INC NEWS - updated October minutes

[pat carstensen]

Inter-Neighborhood Council
www.DurhamINC.org
Minutes of Meeting of October 25, 2005

REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT
Rev. Melvin Whitley	Y. E. Smith
Bobbe Deason	Morehead Hills
Ken Berger	Trotter Ridge
Katie Berger	Trotter Ridge
Ken Gasch	Colonial Village
David Harris	Old Farm
Jay Reinstein	City of Durham, Solid Waste Management
Stacey Poston	City of Durham
Richard Mullinax	Old North Durham
Herbert H. Eatison	Fayetteville St. Planning Group
Nancy Grandjean	Northgate Park
Ernie Mills	Durham Rescue Mission
Leslie Page	Durham Assoc. of Realtors
Rosemarie Kitchin	Falconbridge
Patrick Baker	City of Durham
Harold Chestnut	PAC 4
Vivian McCoy	New East Durham
Melissa Rooney	Fairfield
Anne Guyton	ColonialVillage
Pat Carstensen	Cross County

Introductions – President-elect David Harris opened the meeting.  Members 
introduced themselves.

Parking in Yards – Lance Robertson from Planning and Zoning said they are 
now actively enforcing the regulation, but it only covers single-family 
housing.  Call Planning and Zoning if you have a problem; when they get a 
complaint, they look at the whole street.  If situation doesn’t improve 
after a notice of violation, there are fines.  UDO will extend rules to 
duplexes and multiplexes.  Because of infill rules, what is "too wide" will 
be what is predominant in the area, up to 25 feet.  Patrick Baker will get 
back to us on grandfathered driveways.

Property Management Registry – The resolution (Attachment A) passed.  The 
city will need to work on the details (e.g. getting authority to do it) and 
is looking at this request in conjunction with other rental questions.

November / December Meeting – Assuming the Community Room is available, we 
will meet the 5th Tuesday in November (November 29).

INC Elections– The following were elected:
Past President – Bill Anderson
President – Mike Woodard
President Elect – David Harris
Treasurer – Randy Pickle
Secretary – Pat Carstensen
Delegates – Josh Parker, Ken Gasch and Harold Chestnut

Other Items
1. September minutes were accepted.
2. Treasurer’s Report -- Checking: $888.38, Savings: $2225.77, Total: 
$3114.10.  Dues are due.
3. The Appearance Commission has an Appearance Survey.  Take it at 
http://www.websurveyor.net/wsb.dll/7483/appearance2005.htm
4. Getting empty garbage carts off street – Solid Waste Management has been 
analyzing where and when people are not taking in their carts.  There are a 
lot of households that miss once and a few households that are a big 
problem.  If you want a copy of the maps showing where the problems are, 
contact Stacey at stacey.poston at durhamnc.gov.  In addition to the safety 
problem of blocking views of drivers, it is an example of "broken windows" 
(little things that can tip an area from seeming law-abiding).  They are 
getting COP program involved in hanging flyers on carts left out too long.
5. UDO – County has to get change of regulation passed within 100 days of 
hearing, so Planning is burning a lot of midnight oil to get done within 
that period so they don’t need to re-advertise (which is very expensive).
6. Bond Oversight – At September meeting, we agreed to try to come up with 
letter about what we wanted the Bond Oversight Committee to be like;  we 
could not come to agreement on what we wanted so nothing was done.  Melvin 
Whitley put in a strong plea for neighborhood activists to volunteer for 
both the CIP Citizens Advisory Committee and the Bond Oversight Committee.  
We will post to the list-serve what being on these committees involves and 
how to apply.
7. Hero awards and celebration of past presidents was a very nice event.
8. End Homelessness in Durham – There will be a forum on a 10-year plan on 
November 3 at the Museum of Life and Science.  See 
http://www.endhomelessnessindurham.org/
9. There will be a discussion on the list-serve about which day to do 
luminaria.

The meeting was adjourned.

Attachment A:
Resolution on Public Information on Rental Properties

Whereas
The GIS maps available to the public via the City of Durham website make it 
easy for citizens to identify property owners. However, nearly half the 
properties in Durham overall are rental properties, and many of these 
properties are managed by property management companies. When there are 
problems with these properties or the tenants in them, such as possible code 
violations, lack of lawn or structure maintenance, noise violations, or 
criminal activity, there is no easy way for citizens to identify and inform 
the property managers of these problems. These kinds of problems have a 
negative impact on neighborhoods, discouraging residents from investing 
financially and emotionally in their neighborhoods and encouraging 
negligence and criminal activity.

And whereas
The InterNeighborhood Council (INC) of Durham believes that the city of 
Durham should do everything in its power to encourage citizens to actively 
address the problems that contribute to neighborhood blight and criminal 
activity.

Therefore, INC resolves that the City of Durham to require that all property 
managers who manage three (3) or more rental properties in the City of 
Durham provide a complete listing of their rental properties to be posted on 
a city-sponsored website that will be open to the public and searchable by 
street address, and to require that these listings be updated every six 
months.