Some of the stories we've been watching over the weekend and into the morning in the Bull City:
- NCDOT officials have concurred that the taking of the Los Primos grocery store by the controversial Alston Ave. widening constitutes an environmental justice issue (it's the only grocery in walking distance for many East Durham residents) and is working to either slightly re-route the widening path or to help find a new home for the grocery, perhaps at an old Winn-Dixie a few blocks away. (H-S)
- Residents near Treyburn succeeded in getting the County Commissioners to delay a vote on a land use change to allow a new middle school to be built on Snow Hill Rd., adjacent to a forthcoming city park, to consider safety and traffic issues. The City Council takes up the matter tonight. (H-S)
- City staff promise to make this year's budget process transparent to citizens, between the usual coffees-with-council and a new budget education session; this weekend's first such coffee confab saw the city's budget director note that public safety services aren't likely to be cut but emphasize that this is a tough year. Councilman Howard Clement used the occasion to press for a city-county merger as a way of funding unmet needs; we here at BCR aren't sure if he's factored in the large deficit that government is seeing. (H-S)
- City manager Tom Bonfield has asked staff to find a tenant to take over the soon-to-be-old DATA station on the Downtown Loop once service shifts to the new Durham Station this Sunday. Bonfield frets that he doesn't seem to see any firm plans for the 15-or-so-year-old structure, though an anonymous commenter at the H-S suggests some staff have had suggestions? (H-S)
- Northgate's new manager addresses the question of store losses by noting that while the mall has lost 15,000 sq. ft. in tenants in the past eighteen months -- with Carlton Cards confirmed to be closing shortly -- 20,000 sq. ft. in leases are on the way, including reliable standby the N.C. Hammock Co. in the Great Outdoor Provision Co.'s space, and with mall retailers rumbling a bookstore is on its way. (H-S)
- The County is taking over management of its Triangle Wastewater Treatment Plant just after midnight on Wed. morning, after United Water terminated its contract in the wake of some county staff complaints about the outsourced management of the plant. (H-S)
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