Bull City Rising

Civitas investigation alleges conflict of interest, open meeting law violation in DSS change

I'll be the first to admit my preternatural wariness about the work of Civitas, the conservative think tank that's part of a sprawling consortium of organizations funded largely by Art Pope and responsible for the reddening of state government and in part for increased appearances by the likes of "Americans for Prosperity" here in our state.

But we have damn too little investigative reporting happening around here, so credit goes where credit's due to Civitas' Andrew Henson for his story Tuesday about the termination of Durham County Social Services chief Gerri Robinson.

As we noted here in our bon voyage to Robinson a couple of weeks back, the DSS chair came to the Bull City's host county after a rocky tenure in Nashville, Tennessee, and hit headwinds early in her term over a controversial child care subsidy idea -- one which was said to have hastened the departure of at least one local non-profit leader involved in early childhood support.

But as commenters here noted at the time, there was a little grey-cloud asterisk hanging over the firing -- namely, the timing. The personnel change came simultaneously with the selection of one County Commissioner Joe Bowser as vice-chair of the DSS board, and with newly-appointed DSS board member Gail Perry getting called up to lead the agency at her very first meeting.

Durham City Council won’t act on 751 South until pending lawsuits end

The Durham City Council decided early this afternoon to defer a possible utility extension to the controversial proposed 751 South development. 

The council voted to wait until current lawsuits about the Southern Durham project come to a close, which staff estimated could take anywhere from 18 months to three years. The council was motivated at least in part by fear of becoming entangled in litigation itself. 

“It’s clear to me that moving ahead now before the litigation is resolved does raise expectations and anxiety,” council member Mike Woodard said at a special meeting on the subject that was held today.

“I think there’s just way too many questions about this with confusing and uncertain answers about constitutional issues,” he added. “That’s always a red flag for me.” 

“I just don’t understand why we would move forward,” council member Diane Catotti said. “I don’t see the advantage to the city.” 

The decision against extending utilities makes it unclear when Southern Durham Development might be able to start building 751 South, a high-density project that could include 200 residential units, 125,000 square feet of shops and 25,000 square feet of offices by the three-year mark. The project can’t be built to that scale without water and sewer service, and the city of Durham is the entity most likely to provide it. 

A group of Durham residents have sued the county over its controversial decision to rezone the 751 South property. The new zoning permits dense development. 

Opponents of the project say that the property is so close to Jordan Lake that its high-density facilities will harm water quality thanks to unfiltered stormwater runoff. 

Southern Durham Development and its allies, however, assert that the project can be built in such a way that the lake is protected. They also tout the development as being a potential source of 3,000 new jobs. 

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North Durham minimum-security prison to close; future of site unknown

One little-heard provision in this General Assembly's session work: the closure of a number of minimum-security correctional facilities throughout the state as part of a cost-cutting move that could shave almost $11 million from the state's spending line this year.

Among the four facilities impacted, per the N&O: the Durham Correctional Center, a facility that houses more than 200 inmates and which sits just to the northeast of the Horton Rd./Guess Rd. intersection in North Durham, right near a few shopping plazas and backing up to the popular West Point on the Eno city park.

With its October closure, it turns out a small piece of Durham County history will come to an end:

In 1925, Durham County built a prison for $95,000 to house 150 inmates. Constructed of brick and surrounded by a heavy wire stockade, the three-story structure was noted as being the best planned prison of its kind in the state. On the first floor was dormitory space for inmates, as well as a dining hall. The second and third floors provided space for offices and staff. The building was heated by steam and showers were in the basement.

Durham was one of 51 county prisons for which the state assumed responsibility with the passage of the Conner bill in 1931. It was one of 61 field unit prisons renovated or built during the late 1930's to house inmates who worked building roads.

No word on what the future of the site is, i.e., whether the state will hold on to this little chunk of land or sell it off for development. In the latter case, even with the current downturn in residential and commercial development, one wouldn't doubt that there might be people lining up to buy it.

Rare, after all, is the prison facility that's zoned for some of the better schools in any community's school district.

BCR's question: if someone did redevelop the site, would they keep the name Prison Camp Road? We're just saying.

Report: Robinson "terminated" at Durham DSS, less than two years after appointment

From the That-Was-Quick Department: Two separate sources have told BCR that Durham County's social services director Gerri Robinson was axed Wednesday by the department's oversight board.

Chalk this one up as officially unconfirmed at this time, as the County's public information office isn't currently in a position to offer confirmation or more information -- but from what we're hearing at BCR, this one is a done deal.

The DSS Board -- which, as the Herald-Sun points out this morning, picked up a new chair in Stan Holt, vice-chair in BOCC'er Joe Bowser, and a new board member in Gail Perry, all through an organizational meeting -- reportedly terminated Robinson's employment for unspecified reasons.

Intriguingly, Perry, who herself is a guidance counselor at Durham's Lakeview alternative school, is poised to assume the directorship on an interim basis as of Aug. 8, with Jovetta Whitfield serving in the position in the interim, according to an email from Holt.

That email went on to add:

This has not been an easy process and I know this will create some uncertainty in the agency. However, rest assured that we will now move quickly to find a new Director for the Durham County Department of Social Services.

We've noticed a seeming uptick in closed-door DSS board meetings of late, which can be an indication of personnel intrigue (though at least one recent meeting purported to be over a matter involving a juvenile, which is a closed-records matter in most non-criminal cases.)

That included two meetings this spring (April 4 and April 12) described as falling under the rubric of N.C.G.S. 143-318.11(a)(6), a section of the general statutes that encompasses contemplation of "the qualifications, competence, performance, character, fitness, conditions of appointment, or conditions of initial employment of an individual public officer or employee or prospective public officer or employee; or to hear or investigate a complaint, charge, or grievance by or against an individual public officer or employee[.]"  Though of course, we don't know whether those meetings were in reference to Robinson or other staff at the agency.

Still, DSS' Robinson -- who only arrived in Durham in fall of 2009 -- is no stranger to moving along, or being moved along, from positions.

Bigger and better? Expanded CenterFest to feature broader spectrum of attractions, powered by wide-ranging gamut of ambitions

The state’s oldest arts festival will take a hiatus this year in order to reinvent itself. 

The 38th annual CenterFest Arts Festival will be held not in September (as the event Website still erroneously states) but in 2012, officials with the Durham Arts Council and partner organizations announced this morning. 

“We want to reshape it and grow it into something even more exciting that reflects the tremendous creativity going on in Durham today,” Sherry DeVries, the executive director of the council, said at the announcement. 

So what does that mean in practical terms? The expanded event will feature an enlarged name — tentatively, CenterFest: Festival of Arts, Music, Food and Creativity. That reflects what should be a broader palette of attractions. 

“Edible arts” will be among the added features, showcasing the city’s foodie culture as well as local brews and beer gardens and in-state wineries. Organizers also want to add hands-on features such as arts and fine craft demonstrations; more entertainment stages and venues; a Saturday-night “music party”; and “showcases for design, gaming and technology arts.” 

“There’s so many cool, creative things happening in Durham right now,” DeVries said. “We want to incorporate as many of those things as we possibly can in this process.” 

Catotti makes a surprise return to the race for City Council, could bring strong progressive voice for third term

With the announcement that longtime County Commissioner Becky Heron was stepping down, we here in the BCR batcave were worried that we might lose those wonderful "Keep Her-On" signs that have graced streetcorners since the Reagan administration.

Well, OK, those signs might come down. But given the concern that City Council might lose one of its strongest female voices, there've been a lot of people, it seems, lobbying Diane Catotti to "keep her on," too.

And as of this week, as the filing period draws within weeks from beginning, it looks like voters will have a chance to do just that.

In an unexpected turn, Catotti has announced that she will in fact run for a third term on City Council this fall.

That move could have a big impact on the election -- potentially, depending on the election's outcome, even throwing a progressive wing forward to hold a majority on the seven-person board.

Self-Help reaches into East Durham: Old Smith school may return to education

Author’s note: Today, Bull City Rising takes a two-part look at a proposed deal to convert the former Y.E. Smith School building to a home for Maureen Joy Charter School. Part 1, below, examines the building’s history and the basics of the deal. Part 2, to be posted later today, looks at some neighbors’ feelings about the proposal, at Maureen Joy Charter School and at changes in the neighborhood. 

It was years ago that the historic Y.E. Smith School stopped being a school and began falling into decay. Now, the building is on the cusp of returning to its original function. 

Would-be purchaser Self-Help has applied to rezone the former school property at 107 S. Driver St. to allow it to be used for education. The matter will be heard by the Planning Commission this afternoon. 

If the request is granted, that would smooth the way for Self-Help to buy the building from Trosa and lease it to Maureen Joy Charter School. By the time renovations are completed in 2013, under the supervision of local preservation-minded architect Eddie Belk, Maureen Joy could occupy a space that would allow it to expand its student body. 

“We’ve been considering a move for a while as the enrollment has grown and the waiting lists have grown,” said Alex Quigley, the charter school’s principal. “So we’ve been interested in expanding to a facility that meets the needs of our students.” 

“They serve a lot of kids in East Durham already who right now are having to ride across town to go to school,” Self-Help’s Dan Levine, a project manager, said of the charter school. “And Maureen Joy has a good track record of serving kids who for whatever reason have struggled in the school where they came from. So we feel like it’s a good opportunity to provide better education for kids.” 

The move will also put life back into a key building in a community that residents and preservationists have been working for years to strengthen. 

Cathleen Turner, the head of Preservation North Carolina’s Piedmont office, helped broker the sale of the Smith school. “It certainly is a prominent property within the context of this neighborhood, the preservation of which I think is going to be a game-changer for our project, which is to see more of the vacant houses preserved and lived in by owner-occupants,” she said. 

Angier/Driver streetscape project gets closer to being shovel-ready with 2011 start projected

When Durham city officials finished rebuilding downtown's streetscape a few years back -- a move that helped not only to improve aesthetics, but to prime the district for private-sector building improvements, space upfits and a range of new businesses -- many residents in near-downtown neighborhoods pressed anew for a share of infrastructural improvements, too, to spur on the same improvements.

Five different plans were designed, ranging from the low millions in areas like West Chapel Hill St., East Main St. and Old Five Points to the $30 million-plus tab for redoing a long stretch of Fayetteville St.

But as BCR's Rob Gillespie noted here last year, City officials decided in 2010 to prioritize the Angier/Driver corridor as a sole recipient of Durham's limited neighborhood streetscape revitalization funds, in an effort to show immediate impact, as opposed to several years' worth of necessary but intangible planning studies.

That move's had supporters along with detractors. But there's no denying one thing: it sure means that the City has something to get shovel ready. And along the way, it means Durham will avoid what a project consultant told a couple of dozen Durhamites tonight called a "patchwork quilt" approach to neighborhood business district fix-ups -- a patched sidewalk here, new curb there, new streetlights elsewhere.

Assuming that City Council supports the choice of an eventual low-bidder for the $2.5 million project in a likely late fall vote, the project should be under construction this year, with a summer 2013 finish.

One multi-million question stands out, though. Residents have wanted a streetscape that brings the advantages of downtown's renewal -- but is this still-nascent commercial district ready for the possible disruption that the work can bring? And is the City ready to support businesses through the transition.

Transit plans getting one more public review before board votes this month

It will be years, if ever, before a Triangle Transit train pulls into any station in Durham, Orange or Wake counties. But a plan for investing more than $2 billion in regional rail and bus transit is about to pull out of the station. 

The Durham County mass transportation investment plan could be adopted as soon as this month by leaders of three key groups: the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization, which oversees transportation strategies; Triangle Transit, which operates DATA bus service in Durham as well as regional bus service, and which would likely operate any new rail system; and the Board of County Commissioners. 

The first two organizations will both consider the plan on June 22; county commissioners will hold public hearings on the plan itself and on a referendum for a half-cent sales tax on June 13. Commission action on either or both issues may come on June 27. 

Durham’s share of the plan would amount to about $1.4 billion. A quarter of the project revenue is expected to come from the government of North Carolina, half would likely come from the federal government, and the remainder would be paid by a combination of sources including the half-cent sales tax, vehicle registration increases of $10 and a rental car tax. 

The new levy would not apply to housing, food, medical, utility or gasoline purchases, thus somewhat blunting the regressive nature of the sales tax. 

Developers, residents butt heads over Crowne Pointe

The Durham City Council could be called on to decide the fate of a proposed affordable housing development Monday night. 

It would be understandable if the zoning map change that’s been requested to enable the construction of Crowne Pointe is overshadowed by other business on the agenda. After all, the other public hearing scheduled for Monday involves the proposed 2011-12 budget and the city’s five-year capital plan, both of which should affect far more people in Durham. 

But for many people living in vicinity of the now-vacant 6200 and 6300 Barbee Road, the council’s decision could have an immediate and long-reaching impacts. 

Maggie Considine, a real estate broker and resident of Auburn, near the proposed complex, has been encouraging many of her neighbors to make their feelings known to council members. 

“Most of the people that I have talked to really do not like the idea of a low-income housing project being built close to our neighborhood,” she said. “They don’t like the idea of the increased traffic on Barbee Road. They don’t like the idea of a concentration of low-income housing that close. 

“My personal feeling is that when something like that gets built in a neighborhood, the perception of that neighborhood goes down, and it means that property values tend to go down.” 

The requested zoning change would move the couple’s 7.3 acres from a low-medium density residential category to multifamily residential suburban. Despite staff having deemed the change consistent with local planning policy, the Planning Commission on May 10 voted 10-1 against allowing the 58-unit complex to be constructed. 

Jim Yamin is the president of Workforce Homestead Inc. of Chapel Hill and one of three developers of the property, along with landowners Leslie Smith and Gregory David of Cary. (The Michigan address listed on planning filings for the married couple is out of date, according to Yamin.) 

When asked about the Planning Commission vote, Yamin sighed and chuckled. He then paused before stating that he has worked on affordable housing for 25 years. “Residents justifiably are concerned with the integrity of their neighborhood and remaining crime-free, keeping property values up, traffic, and all that,” Yamin said. 

“The place where we kind of get off track in every one of these public hearings and public debates is that I think people’s fears kind of rule the day, unsupported by any kind of objective factual backup to those fears.”