[Durham INC] Privatizing ABC?

Sat Dec 18 08:10:30 EST 2010

In thinking about our discussion from yesterday about the Governor's proposal to cut a large portion of the Boards and Commissions, I am sending this email as an "add-on" to our list of concerns:

I'm in the house getting dressed, to attend the Durham County Missionary Union Breakfast, when I see Governor Perdue on News Channel 14 talking about her being 'very receptive' to the idea of privatizing ABC, in an effort to help 'save money.' 

Given the tenor and content of our past 4 INC Meetings, I doubt I need to say much more.....

- Darius

Darius M. Little 
Business Consultant and Mediator 
(c) 919-641-4124 
(web) www.littleconsulting.org

-----Original Message-----
From: <bragin at nc.rr.com>
Sender: inc-list-bounces at rtpnet.org
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:41:26 
To: Reyn Bowman<reynbowman at gmail.com>; Shelly Green<Shelly at Durham-cvb.com>
Cc: INC-list at rtpnet.org<INC-list at rtpnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Durham INC] Link Between Walkability and Social Capital

Given Walkscore.com's stated criteria (A walkable neighborhood is measured in terms of:

   A center: Walkable neighborhoods have a discernable center, whether it's a shopping district, a main street, or a public space.
   Density: The neighborhood is compact enough for local businesses to flourish and for public transportation to run frequently.
   Mixed income, mixed use: Housing is provided for everyone who works in the neighborhood: young and old, singles and families, rich and poor. Businesses and residences are located near each other.
   Parks and public space: There are plenty of public places to gather and play. 
   Pedestrian-centric design: Buildings are placed close to the street to cater to foot traffic, with parking lots relegated to the back.
   Nearby schools and workplaces: Schools and workplaces are close enough that most residents can walk from their homes.)

It's hard to see how South Square, Northgate, North Pointe, the Streets at Southpoint, and North Duke Mall qualify as "walkable neighborhoods" since they all are, in fact, shopping centers. Patterson Place, at least, has some apartments as part of its complex, but still the largest percentage of its acreage is devoted to parking. http://bit.ly/eCAwLr 

North Pointe's has residential in proximity to the shopping, except that you can't get there from here, at least on foot, unless you want to cut a hole in the fence. http://bit.ly/hFEL4T

Barry Ragin

---- Shelly Green <Shelly at Durham-cvb.com> wrote: 

=============
Although Durham as a whole scored a 40 on the Walkscore (slightly above the State average of 38), several neighborhoods scored higher. Here is a snapshot of when we wrote about this index about 18 months ago.   www.dcvb-nc.com/comm/enews/Vol8Issue35/Walkability.pdf 

-----Original Message-----
From: inc-list-bounces at rtpnet.org [mailto:inc-list-bounces at rtpnet.org] On Behalf Of bragin at nc.rr.com
Sent: Friday, December 17, 2010 11:23 AM
To: Reyn Bowman
Cc: INC-list at rtpnet.org
Subject: Re: [Durham INC] Link Between Walkability and Social Capital

It may be that the Atlantic report is flawed in some way, Reyn, or that they're filtering cities by population without stating so.

Jacksonville makes both lists in the Atlantic report, yet Walkscore.com gives them a 36 rating, below Durham's. Their population is 730K, so it may be that Durham is simply not big enough tohave been included on that list.

Anything below 50 on Walkscore.com gets the "car dependent" notation; above 50 is "slightly walkable"; above 70 is "very walkable."

Do you have a link to the Prevention article?

Barry Ragin

---- Reyn Bowman <reynbowman at gmail.com> wrote: 

=============
I believe they used the same methodology Barry - we have more than we think
once you include those around Northgate and The Streets at Southpoint, South
Square, up beteen Hope Valley/MLK, down around Fayetteville/MLK, Woodcroft
etc. We tend to think mostly of those surrounding Dowtown and Ninth
Street but the methology may go further.

I wasn 't meaning to indicate we'd reached any exaltation for walkability,
but we do sore very well on most areas of social capital...

The study and I cited though when complete will provide some good incentive
to help us think much differently about physical enviornment...

On Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 10:38 AM, <bragin at nc.rr.com> wrote:

> Reyn - I'd be really interested in how Prevention managed to place Durham
> in the top 37 walkable cities.
>
> This article in the Atlantic this week (
> http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/12/americas-most-walkable-cities/67988/) does not show Durham in the top 40 walkable cities in the US, either by
> walkscore, or by percentage of above average walkable neighborhoods.
>
> Walkscore.com grades Durham as a 40, barely above the average NC
> municipality score of 38, and behind such localities as Henderson (44),
> Greeenville (46), and Elizabeth City (52). ( http://www.walkscore.com/NC )
>
> By contrast, California's average municipal score is 53 (
> http://www.walkscore.com/CA ), Idaho's is 48 ( http://www.walkscore.com/ID), New York's is 62 (
> http://www.walkscore.com/NY ), even Kentucky has a higher average score
> than NC, and the city most comparable in size to Durham, Lexington, scores a
> 49. (I should also note that walk scores in my neighborhood are skewed by
> Walkscore.com's insistence that a tavern, the Bugtussle Saloon, exists at
> the corner of Camden and Colonial. In fact, what's there is the Geer
> Cemetery.)
>
> There may be a couple of neighborhoods that are somewhat walkable in
> Durham, but outside of King's Red and White and, maybe, Los Primos, is there
> a grocery store in town that is not surrounded by a parking moat at least
> twice the footprint of the store itself? And the proposed widening of Alston
> Ave. will pretty much take away the last vestige of walkability for Los
> Primos. Even the new Durham Central Market proposed site plan features a
> parking lot bigger than the store itself, in part because the steering
> committee doesn't believe it can generate enough revenue without so much
> parking. Sadly, they're probably right. And let's not even get started on
> the number of intersections or street crossings within a mile of City Hall
> that lack the most basic pedestrian amenity, the crosswalk, or the near
> total lack of enforcement of crosswalk violations committed by drivers in
> Durham virtually every hour of every day.
>
> It's only 14 years since Durham voters approved a bond issue that was
> designed, in the city's words, "to construct a sidewalk along at least one
> side of every major thoroughfare" in town, and five years after the adoption
> of the Durham Walks! pedestrian plan, we're finally starting to see sidewalk
> construction in some of our core neighborhoods that were initially built
> without them. If only improving walkability was as high a priority for our
> government leaders as fixing potholes.
>
> Barry Ragin
>
> ---- Reyn Bowman <reynbowman at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> =============
>
> http://reynblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/link-between-walkability-and-social.html
>
> --
> Reyn Bowman
> 2203 Shoreham St
> Durham, NC 27707
> 919-381-1497
> www.bullcitymutterings.com
>
>

-- 
Reyn Bowman
2203 Shoreham St
Durham, NC 27707
919-381-1497
www.bullcitymutterings.com

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