Expanding the commercial district

I was walking downtown for dinner the other night with Mrs. D. Our walk takes us past the two currently vacant properties on Markham near Mangum. One is currently available through Preservation Durham; not sure what the status of the other is, though i keep hearing rumors that someone has plans for it.

PD touts the potential of their property to be restored to single family housing. At around 50 bucks a square foot, that's probably doable, though it
s been available for most of the year, so it might still need to come down again.

From my perspective, though, a neighborhood commercial use for these buildings is even more desirable. I'm thinking of a Four Square type restaurant, or perhaps a law office. Of course, the city has got to do a couple of things on that block no matter what's going to happen to those buildings. For starters, the plastic Rhino wall on the curve as you go from Markham to southbound Mangum has got to go. That was a temporary installation that was supposed to last a year or two until the city got around to the permanent modifications for that intersection. 2011 will mark the wall's 8th anniversary.

Enforcing city codes at the other 2 buildings on the block, including the apartment building that was the site of a multiple homicide a few years back at the SW Roxboro/Markham corner shouldn't be that difficult. Multiple city administrators and elected officials drive past those buildings every day on their way to city hall. You'd think someone would be paying attention to the state of that intersection. The only explanation i can come up with is that it's so dangerous to drive through there, and people are going so fast, that they don't have the cognitive ability to pay attention to much more than the car in front of them.

That's why i was so thrilled the other night to see someone with entrepreneurial spirit taking notice of this corner. On our way back from dinner, around 7:45 or so on Saturday night, i was solicited for a sexual encounter by a woman working the street. while i was walking by with my wife.

The only thing that would make this any better would be to buy the woman a T-shirt that reads "Great Things Are Happening in Durham" and let her solicit those out-of-towners who are driving through to the DPAC to see Billy Elliott. That would give them the full Durham experience.

Continue reading Expanding the commercial district

Dinosaur thoughts

Just wanted to take a quick break from BQP blogging to recap the dinosaur vandalism issue.

Good job to the DPD for investigating this, finding the dino's head and the vandals. It would have been very easy to let this slide, reasoning that there are more important issues in Durham. (And there certainly are.)

Mixed feelings, on the other hand, towards the Museum of Life and Science. Their initial reaction, that the old dinosaur was not going to be restored, has been walked back a bit, and a meeting is scheduled with activists from the Northgate Park neighborhood to discuss options for the dinosaur. Their reluctance to press charges against the vandals, while understandable on some level, also didn't resonate well with a lot of the community. I've had some off the record conversations with museum staffers, and i get where they're coming from. As well, the service levels that they are going to ask the perps to perform are a bit more than "come in on a Saturday afternoon and pick up some trash in the parking lot." What they're considering is more like a year long part time job, with the possibility of severe consequences if the commitment isn't kept. The main thing that's still missing, in my mind and in the minds of many folks in town, is the apology to the community by the vandals. We don't get why their identities are being sheltered.

Again, it's not the biggest deal in town right now, but it's an opportunity that i don't think is being taken full advantage of.

Continue reading Dinosaur thoughts

Decapitated dinosaur update - with pictures

So it looks like some morons drove a pickup truck right up to the fence surrounding our brontosaurus sometime over the weekend, climbed the fence, and made off with a fairly large chunk of dinosaur head. I've got a message into Durham PD asking for a statement.

I know, we have bigger problems in Durham. We have more important issues to deal with. We have limited resources. Yadda yadda yadda.

That refrain gets pretty tired. What happened to "no problem is too big to be solved or too small to matter?" Where's the attitude from our city's leaders that "we're going to do whatever it takes to make Durham great?" We're always going to have "a bigger problem" to deal with. The dinosaur trail, however inaccurate science has rendered it over the past 50 years, remains a significant cultural touchstone in the lives of thousands of people who grew up in Durham. It would be truly a shame if our elected and appointed officials adopted the attitude that this trivial bit of vandalism is insignificant enough that they don't need to devote resources to finding the perpetrators.

Part of the philosophy behind the "broken windows" theory of community building is that it's precisely the little problems, the empty lots, abandoned cars, and, yes, broken windows, that leads to the development of bigger problems. We've all heard our city council members and community leaders talk about broken windows.

Talk's not enough.

I've read from one community leader that he's ponying up a hundred bucks for a reward leading to the return of the dinosaur head. How about the city put up a thousand for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever did this, and invite the community to donate to that fund as well? Put some publicity towards this case. Instead of the silence coming out of City Hall so far.

Symbols matter. So does leadership. Don't let this be yet another instance of the latter missing in action.

Continue reading Decapitated dinosaur update - with pictures

Going to trial

Looks like the alleged victims in the "satanic ritual" case are back in town and testifyin'. And they have names. Well, one of them does, anyway. Wonder if that means the LieStoppers crowd will now devote the next 6 weeks to ferreting out every unsavory detail from their past for publication in KC Johnson's next book?

Here's the money quote:

"It was a satanic group," Bethard testified. "We talked at length about satanism, demons."

Hmmm. I've talked at length with some of my acquaintances about Uranus. What does that make me?

By the way, tonight'll be the first county Executive Committee meeting since the story broke. Wonder how many media people will be on hand to watch the invocation of Satan? Or if it makes the news when we say the Pledge of Allegiance instead?

Continue reading Going to trial

"Alleged victims"

Herald-Sun:

A $270,000 bond for former county Democratic Party third vice chairwoman Joy Suzanne Johnson was reduced Monday to $220,000, and a prosecutor revealed that two alleged victims in a kidnapping-rape-assault case against Johnson and her husband have left town "for their own safety" and are out of contact with the District Attorney's Office.

It also was revealed Monday that the alleged victims are a 19-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman.

I suppose the "alleged victims" were concerned that a rag-tag band of Democratic Party activists was going to seek them out and hold them in captivity while reading all 375 resolutions that were presented at the recent county convention to them until they screamed for mercy. Either that or Satan is really a whole lot more influential than i imagined up until a few days ago.

Last week i was saying privately that the DA's office must be desperately trying to get Johnson and Joseph Craig to cop a plea. There's no way this case is going to trial. Based on this newest development, i think August 21 is a good over/under date for the dismissal of charges. Certainly by Labor Day.

Here's a question for you media savvy types. I'm hearing that last week, when Diana Palmer turned herself in, it just so happened that TV crews and reporters were waiting at the courthouse. How do you suppose they knew?

Continue reading "Alleged victims"

Third arrest in "satanic cult" case

Reader Jeremy alerts us in the comments to the news in the N&O that Diana Palmer* first vice-chair of the Durham County Democratic Party was arrested and "charged with one count of accessory after the fact of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury."

He also states that he thinks it's "premature" to make comparisons between this case and the lacrosse case. I disagree, but i'm curious what y'all think. Here's another key sentence in the article to chew on:

The charges stem from accusations by a woman who listed the couple's home as her address.

The man who police say was caged also lived at the house.

I'm turning off comment moderation for the time being to make this an open thread. Hopefully, i can keep it off for a while.

And i guess i'm going to have to create a new category for this case. How about satanic rituals?

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* While i only knew Ms. Johnson and Mr. Craig by sight, i've worked on several occasions with Diana Palmer. This charge strikes me as completely ludicrous. I don't think i could describe how flabbergasted i would be if it sticks.

Continue reading Third arrest in "satanic cult" case