The Inter-Neighborhood Council -- which heard from representatives of Fairway Outdoor Advertising at last month's meeting -- will hear the opponents' side of the argument over changes to Durham's billboard ordinance.
Tom Miller, a fixture of local land-use and neighborhood discussions and one of the chief standard-bearers in Durham's decades-old battles over billboard ordinances, will present the "con" side to the industry's proposal, which would allow fix-up and relocation of current billboards and the conversion of some to electronic/digital signage.
(We here at BCR will unfortunately have to miss tonight's meeting due to a conflicting class schedule; any BCR readers want to attend and take notes?)
The presence of the item on the agenda comes after a pitched battle on the INC listserv in recent weeks, with arguments between proponents and opponents of billboards increasingly squabbling over the billboard proposal.
And the INC listserv suggests other discussions are happening as well off-list -- culminating with an email from west Durham real estate agent Leslie Page, who wrote an email to the INC list over the weekend "questioning [her] own eligibility to serve as Secretary of INC."
Page attends as a representative of the Durham Regional Association of Realtors. It's this affiliation that led Page to note -- after considering the situation upon receipt of an off-list email -- whether she is eligible to be an INC delegate, much less a board member:
"The DRAR joined INC in 2007 at the invitation of then President David Harris, who extended the offer of membership at a Delegate body meeting. We accepted the invitation, paid our dues, and I have attended meetings as its appointed delegate. Last November, I was elected to the Secretary position by the Delegate Body. I never thought to question whether or not we were eligible for membership and no one ever brought it up that I'm aware of.
However, in reading the by-laws, it would appear that the DRAR's membership is not valid, since we do not qualify for membership as per Section 2.1.1 or 2.1.2 of the INC By-Laws. http://www.durham-inc.org/
Page will continue to serve the duties of the secretary, but not vote, unless the INC executive board or delegates decide otherwise, she announced to the group.
The matter arose as part of a broader discussion about how connected INC representatives are to their neighborhoods, a concern that arose after one longtime INC gadfly asked how, if INC reps had overwhelmingly supported the meals tax, the measure had failed so badly at the polls?
Similar concerns have dogged the question of how connected neighborhood associations and HOA's are to their putative INC reps.
Given the tensions over the billboard debate, look for more discussion on the state of the inter-neighborhood union to continue in the months to follow.
Also up for discussion at Tuesday's meeting: the matter of urban chickens, as well as a brief discussion by the Rev. Mel Whitley about his proposed "bullet bill."
This month's INC meeting kicks off at 7pm at the Herald-Sun's Community Room on Pickett Rd.
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