It's a double-sized edition of the Fishwrap, since yesterday was a ... well, let's just say it was a Thursday, and leave it at that, shall way?
Rolling Hills Accelerates Planning: Hoping to grab federal stimulus dollars to pay for the effort, the City and McCormick Baron Salazar are doing an accelerated planning effort for the Rolling Hills site that's been largely repurchased with tax dollars, after two failed development attempts on the Hayti urban renewal site. The $80 million effort could contain up to 350 housing units. A kick-off neighborhood meeting happens this Tuesday, followed by a full week of on-site planning and charettes ending with a wrap-up meeting Fri., Nov. 20. (Herald-Sun)
Duke Cancer Center Groundbreaking: Today marks the groundbreaking for Duke's new integrated cancer center, part of the $700m construction effort between Duke North and Duke South for a new patient tower and clinics. High population growth and an aging residence base, plus the region's medical-destination reputation, have fueled new facilities at UNC as well as Duke's new center. (Herald-Sun)
County Stands Behind 751 Call: The Indy (which is doing a nice job following the ongoing 751 Assemblage case) reports that the Planning Dept. has said a petition signature may have lacked the signatures of enough of the property owners, and the county attorney has said his office will defend Planning's determination that the protest petition -- which would have required a likely-impossible supermajority of the BOCC to go along with the project -- was not valid. Meanwhile, the People's Alliance is protesting the County's stand and calls on the County to accept the protest petition and thus invalidate the boundary change -- something that county manager Mike Ruffin has signaled will only happen through the courts. (Indy #1, #2, #3)
Mosque Vandalized, Raises Concerns: A mosque on Fayetteville St. that's been part of the community for three decades was robbed recently, but also had its glass doors/windows smashed for the second time since July, raising concerns from the congregation and national Islamic leaders that a hate crime might be at play. (Herald-Sun, N&O)
Walmart Adds Cree LEDs: Walmart announced this week that as many as 650 stores will receive LED lighting from Cree, which is both energy-efficient and features true-white technology to make that merchandise and food look more attractive. (N&O)
F&R Lunch Rates Up: 57% of DPS students are in the federal free and reduced lunch programs -- up markedly from '07 (46%), a change attributed to the economy but more to increased outreach by DPS officials to get families signed up, since F&R rates translate to other higher federal funding for the district. Six elementary schools and one middle school have F&R rates above 90% -- Eastway is at 99%. (Herald-Sun)
Holton Center, Trades Team Up: The vo-tech program at Durham's new Holton Center has a carpentry and construction program -- and the Durham Careers in Construction committee, which includes the namesake owners of well-known local firms like C.T. Wilson and L.A. Downey, have pitched in to partner with the program, providing raw materials, mentoring and internship programs. (Herald-Sun)
Stim-Bux, Methane Gas for Energy Efficiency: The City Council approved a $315k contract with Clean Energy Durham, which will use stimulus funds to weatherize up to 700 smaller, one-story homes in ten to twelve neighborhoods -- an effort that should reduce energy costs for residents by up to 20%. (Herald-Sun) Meanwhile, the City today announces a partnership with a company (Methane Power) that will capture the potent greenhouse gas from the City's one-time landfill and turn it into up to 3 megawatts of electrical power, sufficient to power almost 2,000 homes. ("From Staff Reports")
Original Q-Shack Restores Original Sign: Before it was the Q-Shack, it was an ice cream shop on the edge of town where the Long Meadow Dairy Bar had a big rotating sign. The sign's still there, and now Q-Shack (whose Rockwood location is now considered at the heart of the city) is restoring the landmark, down to approval from the local historic preservation commission. And, yeah, it'll rotate once again. (Herald-Sun)
Sooooo....what was the outcome of the Nov 20 wrap-up of the latest Rolling Hills redevelopment saga?
Did the Hesters chime in with any new demands?
Posted by: GreenLantern | November 06, 2009 at 01:42 PM