[Durham INC] PAC2 March meeting minutes

[TheOcean1 at aol.com]

FYI
 
Bill  Anderson
   PAC2
 
Thanks to our volunteer secretary, Sherry Coulter, the March  minutes follow
 
 
MINUTES OF  THE PAC2 MEETING 
DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS STAFF  DEVELOPMENT CENTER 
March 14,  2011 
Coffee with  Council FY12   
Facilitator:      Bill Anderson – _TheOcean1 at aol.com_ 
(mailto:TheOcean1 at aol.com)  
Cheryl Shiflett – scjdurham at aol.com 
The meeting was  called to order at 6:12 p.m. 
Ms. Cole-McFadden  announced that Mr. Woodard was still in D.C. at the 
National League of Cities so  would not be present.   
PROGRAM 
Bertha Johnson,  Budget and Management Services Director, presented an 
overview of the budget  development process.  A public  hearing will be held on 
June 6, after the budget has been received.  There was a Community 
Engagement  Workshop on February 26th to update the community on the strategic  
planning process and to discuss the proposed dashboard for reporting progress on  
the plan, in addition to the various Coffees with Council. For FY 
2010-2011, the  city budget was $353.3 million, with a general fund of $206 million 
consisting  of 62% from property taxes and 19% from sales taxes. The water & 
sewer fund,  at $84.6 million, is all fee supported, receiving no tax money. 
Other funds,  including DPAC and transit, produced $62.9 million. There was 
a property tax  rate increase of 1.19 cents per $100 to replace stimulus 
funding for transit and  for debt service.  Property tax is  only 36% of total 
revenues, but a significant portion (62%) of general fund  revenues.   
The largest part  of general fund expenditures is personal services (61%), 
with an additional 13%  going to debt service.  A large part  of the general 
fund budget is spent on public protection ($75 million), with  community 
services next at $44 million, administrative services at $29 million,  and 
governance at $9 million. The budget gap this year is not as much as in  
previous years, but is still $4.6 million, so departments have been asked to  
submit budget reduction plans of 3%. 
Budget  development guidelines set to develop the FY2011 budget include 
debt, revenues,  programs and services, and fund balance.  Balancing the budget 
will be less difficult than the last 2 years due to  decisions made about 
suspending pay increases.  Program expansions are not likely  without 
additional revenues or savings from program/service reductions.  Employee benefit 
and pay restoration will  be a priority this year.  The city  will continue 
to prioritize programs and services, having departments justify  programs 
with actual data.   
Requests/Comments 
Honor Gifford of  West Murray Avenue said that this street has turned into 
a cut-through between  Broad  Street and Duke Street, with cars speeding 
through,  and would like to have sidewalks or speed bumps installed, since she 
fears that  a pedestrian will be killed. 
Bill Ludwell of  the Villages at Independence Park thanked Chief Lopez for 
doing a good  job. He noted that trash and recycling are being picked up at 
the single family  homes but not at the 2- and 3-story town homes, and that 
this has been a problem  for 8 years now. 
A person from the  Swansville Community across the road from Sandy Ridge  
Elementary School  said that speeding is an issue in her  neighborhood and 
they would like to have speed bumps installed, and that the  community would 
be willing to raise the money themselves for this project but  had been told 
that they could not do that.  Mark Ahrendsen of the city Department of  
Transportation said that policy could be revisited, and that the city is  
considering reinstituting the speed bump program as part of next year’s  budget. 
Jim Vickery of  the Old North Durham Inn Bed and Breakfast at the corner of 
Trinity Avenue and  Mangum  Street said there has been improved signage and 
 street marking, but there were still accidents at this intersection on a 
regular  basis.  He would like to have radar  monitors placed on Roxboro  
Street and Mangum Street. 
Sandra Covington  of the Asheville Community off Guess Road said that 
Lakeview Road has  become a throughway between Milton  Road and Guess Road, with 
cars coming through at  high speed.  She was concerned about  the safety of 
children and individuals in the community, and would like speed  bumps or 
some other mechanism installed to slow the  traffic. 
Steve Graff of  the Old North Durham Neighborhood Association said that he 
has observed speeding  city vehicles in his neighborhood. 
Peter Katz of Old  North Durham  would like to see a program put in place 
to use the GPS on city trucks to  identify trucks that are going over the 
speed limit.  He sees speeding as getting worse in  downtown neighborhoods due 
to downtown development and would like to see a  broader strategy for 
traffic calming. 
Mike Shiflett of  Northgate  Park asked that the council  take into account 
the impact that focusing large sums of money on one  neighborhood has on 
other neighborhoods. 
Cheryl Shiflett  commented that, while driving on 15-501, hers was the only 
car going the speed  limit, and would like Chief Lopez to address 
enforcement.  He noted that enforcement efforts are  focused more within the city 
residential areas.  Ms. Shiflett was also concerned about  speeding in school 
zones, and Chief Lopez said to let him know what areas are a  problem so they 
can direct patrols there. 
Peter Katz said  he would like to see the city going to a results-based 
accountability.  He would like to know how much time the  police will be 
devoting to traffic calming on the streets. 
It was noted that  speeding fines in North  Carolina all go to the school 
district, not to the  general budget, so they could not be used to finance 
increased  enforcement. 
Bill noted that  on many of the streets with speeding problems cars were 
parked up on the  sidewalk, making a wider street for the cars to pass 
through.  He speculated that if the cars would  park on the street as intended it 
might slow traffic through the area, since  there would be less space for the 
cars to pass. 
John Martin of  the Golden Belt Neighborhood said that he thought the city’
s plan to widen  Alston  Avenue would create an increased speeding  problem. 
 He would like the city to  reconsider this project. 
It was asked what  the community could do to help the speeding problem.  
The pace car program was mentioned, but  it was noted that 50+% of the 
community would have to participate for it to be  effective. 
City Manager Tom  Bonfield noted that many speeding problems are 
neighborhood- based and that the  issue was not simple.  He hopes to  get some money 
back in the budget for traffic calming but doesn’t think that  will solve all 
the problems. 
Mr. Cattoti,  president of the Durham Youth Commission, would like to see 
some new or  renovated space for homeless teens, and would like to have more 
programs for  teens in general, and for the advertising budget to not be cut 
for these  programs, since that would reduce participation and jeopardize 
the  programs. 
A question was  asked about Durham One Call call center activity, 
especially how many calls for  services had tracking numbers assigned and what were 
the outcomes.  Carmisha Wallace said she could get that  information. 
Helen Fisher of  Westcrest  Street commented on the undue influence that  
developers have, referencing 751 South. She noted that water and sewer  
maintenance in these areas which are increasingly on the outskirts of the city  
is not cost effective and wanted to know if Durham plans to annex 751  South. 
Dan Read of Duke  Park Neighborhood Association would like to establish a 
landlord management  registry so residents could find out who manages 
property, since the owner is  often not local.  
Someone mentioned  the tattoo place on Carver Street one block off Guess 
Road, noting that there  were usually around 20 cars there late at night. 
Bill Anderson  spoke representing the Duke Park Preservation Initiative, 
asking for $450,000 to  create the Beaver  Lodge Community Center from the old 
bath  house. 
Bob Healy, chair  of the New Hope Creek Corridor Advisory Committee, said 
his organization has  been actively setting aside space for trails and has 
created new trails and  activities.  He announced the Bird  and Butterfly 
Festival at Sandy Creek  Park (opposite the old  South  Square).  You can search 
either New Hope Creek Durham or Creek Week Durham for  information.  They 
are also creating  a butterfly garden which is accessible for people with 
severe movement  disabilities. 
Constance Wright  of the Glenwood area wanted to know what is going to 
happen in the area where  WalMart and other stores have vacated.  Cheryl noted 
that this is privately owned land.  Mr. Bonfield said the office of Economic  
and Workforce Development monitors vacant properties and tries to match 
them  with rental agencies; this property is in their inventory and they are 
aware of  the situation. 
Ms. Hooker  thanked the city council for the Walltown Community  Center, 
and asked the council to build a swimming  pool there, and also to provide 
playground equipment for the  children. 
Someone asked to  have an update on what was being done concerning 
burglaries in the area.  Chief Lopez asked for more community  involvement, and 
noted that investigations have to wait for forensic evidence to  be processed. 
It was noted that  police department positions are no longer frozen. 
Ms. Fisher wanted  to thank the police department for doing a great job, 
but that she knows they  can’t do it alone.  She commented on  the issue of 
door-to door-sales, noting that according to an internet search an  
organization soliciting in her neighborhood didn’t exist.  Someone else had seen a 
silver car with a  woman driver backing into a driveway and sitting in the car 
taking notes.  She saw the car in question and a man  with a large bag got 
into the passenger side.  Chief Lopez said that if someone knocks  on your 
door soliciting to please call the police so they can check the person  out. 
The head of the  block captains in Stonewall Village described an incident 
in which  someone was trying to sell subscriptions, and when asked what he 
was doing  produced paperwork and a peddlers license.  She was concerned 
about how easy it is for someone to get a peddlers  license, and whether they 
have to prove what they are selling.   
Cheryl asked the  council to keep money in the budget to continue helping 
older folks with low  incomes stay in their homes, and to support nonprofits 
which provide this  service. 
Peter Katz  commented that he thought housing blight and crime was 
connected. The current  complaint-driven system for housing code violations has been 
suggested by  NIS to be  replaced by a proactive approach involving rental 
inspections.  On another issue, historic houses need  repairs, and people 
are having problems with energy bills due to the lack of  insulation.  Many 
nonprofits in the  city assist these people, and he was concerned about the 
amount of City  Community Development Block grant funds proposed to be used to 
leverage the  Rolling Hills redevelopment plan.  Mayor Bell said that they 
needed to  provide affordable housing for low income, very low income, and 
moderate income  persons.  The revitalization of  inner-city neighborhoods 
was discussed 10 years ago, and 3 neighborhoods were  chosen to target:  NE 
central  Durham, SW central Durham, and the Southside/Rolling Hills area.  Dif
ferent neighborhoods take different approaches, and therefore different  
resources.  For example, an area on  Barnes Avenue (about 40 houses), mostly 
rental units next to Eastway Elementary  across from what used to be Few 
Gardens, was revitalized 2 blocks at a time.  Southside/Rolling Hills is a  
different issue.  They would like to  end up with a quality product, with rental 
units and home ownership for lower  income families, in conjunction with 
Self-Help Credit Union and North Carolina  Housing Finance Agency. So while the 
city is not walking away from other things,  they have to make priorities 
with limited funds.  They want to create neighborhoods where  the private 
sector will want to put a business, and where people will be  comfortable 
going. 
Mike Shiflett  noted that the target areas shouldn’t be the only focus; 
they also don’t want  areas where shopping centers are losing tenants to become 
blighted  areas. 
Cheryl thanked  Cynthia Mebane-Watts, staff members, department heads and 
council  members. 
Eugene Brown said  that the budget process begins with the premise that 
there are more needs than  revenues, so they must have priorities.  He 
criticized the group El Kilombo, whose tactics involve going  door-to-door telling 
people that Old North  Durham Park is going to be closed, especially to  
blacks and Latinos.  Mr. Brown noted  that the city has no intention of doing 
this. 
The meeting was  adjourned at 7:32 p.m. 
Respectfully  submitted, 
Sherry  Coulter 
Secretary
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