DCVB: Durham loves itself, Wake wants to "just be friends"

Durham's convention and visitor bureau released highlights from its annual survey of Durham (and neighboring Triangle area) residents on life in the Bull City, from data on feelings of community pride to safety and perception.

Although I think sometimes city boosters can get a bit breathless in their relentless optimism for Durham -- anyone at the downtown plan charette who saw a Downtown Durham Inc. rep say with a straight face that Wittenberg's The Renaissance at Durham Centre would break ground in 2007 knows what I mean -- I think the DCVB deserves credit for speaking to issues of perception that few leaders dare to.

Unsurprisingly, the surveys again found that folks who live in Durham have a much higher opinion of the Bull City than those who don't. We touched last month on what could be one cause of this -- namely, data on in-migration patterns that show that suburbanites from Long Island, Cobb County, Tampa Bay and the like pick the more economically-exclusive world of Wake County in droves, while city-dwellers from NY, DC, Chicago and the like are more likely to end up in Durham statistically speaking.

Durham is pretty clearly an urban environment, and I suspect to some extent, folks who chose not to live here were rejecting their stereotypes of what a diverse, integrated city is as much as the reality. That's borne out in the DCVB's data, which finds that although Orange County residents have positive opinions of Durham by a 4:1 ratio, and Wake residents by a 2:1 ratio, more than 50% of the residents polled would "expect a negative experience" in Durham, if they listened to what others say about the Bull City.

DCVB reconciles these contradictory data to mean that there's a vocal minority of Derm-haters out there filled with verbal vitriol towards the city. I don't think that interpretation's off the mark. Take a trip over to WRAL's web site comment boards, for instance, and you will literally hear outlandishly racist terms like "monkey" used to describe African-American suspects of crime in Durham, or people making cracks about needing bulletproof vests before they'll enter the city.

(Speaking of the vocal minority -- can anyone explain why the Herald-Sun prints new letters each week from the same Durham-bashing wingnuts hiding out in bastions of urbanity like Oxford, NC? I know they don't have many subscribers left, but surely they must get more letters than they can print, right?)

What's interesting in the DCVB's data is what you see when you dig a few more layers in to the data, especially where Durhamites' own opinions are concerned:

• 85% of residents agree or strongly agree that they feel safe in their own neighborhoods; just 1% strongly disagree, with another 7% just disagreeing. (Sadly, I'm sure the family of the heroic Quincy Bowens would be counted in that 1%.)
• The percentage of residents who express pride in Durham outnumbers those who do not by a 5.3-to-1 ratio. DCVB claims this is a high percentage for a city, though I haven't seen comparative data on that.

So why the negativity from residents of other areas? Must be all the crime, right? Well, the DCVB asked this, too, of Orange, Wake and Durham residents:

When asked the reasons behind the negative word of mouth, responses varied by county but by population mass, “Class” was first, followed by “Intolerance” tied with “Ignorance” for second, ”Envy” and “Rivalry” tied for third. “Crime” and “Sense of Safety” followed last.

Note that these results above are weighted towards the entire population mass (Durham's leading choices were Rivalry and Crime, which were clearly outvoted by respondents in Wake/Orange.) Which points to a theory that many who love Durham have suspected for some time: Durham-bashers don't hate Durham for objective measures like rates of crime, but for the subjective factor of its being a more diverse, socioeconomically integrated community.

Because Durham, after all, has far more families in poverty than Knightdale -- which continues along its little quest to exclude affordable housing, according to the Eastern Wake News -- but also more million-dollar homes than the Beast of East Wake, either. Wakies don't get that. "If you're rich," they posit, "why wouldn't you want to live with other rich neighbors? Why, they make gated communities for folks like you."

Ultimately, this is a reflection of a deeper sickness in American society, one which transplants bring with them. Until we tackle this larger problem, the folks who choose Wake will still never understand why those of us who love Durham care about it with such a passion.

Comments

[Jill]

"Take a trip over to WRAL's web site comment boards, for instance, and you will literally hear outlandishly racist terms like "monkey" used to describe African-American suspects of crime in Durham, or people making cracks about needing bulletproof vests before they'll enter the city."

There was a very intelligent (I use this term sarcastically) person commenting on the item about Quincy Bowens who said the entire city of Durham should be bulldozed. How incredibly ignorant can you be? My family & I moved here a year ago after 6 years in Raleigh & couldn't be happier. If we couldn't move to Portland (way too expensive and the weather isn't the best), this was a pretty close second for us. And in case you're wondering why it took us so long to move here, it was because of a first child & lack of money. Otherwise we would have been here sooner.

[anon]

DCVB data and ignorant comments on WRAL message boards aside, I have met many Raleigh residents who are quite interested in and excited about what is going on in downtown Durham. I have also found that many Durhamites, especially those who are older natives, have very negative attitudes towards their own city. My next door neighbor is one of the worst Durham bashers I have met, but that is probably because during most of his lifetime the City was in decline, crime went up, scandals occured (they still do), etc. For a while, there really wasn't a whole lot of good going on in the Bull City.

I think it is too easy to classify those in Raleigh as being closed minded and ignorant about Durham and to paint a picture of Raleigh as being gated subdivision after gated subdivision and strip mall after strip mall. In my experience, inside the beltline in Raleigh is actually very cool, with lots of intact historic neighborhoods and locally owned stores and restaurants. By the numbers, and perhaps by our personal experiences and visual interpretations, Durham may look, feel and be more "urban" than Raleigh. But let's not forget that Durham has more than its fair share of disconnected placeless subdivisions, strip malls, ugly expanses of suburban decay (think 15-501 corridor) and a City Hall still hell-bent on demolishing homes in its designated urban historic neighborhoods. Point is, Raleigh has a lot of great assets as does Durham, and both cities have plenty of generic, Anywhere-USA sprawl.

As an aside, it should also be noted that real estate appreciation rates in Raleigh far surpass those in Durham. Since buying a home is a major investment, this is no small consideration for people moving here from other areas. Economic reasons are a major factor in deciding where to live, it is not just based on talk around the water cooler up in Jersey.