Alston Ave.
While i was out of town, the city and state apparently decided that their original Alston Ave. widening plan (the one that's going to turn Alston Ave. into a corridor designed to maximize the number of cars that can pass through it, rather than a pedestrian friendly neighborhood avenue that enhances the value of the properties around it) is the way to go. No big surprise there, as the leadership of the city of Durham has consistently shown an inability to comprehend that the city of the future is not going to be built around the automobile.
That section of East Durham has one grocery store, Los Primos, which is probably going to end up disappearing as a result of the widening. The manager of the store left a comment on an old post here, but i think it deserves a wider read. If the loss of the store in the East Durham community seems troublesome to you, stop by Los Primos and sign their petition.
That section of East Durham has one grocery store, Los Primos, which is probably going to end up disappearing as a result of the widening. The manager of the store left a comment on an old post here, but i think it deserves a wider read. If the loss of the store in the East Durham community seems troublesome to you, stop by Los Primos and sign their petition.
I am the manager of Los Primos supermarket . . . we are now offering a petition to stop or relocate the supermarket . . . in the neighboorhood . . . we feed this whole neighboorhood . . . with such a high rate of pedestrian traffic, this highway right through our neighboorhood . . . would cause the neighboorhood . . . to have to go to other supermarkets,, miles away and with six years of success, leaving this neighboorhood that we know so well . . . will be a definite blow to old north durham's economy, we know the local customers . . . and the customers know us . . . please come by and sign the petition!!!!!!!!!
Manager- Michael Collado
1109 E Main st
Durham, NC 27701
919-682-6417
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
Labels: Alston Ave.
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3 Comments:
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By
Mike Woodard, at 2:53 PM
Barry:
I wish you had checked in with someone before posting in error.
I share with you the comment I posted over at Gary's spot in response to your earlier comment. I reiterate it here.
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I can't let Barry's comment pass by unchallenged. I'm not sure who he lumps into "Durham leadership," but I know at least a couple of Council members and the staff in the City's Transportation Department fought hard for improvements on Alston Avenue. I was in the meeting Ray wrote about, and I saw how hard these people fought. The meeting was tense. It's not "Durham leadership" that doesn't get it. It's NCDOT staff members who don't get (understand) Durham.
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A few other points to correct errors in your post.
1) The City has never agreed with DOT's design. To call it "their" (City and DOT) design is incorrect.
2) The plan as it currently exists has been enhanced quite a bit since the "original" plan, making it more pedestrian and bike friendly. The current plan is still not all the City asked for, and we fought until the very end.
3) "...the leadership of the city of Durham has consistently shown an inability to comprehend that the city of the future is not going to be built around the automobile." I repeat what I said above about not knowing who you consider to be the leadership, but there are Council members and City staff who fully understand this and are fighting hard every day for bike-ped, land use, and transportation initiatives that fully comprehend a different role for autos in the future.
Just this past Monday I spent half my day in two meetings, one with representatives of Triangle Transit reviewing possible funding models for light rail and the other with a developer who's working on plan near one of the proposed rail stations.
4) If you had checked with anyone who was in the meeting, you would have learned that after three requests from the City, DOT finally checked into possible economic justice issues related to Los Primos. And DOT reported at the meeting that the Feds are likely to grant some relief for the store, which will likely mean that the store moves nearby but does not disappear.
I chalk up the old information and lack of follow up to all the pizza and other good food you ate on the Left Coast.
Mike Woodard
By
Mike Woodard, at 3:16 PM
I did not particularly refer to elected leadership, Mike. And i've recognized in the past that staff, especially the city's transportation department under Mark Ahrendsen, and economic develpment under Alan DeLisle, opposed this.
The question is, with such "high level" opposition, how come this road is being built this way?
There are plenty of people in leadership positions in Durham who are not necessarily in city government.
Although my understanding is that there are some members of council who could have taken a stronger stand against this particular bit of idiocy, but didn't.
By
Barry, at 3:29 PM
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