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	This is an automated e-mail from heraldsun.com. Mike Shiflett has asked us to send you the following article, which can also be found online at: http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-567323.html.

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The InterNeighborhood Council and the Durham Visitors and Convention Bureau need your help in updating your neighborhoods contact information (see Herald Sun article Jan 20)

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Updated neighborhood contact list sought
January 19, 2005

BY GINNY SKALSKI, The Herald-Sun 
The organization representing all of Durham's neighborhoods is asking neighborhood associations to update their contact information to help give the groups a stronger voice.        

  There are about 175 neighborhood associations registered with the City/County Planning Department, but the directory listings for some of the groups are outdated, said Bill Anderson, president of the Inter-Neighborhood Council of Durham.         

  As the council prepares to take on issues such as the city's yard-waste policy, it needs to know who leads each of the neighborhood associations it is supposed to represent. That way when the council approaches local and state governments with suggestions, its voice might carry more weight, Anderson said.        

  "This is a list that we should have been updating constantly for years and we have been, but really haphazardly," Anderson said. "This is our first concerted effort in 20 years.        

  "We cannot claim right now to speak for every neighborhood in Durham," he added. "I doubt in 20 years that we've been able to do that even once."        

  The Inter-Neighborhood Council is teaming up with the Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau to compile the updated list. The two organizations are asking leaders of neighborhood associations to e-mail contact information including name, mailing and e-mail addresses, phone numbers and any neighborhood Web site addresses to either neighbors at durham-cvb.com or scjdurham at aol.com or to call 680-8328.        

  The Convention and Visitors Bureau wants the list updated because it often refers people looking for a home to different neighborhoods, said Reyn Bowman, the bureau's president and CEO. Although the bureau won't give phone numbers or other contact information to prospective Durham residents, it often refers them to Web sites.        

  "We're doing it for communication," Bowman said. "Neighborhood sites are excellent ways for a newcomer to explore a community."        

  The Inter-Neighborhood Council meets at 7 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of every month to discuss issues affecting Durham residents, and when necessary, approaches the City Council, County Commissioners or Durham's legislative delegation with suggestions for improvements.          

  Anderson encourages all neighborhood associations to send at least one delegate to the council's meetings, which always take place in Johnson Hall at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 1735 Hillandale Road. Delegates are supposed to bring any issues discussed at the meetings back to their neighborhood group and then return the following month to share the neighborhood's response.        

  In the coming months, the Inter-Neighborhood Council plans to ask city officials to rework the city's yard-waste policy, which has garnered complaints among residents since the fee was increased from $50 to $60 last year. Ultimately, Anderson said the group plans to ask the City Council to form a citizens committee to review the policy.        

  "We want all of the neighborhood associations to stand behind the proposal that we're going to go to the city with and say, 'This is all of the Durham neighborhood associations that want this,' " Anderson said.        

  The Inter-Neighborhood Council also wants to see more staffing for Durham's court system. The group plans to ask local state legislators "to do whatever is necessary" to find money to add three permanent assistant district attorneys, a magistrate and two clerks to the county's courts.         

  "We all have good reasons, including the city, to have updated lists," Anderson said.        

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The Inter-Neighborhood Council meets at 7 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of every month in at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 1735 Hillandale Road.     

For a map to the meeting, or additional information, log onto www.durhaminc.org.   Neighborhood groups that want to update contact information for their leaders can e-mail the council at scjdurham at aol.com or e-mail Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau at neighbors at durham-cvb.com or call 680-8328. Groups should include the name of their leader, mailing and e-mail addresses, phone numbers and any Web site addresses.        

 


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