The best read in this week's Indy is Samiha Khanna's nice wrap-up of the history, and possible future, of Rolling Hills, including a powerful set of photographs documenting the wasteland that's the remnants of yesterday's dreams for redevelopment.
If you're curious why City Council has made it a priority to repurchase all the homes in the development, and to bring in an experienced national developer with a track record of success with mixed-income development in urban inner-cities... well, the pictures tell a thousand words.
In other news:
Employee Health Outsourcing Debated: City Council members are still debating a possible outsourcing of several employee medical services positions to Duke, as scrutiny of savings continues and as the affected employees are pressing City Council members for the preservation of their jobs. The H-S' Ray Gronberg has a nice summary in a story that ran later in the morning on Wed. (Herald-Sun)
Support Grows (in Durham) for RDU Tax Share: Durham's legislative delegation is increasingly on board with the idea of getting a share of sales tax revenues from the RDU airport, though the teeny-tiny issue of getting Wake Co. to go along with it remains. Mayor Bell suggests figuring out what governmental costs Wake bears buy having the airport within its county borders and exempting those from consideration. (Herald-Sun)
TransEnterix Snags $55m VC Funding: Medical device company TransEnterix has raised $55 million in a venture capital round after its abdominal surgery invention won FDA approval; the Durham-based firm got an "Innovation of the Year" award from its target surgical customer base and looks to more than double its headcount in the coming year. (N&O)
NetApp Dedicates Data Center: A $65 million data center was dedicated on Wed. at the storage device manufacturer's RTP campus; it's the tenth year in the Triangle for the firm, which has made Durham its second-largest base of operations worldwide, with more growth expected. (N&O)
Your Primary Vote Buys a Steak Dinner: The N&O's Jim Wise plugged in the total number of voters who showed up at the polls against the cost to taxpayers of holding an election and found it cost (roughly) $29.22 per voter who went to the polls. It's a point not escaping notice after the decision to continue with a system of primaries instead of a first-in-the-race or runoff-if-needed system as used in Wake Co. (N&O) Man, after seeing the blowout, I'd have taken that steak dinner myself.
Suspension, Magnet Rules Adjusted: Durham's school board decided to continue the appeals process for suspensions, which includes three teachers from the affected school (who might have to countermand their principal's decision) rather than outside parties, though with what the H-S calls "procedural adjustments" to make teachers more comfortable overruling their bosses. Meantime, teachers and administrators dedicated to a single magnet school may enroll their children there automatically, a move called for due to the varying schedules of some such schools. (Herald-Sun)
Apartment Fire Displaces 19: An apartment building on Mayfair St. near the South Square area caught fire Tuesday night, damaging property and units and forcing 19 residents to temporary housing, but with no injuries to report. (Herald-Sun)
This is going to sound a bit harsh, but I don't get the big deal on the outsourcing thing. We have a nationwide shortage of nurses. The two nurses in question can probably walk down to Duke HR today and start work in two weeks. Heck, I know plenty of Duke employees that would like to refer them, as they get a substantial bonus if the nurse stays on for at least a year.
The city manager already stated that it is likely that the unit's secretary can transfer to another department.
The one thing I'm not accounting for, though, is that the current nurses will lose years accrued toward retirement. I agree that losing those years is terrible.
Posted by: Rob | October 08, 2009 at 09:00 AM
About Durham getting tax revenue from RDU. Does Wake County get a lot tax revenue from Research Triangle Park? Even most of it is not in Wake county. It seems like a similar issue to me.
If the answer is No, then I dont see why Durham has any claim to tax revenue from RDU.
Posted by: Jonn | October 08, 2009 at 10:05 AM