Durhamites on Durham: They love it here (just ix-nay on the acrosse-lay, 'kay?)

The Durham Convention and Visitors' Bureau is well-known locally for promulgating statistics that tell us, well, what we (and others) think of the Bull City.

It's a role that the DCVB has been passionate about for years, an image-watcher role assumed in part, it seems, to the presumed need to counter the negative vibe about Durham within the region.

Of course, naysaying from outside Durham's borders may have died down somewhatin recent years -- heck, even Crazy Bernie over at Raleigh's Metro Magazine has started talking about Durham's ascendancy, couched though it may be in his own loathing for Wake County's school socioeconomic integration strategy -- though of course some of the "water cooler" talk about Durham persists in many circles.

Increasingly, those circles don't seem to include Durhamites. A DCVB survey just released shows that the Duke lacrosse case's impact on Durhamites' own self-perception seems to be on the rebound.

According to a DCVB-commissioned survey carried out by a research firm, almost 86% of residents surveyed stated they considered themselves proud of Durham -- a number that's at a six year high. DCVB notes that since the survey was started in the early 1990s, the positive response on the pride question has usually ranged around the high-70s.

As the chart at right shows, it took a big dip a couple of years ago in the midst of the lacrosse melee, but as those waters have calmed, so too appears to have been pride-of-residency among Durhamites.

(The agree/disagree combined rating split almost 60/30 during the height of the tumult in '07.)

The convention and visitor's bureau claims the self-image of Durham is higher than that of many other communities nationally, which the DCVB claims can reach only the mid-40s/mid-50s in similar surveys.

Comments

[Bass]

haha. Gotta love the pig latin.

[Nathaniel H. Goetz]

I think a lot of credit rightfully goes to Reyn Bowman. He has led the charge, rallying Durhamites to not only look out for the Bull City's image, but to take stock of just what a wonderful place Durham is. I am proud of Durham and love the opportunity to share the good statistics and stories with others!

[Syd]

How many people were given the survey and how many responded? How was it administered and how was the sample of participants prepared? Survey don't mean much if we don't know the terms and numbers it was based upon.

Syd

[Jay]

yeah, our public perception begins with how we see ourselves.