INC NEWS - Re: [DukeDurhamTownGown] Response to John Schelp

[kjj1 at duke.edu]

Come on, John. With all due respect, a snide put-down is hardly the same as 
a serious response. And trying to minimize community concerns and fears 
("mistrust," if you will) about how Duke's actions affect Durham by 
attributing them to John Schelp and trying to discredit him on a public 
website seems like a cheap shot to me.

I've pasted below all the references to Peter Lange's comments in 
yesterday's N&O article, and while I find another of the rather generic 
reassurances that Duke is concerned about Ninth Street's viability that 
we've heard before, I don't find a specific denial or a clarification on 
the car wash or retail.

Now, I'm willing to consider the possibility that Peter did make such a 
specific clear denial ("there will be no car wash on Central Campus") to 
the reporter and that it simply didn't make it into the article. But 
readers have no way of knowing that. We're still waiting for some kind of 
clear public commitment on Central Campus retail.


Duke Provost Peter Lange said
the university has an interest in offering its
students educational and social guidance along with
increasing levels of responsibility and independence
over the course of four years.


Lange says the university is open to community
comments at public meetings but has made no effort to
negotiate the complex array of community concerns with
select individuals because the development process
remains in its infancy.

Lange said this week that he is aware of a certain
level of community distrust and fear about Duke's
Central Campus plan. Lange said he hopes a public
meeting that was held in February and future efforts
will assuage community concerns.

"I think that what you are seeing in some of those
proposals is people thinking out loud," Lange said. "I
have said repeatedly that we have no desire to make
Ninth Street or any of the other commercial operations
nearby less attractive to students."


--On Thursday, April 28, 2005 4:23 PM -0400 John F Burness 
<john.burness at duke.edu> wrote:

>
> Come on, John, do you really believe that  because a few students
> suggested--- in an open ended brainstorming session-- putting a car wash
> on Central Campus that we'd do it? No way in hell. Peter Lange told the
> reporter that yesterday. Your decision to take it seriously shows why so
> many people are finding it difficult to take you seriously.
>
>
> John F. Burness
> Senior Vice President for Public Affairs
>    and Government Relations
> Duke University
>
>
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