as a mayor who was friendly to business and development. McFarlane argues that city council members need to recognize that with thousands of new people moving into the city each month, sensible development and growth is necessary to maintain a high quality of life in the region.
Host Frank Stasio talks to the former mayor about her time in office, how politics have changed and her plans for the future.