Bull City Rising

Infinity & Roxboro, and the North Durham shopping conundrum

At the most recent City/County Planning Commission meeting, the board voted to recommend approval of the rezoning of 28 acres on the northeast corner of the Infinity Road & Roxboro Road intersection in North Durham to support a mixed-use retail/office complex to be developed by Charlotte-based Crosland. A Target is rumored for the site (though whether that would morph into a Wally World by the time all is said and done would remain to be seen.)

I've gotten a fair stream of email over the past few months about this complex for readers looking for updates. Some have sounded in opposition to the project -- which does come perilously close to the Eno River -- but many more have supported the project in what sounds at times like a near-plea for more shopping options in the northern part of the city.

Retail options are pretty few and far between north of the I-85 freeway. There's the North Pointe retail conglomeration just north of the freeway, featuring a Costco, Kroger, Home Despot, and other chain stores. Oxford Commons off Roxboro has a few choices (though the rather rundown Wal-Mart's days seem numbered with the opening of the new SuperCenter off Glenn School Road) and a nearby Lowe's, and further north stand a Kroger and Food Lion along with a very small, outmoded Harris Teeter. But there's a scarcity of other retail options in this part of the Bull City. Heck, you have to go all the way down to Northgate for the nearest movie theater.

When I've talked with development folks about North Durham, the answer is always the same -- the demographics aren't there to fit the numbers that national retailers are looking for.

Well, I can't get my hands on numbers more recent than the 2000 Census. But let's take a look at what we have there. The numbers actually tell an interesting story... and perhaps one that is different than some would assume.

ATT satellite dish redux

Remember the satellite dishes we posted about here earlier in the week? The new ones that have sprouted up over next to the American Tobacco Trail?

I posted on the story more as a 'huh, isn't that interesting' heads-up to what the construction was all about. But the dishes have raised a chorus of outrage on the ABCDurham list and on Gary's blog from folks who want to see it disappear back to the American Tobacco campus -- or at least be better hidden.

Driving by the dishes on Friday, I was struck by how close the dishes are to the trail. Formerly there was a decent amount of space to the west side of the trailhead to stretch or just walk off a long ride. Now, the fence starts almost at the rear of the information kiosk for the trail.

I appreciate all that the American Tobacco complex has done for downtown Durham (and have been a vocal booster of the City and County's investments in redevelopment.) But I can't help that wish that something more aesthetically appropriate could be done with this parcel than to install satellite dishes on them.

I've dropped a note to Tommy Schenck, the GM of Fox 50 WRAZ, to see whether any more information is available about thee dishes, and I'll share anything I hear back.

Though I'd like to see them eventually relocate, there is an interesting historical parallel that strikes me as somehow appropriate about their new location. The dishes stand in almost the exact area where the railroad tracks carried work material into and out of the old American Tobacco factory. So too as that land was once the site that transported the outcome of the factory's commercial engine, so too do the dishes themselves in a 21st-century way. Today's work product, though, is a bit less tangible and a lot more high tech than the tobacco and cigarettes of yesteryear -- which is a pretty neat metaphor for how the ATC's function and commercial role, and that of Durham's as a whole, has changed.

Still, nice metaphors aren't worth jack when they're just icing on an eyesore. Though perhaps this will bring Durham closer to the alien landings we contemplated here a few months back?

Update: According to Schenck, this is the permanent new location of the satellite dishes, although with some additional form of buffers. I'm expecting some more details to come in from Fox 50's engineer as to what kind of buffers they have in mind.

Speaking of crime: Wait for the laughing to begin

So no sooner did I write this morning's post on Durham's crime reputation and reality (mathematical, at least), than this story comes in the hopper. From the N&O:

"Durham police have arrested a 93-year-old man on cocaine-trafficking and related charges.

William C. Tinnen was arrested Thursday during a raid at 204 Teel St., police said in a news release issued today. Police spokeswoman Kammie Michael said she assumed police had a tip that drug activity was taking place there.

In addition to trafficking, Tinnen is charged with possession of cocaine with the intent to sell or deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia and maintaining a dwelling for the sale of drugs. Officers also confiscated three firearms from the house."

I would be shocked if this hasn't made the news-of-the-weird and human-interest sections of once-proud, now-pandering outlets like CNN tomorrow, to say nothing of Drudge Report, which is certain to carry this on its home page, too. (Am I the only person who remembers when Matty Drudge was just a shrill annoying guy who posted to the alt.showbiz.gossip newsgroup? Anyway.)

A story like this is good for a chuckle in the media spotlight. Too bad this one comes from the Bull City's doorstep.

Durham crime numbers down -- again

A familiar refrain in the Herald-Sun and N&O today -- crime numbers are down in the Bull City. Homicides are at about the same level (11) as last year; should this rate hold throughout the calendar year, Durham's homicide rate per capita would rank below such urban gunfire hot-spots as South Bend, Ind., Providence, Palmdale, Calif., and Pueblo, Col.

Despite a spike in burglaries (driven, according to news reports, by the rise in lawn equipment and copper pipe/wiring thefts), overall property crime is down 2%, and violent crime altogether is down 11%.

What's interesting about these data is that they don't represent a one-year change, but the continuation of a many-year trend. Based on the statistics provided over at the City-Data web site, the overall "crime index" for Durham is down by 40% since 1999 -- still above the national average, but clearly trending towards average. Note too that these data end in 2005 and don't incorporate the further drop in aggregate violent and property crimes since then. (The red bar marks Durham's overall crime index, the orange bar the aggregated U.S. index.)

It's not a story you're going to hear every day in the paper (the N&O's lede today on the crime story: "There are 1,064 documented gang members in Durham, more than 300 more than were counted last year.") And certainly not something that you're going to see reflected in opinions of the Bull City from the eastern side of the Triangle.

And to be fair, there's still a long way to go. Crime disproportionately affects African-American and Latino members of our community and has had a devastating effect in parts of East Durham and Southwest Central Durham. But we're heading in the right direction.

It will be interesting to see which tact mayoral challenger Thomas Stith -- who's made crime in Durham a centerpiece of his campaign -- will take in the coming election. Will he continue to criticize what he's characterized as a non-response on the City's part to rising crime (a complaint that doesn't jibe so well with reality)? Or will he try to take credit, as a Durham City Council member since 1999, for the decline in crime rates? One can only wonder.

Duke first-years to roam downtown today

Downtown Durhamites, be on the lookout for Duke first-years in dark blue t-shirts wandering through the city center today. It's part of an orientation exercise for campus first-years, a scavenger hunt in which they have to photograph themselves at several points of historic import to the Bull City.

Good for Duke for bringing students out into the city and neighborhoods during their first weeks, continuing a program that's been in place for several years, though this is the first 'scavenger hunt' I can remember. (For the last two years, of course, sending the frosh downtown could have seen them fall into a mawing construction pit and break a bunch of limbs, which tends to make students' parents a bit concerned.)

Incidentally, this year's pre-reading for first years was "The Best of Enemies," Osha Gray Davidson's book chronicling the story of Ann Atwater and C. P. Ellis' antagonism-turned-friendship, as a black inner-city activist and a former Klan member came to stand together for school desegregation. I'm a few pages into the book myself and hope to wrap it up in the next week or so -- some more thoughts on the book itself at that time.

Satellite dishes at the ATT?

An attentive reader noticed the other day that the construction work happening just to the west of the Blackwell/Morehead American Tobacco Trail trailhead near downtown had resulted in the erection of a farm of satellite dishes popping up right behind the trail information sign.

What gives? Well, it turns out that the parcel on which the dishes are being erected belongs to the A.J. Fletcher Foundation -- Fletcher, of course, the founder of WRAL's radio and television stations, all part of today's Capitol Broadcasting.

Our best bet is that these dishes are replacements for the existing satellite dishes supporting Fox 50 WRAZ, which broadcasts out of the Diamond View I building in the DBAP's outfield. The dishes today sit to the northeast of that building, on the space where Diamond View III and residential units will be built in the near future. (I haven't looked closely, but it's conceivable those dishes are actually in the way of the road access into the American Tobacco East Deck.)

RTP, drought, water fights, and Rolan: Red sky at morning

Four news stories of different, unrelated origin over the past week all combine to paint an interesting picture -- and one the Triangle in general, sometimes even more so than Durham, needs to watch closely.

• First, Durham and the state notes this week with sadness the passing of Marcus Hobbs, a former Duke provost who was instrumental in the creation of Research Triangle Park. RTP has been one of the world's most successful technology and R&D parks and is responsible for the boom in the population of the Triangle. (Duke's news service has a very appropriate tribute; a memorial service is scheduled for September 9.)
• Second, we're in the midst of one of the worst droughts on record in the state, with August measuring up as the hottest month for the region in its history, with Tuesday's high of 105 degrees hitting that mark for just the third time in over sixty years, per the N&O.
• Third, Raleigh -- which along with Wake County has taken a far more free-wheeling path to approving residential development en masse, supporting RTP's growth -- is spoiling for a water fight with neighboring and also fast-growing Franklin County, which wants to use the Neuse River as a water source. The N&O points to irrigation systems in the increasingly-large homes in subdivisions as the key driver of increased water use.
• Fourth, September 1 marks the retirement of Terry Rolan, Durham's water manager for a quarter-century and a key driver in the long-term improvement of Durham's water supply. The lead debacle unfortunately sticks in most people's minds due to its recency, but a look at Durham's current ample supply of water (and accompanying low water restrictions) puts truth to the point that he has been a very capable leader and forward thinker for Durham for more than 30 years.

What creates an interesting convergence between all these stories is a simple theme: poorly-planned growth coupled with increasingly unpredictable weather will imperil the Triangle's water supply in the coming twenty years.

The question is simply a matter of when.

Monday's City Council meeting: street/sidewalk bond, DAP move forward, group homes don't

I set the TiVo to tape the City Council meeting last night. I told it to tape for seven hours, just in case that much time was needed to hear all the issues on the table.

Well, it didn't run seven hours, but it felt like it at times.

As is being widely reported today, the Council did vote to rescind the Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood land transfers to Housing for New Hope and Dominion Ministries, but only after a series of parliamentary adventures and misadventures that began to resemble a bad Britcom. In the end, the board voted to follow an upset bid process for the land disposition, with the caveat that any proceeds from the sale go to support affordable housing needs in the community.

I thought the Cleveland-Holloway neighbors by and large got to the central point of the discussion here: that their neighborhood is not opposed to social services being located in their community, but that their community is already saturated with a density of these facilities not seen anywhere else in Durham, or likely the Triangle for that matter. It was disappointing to see some members of Council seemingly so fixated on the important goal of ending homelessness in ten years that they want to see these facilities developed anywhere it's possible, simply to meet the crushing demand.

Councilwoman Catotti made this point in responding to some of the neighbors' concerns, noting that the surplus property program was the tool at Durham's disposal to provide resources to non-profits.

With respectfulness to a Council member who I know has the best intents at heart, I look to my politicians for leadership to make the right call on the matter of public interest. But I look to social scientists and public policy researchers -- not elected politicians -- to inform what the right decision is. And the research, as abstracted by Michael at The Bull in Full, is clear: high density of these facilities is exactly the wrong thing for the long-term health and success of the facilities' residents, to say nothing of an East Durham that is already suffering from neglect and blight.

If Council wants to use the surplus program to support non-profits, great. But do so in a way that respects and reflects neighborhood needs. In some cases, this may mean selling the surplus properties for community or market-rate housing uses, then turning around the funds to buy properties in other neighborhoods throughout North, South, and Central Durham.

Because I'd rather see my own neighborhood of Trinity Park, or my friends in Walltown and Watts-Hillandale and Duke Park and Old West Durham, get some of these facilities, than to see Cleveland-Holloway and its neighbors get them all.

The debate over Cleveland-Holloway has ended, but the debate on whether Durham can hew to good public policy decisions on future transfers is still to be fought.

Welcome, student friends, to the Bull City show

I wanted to dedicate this morning's post to Durham's newest residents -- its fair college students, matriculating at NC Central University or Duke University for the first time, perhaps, or returning for a further year of studies. The ride into town is a bit less magical than the Hogwarts Express (please do dodge the potholes, they're not just there for the aesthetics), but once you're here, I hope you'll join in in discovering the great things that the Bull City has to offer.

What's that, you say? There's great things in Durham? Surely you jest, you must think.

Well, I'm not kidding. But I understand where you're coming from. Fifteen years ago, when I was touring college towns to make my own undergraduate choice, I took a look at Durham and headed right back to I-85. It wasn't until a number of years later that I realized that Durham was the right place for my wife and I to live, the place we felt most at home anywhere we'd lived on the East Coast. (I've chronicled that transformation on this earlier blog post.)

I think one of the most jarring things for many new residents of the Bull City -- particularly those hailing from Long Island, or Newton/Wellesley, or Plano, or Manassas, or the like -- is that Durham doesn't look like suburban America. Everything isn't tied up in neat subdivisions and strip malls, outparcels and freeways. Those things exist here, too, but there are actual streets and blocks that haven't (entirely) been torn up for re-development. There are old tobacco and textile factories that haven't been demolished, but instead form the bulk of the skyline.

There are poor people here -- wealthy people, too, but plenty of poor people. And African-Americans and Latinos and Asians and Native Americans, and Caucasians too.

Frank Duke to leave City/County Planning

Durham's press office released the news today that City/County Planning director Frank Duke would be leaving his office on September 21 to accept the same post in Norfolk, Va.'s city government. Interim leadership for the Durham department is to be named by city manager Patrick Baker and county manager Mike Ruffin later this week.

From what I've gleaned in talking to stakeholders who've interacted with the department, this represents a real loss for the city from a leadership perspective. Planning has had at times an uneven reputation relative to peer departments in the Triangle, but Frank Duke always has stood out as a capable head of the area. His most notable public accomplishment was guiding the city and county through the Unified Development Ordinance process several years back.

To others, though, Frank Duke has also been the responsible and responsive go-to person when issues got stuck somewhere in the bureaucracy -- a human WD-40 for the cogs and gears of government. One can ask the question as to whether new leadership can affect a change or improvement in department through and through, not just at the 'boxtop' level.