INC NEWS - Lakewood YMCA Saved!

[Chuck Clifton]

Well we have done it!  "We" being the broader Durham community that is!
Because of the great work of committed YMCA members, vigilant neighborhood
supporters, and our county and school board officials, the Lakewood YMCA is
well on its way to its new life as a middle school and YMCA as announced
back in the spring.

In addition to preserving a vital and diverse community at the Lakewood
YMCA, this act of renewal will serve as an anchor for the Lakewood Community
and a glimmer of hope for the revitalization of the Chapel Hill Road
corridor.  And to this list we can now add a progressive and much needed
learning center for Durham's youth.  This is just another example that
Durham is "where great things happen!"

Along with the Durham County Board of Commissioners and the Durham Board of
Education, I strongly encourage you all to reach out to and thank in
particular Commissioner Ellen Reckhow, Commissioner Becky Heron,
Commissioner Lewis Cheek, and County Manager Mike Ruffin all who were with
us throughout this struggle.

Kind regards,

Chuck Clifton
Chairman, Committee to Save the Lakewood YMCA

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of
others."
~ Mohandas Gandhi ~


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Commissioners OK Lakewood YMCA deal

 * By Matt Goad : The Herald-Sun
mgoad at heraldsun.com
Nov 25, 2008 *

 DURHAM -- The Durham Board of County Commissioners on Monday unanimously
approved a deal to save the Lakewood YMCA and to use the property for a
middle school.

A capital project will be created appropriating $8.25 million, of which
$250,000 is for purchase of the property at 2119 Chapel Hill St. and $8
million is for renovation.

The move keeps the YMCA active at a Lakewood facility it once planned to
abandon.

At a public hearing before the vote, Victoria Peterson, who runs a nonprofit
organization in North East Central Durham, said she was concerned the Y was
following a trend of private businesses and organizations looking to the
government to bail them out.

Peterson also said she would like to see part of the facility used as a
vocational center where GED and nurses assistance programs could be
developed.

Commission Lewis Cheek said he had been a member of the Lakewood Y since he
was a teenager and that he didn't believe the facility could function as a
vocational site.

Also at the public hearing, Lavonia Allison of the Durham Committee on the
Affairs of Black People said she was concerned that the development of a
school on the property might work toward resegregation of Durham Public
Schools.

The county agreed to purchase the entire Lakewood property, including
several buildings totaling approximately 57,350 square feet on approximately
7.4 acres. The county will lease for $1 a year approximately 18,000 square
feet of the property back to the YMCA for operation of the Y facility.

Also Monday commissioners:

- Unanimously approved changed sections of the Unified Development Ordinance
intended to encourage developers to keep environmental preservation features
in new developments.

- Approved by consent the nominations of County Manager Mike Ruffin, Ira
Smith and the Rev. Kenneth Hammond to the Duke University Health System
Board of Directors, with a note from Cheek that Ruffin be indicated as the
preferred choice.

- Approved by consent an offer to purchase county surplus property at 414
Salem St.

*(c) 2008 by The Durham Herald Company. All rights reserved.*
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