INC NEWS - Peter Lange re. car wash on Central

[Susan Kauffman]

----- Forwarded by Susan Kauffman/Allen/Admin/Univ/Duke on 04/29/2005 01:54
PM -----

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|         |            Peter Lange     |                                                                  |
|         |                            |      To:       Susan Kauffman/Allen/Admin/Univ/Duke at mc           |
|         |            04/29/2005 12:31|      cc:                                                         |
|         |            PM              |      Subject:  Peter Lange re. car wash on Central               |
|---------+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------|




Susan, Please distribute the following to the relevant listserves.

Peter Lange
Provost
Duke University
919-684-2378 (phone)
919-684-4421 (fax)

Dear List Readers,

Obviously the distrust which I acknowledged at the last community
 meeting continues to fester, leading to unfortunate interpretations
of snatches of comments reproduced by reporters from lengthy
conversations (as is their wont and trade). So, a clarification.
When the N&O reporter called and interviewed me - for at least
twenty minutes - she mentioned the carwash issue and I chuckled.
Why would we afterall, build a carwash?

We then went on to many other issues and in the course of this
further discussion I made the comments reiterating what I had also
said at the earlier community meeting: that we have no interest in
9th street becoming a less vibrant place (that's not a direct quote
of myself) or doing damage to our neighboring communities. I also
expressed my sense of the delicate balancing process that all of
this required - meeting the needs of our campus communities; being
an attractive place for off-campus visitors to Central; and creating
a win-win situation with our neighbors. Some of that - a bit - got in the
story.
Much did not.

In an atmosphere of mutual trust or given the benefit of the
doubt, what was in the N&O -- or even what was not in it -- would
have been understood. In the current atmosphere, (also acknowledged
by me to be partially our responsibility), the opposite appears to
have occurred, at least for some.

Let me reiterate: there will be no carwashes. In the course of the Central
planning process, there will be many ideas floated, very few of which will
become reality.

I look forward to further discussions with you next week and
in the months to come. I should add, however, that the
current set of exchanges confirms to me the wisdom of not
selecting one individual to "represent" the non-Duke communities
in our process but rather to share and discuss as a group
at regularly scheduled community meetings.

Peter Lange