BCR's Daily Fishwrap Report for February 6, 2009

It's a busy news day in the Bull City:

• Fantastic news for Durham Public Schools, with the state announcing that Durham's dropout rate fell by 14%, bringing the district's rate well below the state average and two-hundredths of a percent behind Wake County. (H-S)
• The City Council voted yesterday to authorize Mayor Bell to lobby for only a partial implementation of the Jordan Lake Rules, whose current permutation could cost Durham almost $600m over 20 years. Legislators in upstream Haw River counties like Alamance are fighting all of the twelve proposed provisions, which could save the Triad a big clean-up cost but which would keep Jordan Lake downstream impaired. Fearing an environmentalist backlash to the Triad's opposition, look for hizzoner to push for a moderate middle-ground that calls for restrictions on new development but doesn't call for retrofitting existing developments -- the source of most of the expense. (H-S)
• County Commissioners heard this week that county manager Mike Ruffin is considering a 10% across-the-board budget reduction for most county departments given the growing financial deficits. Newly elected BOCC members Joe Bowser and Brenda Howerton announced their objections to both layoffs and tax increases. Costs for opening the South Regional Library and reopening the Southwest Regional Library post-renovation weren't factored in to the budget. (H-S)
• The American offshoot of the Grameen Bank Project -- the groundbreaking microfinance effort that earned Muhammad Yunus the Nobel Prize in '06 -- is considering setting up shop somewhere in North Carolina, and is collaborating with groups including Self-Help, which is supportive of the effort. Yunus was in town and spoke to overflow crowds at NC Central and UNC. (H-S)
• The City Council overruled the DATA Board of Trustees on Thursday, ordering city manager Tom Bonfield to restore a spur service on a temporary basis to Merrick-Moore Elementary while investigations continue on the route's future. The route was blamed for delays on Route 3 and the DATA trustees upheld its cancellation in their Wednesday meeting; although they're legally empowered to set routes, the Council mused that the trustees can't overrule a direct order to the city manager -- and are musing whether to revoke the DATA board's ability to serve in anything more than an advisory capacity. (H-S)
• Interim water management director Don Greeley is now taking the permanent department head role, after an internal and external search. (H-S)
• Lou Rollins, the long-time assistant to Phail Wynn during his time at Durham Tech and now Duke, is taking the leadership role in the successful Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership fundraising campaign this year. (H-S)
• Local non-profits have launched Triangle Gives Back as a way to help non-profits gain volunteers and donations in challenging times. (H-S)

Comments

[Tar Heelz]

On Jordan Lake Rules:

Our City Council decided that so long as "developers" (boo) are paying for expensive compliance with these draconian rules and NOT the City, they support them.

That there is some solid political hyprocrisy.

[Todd]

If the City and County are to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to comply with the Jordan Lake rules, a special stormwater utilities/taxing district should be created to pay for it.

Only the southern half of the county falls in the Jordan Lake watershed. Homeowners in the Falls Lake watershed should not be expected to pay for stormwater controls to be built exclusively in southern Durham and RTP.

[tired of the lack of unity]

Todd, does this mean the areas of Durham w/ out community centers can forgo paying city taxes that support them? Or areas w/ out library service (as it looks like SW Durham library might be closed longer than intended) also forgo paying county library tax? Or maybe those without kids can forgo the school taxes? Oh... AND can all residents who moved here after the Duke Lacrosse Scandel not have part of their taxes go to pay for any of that mess since we had no voice in the election of public officials??

[Todd]

tired,
Stormwater control is a utility, just like water and sewer. It touches every property.

If the city installs curb & gutter, or sidewalks, or water & sewer service on your street, the effected property owners are assessed for that improvement. These storm water improvements, if mandated for certain areas, should work the same way.

If you do not need this property level improvement because it is already there, or live in an area where it is not required, you shouldn't be on the hook to pay for it. The property owners who are being brought up to the current stormwater code are the ones who should be on the hook.

Stormwater control is completely different from community-wide services like schools, libraries, parks, fire & police - services that everyone benefits from even if they never directly use them.

[Erik]

I am disappointed with the City Council's decision on the Route 3 spur. Route 3 is interlined with Route 1 meaning that when it pulls into the DATA Terminal downtown, it leaves as Route 1. Those two routes both serve a lot of passengers and I know from personal experience that Route 1 has had on-time performance issues for a while.

So to serve those 5 people per day who go to Merrick-Moore, you are making trips worse for hundreds of others. Remember, DATA has a "pulse system" meaning that all of the routes that come to downtown are supposed to arrive and depart at the same time every 30 minutes. So if this additional part of the route makes you 5 minutes late to downtown, you then have to wait 25 minutes for the bus you needed to transfer to. And since it then departs 5 minutes late on Route 1, which often runs late, that particular trip will have trouble getting back to downtown on time.

So you're not only making passengers on those 4 particular trips late, you may also be causing a ripple effect of several other late trips. All for 5 people. Does City Council understand all of this? This is why you have planners on staff and a DATA Board to review their recommendations. To reverse their decision based on a couple of complaints is very shortsighted and a slap in the face to both staff and the Board.

And it ignores the real problem: the lack of sidewalks on Cheek Rd. The school is a 1/2 mile from the nearest current stop on Route 3. If there were a sidewalk along Cheek Rd. folks without cars could still access the school.

I hope they can find a more permanent solution soon because this will have more negative impacts than positive ones. And I hope City Council allows planners and the DATA Board to do their jobs.

[Peggy]

I agree with Erik about the Route 3 decision for all of the reasons he stated. The fact that they're willing to make other buses late and cause many others to miss their connections because of 5 riders every day? I don't get it. And it baffles me why the City Council is not only overruling a decision made by the DATA trustees, but is considering taking away the decision making authority from that group - the ones who deal with these issues all the time and know a lot more about the bus system than most other people. Does the City Council really want to take over the decisions about routes (or give it to someone else)? I, for one, would prefer that they concentrate on other issues (like maybe finally resolving the backyard chickens issue - sheesh) and leave transit planning to those who do this sort of thing for a living. But what do I know? I'm not a politician; I just ride the bus.