Inter-Neighborhood Council
Making Better Neighborhoods
Http://www.rtpnet.org/durhminc
Minutes of Meeting of September 23,2003
REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT
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Virginia Bridges
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The Herald Sun
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R. Gaye Weaver
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Old West Durham
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Pat Carstensen
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Cross County
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Melvin Whitley
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Y. E. Smith
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Ellen Reckhow
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Durham County
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Carrie Mowry
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Old North Durham
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Cheryl Sweeney
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Northgate Park
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Marguerite Ward
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Rockwood
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John Dagenhart
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Trinity Park
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Johnea Kelley
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Duke Park NA
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Esther Bent
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Duke Park NA
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Cathy Abernathy
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Hope Valley NA
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Alice Bumgarner
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Trinity Park
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Dale Stouch
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Placid Valley
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Michael Shiflett
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Housing Appeals Board
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Robert Larson
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Grove Park
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Melanie Eberhart
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Morehead Hill NA
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Tom Miller
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Watts Hospital Hillandale NA
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Fred Mowry
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Colony Park
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Bill Anderson
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Duke Park
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Matt and Blyth Morrell
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Lynwood D. Best
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City of Durham, Housing & Comm Development
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Risa Foster
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Trinity Heights NA
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Guillo Rodriguez
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Watts Hospital Hillandale NA
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Charles Phaneuf
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Durham Arts Council
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Deb Christie
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Colony Hill
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David Harris
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Old Farm
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William Roman
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Westwood Estates
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Fred Foster Jr.
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Durham Voter Coalition
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Diane Catotti
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Knollwood
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Eugene Brown
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Trinity Park
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Duane Clark
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Durham Police Department
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Mark Schultz
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The Herald Sun
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Mark Greenspan
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City of Durham
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Administration and Announcements
President Melvin Whitley opened the meeting. Members introduced themselves and made announcements from their neighborhoods or organizations.
§ Durham Civil Rights Heritage Project series of opportunities to share heritage
§ Durham Cultural Master Plan, www.durhamculturalmasterplan.org
§ SW Central Durham CommUNITY Festival, September 27.
§ Durham Voter Coalition sponsoring fund-raising contest of singing among churches
§ The newsletters are out take some home.
§ Aluminum wiring is a ticking time bomb.
§ Neighborhood Summit, Saturday September 27.
§ The Awards Event is October 1 at University Club, 7 9.
Terms for Board of County Commissioners Ellen Reckhow gave a quick summary of the proposal to change to having 4-year terms. Now commissioners spend about 1/5 of their terms running for re-election. Two years is a short time to put together a program and start to show measurable results. In the past, Durham has not had a lot of turn-over so even without staggered terms, we dont expect 100% turn-over. Durham will still have to do US Congress elections there are no savings on cost of holding an election.
Parks Some of the comments and suggestions:
§ Old Farm To combat organized crime, use more organized sports, especially giving kids responsibility as assistant coaches, and partner with police, churches and schools
§ Duke Park has no drinking fountain, has been trying to plan skateboarding area and the someone on staff had expertise to help and wasnt assigned to that job
§ Flooding lingering in parks
§ Some neighborhoods have no parks, including Old West Durham which lost theirs
§ Mold in building in Y. E. Smith
§ Use our staff instead of hiring more consultants to tell us what we told them
§ Take care of parks we have instead of making more
§ Where did bond money go? Some work done so badly that we may have to re-do it.
Mark Greenspans (Durham General Services) response to the comments:
§ Park construction and maintenance are part of Marks group. He wants a model department
§ Know parks are broken; it takes time to change momentum to going up instead of down
§ Are getting business systems (work order, knowledge management, project administration) plus internal controls and people skilled to use them. So now will be able to determine priorities, figure out what it costs to cut grass, etc. Also augmenting skills by hiring engineer and architect. Generally improving accountability and increasing capabilities.
§ Will never have resources we need, so need to be smarter. Getting ahead of curve takes having designs to reduce maintenance, figuring out most effective methods, setting minimum maintenance standards, evaluating needs at least twice a year, and having staff that is pro-active (e.g. see tree down when mowing, report it or fix it)
§ He has banned the word no. When 311 system in place, call it to report problems. In the meantime, call 560-1122 or Mark (560-4192).
§ Deferring maintenance doesnt save money. Durham never increased maintenance to pay for improvements from 1996 bonds, not to mention covering inflation. Consultant doing detailed study of what needs to be done (expect a big number). How can neighborhoods help in this?
§ Trying to work within budget to get more help for maintenance side of parks.
Information / Committee Reports / Business
§ INC has about $3200. Pat went over the minutes.
§ UDO Committee is waiting for new draft. The NC-DOT committee is tentatively meeting October 2.
§ INC will sponsor a dessert at the Neighborhood Council. We voted to spend up to $50.
§ On Zero Tolerance on Using Guns in a Violent Crime that is, not doing plea bargaining in these cases. There will be a press event on Friday.
§ Melvin will be bringing something to the Executive Committee to get a proposal around making sure that some percentage of capital improvement funds go to deteriorating neighborhoods to pave the streets, get sidewalks, get an east-side rec center, and so on.
Elections The Nominating Committee twisted arms and produced the following slate, which was endorsed 14 to 2.
President: Cheryl Sweeney President-Elect: Bill Anderson
Past President: Melvin Whitley Treasurer: Robert Larson
Secretary: Pat Carstensen Newsletter: Cathy Abernathy
At-Large: Risa Foster and Alice Bumgarner
Cheryl went through her objectives, which are parks, rental property, and INC processes.
The meeting was adjourned.
