Bull City Rising

Kicking off "Shooting the Bull" (Sun. 7:30pm WXDU 88.7)

As my partner-in-crime mentioned over at his place yesterday, Barry Ragin from Dependable Erection and I are gearing up for a half-hour weekly news/talk program over at WXDU (88.7 FM) this coming Sunday night at 7:30.

"Shooting the Bull" will recap the highs and lows of this week in Durham, drawing ideas from the blogosphere and media alike and bringing a different lens to what's what in the Bull City. We'll also bring guests by to talk about key issues of note (or, in some cases, notoriety.)

Assuming we can work out all the technical details, the show will be available to listen to as a podcast after its airing, in case you're too busy watching 60 Minutes to spare time for our 30 minutes.

This Sunday, our focus will turn to the big news in Durham this week: the development review process. Scheduled to join us are Durham city councilman Eugene Brown and City/County Planning Commission past chair and current member Don Moffitt to help work through what's really at issue with this much-debated story.

Cleveland-Holloway: Home tour, Indy scrutiny this weekend

The Cleveland-Holloway Neighborhood Association is hosting its first-ever home tour this weekend, scheduled to start Saturday at 1pm at 406 Oakwood Ave. Fifteen homes are scheduled to be on the tour, which provides a good view into the renewal and revitalization happening in this historic neighborhood. The tour is free, though a $5 donation is appreciated.

Among the houses available for viewing are homes in various stages of renovation, along with a look at properties currently available for sale. Learn more at the home tour web site.

The tour comes on the heels of an interesting and thoughtful cover story in the latest issue of the Independent Weekly, the provocative cover of which asks "Rubble to Revival: Do the poor have to leave?"

Mosi Secret's feature -- which is absolutely worth a deep read -- is, to my mind, at its best when sharing anecdotes and on-the-ground reporting, be it about the efforts to block the demolition of 407 Ottawa Ave., or a neighborhood cleanup effort that drew mixed local reviews, or the ACORN-led protests over rental housing conditions.

As much as I appreciate the individual threads that Secret draws with his usual evocative language, there is a core theme underlying the article, one that undergirds -- almost as an assumption -- discussions that touch on matters of neighborhood revitalization and renovation.

That theme? The idea that gentrification's displacement of poverty is, by definition, a solely negative social cost and a purely problematic outcome.

Hillandale Rd. Harris Teeter, plaza renovations reported still on track

Though it's still not official, a BCR source suggests that plans for the renovation of the old Loehmann's Plaza on Hillandale Rd. just north of I-85 are continuing to move forward, with grocer Harris Teeter still planning to build a grocery store on site.

The linchpin to the whole project is the widening of Hillandale, and whether NCDOT would agree to provide a traffic signal for entry/exit to the shopping center. Reportedly a public meeting will be forthcoming to review final plans for the Hillandale project, and these are believed to include the signalization.

As we've discussed here before, the plan for the center renovations include building new outparcel buildings closer to Hillandale Rd., then redeveloping the bulk of the strip center as parking and the Harris Teeter, with the grocer situated further back on the western side of the plaza. The outparcels would house many of the smaller businesses today located in the center.

Both access improvements and a strong anchor tenant are key to reviving the shopping center's fortunes, as the older facility has suffered a number of business departures despite strong local demographics. Most recently, the new arrival BookDabbler announced it would close up shop soon due to slow traffic.

City managers: It's a hard luck life

The waiting game continues for the city manager deliberations, with Council wrapping up its umpteenth discussion of the issue. Like we suspect a lot of newsers sniffing around City Hall, there's nothing fully-baked to a stage where it can be printed, meaning everybody's pretty much waiting for hizoner and the Council to announce what the next steps are.

So what do we do while we wait? We dig up old news stories, that's what!

If there's anything you learn from doing so, it's that the tenure of a city manager well resembles the philosopher Thomas Hobbes' description of life without society: solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

Take this spine-tingling situation that ex-Peoria manager Randy Oliver found himself in way back in ought-five:

Security measures were beefed up around Augusta's former administrator Randy Oliver recently while police in Peoria, Ill., where he's city manager, investigated whether two e-mails sent to him by a disbarred attorney were threatening.

One e-mail reads, in part (all original spelling preserved): "My warning: not everybody is as balance as I, and possessing the belief that bad things happen to bad bureaucrats who make people feel like they have no rights and that they lost everything. It is ironic that we have such a recent example of what some people will do to actors in the judicial system, when they feel that they have nothing left to lose."

In an obvious reference to Mr. Oliver, another reads: "Think about it, someone seeing red could step off the elevator on the second floor, right past the non-existent metal detectors, take a right instead of a left and figure the guy in the nice suit, in the big toward the north, must be at least somewhat responsible for the Housing Court treachery.

"Sure, they'll get prosecuted, but that and the consolation boquet of flowers ... would be small consolation to Mrs. Oliver and the Oliver children as they take the U-Haul back to Georigia."

"The Addison" nears completion downtown as apartments, retail, office space

It's good to have the occasional good news to print about downtown development in the midst of the national (and, recently, local) real estate slowdown. A tip of the hat to the Herald-Sun for doing just that on Tuesday with Monica Chen's piece on the reclamation of 413 E. Chapel Hill St., an 18,000 sq. ft. building just down the street from the popular Rue Cler.

Cliff Zinner is finishing renovations to the structure, which will be known as The Addison after a former toy store at the location.

The Addison joins The Eleanor condos around the corner on Rigsbee Ave., where the John Warsalia project keeps its public face in a jar by the door in the form of events space Rigsbee Hall. (We doubt the much-maligned, mostly-mocked The Oprah 'round the corner on Corcoran is due for change anytime soon, though Warsalia reportedly hopes to get The Bargain [Furniture Bldg.] underway later this year.)

The H-S notes that The Addison will host ten apartments ranging from 533 to 1,190 sq. ft., or about $13-17/sq. ft./year, which ain't bad for rental space if you're a landlord. A rooftop deck, granite counters, and in-unit washer-dryers are among the amenities.

The Addison's had an interesting recent history. Bought by the Durham Regional Financial Center with money garnered from earmarks from U.S. Rep. David Price's office, the Center held on to the building and worked to renovate it for several years before itself falling into bankruptcy in 2003. An odd position for a non-profit whose specialties included debt counseling to find itself in, though it didn't stop the City from bringing in DRFC three years later to accept a proclamation from the City Council for -- wait for it -- Dollar Wi$e Week, as the N&O pointed out in 2006.

Anyway, here's hoping for a better turn under Zinner's management, especially since the builder sunk between $2 and $2.5 million in buying and renovating the structure. For the first floor, a renovated storefront greets retail space; downstairs is your typical subterranean office space, including what looks to be storage units for apartment-dwellers and bikes and 3,000+ sq. ft. of cube-ready work area. (More details are available at the Maverick Partners web site.)

It's official: Howerton squeaks by Foster for fifth BOCC seat

Durham's Board of Elections has finished approving the processed provisional ballots from last week's Democratic primary, and it's official: Brenda Howerton has managed to maintain her lead over Fred Foster Jr. to claim the fifth and final seat for the next four years on the Board of County Commissioners.

Howerton held a roughly 800 vote lead at the end of the night last Tuesday, but as the official results show, the Frank Hyman-helmed campaign ended up just 554 votes ahead of Durham's NAACP chief. Foster picked up 731 votes in the provisional round -- almost identical to the 730 Joe Bowser picked up in the accepted provisionals -- and well ahead of Howerton's 477 gain.

Barack Obama picked up 88% of the provisional votes cast in the Democratic presidential race, for whatever that's worth -- with almost 97% of provisional ballots marking some preference for a presidential candidate across party lines.

You can read more over at the Herald-Sun, where Matthew E. "Lil' Gronberg" Milliken filed a report on the subject Wed. morning. Of interest: the run-off to which Leigh Bordley is entitled in her school board race against DCABP-backed Jonathan Alston will cost $110,000, a chunk of change not too dissimilar from the $175,000 tab for the May 6 primary.

Which is not a complaint -- democracy's a great bargain, really -- but more a realization of just how much it costs to staff 'em, mark 'em, and count 'em right, something Durham does quite well.

Speaking of which, Alston picked up 755 votes from provisionals, to 277 for Bordley and 507 for Nancy Cox. Tracy Cline, meanwhile, added 704 votes to her total.

Another look at ATT I-40 bridge concepts

I missed the American Tobacco Trail Phase E project update meeting a couple of weeks back due to travel plans, but a reader was kind enough to send in the following photos of the scale models that have been put together giving a sense of the scale, massing and shape of two of the designs.

Though these two designs would be custom-design rather than off-the-shelf bridges, it's estimated that these would be no more expensive to build than a standard design, which is good news for the project budget -- a budget which ATT hero and trails advocate Bill Bussey points out erodes by almost $1,800 a day just due to inflation.

First up is my personal favorite, the cable-stayed "Triangle" bridge:

News groaner of the day, Part II

First, the good news: Fortune Small Business has named Durham the #12 city in which to live and launch a small business. Citing factors from its high-tech and life sciences industry, to American Tobacco, to the Bulls and Nasher, Durham beats out Manchester, Virginia Beach, Salt Lake City, and -- yes -- Raleigh to be listed in the dozen best cities in this year's poll.

To its credit, Raleigh-based WRAL notes the accomplishment on its web site. But somehow, the words "damning with faint praise" comes to mind:

Durham, often the overlooked stepchild when it comes to publicity about the Triangle area, emerges ahead of its rivals in a new survey out from Fortune Small Business...

Noting accurately in its profile that Durham is “perceived as the underdog of the Triangle region,” the magazine describes the “pros” of the Bull City thusly: “Thriving biotech and pharmaceutical industries, lots of local arts festivals and college sports.”...

Other kudos for Durham include the Nasher Museum of Art and a “lower cost of living,” but it’s marked down for crime. “[T]he city also records higher crime rates, which has dinged its reputation in the region.”

Ironically, Bellevue, Wash., topped the list. That happens to be where Durham-based Motricity is moving its headquarters.

Gee, thanks, Mr. Goodmon! We're sorry we've been bad; can you let us out of the basement? It's dark down here, and there are spiders. We'll be as good to you as your real children. We'll play nice with Clayton and Varina and Holly, honest!

A few folks have asked me if they can get a hold of the t-shirt I had printed up (which says across the front, "I'm sorry, I think you mean 'Durham-Raleigh'") -- I suppose the next one I'll get printed up will say, "Durham: The Overlooked (Brilliant, Progressive, Gourmet, Diverse) Stepchild of the Triangle."

Sheesh. If you feel up to it (and happen to have a particularly effective asbestos-lined suit), the conservative commenters over at WRAL are eating this particular subject up with dripping irony.

News groaner of the day

This one comes from the N&O, reporting the news that USA Baseball is carrying on its Tar Heel state tradition again in this Olympic year:

U.S. baseball to play 4 games in Cary

The Associated Press

DURHAM - The U.S. Olympic baseball team will play four exhibition games in North Carolina before heading to the Beijing Games.

USA Baseball officials on Tuesday announced the team's pre-Olympic schedule. The U.S. will play Canada once at USA Baseball's national training complex in Cary on Aug. 1, and three times in Durham on Aug. 2-4.

The Americans have qualified for the Olympics in baseball for the first time since winning the gold at the Sydney Games in 2000....

Anyone see the problem with this one? Big question is, did the headline come from the AP or the Raleigh folks?

New biz: 1013 W. Main (at last), Grayson's north, and Chubby's Tacos

In the hubbub of election week (a subject covered well by The Durham News in its wrap-up this week, and which the H-S points out ain't over until the provisional ballots sing) I've fallen behind on mentioning a few new local eats that have opened up here in Durham.

I personally first learned about two of the three over at Carpe Durham, a terrific new blog written by an enterprising group of Duke Law students trying out every restaurant in the Bull City -- and I literally mean everywhere, from the top-shelf gourmands to the holes-in-the-wall, and everything in-between. (CD is looking for guest bloggers whilst the legal eagles are off testing their wings this summer, by the way.)

First off, the establishment formerly almost known as Gatsby's near Brightleaf Square has opened up under the new, and slightly less imaginative, moniker of 1013 W. Main, which not coincidentally happens to be the street address. The former Bread & Kabob now is serving up alcoholic beverages and American fare; it seems targeted primarily at the Dukies wandering downtown from East Campus, especially given the presence of an upstairs private-party room likely destined for Greek life functions.

Secondly, Carpe Durham and the N&O Bull's Eye blog report that Xiloa on Ninth Street has been replaced by Chubby's Tacos, a basic taqueria next door to Metro 8 (which, if you're a steak lover, you should check out.) The early line on the place from Chowhound and Carpe Durham has been favorable and suggests another new, inexpensive dining option for Ninth, as long as this business can avoid the apparent curse of its particular location.

Not to be missed: the retail and dining desert that is occasionally called North Durham gains a new eatery, as Grayson's Cafe opens its third location, joing the Chapel Hill Rd. and Museum of Life and Science locations. Grayson's features sandwiches, salads, and wraps, and CD reports free wi-fi at their new location, which is situated in the Staples/Rose's-anchored North Duke Crossings at Roxboro/Duke and Horton Rd.