Duke Park bathhouse update
The most recent correspondence between the neighborhood association and the city (actually the City/County Planning Department) has been summarized and posted to the DPNA listserv by Dan Read, current association president.
Apparently, the Planning Department is concerned that the number of parking spaces may be inadequate if the bathhouse is renovated and put back into use.
Let me see if i understand this. The city of Durham ran a swimming pool at Duke Park, for which the bathhouse structure was the entrance/changing area, for over 60 years. It shut down in 1993 after a series of insurmountable structural problems.
During that time hundreds of people from around the city used the pool without parking being an issue. (There were of course other issues about the pool, including its being a segregated facility for much of its use. But that's another post.) Currently, the city has built within Duke Park one of the most modern and attractive playgrounds for the under 12 crowd for miles around. As many as 200 people will be using the playground on a weekend afternoon, most of them arriving in cars. There is no place to park within two blocks of the park. Part of the problem is that the city Parks and Recreation Department has closed off the parking lot in the north end of the park and converted it into a storage area.
Now, the Planning Department is raising a red flag about parking for a building which it has allowed to sit abandoned and deteriorating for nearly 14 years?
You've got to be kidding me.
On edit: Let me clarify. When i say there is no place to park within two blocks of the park, what i mean is that with 200 people in the park, all 45 or so parking spaces around the park have already been taken.
Apparently, the Planning Department is concerned that the number of parking spaces may be inadequate if the bathhouse is renovated and put back into use.
Let me see if i understand this. The city of Durham ran a swimming pool at Duke Park, for which the bathhouse structure was the entrance/changing area, for over 60 years. It shut down in 1993 after a series of insurmountable structural problems.
During that time hundreds of people from around the city used the pool without parking being an issue. (There were of course other issues about the pool, including its being a segregated facility for much of its use. But that's another post.) Currently, the city has built within Duke Park one of the most modern and attractive playgrounds for the under 12 crowd for miles around. As many as 200 people will be using the playground on a weekend afternoon, most of them arriving in cars. There is no place to park within two blocks of the park. Part of the problem is that the city Parks and Recreation Department has closed off the parking lot in the north end of the park and converted it into a storage area.
Now, the Planning Department is raising a red flag about parking for a building which it has allowed to sit abandoned and deteriorating for nearly 14 years?
You've got to be kidding me.
On edit: Let me clarify. When i say there is no place to park within two blocks of the park, what i mean is that with 200 people in the park, all 45 or so parking spaces around the park have already been taken.
Since 1949, Durhamites have slept soundly, secure in the knowledge that, in our town, erection can be depended upon. Now, thanks to the power of the internets, we can spread that security all over the world.
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