[Durham INC] May Delegate Meeting minutes

Thu May 28 20:30:41 EDT 2009

Here are the draft minutes from this past Tuesday's meeting. I've attached them as a Word document, and pasted them into the body of this e-mail as well.

InterNeighborhood Council of Durham

 Monthly Delegates Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Herald-Sun Community Room

Delegates attendance (sign-in sheet): Cleveland-Holloway, Matthew Dudek; Duke Park, Bill Anderson; Falconbridge, Rosemarie Kitchin; Grove Park, Craigie Sanders; Hope Valley Farms, Nancy Cox; Lakewood Park, Jeane Bross; Long Meadow, Laurie Mclennan; Northgate Park, Mike Shiflett; Old North Durham, Moises aka Moe Rivera; Old Farm, David Harris; Parkwood, Mike Brooks;  Trinity Park, Colin Crossman; Watts-Hillandale, Tom Miller; Woodcroft, Scott Carter

Guests: Karine Stallings, Durham’s Partnership for Children; Laura Dale Woods, Senior Planner, Durham City-County Planning

Meeting was called to order shortly after 7 p.m. by President Craigie Sanders who asked the delegates and guests to introduce themselves.

President Sanders previewed the June meeting which will feature a presentation about the East Coast Trailways and in-Durham efforts to obtain right-of-way for this recreational feature.

Bill Anderson gave an update about the 25th anniversary celebration in conjunction with the 2008 and 2009 Neighborhood Heroes awards. The event will be on Thursday, June 18, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Rigsbee Hall in Downtown Durham. A core group of INC volunteers is working on the celebration. New volunteers for the event include Moe Rivera, Mike Brooks of Dot Blue Video Productions, David Harris, Colin Crossman.

         Rigsbee Hall capacity is 200 people so attendance at the event is by invitation. Durham City Manager Tom Bonfield will be the guest of honor: city and county officials will be invited. Others invited will be the people nominating the heroes for 2008 and 2009, the judges for the 2009 awards, and INC member delegates.

         Rigsbee Hall is donating the use of the space, and Rue Cler is donating food for the event. At present, a cash bar for wine and beer is planned.

         A fact sheet about the event is at the INC website: www.durham-inc.org.

President Sanders updated the group on progress to the environmental enhancements to the UDO (Unified Development Ordinance). A public meeting for concerned citizens is  scheduled for Thursday, June 25, at the Temple Building, 302 W. Main St. at Market. For more information, check http://www.durhamnc.gov/departments/planning/udo_environmental_enhancements.cfm.

Rosemarie Kitchin gave a brief recap of a Durham-wide effort—Durham WayfindersSM  is a program facilitated by the Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau (DCVB) to coordinate volunteers at cultural events.  Several hundred Durhamites are already participants. For more information, check www.durhamwayfinders.com, or contact Carolyn Carney, durhamwayfinders at durham-cvb.com, or 680-8313.

Tom Miller reported that the bylaws revision committee has reviewed the current bylaws, honed in on changes and improvements to be made, and has only to have the changes typed into the current document before it is presented to the INC delegates. President Sanders offered clerical help but Committee Chairman Miller declined.

Announcements: 1) Mike Shiflett reported on a local emergency preparedness committee he attended on behalf of INC. Last week Durham experienced a chemical spill (lye) in East Durham. Shiflett reported that Durham has emergency plans for communication and evacuation. He suggested that INC invite someone to talk with INC about this plan at one of the Fall 2009 meetings.

2) Colin Crossman reported that there is an apparent deficiency in the storm water regulation that he may further  report on at next month’s meeting. The regulation, as it is written, imposes a $3,500 permit fee requirement for EVERY device (as in rain barrels)  that retards the flow of storm water.

Presentations:

1) Karine Stallings briefed the attendees about Durham’s Partnership for Children and its programs for early childhood development. The program, soon to be 15 years old, funds, monitors, and supports programs to chose the education achievement gap, increasing school readiness for Durham’s youngsters.

         * 45.5% of Durham’s young children live in low-income families (below twice the poverty level)

         * 22.9% live in poverty (below poverty-level)

         * More than 39% of Durham County children live in single parent homes.

         * The average cost of child care for an infant is $850 per month, and can be as much as $1,000 in a four-star facility.

         * The Partnership’s funded programs reach nearly 10,000 children (birth to age 5)

         * More than 5,200 children receive vital child-care financial assistance (child subsidies).

         * More than 430 at-risk 4-year-olds who have not had any early learning experiences, receive Pre-K(indergarten) services that prepare them for kindergarten. Some of these children do not know their full name, have not been exposed to the alphabet, etc.

         * Current economic conditions may impose a $3 million budget cut for services like these to Durham’s children.

         * There are many volunteer opportunities with the Partnership, including reading to children, being a mentor to an early childhood educators, etc.

         * The Partnership’s website is www.dpfc.net: phone is (919) 403-6960.

2) Laura Woods, senior planner for Durham City/County, talked about Durham’s plans for the 2010 census. The census is important because it is 1) the only tool to provide population information to configure the U. S. House of Representatives. North Carolina gained a representative as a result of the last census (the House is limited, by constitution, to a total of 435 members, and states have more or fewer representatives according to their population), and 2) impacts the dollars flowing from the federal and state governments to fund local programs. Census forms will be mailed in March 2010: if people do not respond, then census takers will do field work to collect the information. Durham plans bilingual communications programs to urge residents  to complete the forms (radio, TV, print ads) so that Durham can receive its fair share of federal and state monies.

         Durham has a Complete Count Committee consisting of 21 members, which will spearhead the effort to effect an accurate resident count.

         Census data is also used to plan for schools, fire/police/water/other hard services requirements.

Following Woods’ presentation, Tom Miller nominated Matthew Dudek, a Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood resident who is a graduate student in public policy, to be INC’s representative to Durham’s Complete Count Committee. Rosemarie Kitchin seconded the motion, and the motion carried unanimously.

         Dudek’s e-mail is matt.dudek at gmail.com. He welcomes comments, suggestions, input, etc., for his work on this committee on behalf on INC.

3) Bill Anderson recapped the INC delegates’ poll on important issues. Previous efforts, identified by INC delegates polls, were illegally posted signs (resulting in the city hiring additional enforcement personnel and a noticeable effect once the regulation was being enforced), parking on yards, and chaining dogs (Durham has a new ordinance about this).

   The 2009  top-ten list of INC concerns is 1) trees and street-scaping, 2) traffic speed, 3) sidewalks or lack of, 4 tie) water-shed protection, street crime, effective neighborhood overlay zones, 7 tie) roads and streets that do not allow comfortable biking, illegal dumping, 9 tie), property crime, storm water. 

Old business:

 1)There was no treasurer’s report available.

  2)The April delegates meeting minutes are not yet posted on the listserv. A delegate expressed concern about the timeliness of postings on www.durham-inc.org. President Sanders solicited additional volunteer help to maintain and update the website commending Colin Crossman for his volunteer work in designing the new site.

3) The resolution about copper theft was tabled. President Sanders will seek a speaker to inform INC delegates about the recycling business at the June meeting so that delegates can educate their neighborhoods more completely before taking a vote on the resolution.

4) The June meeting will be held Tuesday, June 23, at the Herald-Sun Community Room.

There being no other business, a motion to adjourn was made, seconded, and approved unanimously.

Respectfully submitted,

   Rosemarie Kitchin

   Falconbridge delegate in lieu of recording secretary’s attendance

INC minutes May 2009 Delegates Meeting.doc
--
rkitchin at aol.com
Rosemarie Kitchin
President
Kitchin's Ink, LTD
A deliberately low-profile
marketing services company
headquartered in Durham, NC
6702 Glen Forest Drive
Chapel Hill, NC 27517-8647

919.768.0749 home/office
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