Fun with your new Council

New city council member Farad Ali took his seat last night for his first council meeting. Kevin's already noted that we saw a different Thomas Stith bowing out than we did when he was running for mayor. I'm not so sure. Stith always came across well in person; it was his campaign materials, especially his robo-calls, that gave him grief and made him seem like a tool of certain right-wing elements.


First item on the agenda - what to do about the water shortage. After that? Finding the money to build a skatepark in Durham. This is another one of those things that's been kicking around for about 6 or 7 years, and the longer we wait, the more money it's going to take. DPR approached the Duke Park neighborhood back in '01 about building a skatepark on the site of the handball court. While this wasn't the best location for a skatepark, enough neighbors thought it was a worthwhile idea to support putting it there. Couple of years later, the city then decided that the location wasn't good enough. Now, apparently, we need almost a quarter million more dollars to build the thing near Central Park. If i had to guess, i'd say that these guys won't be boarding any more by the time the park is built.


Anyway, i had a nice chat with Farad Ali, and hopefully he'll be the asset to the council that his supporters thought he would be. Also, stay tuned for more on the I-85 landscaping issue talked about here Friday. I had a good conversation with Ellen Reckhow, and i'll be pushing this issue a lot in the new year.