Sunday's City Council candidate debate forum sponsored by Unity in the Community for Progress (UCP) was a fairly small affair, one dominated by political leaders and activists in Durham's black community, including Larry and Denise Hester, the Rev. Mel Whitley, Jackie Wagstaff, ex-Council member Thomas Stith, and a face that's been popping up on DTV8 screens more and more often -- Mozella McLaughlin, the property owner at the heart of one of Durham's key political controversies this fall.
And for last night's debate, a heated exchange between the 92-year-old McLaughlin and that (comparatively) young whippersnapper, Ward 2 incumbent Howard Clement, epitomized the nature of the dialogue in the often tense room.
(Want to hear the forum for yourself? Download BCR's audio recording of the forum from the Internet Archive.)
All five Ward 2 candidates were present, and save for Matt Drew -- who brings an entirely-orthagonal, anti-incentives position to this question -- the discussion of the afternoon event centered largely on whether Durham has invested too heavily in downtown and other "prosperous" areas while neglecting poorer, largely black districts like Fayetteville St. and North-East Central Durham.
Sandra Howell took the hardest line on this question, followed closely by Sylvester Williams.
Clement strongly defended his tenure, noting that he was part of a "team" of seven elected officials on Council that he said worked hard for what was best for Durham.
"Experience does matter. I'm not a Johnny-come-lately," Clement said, repeating a phrase he used at a Young Democrats event earlier in the week. "I don't think any of you have been embarrassed by my service," he added.
Clement noted that he had supported development in downtown, but also in neighborhoods around downtown, citing North-East Central Durham, Trinity Park and Walltown as examples. "Just read the record," he said.
Howell complained that Durham has ignored black communities for downtown and other neighborhoods.
"Economic development in our communities. When are they coming our way? We've been put to the side for a long time," Howell said. "But now it's time for us to have some things. We need for our community to look just like other communities. The City of Durham is not balanced, and all of you in here know it's not balanced, it's tilted."
"Because you can go down the Streets of Southpoint, Woodcroft, Ninth Street, Hillsborough Road, all those areas, and it looks like I want to be a part of that area. But what about where I live?" she said. "It still looks the same."
"How can you possibly stand up for North-East Central Durham and jump up and down and shout hooray? You look all around you, you see the poverty, you see the homes boarded up, you see the streets?" Sylvester Williams said. "When you go there, people are giving up because they think the CIty of Durham is not willing to invest in them," referring to the people he said lived "on the wrong side of the tracks."
Earlier, Williams accused the city of using zoning (such as light industrial in the areas around Angier Ave.) in ways that hurt affordable housing -- and, he seemed to imply, in ways that weren't in the neighborhoods' best interest.
"There is something called eminent domain, and one of the things that eminent domain works on -- if there is a blighted community, or a preponderance of houses that aren't being used," Williams said.
"So you mean to tell me you don't think this isn't intentional?" Williams boomed.
Williams criticized the City for spending $1 million towards burying power lines near West Village while planning to close the E.D. Mickle rec center in East Durham.
After the meeting, Clement campaign manager the Rev. Melvin Whitley told Williams (and BCR) that local governments including the City had just spent $17 million on the Holton School, which provided services that duplicated and vastly improved on those at Mickle. (Your reporter also asked Williams if he objected to the millions spent on the Walltown Rec Center, or the millions in affordable housing at Eastway Village.)
Williams said in the after-forum discussion that those were worthwhile investments, but that he felt far more was needed.
Darius Little also took up the charge during the meeting, criticizing Durham's new downtown skateboard park as an investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars from which he said Durham would collect no income or revenue, while delaying incentives for McLaughlin's project. "That is embarrassing."
Ward 1's Donald Hughes complained that Downtown Durham, Inc. gets $50,000 and $100,000 grants for "administrative work," not direct development, while Mozella McLaughlin and the Fayetteville Street Planning Group couldn't get what they need. "They [incumbents] have allowed our communities to fail, while we continue to see bustling growth downtown."
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A few other points attracted heated attention during the debate:
The Mozella McLaughlin Project: One of the biggest flare-ups during the session happened when Clement spoke on the need for economic development in the Fayetteville St. area. He alluded to NCCU's expansion plans and said that it was "very important" that NC Central "be involved in the discussions about what's going to happen to the Fayetteville St. corridor," calling them the largest employer in the region and saying they need to be at the table for discussions of the "rehabilitation" of the area.
Clement's comments seemed to be framed around the larger investment in the neighborhood as a whole -- but Mozella McLaughlin took his comments to be referencing her project in particular, seeming to interpret his statement as a claim she had not engaged with Central on the rehab proposal for "The Know" bookstore.
"I beg your pardon to hear you say North Carolina Central is not involved in our project. North Carolina Central is very much involved. We talked with North Carolina Central, but they had a reason for not coming down there. They wanted to come, but their involvement... have you talked to the people at North Carolina Central?"
"I most certainly have," Clement said.
"Oh, I don't think so. I don't think so, Mr. Clement," McLaughlin accused. "Not the way I have. I've had personal conferences with them, and they're very much involved," as she named departments at Central that she said were interested in her effort.
"You're talking about your project, Ms. McLaughlin. He was talking about the corridor," an audience member later pointed out.
East End Connector: Williams, who most recently arose to prominence as the leading opponent of the East End Connector highway, claimed that City officials misrepresented the level of support that exists for the road in the community.
"Mark Ahrendsen, the local DOT, stood up there and lied, saying that overwhelmingly the community was in favor of the East End Connector, and that same night, we had an audience full of people opposed to it. How can you possibly stand up there and lie like there? I was so incensed by it, I called my attorney and said, what can I do? He said, all you can do is vote them out of office," Williams claimed.
(The February 2007 meeting contained both opponents and proponents of the project. BCR's recollection of public meetings subsequent to that session showing the route of the EEC and the number of homes taken was that there was general support among those in attendance at design reviews for the alignment, which is likely to end up taking about one dozen homes.)
Campaign Gotchas: One thing last night's forum did not lack for was the chance for a "gotcha" question.
The Rev. Whitley opened the Q&A session with one, asking challengers for the race to name four City Departments and their department heads.
Williams criticized the question -- which emanated from incumbent Howard Clement's campaign manager -- as irrelevant to discussions of future directions for the City, and refused to answer.
Most other challengers refused to answer (though Howell gave it the old college try, naming correctly a number of departments before suggesting the City has a "Public Policy Department.") Clement then stood and tried to recite most of the departments -- making it headlong through a good number before (seemingly awkwardly) telling Whitley he wished his campaign manager had given a heads-up that he'd be asking this question.
Ah, racial politics, Durham's time-honored past time.
Posted by: alex | September 28, 2009 at 08:48 AM
just like gross generalizations and one-line semi-anonymous griping.
Posted by: gonzo | September 28, 2009 at 10:07 AM