INTER-NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL

http://www.rtpnet.org/durhminc

Minutes of Meeting of March 23, 1999

Police Department Community Services Room

Attendees

Pat Bocckino	27713	Fern Valley
Steve Bocckino	27713	Fern Valley
Patricia Stubbing	27707	Lakewood Park
Norm Krause	27707	Hope Valley
Marcia Margotta	27701	Cooperative Extension
Lorisa Seibel	27701	Durham Affordable Housing Coalition
Harry Dawley	27701	Trinity Park
Mike McKinney	27705	Watts Hospital/Hillandale
Beth Acierno	27713	Woodlake
Pat Hemingway	27707	The Valley
Lynwood D. Best	27701	City of Durham Housing & Community Development
Julie Linehan	27707	Green Mill
J. Clinton Rogers	27707	Dumbarton
Kelly Rimer	27705	Old West Durham
Carol Kurtz	27707	Forest Hills
Kathy Wright Moore	27712	Kenwood Acres
Tish & Charlie Steenbergen	27707	Valleybrook
Erick Larson	27707	City Council/Tuscalosa Lakewood NA
Spring E. Brooks	27707	Tuscalosa Lakewood
Rosemarie Kitchin	27703	Grove Park
Jim McDonald	27707	Home Valley
Ed Harrison		Cross Country
Johnea D. Kelley	27701	Duke Park
Fred Mowry	27705	Colony Park
Al Stone	27705	Duke Homestead

Administration

Harry Dawley called the meeting to order at 7:03.

Speaker

Patrick Byker, in charge of government relations for the Durham Chamber of Commerce, described Chamber projects and activities of interest to neighborhoods.

· The Durham Crime Cabinet, which the Chamber promoted, has been set up with co-chairs Ellen Reckow and Howard Clement. Its charter calls for setting up an Ordnance Enforcement Court and an Environment Court. Marcia Moore will assume a new judgeship in the Ordnance Enforcement Count. The Attorney's Office will designate a prosecutor for that court so that the same person sees all the cases. Other initiatives include piloting an electronic warrant system; roadway cleanup (3000 miles of roadway have been cleaned by people sentenced to community service); and beefing up truancy patrols and using technology to connect schools with the courts and community services.

· Consolidating city and county government: the Chamber first came out for consolidation in December 1932.

· Summer youth program: the Durham Business and Professional Chain last year provided some 300 jobs to at-risk students with Chamber of Commerce organizations.

· City Master Plan: the Chamber supports placing businesses in downtown Durham.

· Non-emergency 311 phone line for reporting crime: these would reduce the load on the 911 line. Callers would not automatically be identified as they are on the 911 line, a circumstance that discourages some calls.

Patrick noted that investment in Durham is up. Last year $330,000,000 in new business was attracted to the county, with Chamber help. This year looks even better, he added.

Other new business

· Marcia Margotta of the Durham County Cooperative Extension appealed for old photos, oral histories, etc. for a "Community Conversations" project. Her group hopes to publish a booklet and make it available in the public libraries.

· Rosemary Kitchin appealed for articles for the INC newsletter. Articles can be sent to her at rkitchin@nena.org.

· Lorisa Seibel of the Durham Affordable Housing Coalition circulated a pamphlet urging that the city be given the power to require "repair only" for dilapidated rental housing. At present the city can only order destruction of such properties. It takes six months for an order to be issued and another year before the city can act. She asked that INC endorse City Council's request to the State Legislature to change the rules. A motion to that effect was moved, seconded, and passed unanimously.

· Harry Dawley reported that the county is working on a revised noise ordnance, but that this work is not being coordinated with Durham City, which has its own, different ordnance.

· Ed Harrison repeated the appeal he made in February's INC meeting for support on the Leigh Farm Office Park project. He asked INC members to send letters to Country Commissioners urging them to reduce the peak-time traffic impact of the project.

· Jim McDonald reported on the "four drugstores" - four rezoning requests for the intersection of 751 and 54 to permit the building of four different drugstores. One of the requests has been deferred, a second may possibly be deferred, and a third will come up in 2-3 months.

· Erick Larson commented that the City Council has asked the State Legislature to give Durham the power to do conditional-use zoning, but that the Legislature doesn't seem very interested in doing so. Such legislation, he said, would help in the four drugstores case.

· Norm Krause reported that so far eleven neighborhoods have paid this year's INC dues. In a subsequent communication on March 28, Norm reported that the total is fourteen. Last year more than twenty neighborhood associations paid their dues. Thanks to these associations that have paid: Ashley Forest, Duke Homestead, Duke Park, Dunbarton, Fern Valley, Forest Hills, Garrett Farms, Greenmill, Hope Valley, Kenwood Acres, Parkwood, Tuscaloosa/Lakewood, Valleybrook, and Woodlake.

Closing

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00.

AAS

4/27/99