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.

Greenfire stumbles, American Tobacco promises big expansion in a day of odd downtown duality

When it comes to downtown Durham development, the recession has slowed the commencement of major new projects and slowed the news cycle in general, though the upfit of existing retail spaces and the like has continued to move along smartly.

Which makes it all the stranger how active Tuesday was in downtown Durham news stories -- one quite worrisome to many, the other remarkably bullish, pardon the pun.

The troubling story, no surprise, is the latest turn in the Greenfire Development saga over the Liberty Warehouse, Durham's last remaining standing auction house for tobacco, though inactive for that use for decades and now serving as office and business space for a range of largely non-profit organizations.

But "last remaining standing" risks being anachronistic, with City partial condemnation actions over leaks and squabbles with tenants followed by this weekend's rain soaking leading to a roof failure. On Tuesday, the City forced the lock-out out of all tenants, leading them to scramble to find new homes.

Meanwhile, Tuesday also noted the big reveal (in the form of ex-Herald-Sun reporter Monica Chen's story in the Triangle Business Journal) that Capitol Broadcasting had filed site plans for the expansion of American Tobacco -- including both Diamond View III and the long-awaited wrapper building for the east parking deck.

CBC real estate VP Michael Goodmon notes that the filing is procedural at this point, and that there aren't tenants linked to the project and a construction start date isn't ready. The wrapper buildings could include office space, could include residential units, could be a boutique hotel, based on past reports.

Still, we have a hunch here at BCR that given market demand and the size of the spaces, much of the space would be ideal to "tweener" companies, the next-level in downtown entrepreneurship who, to paraphrase Goldilocks, need a space that's not too small and not too big.

Which, ironically, are the very tenants that seem to sit at the heart of Greenfire's plans too. 

So, Raleigh, now it's *you* caring about what's going on downstream?

Throughout the Falls Lake Rules process, one thing that's been frustrating at times for those of us in upstream Durham -- where a significant majority of our blue county, I suspect, supports tougher environmental measures -- has been the frustration of getting finger-wagged over growth and pollutants by our downstream neighbor.

A neighbor that's grown far faster than Durham, Orange, or Person, taking up a disproportionate share of regional growth. A neighbor whose impervious surface levels soared in the area around Falls Lake much faster than Durham's did. A neighbor whose County Commissioners vetoed a slow-growth provision near a future reservoir site so that Rolesville (who wants to live in Rolesville?) could keep growing.

A neighbor that chews up greenfields for subdivisions like a fat guy eats hot dogs at a July Fourth eating contest on Coney Island.

Well, what do we see today at the (absolutely terrific) site Raleigh Public Record?

Raleigh city officials say a proposed chicken operation in [downstream-from-Wake --BCR] Nash County could cost them big bucks for waste cleanup. [...]

If [the plant and associated Consolidated Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs are] built as planned, Raleigh officials say nutrient levels in the Neuse and its estuary will rise. Should that happen, Waldroup predicts “the federal government, through the Clean Water Act, will require additional nutrient reductions from everyone upstream, not just the plant or the CAFOs.”

“Everyone within the basin will be affected, and traditionally point sources, like waste water treatment plants, will feel the brunt before non-point sources like land application operations,” he said.

“Municipalities, rather than the CAFOs, will receive more scrutiny because of how the Clean Water Act is structured.”

Meanwhile, the article tells us, Raleigh's three wastewater treatment plants have spent $25 million (gee!) to meet tighter nitrogen and phosphorus requirements -- and as much as (gasp!) a half-million a year in operating expenses to meet pollution rules.

But let me get this straight. Raleigh's grown at massive rates in the past decade, with the fastest growth countywide in the Brier Creek area, which drains to the Neuse just downstream of Falls Lake...

...and you're concerned that something happening downstream from you could make you have to spend more on pollution clean-up?

King's Sandwich Shop featured in nice ABC 11 vignette

King's Sandwich Shop owner TJ McDermott left me a voice mail on Friday letting me know that WTVD ABC 11 was running a package on Saturday morning focused on the renovation of the Geer and Foster landmark, which re-opened last year.

Endangered Durham's Gary Kueber (who provides some background and context on historic renovation in the segment) featured this video up at his place, and I wanted to share it here, even as I imagine our blog readerships largely overlap. Still, this is too good a watch to miss.

I had seen the videographer at one of King's early opening dates, and understood then that the station was tracking the rehab of the eatery over time. The result is a nice, three and a half minute look at the return of a special place in our Bull City.

Pause for new North Durham high school -- assuming the BOCC approves the land buy

Virginia Bridges has an interesting story in this morning's The Durham News about the Duke Homestead Rd. site near the North Pointe shopping center that's been eyed as the home for a new high school to relieve overcrowding at Jordan and Riverside.

The site was selected last summer after consideration of a Duke Forest location, and whose site selection has been the subject to rumblings over whether it would, could or should disrupt the Jordan-Riverside and Hillside-Southern-Northern axes of districting and school assignments, with all the property value and where's-my-home-assigned-to handwringing that would follow.

Bridges notes that DPS wants to go ahead with the $4 million acquisition of the school site -- but it's put planning for the school itself on hold, while a broader capital planning effort is underway. And the over-capacity Jordan and Riverside have seen their combined overpopulation dwindle by 25% since the new site was considered, the paper reports.

The County Commission will have the ultimate say over whether to acquire the site, but at least one BOCCer frets that the General Assembly's new Republican leadership may look to drastically impact charter schools, a move that could have an even greater impact on reducing enrollment in public schools and any associated overcrowding.

See more over at The Durham News.

Ground control to Major Paul -- who's watching what Sheriff's Martin is saying?

When I read John McCann's story in yesterday's Herald-Sun, I would have known just whom the courts and crime reporter was interviewing by the words and turns of phrase the subject used.

"[P]otential for an ethnic war" between black and Latino gangs. "[A]bout 70% of the black community has retrogressed in Durham." "[A]ttributable to the thug culture." That people who claim to care about the problem are only looking to "grab for federal grant money" to build unachievable visions.

Perhaps you think McCann gotten an all-access pass to the commenters at WRAL? Maybe "whatelseisnew" or "underPSI" or one of those other social commentators has managed to find his way to claw at a phone long enough to initiate a dialing sequence? Or perhaps a representative of one of these Tea Party movements?

Ah, you'd think, but no. Had I not seen the interviewee name, I'd still have known it was Major Paul Martin, a senior officer in the Durham County Sheriff's Office and frequent, er, commentator on social issues.

Brand-new Wake County school superintendent Anthony Tata may be an occasional Fox News contributor and I'm-With-Grizzly-Mama fan, but I suspect if Martin were seeking sideline work, it might be more of the WorldNetDaily or NewsMax variety.

After reading the missile, er, missive yesterday, first place I went was to my email archives to pull up a Partners Against Crime - District 2 email blast that Major Martin had sent out to the listserv a couple of years back, which painted a similar dire picture of papaless criminals whose childhoords were warped by crack cocaine, with drug industry sympathizers holding see-kret political power around town and happy to let the mayhem continue. Oh, and that non-disabled, non-elderly persons getting social services money must get routine drug tests -- and mamas should have to identify the papas of their babies.

Come to think of this, this does sound like something that might fit one of Tata's novels.

Anyhow, apparently the PAC2 email was among the first things the Herald-Sun's Ray Gronberg thought of, too.

$800k gift moves Durham Rescue Mission closer to expansion -- and to possible conflict with some neighbors

Update: Gary Kueber, referenced below in the article, has a very long post on the matter at Endangered Durham today, speaking from his ED blogger perspective, not the Scientific Properties one. Besides the details below, Gary notes that neighbors have filed a protest petition over the proposed land use changes required for DRM expansion.

The Triangle Business Journal and the Herald-Sun both have the news that the Durham Rescue Mission has received $800,000 from an Atlanta cooperative bank in a gift linked to one of that bank's members, Winston-Salem giant BB&T. (BB&T Durham city executive Earl Tye is quoted in the H-S coverage.)

DRM operates a facility at the corner of Main St. and Alston Ave., and a family shelter in a converted hotel off I-85 near Avondale Dr.

It's a big gift, the biggest in the DRM's history, per the H-S' John McCann. And it takes the charity, which serves the poor and homeless with shelter, meals and spiritual outreach, more than one-sixth of the way towards the mark it needs to build what McCann calls "a real nice-looking building in a North-East Central Durham community often associated with blight."

But the gift also accelerates a possible conflict that's been brewing in recent months over the expansion plans for the shelter, which have intersected with a neighborhood-led effort to upgrade the Golden Belt national historic district to a local historic district, something that's gained the requisite percentage of signatures but the opposition of Mills and the Rescue Mission.

Where's the Fishwrap?

As some of you know, and others have noticed, blogging's been a bit scarce in recent weeks. I've been traveling frequently with an ill parent out of state; with the ensuing drama that entails, I've lost more than a bit of my free time blogging of late.

I'm in Tennessee this morning after an unexpected hospitalization, so content will be intermittent at least through the first part of this week. No Fishwrap this morning but we do have an update on the 108 Morris St. project and its possibly controversial mid-block traffic circle to share.

Back soon.

BCR's Daily Fishwrap Report for January 12, 2011

The H-S' Ray Gronberg has excellent coverage today of the ongoing debate over the future of the Durham Convention Center, where city and county staff are proposing a change in the management of the taxpayer-subsidized facility that would take operational responsibilities away from Shaner Hotels, which runs the connected convention facility. Shaner's made a last-minute improvement to their bid that Councilman Woodard said seemed like a "Hail Mary" pass, while fretting that they could lose the Marriott brand for the hotel over the change.

City attorneys, meanwhile, say Shaner was never entitled to say the hotel and convention center were permanently linked for operations, and say any such assertion -- or the financial nature of Shaner's latest deal itself -- could cause tax headaches for the city and its use of muni-bond funds for the facility. (Herald-Sun #1, #2)  And if you're interested in reading more on this, don't miss former DCVB chief Reyn Bowman's blog post this week, which sharply criticizes Shaner and gives more background from Bowman's perspective on the problems at hand.

In other news:

Worst Over for Ice: The H-S notes that there were few power outages and mostly minor accidents in Durham from the tenth of an inch of ice we got, not enough to cause power lines and trees to fall. Major roads are in pretty good shape (something we've seen first-hand out and about around downtown). The biggest issues appear to have been more distal from the core, with slick roads in eastern Durham County including a jackknifed truck on I-85 near the Granville Co. line. (Herald-Sun #1, #2)

Another 751 Move?: The Indy is reporting that County Atty. Lowell Siler has filed to dismiss a lawsuit brought over his office's rejection of a protest petition on the 751 South rezoning, this time saying the plaintiffs in the suit didn't bring their case in time. All the always-gory details courtesy of Samiha Khanna at the Indy. (Indy Weekly)

BCR's Daily Fishwrap Report for January 11, 2011

1/11/11. Don't all those 1's look just like... oh, I don't know... icicles coming down? You bet they do. And how appropriate for an icy day here in the Bull City.

As every reader doubtlessly knows, most of Durham is shut down or in limited operations due to the roads. I have to say, the route I took to downtown this morning (Duke/Gregson and W. Main, down to American Tobacco via Corcoran with a stop outside the Post Office) weren't bad at all, though the risks of refreezing tonight seem real and significant. Just be careful if you go out there, ok?

Not that there are many places to go. Duke has extended its severe weather policy until 7pm at least and cancelled classes today, and many local businesses have followed suit. Most flights out of RDU are on ice, too.

We'll spare everyone the spate of Red Hat stories, given the coverage yesterday, as the Linux software manufacturer is staying in the Triangle, albeit in Wake County. In other news:

More on BDP/West Village: In case you missed it, the N&O had a revealing article this weekend on the travails of Christian Laettner and Brian Davis, including info from a deposition of Blue Devil Partners' comptroller documenting numerous money transfers between corporate units, to Davis, and to financial advisor Anthony Delfre -- whom a Google search reveals was recently sued in a court case involving a professional football player, too. One former BDP investor now has the right to send in tech experts to copy the hard disks of company computers... and, FWIW, I think Messrs. Laettner and Davis are better at jump shots than knowing what a Guttman wipe is. (N&O)

Duke-Progress Merger: In a move that has more effect on Wake than Durham, downtown Raleigh is losing a corporate HQ as Progress Energy will get absorbed into Charlotte-base Duke Energy, which promises to keep a major base of operations in Raleigh -- though not the corner suite. One has to suspect the announcement that Red Hat is staying in Wake was a quickly-timed move to backstop the psychological impact of the Progress announcement. (Herald-Sun)

RDU-LAX Back in May: Delta Air Lines is resuming non-stop flights to Los Angeles this spring, after pausing it in November. (N&O)

More Outdoor Dining Downtown?: Downtown Durham Inc. staff are pressing to allow more "casual outdoor seating" space, both inside the City Center district and throughout downtown, though they'll need to raise the money for a ordinance change. (Herald-Sun)

Changes to DPS Food: A new federal law on child nutrition should help grow the amount of healthy foods in DPS and other local school systems, while expanding access to free and reduced lunch programs among those families who are eligible. Some local officials worry that slightly higher prices for non-F&R lunches are possible, and about other impacts of the new regs. (Herald-Sun #1, #2)

More on NCCU Fundraiser: NC Central is getting serious about doing more to raise funds from alumni, something the university hasn't made a priority in the past -- even, I believe, outsourcing some of its annual fund work. Lois Deloatch comes to Central after decades at Duke, and lays out her strategy for improving philanthropic giving in her new vice chancellor role. (Herald-Sun)