INC NEWS - Remodeling the kitchen ... while the house is on fire

[Caleb Southern]

City Hall is busy pursuing their downtown Theater 
(across from the jail) – against all odds – and at 
any cost.
 
Meanwhile . . . our streets are riddled with potholes; 
our sidewalks are crumbling; our dump caught on fire;  
people are questioning our water supply; a bankrupt 
credit counseling agency (that bilked taxpayers out 
of a fortune) is endorsed by City Hall - to host a 
meeting there; and violent crime is on the rise.
 
Wake up, Durham! 
We are remodeling the kitchen while the house is on fire.
 
Tell City Council to get back to the basics – water, 
trash, crime, roads – and to quit funneling tax dollars to 
boondoggle distractions, crooked or inept non-profits, 
and other wasteful luxuries.
 
council at durhamNC.gov

Caleb Southern
 
***
 
John Schelp wrote (on ABCD listserv, re: below)
>I'd like to see Duke officials put in writing that
>this is not "quid pro quo."

>I'd also like to hear what the City lawyers say about
>this deal. My understanding is they're not very
>pleased.

>This arrangement smells awfully fishy. Taxpayers
>deserve a full explanation.

***

Town-gown deal near on theater

By Ray Gronberg : The Herald-Sun
gronberg at heraldsun.com
Oct 17, 2006 : 11:11 pm ET

DURHAM -- Durham and Duke University officials have reached a deal that will
provide the last piece of financing needed for the city's proposed
performing arts center, if the two sides can agree next year on a plan to
reconfigure Anderson Street.

If the City Council goes along with the proposal on Thursday, Duke would
immediately turn over $500,000 the city could in turn use to help pay for
the 2,800-seat, $44 million theater.

Another $1.5 million would follow by November 2007 if city regulators
approve Duke's plan for Anderson Street, and issue "any other necessary
approvals required by the city for Duke to undertake the improvements,"
according to the terms of the deal, which was released Tuesday.

Duke in turn promises to pay for the changes to Anderson Street, and to take
on the financial responsibility for all future maintenance of the stretch
between Erwin Road and Duke University Road, including repaving, lighting
repairs and mowing.

The deal, hammered out in negotiations with Duke President Richard Brodhead,
Executive Vice President Tallman Trask and Senior Vice President for Public
and Governmental Relations John Burness, is a potential "win-win for both
the city and Duke," said Mayor Bill Bell.

"This is part of a long range plan that Duke has in terms of trying to
develop Anderson Street," Bell said, explaining the university's interest in
the swap. "It'd probably give them a certain level of comfort if they could
get the plan agreed to by both sides so they could go ahead and do what they
need to do."

In turn, with the school's money in the pipeline, the City Council could go
ahead and green-light the theater project which, as of early this month, was
$2 million short of being fully funded.

The school's pledge would give administrators the ammunition they need to
convince the N.C. Local Government Commission to approve the borrowing the
city will use to finance the project, Bell said.

The backup plan for the theater, were the Duke deal to fall through, would
be to ask the County Commissioners to step in to cover the gap, Bell said.
And if that doesn't work, the City Council would have to decide whether or
not to look elsewhere for the money needed to go ahead.

But "I'm comfortable we can reach an agreement with Duke so we can get it
resolved at that level," the mayor said.

The deal specifies that Duke's $2 million is a "donation" to the city, not
an advance payment for the city to do the work on Anderson Street. It also
says that Duke's plan for changing the street can include a widening or
reduction of the travel way, new landscaping and paving, and the
installation of new medians, bridges, gateways, lighting, crosswalks, bike
paths and other features. The end result is supposed to "reflect the
character of the Duke University campus."

The university's interest in reconfiguring stems from its plan to redevelop
the 128-acre Central Campus area, and the deal will reach the council before
it rules on a rezoning that would facilitate that effort. The Durham
Planning Commission has urged elected officials to turn down the request
because the university so far hasn't offered enough safeguards against the
possibility of new on-campus retail development competing with businesses in
the city.

Bell and other city officials say they've tried to avoid any quid pro quo
implying that Duke's money is a quid pro quo for the rezoning -- the sort of
deal that could run afoul of the courts' strictures against "contract
zoning" that trades legislation for favors.

Bell said administrators on both sides will have the flexibility they need
to conduct a proper review of Duke's renovation plan for Anderson Street. He
said that as far as he's concerned, the rezoning "is a separate issue."

"Duke understands we have certain guidelines we need to follow," Bell said.
"We're going to be guided by that. At the same time, it gives us a lot of
flexibility. There may be compromises on both side as we go through this
process."

Councilman Thomas Stith, however, said Tuesday that city officials need to
scrutinize the proposed deal carefully to make sure it doesn't obligate the
city to rezone Central Campus.

"Clearly, given the timing, my concern would be that there is not any quid
pro quo," Stith said. "I wouldn't want to commit the city to any open-ended
deal that would prevent us from protecting the interests of our citizens and
businesses in Durham."

Officials also released a memo Tuesday saying they're reached an agreement
with Capitol Broadcasting Co., owner of WRAL and the Durham Bulls, that
would give the company naming rights to the plaza outside the new theater.

Capitol would pay the city $300,000 a year for 13 to 20 years and in return
get the right to have the plaza named for itself or any of its affiliates.
It would also get the right to install video displays in the plaza and
receive assurances that no other media or professional baseball company be
allowed to purchase naming rights elsewhere in the performing arts center.