Bull City Rising

Planning process for Fayetteville St meets mistrust from residents

There's no shortage of plans floating around the Fayetteville St. and NCCU area these days -- from the streetscape plans for the historical corridor, to NCCU's controversial master plan calling for campus expansion in a prized history-tinged area adjacent to the HBCU, to Triangle Transit's paused plans for a transit line (and, upsetting to some, more density) running along the Alston Ave. side.

The City/County Planning Department has one more study it's bringing in to the mix: a detailed land-use plan for the corridor, called for in Durham's Comprehensive Plan.

If you think residents might feel a little over-planned, you'd be right. And the resulting tensions were evident at Saturday's Fayetteville-University land use update meeting, held at the Hayti Heritage Center.

They came in the face of not only competing plans, but the revelation by a County senior planner of a 1964-vintage redevelopment plan for the area south of NCCU, and giving the City eminent domain powers over that whole area -- something Planning was quick to say it has no interest in using, though the process of unraveling that plan will take hundreds of signatures and more than a year to complete.

BCR's Daily Fishwrap Report for November 10, 2009

In today's local news:

Pfizer Cuts 70 RTP Jobs: Pfizer is realigning its research divisions after taking over Wyeth earlier this year, and a 70-person R&D site that's part of the 2006-acquired firm Embrex is shutting down. A similar number of jobs in a Sanford, NC R&D site are being lost, though a manufacturing facility there is staying open. (TBJ, NBC 17)

NCCU Officially in Tournament of Roses Parade: After a few days' rumors, the university made it official at a Monday press conference. NC Central's marching band will be performing in the Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena in 2011 -- giving the HBCU time to raise the $400,000 it will cost to send the NCCU Marching Sound Machine to California. (Herald-Sun)

BOCC Closes Session on 751: Monday night's Board of County Commissioners session got a bit tetchy, the N&O says, with Becky Heron asking the county attorney for a report on why the Haw River Assembly/Southern Environmental Law Center's protest petition on 751 was invalidated; the attorney called for a closed-session discussion, saying that he expected the matter would go to litigation. Heron complained that the matter should be discussed in public light after activists have complained about what they claim are incomplete explanations over why the County ruled there were problems with the petition's signatures. (N&O)

"F for Fake" -- and for "Free" tickets to Orson Welles' film at ATC

Full Frame is wrapping up its "It's All Bull" mockumentary series at American Tobacco's Bay 7 this Wednesday night with an 8pm showing of Orson Welles' film "F For Fake," the final in a three-month series looking at "a few of fiction’s finest tributes to the documentary form" -- in this case, the legendary director's film telling a faux-story of a supposed art forger.

BCR readers get a chance to get in without the $5 fee at the door, though. Thanks to the folks at Full Frame for offering free tickets to the first twenty BCR readers who contact the documentary festival (email: info@fullframefest.org) by midnight on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.

A raffle at Wednesday's screening will include two Film Passes for the 2010 festival as well; tickets are $10.

More on "F for Fake"--

Trickery. Deceit. Magic. In Orson Welles's free-form documentary F for Fake, the legendary filmmaker (and self-described charlatan) gleefully engages the central preoccupation of his career—the tenuous line between truth and illusion, art and lies. Beginning with portraits of world-renowned art forger Elmyr de Hory and his equally devious biographer, Clifford Irving, Welles embarks on a dizzying cinematic journey that simultaneously exposes and revels in fakery and fakers of all stripes—not the least of whom is Welles himself. Charming and inventive, F for Fake is an inspired prank and a searching examination of the essential duplicity of cinema. (The Criterion Collection)

Do municipal incumbent snubs portend a coming Committee battle?

We've been sniffing around a story for a few days, but kudos to Carl Kenney for breaking the details on this one at his blog REV-elution.

Namely: the big outcome of last week's general election may end up having nothing to do with the incumbents who won or the challengers who lost.

Instead, the biggest impact it could have, according to two BCR sources (and implied in Kenney's article), could be on the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People and its longtime leader, Lavonia Allison.

Allison's presented what this observer has seen to be a much more public image since last year's County Commission race, when Committee-backed Joe Bowser -- left for dead politically after the firing/rehiring of Mike Ruffin in '04, among other fracases -- moved smartly back into office well ahead of presumably better-situated challengers.

From speaking up and speaking back to elected officials like Cora Cole-McFadden and Brenda Howerton, to her angry comments about Durham "retrogressing" when it approved urban chickens, Allison has been a much more personally forceful voice in the limelight in the past eighteen months -- even as she's been a behind the scenes force for years.

BCR's Daily Fishwrap Report for November 9, 2009

In the local news:

NCCU to Tournament of Roses Parade?: While Western Carolina University has been publicly announced as participating in the Tournament of Roses parade that accompanies the annual Rose Bowl event, there's rumblings that NCCU's marching band might make a second North Carolina entry. The N&O's Eric Ferreri adds to the speculation, which has been rumored for several days. (N&O)

Lopez Says Mosque Incident Under Investigation: DPD Chief Jose Lopez indicated to the Herald-Sun that the vandalism that occurred at a longtime Fayetteville St. mosque remains under investigation, and that the incident would be pursued as a hate crime if information discovered warrants it. (Herald-Sun)

Apex-Durham ATT Segment Almost Done: A 4.7 mile portion of the 23-mile American Tobacco Trail route will finish construction by Turkey Day, officially opening the connection from Scott King Rd. near the Durham/Chatham border to Green Level Church Rd. in Apex. (N&O) Construction planning is underway for Durham's fully-funded "missing link" segment from NC54 across I-40 and down past the Streets of Southpoint to Scott King Rd.

Billboard industry releases long-expected proposal to loosen Durham's outdoor ad restrictions

After more than a year of debate and discussion in public forums over the general idea, an attorney for the billboard industry -- long operating in Durham under one of the stricter outdoor advertising rules in the state -- released on Friday a proposed Unified Development Ordinance text amendment that would loosen the rules on billboards in the Bull City.

There's few surprises in the text amendment, which was filed by former county commissioner Lewis Cheek, who's now representing Fairway Outdoor Advertising as the applicant requesting the change.

There's also likely little new here to change the minds of opponents to any changes. Indeed, the incoming president of Durham's Inter-Neighborhood Council, Tom Miller, was one of the founding fathers of the INC a quarter century ago -- and one of the leading advocates for the billboard restrictions that sit in place today in Durham.

New billboard construction has been frozen in Durham since the 1980s, a governmental action that lead to lawsuits from the industry and, later, attempts in the General Assembly to water-down Durham's restrictions.

Today, billboards can be repaired but not replaced, and then only if they're less than 25% damaged -- a rule that, incidentally, Cheek's filing calls out as no longer in compliance with state law. (More on that later.)

Nonetheless, the filing sets the field for debate in the sphere of elected officialdom, after more than a year's discussion in the halls of the INC and other civic groups.

DPAC first-year numbers exceed expectations many times over in profitable start

One big question about the DPAC has been, quite simply, what the reaction of the market would be to the massive, 2,800 seat arts center in the heart of downtown Durham.

When the Independent Weekly ran its gloomy scrutiny on the project last fall, their reaction was one of civic concern:

When DPAC became a reality, there were some eye-popping numbers. First and foremost was the sheer size of the venue: 2,800 seats. Then there were the numbers regarding sales expectations: The break-even point is to sell 60 percent of tickets for 100 shows a year, at $55-$60 per ticket.

It seems a tall order for a small city with significant, pressing demands on dwindling public resources, at a time of widespread consumer gloom. Still, the team assembled by general manager Bob Klaus, a veteran of Raleigh's Walnut Creek outdoor concert shed, has been booking performances all year and has much to show for its efforts….

Indeed, the faltering economy is one unfortunate hurdle that programmers have to clear. According to Gragg, the venue "expects to have over 6,000 season ticket holders by opening night of Rent in January." But come March, will there be 2,800 Triangle residents who will have spare $75-$450 for a Robin Williams show?

In these nervous times, Durham has an expensive new investment that's less than two weeks from opening.

Well, the first set of numbers are in. And, by all accounts, it looks like DPAC has exceeded expectations for its first year of operations -- by what BCR is calculating to be a sixfold improvement over full first-year projections.

Through eight months' time, the facility's shows brought in $6.5 million in ticket sales, a number that's on par with the back-of-envelope breakeven number the Indy calculated last fall ($6.4m, adjusted for 8 months of operation.)

But it's not ticket sales alone. Round up those miscellaneous numbers -- like service charges ($529k), concessions ($219k), building rental charges and other facilities fees (north of $300k) -- and you have another $1.5m in revenue to boot.

Troika, Harding concert, skate park highlight busy Durham weekend

There's a plethora of things to do around the Bull City this weekend, none of them perhaps more high-profile than the Troika Music Festival, which started last night with a free concert at Durham Central Park among other venues.

Festival organizer Melissa Thomas joined Barry and me on the "Shooting the Bull" radio show to give a more detailed history of the event, but it can best be boiled down like this: a chance to see a terrific mix of local, regional, and even some on-the-cusp national acts -- like last night's Megafaun, playing downtown Durham before setting off on a European tour -- some of them for the last time in such small venues.

The festival, intended to give Durham a chance to host shows and concerts in a region where music had traditionally gravitated south to Chapel Hill/Carrboro or east to Raleigh, was started in 2002 and, after a brief regional play mid-decade, has settled back in to its traditional home in downtown Durham -- as the "bullbot" at right demonstrates.

A record number of bands (over 200) applied to be in this year's event. Tickets for any individual night are $8, in addition to the $20 three-day pass that started to pay off for last night's events. Durham Socialite has a nice Google Map featuring the venues, showtimes and performers, or check out the Troika web site for more details. New this year: Rock, Paper, Scissors, a live music show-cum-arts/crafts market, in the Trotter Bldg. at the corner of Geer and Foster St. downtown.

This is also the weekend when Durham's much-anticipated skateboard facility opens on the eastern side of Durham Central Park. (You don't know how anticipated it was unless you were at the design meeting year; I didn't realize it was humanly possible to squeeze that many teenaged skaters into City Hall, the last place many may have thought they'd want to spend a breezy evening.)

BCR's Daily Fishwrap Report for November 6, 2009

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)

Courthouse project to move forward after Scarborough & Hargett decamps to Carolina Times building

The long process of getting the Durham County Courthouse's new site underway took a big step forward this week with the announcement that African-American community institution Scarborough & Hargett has vacated its site at the corner of Dillard and Roxboro near the county jail.

The historic funeral home is making its third move in its long history; it was notoriously impacted by urban renewal, which brought the Hayti fixture to its 1960s-era site downtown.

"Skeepie" Scarborough, the latest in a long line of family owners and managers of the business, expressed his concerns and frustrations over the impact eminent domain had had on Durham's black community in the community activism forum at the Hayti Heritage Center a couple of weeks ago:

My business is 137 years old, fourth generation. We have been eminent domained three times. 1914, 1968, and now. We are all sitting in the area of Hayti, the cradle of society as we call it. 1887 is when it became known. The people who moved here, who had homes here, who had businesses here -- all of a sudden, by 1968, 1969, was wiped out by eminent domain. I can just remember, as I heard, having thoughts, having seen things in the past....

For my people, how can we have a mechanism, how can this be worked with in order to help other blacks not succumb to this?

Scarborough_10-25-2009

The political sensitivities around Scarborough & Hargett reverberate deeply in Durham. Heck, during Scarborough's comments at the Hayti Heritage Center forum, City Councilman Mike Woodard quietly shifted from his pew on the east side of the onetime St. Joe's sanctuary and sidled up to chat with deputy county manager Deborah Craig-Ray.