INC NEWS - Durham neighborhood challenge

[RW Pickle]

>From our neighborhood to the rest of you, we challenge you to meet our offer.

Seeing the effort one neighborhood organization is putting forth to get a
park has led me to this. Erwin Area Neighborhood Group (EANG) has raised
about 50% of their goal of $100,000 to show the governments on Orange and
Durham County's and the cities of Chapel Hill and Durham, that they are
willing to help make this happen.

For those who haven't followed this in the news, a piece of Duke Forest is
under contract by a home developer to buy and build homes on the property.
The EANG wants a park and they see this is one of the last opportunities
to get some land to have one one. The area of Erwin Road has seen a huge
increase in development over the last 15 years. So much so, that land has
pretty much dried up. This particular piece is along New Hope Creek and is
part of the watershed for our drinking water (Jordan Lake) here in Durham.
So it is important for other reasons as well.

I anticipate that our FHNA Board will approve my request for $500.00 to be
given to EANG so they can have a park like we have one. A note on our list
server drew immediate replies in a very positive way. They were coming in
one a minute for the first half an hour that it was there. No one said it
was a bad idea. Forest Hills Park is really what my neighborhood is about.
We work in it regularly to maintain it to the standards you see as you
drive by or use it. It's a great source of pride for this community. And
now, you have another neighborhood (EANG) without a park trying to get
themselves one. Durham has squandered the impact fees (or so it would
seem)  from all the development in this area and says it just doesn't know
where the money can come from. It's easy to see the waste here in Durham,
but hard to point to treasures such as this that will be lost if not acted
upon (and quickly). And split between the four governments, it's really
not much of an investment in a community and a future for this pristine
forest land (it's part of the Duke Forest land if this will help you
visualize it any better).

So The Forest Hills Neighborhood Association would like to challenge the
other neighborhoods in Durham to match our gift to EANG and help a fellow
neighborhood save a piece of land in their neighborhood so they can have a
park. If you have a park in your neighborhood, this will make alot of
sense to you. Entire neighborhoods in Durham are named for their Parks;
Trinity Park and Duke Park  just to name a couple. So pony up and help a
fellow neighborhood working hard to have a park of their own. You can
learn more about their quest and give individually as well on their
website, www.erwinneighbor.org.

Randy Pickle
Forest Hills