Bull City Rising

Downtown retail: Beyu Caffe to Snow Bldg., whiskey bar nearly done, Garden Salon to Erwin Rd., Tire King moves

There's quite a bit happening of late on the downtown retail scene, which despite the economic doldrums sees a couple of previously-announced projects moving right along.

One of those: Beyu Caffe, a coffeehouse in the works from Duke grad Dorian Bolden that promises to bring espresso, coffee, a full bar, plus music, spoken word and other entertainment. Bolden's been working on his planned opening for some time, a project that's included a couple of starts and stops on finding a site for the business.

A search that's now ended, with word from Bolden that his start-up has signed a lease to occupy the ground floor of the historic Snow Building, near Toast and Center Studio Architecture on W. Main Street. No word on upfit times or opening dates at this point. (See the forthcoming issue of Durham Magazine for more on Bolden, profiled as one of Durham's young entrepreneurs for BCR's inaugural column in the bimonthly.)

Also making progress: the previously-reported whiskey bar underway in the one-time Five Points Cafe space next door to Toast.

Doughman, Taste of Durham, Central Market BBQ, ACC baseball highlight Bull City weekend

Many Durhamites will doubtlessly be traveling this weekend, hitting the beaches and the mountains to enjoy the kickoff of the summer season.

But if you're sticking around, there's plenty to do right here in town.

First up: the second-annual Doughman competition will be served up. The gastronomic race mixes quadrathlon activities with intensive food consumption at Blu Seafood, Four Square, Nosh, the Daisy Cakes cupcakes truck, and Dain's Place -- the latter of which will require one lucky competitor to devour "The Portable Defibrilator" burger before running to meet their teammates.

The Travel Channel's Adam Richman will be on hand, participating in the race and filming it for a future episode of his show Man v. Food. The race kicks off at 8am at Blu, with teams expected to wrap between 9am and 11am at the Farmer's Market Pavilion downtown. Proceeds from this year's race benefit SEEDS's Durham Inner-city Gardeners youth program.

A more distal food activity: Taste of Durham, the one-time Brightleaf Square event being held this year again at the Imperial Center off I-40 and Page Rd. Local and chain restaurants participating this year include Baba Ghannouj, Bocci, Cold Stone Creamery, the Joe Van Gogh coffeehouse, The Melting Pot, Nikos Taverna, and Vita, among others.

Weird Twitter comment on Bulls players call-up spurs Tampa Bay Rays fans' guessing game

The Durham Bulls have been doing a nice job with their Twitter feed this year -- even offering discount $1 tickets to the first fans to reply last week, something they said was a one-time thing.

Now a Twitter update from the Bulls' account has created something of a fun guessing game over at the Tampa Bay Rays fan site DRaysBay.

This tweet started it all, late night on Thursday:

+@#" and *#@+;! just got called up to the bigs.

So the Bulls seem to have lost two players to the Major Leagues -- but who? 

Is this the seekret code Wool E. Bull and the Blue Monster use to communicate without interference from their Capitol Broadcasting overlords (recently intercepted message: "If another tyke pulls my tail, I'm loadin' my t-shirt gun with grenades, as soon as I bust outta this cage!")

Will pitching phenoms David Price or Wade Davis be gone, to help out the Rays' struggling pitching rotation? Or will it be another position player heading up?

No matter what, this innocent (or not) little tweet has led to almost 600 comments at DRaysBay. Check out the thread here.

Certainly the mystery is leading some of the Rays' rabid fans an opportunity to impatiently mutter words best represented by characters like *#@+;!.

(Hat tip to Watching Durham Bulls Baseball for the run-down.)

Durham makes another "top cities" list -- but don't look for this to get, er, run up the "flagpole"

Folks like the leaders of the Durham Chamber of Commerce and Reyn Bowman of the DCVB are usually quick to boast when Durham makes one top ten list or another. Such accolades get regularly added to the "Make !T Durham" executive-recruiting campaign that the Chamber runs, or appear in one of the DCVB's occasional email blasts that trumpet the best of the Bull City.

Now Men's Health magazine has given Durham another trumpeting tribute, having taken a long, hard look at one of the rankings that only such a periodical could bring.

Durham found itself in stiff competition -- one hundred other cities and metro areas, to be precise -- but stood tall to prevail, ranking sixth in the U.S. among...

...cities that don't need Viagra.

BCR's Daily Fishwrap Report for May 22, 2009

Breaking: A tanker railcar carrying sodium hydroxide burst when being connected to a train at an East Durham railyard. No evacuations have been required as no residents live within 150' of the site, but hazmat crews are on site directing clean-up. (NBC 17)

In other news:

• This year's crime reduction trend continues, with the major crimes rate down 7% through April, and violent crimes down a total of 18% versus 2008. DPD Chief Jose Lopez mentioned to City Council on Thursday that the arrest of a number of persons suspected of committing multiple crimes, most of whom are in the county jail on high bond or no bond, according to the H-S' reporting. Rape rates show the only significant increase, with Lopez noting most of those are acquaintance-based reports. (H-S)
• The region netted 110,000 new jobs over the last five years, with Durham County adding 14,258 versus Wake's 67,981; the numbers came from the thirteen-county Research Triangle Regional Partnership, which met its 100k five-years jobs creation goal -- although, as the TBJ notes, data from NC's Employment Security Commission doesn't allow the RTRP to determine how much job growth came in the ten clustered areas the partnership focused on in the last five years, including nanoscale technology, informatics and infectious diseases. (On the latter count, the H-S notes the RTRP's chair bemoaning local opposition dooming the National Bio-Agro Defense Facility's proposed Butner location.) (H-S, TBJ)
• The City Council heard a favorable report on the DPAC yesterday that highlighted strong season ticket and single-performance sales and high satisfaction ratings on post-show surveys on categories like parking, security, and traffic. The DPAC's oversight board has proposed an initial list of tweaks and improvements to the facility, which will be paid for out of a dedicated fund that draws $1 per ticket sold, dedicated to upgrades and improvements. Improvements targeted include better seat numbering, house lighting control improvements, and a number of other items "value engineered" out of the original project for cost reasons. (H-S, NBC 17)
• S&K Menswear is closing all of its stores nationwide, including outlets at Southpoint's Renaissance Center and Northgate Mall. (TBJ)
• The DCVB reports that the number of visitors to Durham in 2008 topped 6 million for the first time ever, though more of those visitors (82%) are day-trippers versus overnight travelers, reflecting perhaps the state of the economy. (TBJ)

Reason no. 24 why we love Durham neighborhood listservs: haiku storms

One of the best things about living near downtown are the historic neighborhoods coming back to life. And one of the best things about those neighborhoods -- usually (and you know who you are) -- are the listservs that enliven the digital commons.

To wit: Recently seen on the Watts-Hillandale listerv, a plea for help in finding a precious lost pink bear; a child's beloved, perhaps, or just a sentimental adult possession, we don't know.

And to "wit" indeed -- or make that witty, with the all-points-bulletin taking the form of a haiku.

the bear she is gone
on the path round englewood
or club boulevard

call if she is found
867-5309*         [* number redacted, natch]
thank you very much

Immediately, the neighbors began to pound the pavement. This first reply, from one Dr. Doolittle:

Honeybees tell me
your bear is lost, but they lie,
buzzing the clover.

Downtown couple looks to form child-care co-op

The nice thing about living in Durham and commuting to Raleigh is, you've got a so-called "reverse commute," with no traffic to speak of.

Unless, that is, the one commuting to the City of Oaks is your small child, heading to a Raleigh day care. And since they don't drive, naturally, it's the parent hauling them there and back.

Such is the life of Elaine McVey and her husband, newcomers from northwest Raleigh who decided that they "didn't like our cookie-cutter neighborhood with its nutty homeowner's association," in McVey's words, "and because we found maintaining our large house and yard overwhelming and unsatisfying."

Renting now on Trinity Ave. near downtown but looking to buy in the next year -- but definitely planning to stay in the Bull City -- McVey has had only one quibble with her newfound home city: child care offerings.

City facilities upgrades, home energy improvements hallmarks of Durham's energy block grants

One of the themes that Mayor Bell has raised consistently since the Federal government began talking about stimulus packages has been energy efficiency.

In fact, upon his return from a trip to Washington earlier this year, Bell talked about getting a few minutes of new Energy Dept. secretary Steven Chu's time on the fly-up, with hizzoner excited about the prospects for Federal stimulus dollars supporting energy efficiency.

Well, the stimulus package is out, and its Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program is underway, overseen in Durham by City/County sustainability coordinator Tobin Fried.

Fried announced in an email (sent along to the InterNeighborhood Council's list by INC president Craigie Sanders) that the City has determined its plans for the nearly $2.2 million in funding it expects to receive. The programs will begin later this year or early next, Fried says.

BCR's Daily Fishwrap Report for May 21, 2009

In today's news:

• China Medical City -- one of the Asian power's major life sciences park -- has signed a $5 million deal with RTP non-profit The Hamner Institutes of Health Sciences to create an international pharmaceutical development institute by which research innovation at the Hamner will transition to China Medical City for further commercial development. The partnership is expected to yield 400 professional/high-tech positions and an equal number of construction jobs here in NC; China's government noted their interest in RTP and surrounding entities like Duke as the human capital headquarters of the state. (H-S)
• Speaking at a Durham event to honor his late mother and the recently-deceased Dr. John Hope Franklin for their work on literacy issues (H-S), native son and film producer Thom Mount expressed his ongoing interest at filming a sequel to Bull Durham. Mount noted he has a script under development by Ron Shelton, and that he's working with MGM on a distribution deal to help make the picture a reality. Mount originally hoped filming could begin this spring; he now hopes to talk casting this fall. (H-S)
• The N&O reports that a Federal magistrate scoffed at former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani's son's attempt to sue Duke University for "break of contract" because they kicked him off the golf team; the opinion issued by Wallace Dixon of NC's Middle District makes repeated references to the movie "Caddyshack" in criticizing the filing. (N&O)
• Durham Tech held its commencement exercises before a crowd of over 2,000 at the DPAC downtown yesterday. (H-S)
• Today marks Day Two of the Herald-Sun's insertion of longtime columnist John McCann into courtroom reporting, complete with the folksy mannerisms McCann has become, er, legendary for. In today's episode, the intrepid scribe focuses on the human side of the voir dire process. Our favorite excerpt:
  
  "Speaking of weapons, those in the courtroom got a chuckle from a lady who informed Dornfried that she's in a sorority and her husband is in a fraternity, so they keep two big paddles within reach, and not just for memorabilia, either. Should the home alarm sound, they will secure those paddles and proceed to bop a burglar, the lady said." (H-S)

And, in something newsworthy to only about two people in the world, I'd be remiss if I didn't thank my lovely wife for having, somehow and someway, managed to find it in her heart to put up with me for a whole ten years' worth of matrimony as of today. It's been a long road from Nashua and we're not looking back. Thanks, love.

ATC's Cuban Revolution prepares to bow in June timeframe

Construction work has been continuing at a steady pace in the old Symposium Cafe site at American Tobacco, which is set to debut in renovated fashion as Cuban Revolution, a new restaurant and bar opening its first location outside of Providence, R.I.

Cuban Revolution's arrival as a "mid-year" addition to the ATC came back in December, simultaneous with Capitol Broadcasting's announcement that the little-missed 'Pose would be closing, and that the much-hoped-for Ben Benson's Steakhouse was delayed for an unknown length of time due to the economy.