Hiring Plans Just Above US Avg.: The latest employment projection survey by staffing firm Manpower found that 17% Durham MSA employers are planning to add jobs in 2Q 2010, compared to 7% planning to cut positions. Nationally, that compares to 16% of US employers seeing new positions and 8% seeing cuts. Raleigh-Cary numbers were roughly on par with Durham's. (N&O)
DATA-TTA Linkage Work Continues: City manager Tom Bonfield and Triangle Transit general manager David King are still working on a deal that would see Triangle Transit assume day-to-day operations of Durham's bus system, though state rules on collective bargaining could still require the RTP-based transit authority to use its own third party operator. Still, such a merger -- likely to see the light of day before City Council in March or early April -- could be a watershed moment towards further regional consolidation of Raleigh, Cary, and even Duke bus services under quasi-merged operations. (Herald-Sun)
TriEx on Schedule: The new electronic toll road that'll connect the south end of NC 147 with NC 540 in Wake County and then continue that road miles longer to US 1 in Holly Springs is on schedule, with the first segment in Durham-Wake set to open by Dec. 2011. (NBC 17)
AW Slightly Increases Hiring: Worried that Toyota's bad-publicity woes would extend to more pain for North Durham's AW North Carolina, the transmission and parts supplier that axed 400 of its 1,100 person workforce as the recession loomed and auto sales plunged? So far, it's holding steady, and even brought back 200 workers to stabilize at a 900 person workforce. (N&O)
More on Google-Durham: The Herald-Sun continues its look at the HiFiber Durham effort to bring world-class Internet infrastructure to the Bull City. Remember, visit the HiFiber Durham web site to express your support -- and turn out at the DBAP on March 18 to help spell out "We Want Google" on the grass at the athletic park for an overhead photo. (Herald-Sun)
More Board Certified Teachers: Durham is seeing a rise in its number of board certified teachers and seeing more males and African-Americans participate in its program, something that earned praise from the school board. But the H-S also cautions, as an aside, that these top teachers are "appearing to cluster" in -- you guessed it -- schools that already have high test scores. (Herald-Sun)
Chief Lopez Burgled: John McCann has a humorous crime story in today's paper, interviewing Durham's Jose Lopez not as the chief of police, but a victim of crime after his prized El Camino got its stereo system swiped when a man broke into the mechanics shop where the car was undergoing repairs. Lopez took the high road, greeting the suspect and wishing him well in getting his life straightened out when he ran into the culprit at the police station. But Lopez still wants his Sanyo AM/FM CD/cassette deck back. (Herald-Sun)
Road Equity To Be Studied: A General Assembly committee will talk about how NC divides funding for roadways at an April 6 meeting. Urban county reps are expected to gripe (again) about how the state's "equity formula" doesn't take congestion into account; rural reps will (again) say it's there way of getting their fair share. Don't hold your breath looking for change. (N&O)
NCDOT's equity formula for spending around the state is seriously flawed. The idea that NC could spend a billion dollars on a replacement for the Bonner Bridge (which carries just 5,000 cars a day) in Dare County is appalling. Durham has trouble getting NCDOT money for much of anything, while places like Pittboro and Oxford get sprawl-inducing, 4-lane, 70MPH bypasses.
Maybe the redistricting following the 2010 census will finally shift the legislative power away from rural areas so the 'equity formula' might get fixed.
Posted by: Todd P | March 09, 2010 at 11:54 AM