Bull City Rising

County leaders propose budget cuts, continued construction efforts

As we noted here last week, Monday was D-Day for county manager Mike Ruffin, who was scheduled to present an update on the county's financial circumstances and its capital projects plan.

The upshot? The oddness that is today's world economy seems to have led to two very different directions for how the County should move forward on these items: proceed on a $250 million capital projects effort even while looking to trim $14.5 million from this year's operating budget.

Durham's dumbest downtown dumpers?

Given the rise in crime being seen across the nation these days, it's not a surprise to see the number of car break-ins these days. Cal Coetzee had that experience over the holiday break when his car was burgled behind his downtown loft.

But it wasn't just a season of taking for Cal -- it was a season of giving, too.

Cal -- whose downtown loft is featured in the latest issue of Our State's Signature magazine -- trained his webcam on the great outdoors while out of town, and regaled the ABCDdurham listserv with the results of both the theft and this, uh, anti-theft.

I mean, that's just kind of lame, ain't it? Pull your little U-Haul and your lousy SUV back behind somebody's building, and cart your old broken down washer outside their apartment?

Occasionally downtowners have experienced challenges with folks using their recycling and garbage bins for refuse, but I don't think I've heard of a situation where someone's needed a U-Haul to bring in their dumping.

Seems unlikely the perps will be caught -- though in a follow-up note, PAC5 co-facilitator Scott Harmon encouraged Cal to alert the Durham P.D. to the matter as a quality of life issue. Then again, we're sure that they're out there somewhere, waiting to be shamed via YouTube.

Backstage at the Revolution

In the BCR household, the talk of the last few days has been our dinner Friday night at Revolution -- which was one of the single best dining experiences we've had out anywhere in a very, very long time. We were doubly impressed at both the food and the terrific service given the restaurant's just opened. The folks over at Carpe Durham checked out the new establishment and had a very good experience as well.

Sarah from Revolution was kind enough to give BCR a tour of the restaurant earlier this week, during the prep time just before the dinner-only space opened for the night.

The Revolution fills up the first floor of downtown's old Baldwin department store quite nicely. It was only two years ago that the large lobby of the Baldwin was a big open space, housing the occasional downtown master plan charrette here, the odd Georges Rousse art installation there. Between then and now, the stylized "B" door handles and the original flooring remains; everything else is fairly well re-imagined in a bright, modern style.

N&O: MiLB grumpy over DAP construction effort

Kudos to Jim Wise over at the N&O for breaking this news article on the N&O's Bulls Eye blog and in the paper's online edition late Monday:

Minor League Baseball is not pleased with progress on the Durham Athletic Park's renovation, and City Manager Tom Bonfield has called for a report by next Tuesday.

In a Dec. 19 letter to Alan DeLisle, assistant city manager for economic development, Minor League Baseball CEO Pat O'Conner wrote that, "the DAP renovation project is falling short of everyone's goals and expectations."

Specifically, O'Conner mentioned construction delays that have "affected the enthusiasm and support" for the project; fear that Minor League Baseball could be blamed for the delays; and that the work performed at the DAP is of poor quality....

"This is a very serious matter for the project, the city’s relationship with Minor League Baseball and the City’s credibility as a whole," [Bonfield] wrote in an e-mail to several city administrators asking for the report.

Coming in the wake of the failure of the prepared foods tax -- a move which, according to the rumor mill, may have been seen by some minor league baseball enthusiasts as a sign of low interest among Durhamites for a baseball museum, regardless of who pays for it -- the impact of this item is something to watch.

Look for all eyes to rest on how Bonfield -- himself a one-time member of the Yankees' farm system -- handles what looks to be some high heat on this one.

Read more over at the N&O.

Rumor: Bean Trader's to open a coffee kiosk at Alivia's?

The experiment with breakfast hours at Alivia's Durham Bistro was scaled back a bit in recent months, with the restaurant/cafe having moved their opening hour back a bit to 8:30 in the morning most weekdays. Sitting unused outside: a bright-green stand on the patio, which serves patrons many evenings but has been shuttered for the morning traffic.

Our friends at Carpe Durham are tracking down a rumor, though, that this stand may be getting new morning life, with a reported partnership with Bean Traders Coffee possibly bringing java and espresso to Alivia's in the morning via that very outdoor stand.

Read more (including the comments) over at CD. No word on whether Alivia's will be investing in a Magic Fog Cloud Machine^TM to spew out an opaque, Bay Area-style rolling mist along the Main & Gregson so that the Brightleaf Square parking security detail loses their visual on you as you sneak into Alivia's after parking in the free-but-restricted lot that's oh-so-convenient if you want to pop in to the establishment -- for just a minute, really, Mr. Secrity Guard!

Revolution bows; Symposium bows out (with replacement ready); Ben Benson's slows

It's a quiet week in local news given the holidays (the Fishwrap will resume next week, when there's more than filler to report on), but an oddly busy one in restaurant news.

First up, on the opening side: Revolution downtown began its soft opening in recent days, and is open for dinner nightly this week. They're accepting reservations starting next week; we'd suggest calling ahead for hours of operation before heading down.

Revolution -- the brainchild of Jim Anile, formerly the executive chef at Il Palio in Chapel Hill -- has opened on the first floor of the Greenfire-owned former Baldwin department store that now houses the Baldwin Lofts on its upper floors. First announced last summer, the project has apparently run into some of the, er, charms of dealing with older buildings and downtown infrastructure on its way to its debut.

On the closure side: Symposium Cafe at American Tobacco threw in the metaphorical towel this week, with the Herald-Sun reporting that the restaurant closed just before Christmas. The 'Pose has looked to be in tough straits for some time, and rumors had surfaced of the restaurant's likely closure in the days leading up to the event. 

More on city, county infrastructure wishlist: new dollars or shifting dollars?

The H-S reported recently on the infrastructure project wish-list that the City government has put forth for a likely forthcoming Federal economic stimulus plan, while the N&O's Jim Wise noted yesterday the presence of a number of county proposals.

We've had a chance to peruse the city's list, helpfully posted to Swivel by Andrew Dunn, a UNC student and editor of the Daily Tar Heel (who posts terrific and interesting mashups and analysis over at his web site.)

In summary, the project list includes:

• $103 million for a county building project, which we at BCR assume to be the new downtown courthouse;
• $32 million for urban neighborhood infrastructure investment and transit-oriented development;
• $32 million for transit projects, as we discussed here recently;
• $25 million for sidewalks, street paving and culverts;
• $20 million for school construction;
• $18 million for parks and recreation facilities;
• $17.5 million for water and water quality;
• $11 million for court and jail projects;
• $5.5 million for trails, greenways and pedestrian bridges;
• $3 million for city facilities;
• $2.5 million for the Parrish St. "Museum without Walls."

It works out to just under $270 million, or just over $1,000 in capital investment per resident of Durham Co.

One of the intriguing questions about these projects is the extent to which these represent new spending investment versus merely a shift in funding sources for existing efforts. The county courthouse stands at the top of that question-mark list; the County had intended to float municipal bonds for the project but the availability of those funds has been in doubt given the challenging credit markets. (A decision on final financing and go-forward for the facility was also delayed pending the seating of the new Board of County Commissioners.)

Tough market puts Roxboro parcels out of developers' hands, back on market

In the summer of 2007, one of the big debates before City Council was the handling (or not) of some surplus property by the City government, with concerns that properties were being transferred to non-profits by the City instead of going through a bidding process -- continuing the over-concentration of group homes and the like in one corner of Durham, even as private parties calling local government to inquire about the parcels were told, "We'll get back to you."

Local architecture/development team Scott Harmon and Susana Dancy (of the Mangum 506 project, among others) ended up as the successful bidders for a stretch of properties in the 400 block of N. Roxboro as well as some land at the corner of Dillard and Holloway, where Dominion Ministries planned a group home project.

While Dancy and Harmon were able to close on the parcel at Dillard/Holloway -- along with an adjacent parcel owned by Dominion -- the tough credit/financing market has put the Roxboro site back in play, as Harmon noted in an email yesterday:

We had an investor and a lender in place when we made the original bids.  Both investor and lender backed out, and Susana and I worked tirelessly to find other parties.  We had a new investor lined up, but could not get a lending commitment sufficient to close the deal.  This is ironic given the comparable ease with which we were able to close and start construction with Mangum 506, which continues to sell and do very well.

I want you all to know that the City has been very helpful in this process, giving us a lot of room and opportunity to extend the deadlines, etc.  I have nothing but good things to say about their commitment to stick with Susana and me and do whatever they could to facilitate a good development.  The City will need your continued advocacy to get this parcel into good hands, but you should deliver that advocacy with the understanding that they worked very hard to help us try and pull this off.

Harmon adds that any development at Dillard and Holloway is likely on hold pending an improvement in the overall economic climate.

Durham's light saber: not so powerful, is the Force?

The newest addition to Durham's skyline, the Jaume Plensa light sculpture "Sleep No More" -- or as fellow local blogger Michael Bacon christened it, Durham's light saber -- drew some opposition after its announcement this fall.

As you'll recall, a small group of local skywatchers opposed the concept from its announcement, forming a group and getting some press attention for their concerns over the light pollution impact on the night sky, a topic that's reared its head in Durham around street light discussions as well.

One of the group's founders, Mark Gibson, decided to check out the light saber on its first night for himself, and found that the impact wasn't so bad, simply because of, well, all the other light pollution we have in the Bull City:

I had to drive to Durham to see the Bridge to the Sky myself. As I got closer to Durham, I kept looking at the horizon to see if I could see the light. I finally saw it when I was in downtown Durham. I don’t think the citizens got the spectacular sculpture they were wanting. It may have been the overpowering interior lights in the building shining to the outside or the stadium style lights at the site of the sculpture. Or could the blue light caused the sculpture to loose the effectiveness of the light. I took out my Sky Quality Meter (SQM) and took some readings. 11.22 at the sculpture site. 15.01 at the field in front of theThe reading on the street where I parked was 10.04. As I drove home I wanted to see if I could see the light from the Airport Observation Deck. I stopped by and could not see it. I got a reading of 18.22 there. Since all the other street lights the city has overpowers this 7,000 watt light bulb it should raise a flag to the citizens that they need to see why the waste so much light.

Gibson's findings mirror my own; I've seen the light, say, on Duke's East Campus (where it looks more like a bat-signal calling some caped crusader to the scene), or driving towards downtown on 147 (eastbound, there's a point where it neatly aligns with the steeple of the Duke Memorial United Methodist Church.) But it hasn't been broadly viewable throughout the sky, for instance.

So this chapter in the public discourse comes to a close -- though Gibson's larger point about light pollution, in Durham and in other cities, remains. Several local neighborhoods have had intensive debates about the value of streetlights, a discourse I don't expect to see end any time soon.

H/t Indy Weekly for the photog.

Whiskey bar targeted for old Five Points Cafe site

The site of the old Five Points Cafe has been closed for some months now after a fits-and-starts opening, closing, promised resuscitation as an organic eatin' place, before finally shuttering, it seems, for good.

Now a new business has targeted the Five Points building next door to the popular restaurant Toast. Word on the street is that investors have set upon the site with plans to open an upscale whiskey bar in the space this coming spring, likely in April.

(A commenter here at BCR suggested this very use back in October; we've now gotten further confirmation of the new direction from another source.)