INC NEWS - DRAFT minutes, January 24 meeting

[pat carstensen]

Inter-Neighborhood Council
www.DurhamINC.org
Minutes of Meeting of January 24, 2006

REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT
David Harris	Old Farm
Ken Gasch	Colonial Village
Susan Sewell	TLNA
Marguerite Ward	Rockwood
Julie Seagroves	Colonial Village
Whiney Wilkerson	Colonial Village
Anne Guyton	Colonial Village
Rosemarie Kitchin	Falconbridge
Stacey Poston	City of Durham
Mike Woodard	WHHNA
Bill Anderson	Duke Park
Michael Shiflett	Northgate Park NA
Brianne Dopert	Herald Sun
Ray Gronberg	Herald Sun
Myers Sugg	Tuscaloosa Lakewood
Bobbe Deason	Morehead Hill
Phil Loziuk	City of Durham
Thomas Poole	PAC -1
Vikki Westbrook	City of Durham, Water Management
Terry Rolan	City of Durham, Water Management
Pat Carstensen	Cross County
Thomas Ayers	City of Durham
Donna Gregory	Dixon Road and Adjoining Streets
Lynn Anderson	Hope Valley Neighborhood
Alison Carpenter	City of Durham
Jennifer Lewis	Louis Berger Group
Barry Ragin	Duke Park
Richard Mullinax	Old North Durham
Harold Chestnut
Ronnie Griffin	Garrett Farms
Thelma Glenn White	Emorywood Estate
Joe Bowser	Hope Valley Forrest
Craigie Sanders	Grove Park
Bob Ashley	Herald Sun -- Editor
Lewis Cheek
Ed Rose	Herald Sun – Distribution
Lloyd Schmeuller	OND
Lt. Alexander	Durham Police Department
Melissa Rooney	Fairfield

Introductions – President Mike Woodard opened the meeting.  Members 
introduced themselves.

Pedestrian and Bike Plans – The purpose of the pedestrian plan is to assess 
pedestrian needs, develop a process for prioritizing projects, and recommend 
permanent programs (e.g. safe routes to schools).  They had workshops and 
other ways to collect input in July and have nearly completed inventory of 
conditions, accidents, crosswalks, etc.  Come to the drop-in workshop 
February 28 and check out the website (www.durhamwalks.org).  The bike plan 
is just starting and will have workshop Jan 31 at City Hall.


Water Management – Some people had unexpected high water bills in November.  
Because of the cost of gas in September, water bills on some routes were 
estimated, using a method that doesn’t have a seasonal adjustment, plus our 
high-watering season was in the fall.  The billing system is over 30 years 
old and any change takes a week to program.  It is being replaced.  Also, if 
we go to automatic meter reading, where readers can just drive by, they will 
have more flexibility. The pages with information about billing estimation, 
etc are:
http://www.durhamnc.gov/departments/environ/pdf/estimation_routine.pdf
http://www.durhamnc.gov/news/NewsDisplay.cfm?vNewsID=984

Roadside Selling and Solicitation – This was info-sharing, not debating.  
Lewis Cheek: This is 3rd time he has brought issue up and his key concern is 
safety, both for panhandlers / vendors and for motorists.  Also there should 
be better jobs than this, and it’s not attractive at the entrance to Durham. 
  He suggests panhandlers / vendors get citation and list of services in 
Durham to get what they need.  Hopefully, people would eventually get the 
message to get help or get out of Durham.  See his response to this summary 
in Appendix A.  Lloyd Schmeuller:  Homeless panhandlers / vendors have 2 
options: continue of come into a shelter.  Shelters have lots of people 
living in a big room so stressful to live in.  Some better ideas: living 
wages, more affordable housing, making it faster to get to a more permanent 
place.  Some cities are figuring out how expensive it is to have people 
living on the streets.  Bob Ashley: Hawking papers is honest and hard work.  
Buying papers while driving to work is convenient to some people, and some 
vendors have relationships with some of their regular customers.  Ashley is 
passionate about the constitutional protections to distribute papers.  Ed 
Rose: He first spoke about this 20 years ago.  They have had 2 minor 
accidents in 20 years (the one fatality in Durham was a panhandler).  
They’ve lost corners to panhandlers with permits.  Accident insurance covers 
street vendors.  Lt. Alexander: The police enforce the law and he passed out 
copies of the ordinances.  Discussion:  What is going on in other cities?  
Terry Allebaugh:  E-mail comments in Appendix B.

Stability of Neighborhood Boundaries – Susan Sewell reported on a proposed 
change to the Comp Plan on the edge of Tuscaloosa Lakewood.  It would 
intrude office-commercial onto a tree-lined residential street, outside the 
long-accepted 150-foot corridor along 15-501.  They asked members to support 
them when it goes to City Council on Feb. 6 and mentioned we need to make 
sure we continue to build and share zoning expertise.

Other Items
1. Dues for 2005-06 are now due.  As of 1/12/06, we have $734.78 in checking 
and $2226.32 in savings.
2. The Durham Convention and Visitors’ Bureau is having their annual tribute 
on March 1.

The meeting was adjourned.

Appendix A: Comments from Commissioner Cheek:
The ban is in the right-of-way of roads, streets and highways. There is no 
absolute ban. In fact that would be unconstitutional. The list of services 
is aimed more toward panhandlers. They are the ones who are likely to be 
homeless, hungry, poor, and addicted. If the roadway ban was adopted, I 
would hope that the h-s would have its vendors abide by it so that citations 
wouldn't be necessary for them.

Appendix B:  Thoughts from Terry Allebaugh of Housing for New Hope
It is late in the day so I am not sure if you will get this in time for 
tonight's meeting, but I hope so. It was good to talk to with you yesterday, 
and I am glad there is a group meeting to discuss the issue of panhandling. 
What follows are a few thoughts to share with the group if appropriate.
  First I think panhandling is a social and, at times a safety issue, that 
warrants the response of a thinking and caring community. I don't think it 
is a criminal issue, and attempts to render it so across the country have 
either blatantly walked over people's individual rights or have done little 
to reduce or eliminate its presence. There is something illogical about 
fining a homeless person or poor person and/or jailing them as a deterrent. 
If we really want a legal component I would suggest that if we criminalize 
panhandling, then perhaps we should arrest the one gives money. Using the 
analogy of prostitution, both parties are guilty of a crime. I say that in 
jest, but only to lead to my main thought which is this:
I think the key to curbing panhandling is to work the supply side of the 
matter, the givers. I would like to see a major promotional campaign 
undertaken that encourages all of Durham to say no to panhandlers and say 
yes to getting involved to support a community-wide effort to end 
homelessness. In March, Durham will unveil its 10 Year Plan to End 
Homelessness, which many of us in Durham have been working to develop. One 
strategy is to develop housing that is service-enriched for the chronically 
homeless, many of whom suffer from mental illness, poor health, and 
addiction. Some of these folks are who you are seeing out there. The body 
they found in woods off 15-501 a few weeks ago was one of these guys.
  While we are working on implementing longer term solutions like this, a 
step to take now would be to encourage people not to give to panhandlers. 
Empower people to say no, while also making sure the City and County have 
established a call-in number where people can be referred, and that adequate 
staffing is in place to respond to people's need. Advertise in churches the 
importance of saying no to panhandlers, and simultaneously organize teams to 
do outreach to deliver food and a caring presence.
  Panhandling is not a police issue. If a panhandler is threatening, it's 
not panhandling, it's robbery, and we have laws for that.
  Okay, there's a few thoughts. I hope I will have the opportunity to 
interact with your group in the future.