[Durham INC] Draft July minutes

[Pat Carstensen]

Please let me know about any additions or corrections.  Thanks, pat

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July Delegate Meeting of the InterNeighborhood Council of Durham

Golden Belt

July 23, 2019

Attending the meeting were:
Neighborhoods

Cross Counties – Pat Carstensen

Forest Hills – Matt McDowell, Ellen Pless

Morehead Hill – Rochelle Araujo

Northgate Park – Debra Hawkins

Old East Durham – Robert T. Gully

Old West Durham – Vicky Welch

Trappers Creek / Greymoss – Will Wilson

Trinity Park – Philip Azar

Tuscaloosa-Lakewood – Susan Sewell

Watts Hospital Hillandale – Tom Miller

Woodcroft –Jose Sandoval

Visitors

Lynwood D. Best – City of Durham, NIS

Barbara Elliott

Anne Phillips – City of Durham Transportation Department

Marc Maximov – Bike Durham


PresidentRochelle Araujo welcomed those present, and folks introduced themselves.  There were some adjustments to the agenda.  Tom Millermoved to approve the June minutes, Will Wilsonseconded and it passed.


Vision Zero’s aims are to eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries and to have access for all (low income people are twice as likely to be killed while walking since they walk more and walk more in places with less infrastructure).  Vision Zero is data-driven; the team analyzed crashes for 2012-2016 – finding, for example, that most crashes occur at 35-45 mph and are worst along bus routes without sidewalks. The Federal Highway Administration has a long list of countermeasures that are proven to work. Almost 30% of crashes in Durham are linked to speeding; how bad an accident is for a pedestrian is strongly related to how fast the vehicle is going.  More lanes make more speed, and we have opportunities to convert excess capacity on roads to other uses, such as bike lanes.  West Main re-striping reduced crashes by 30%.  The 15-501 one in 2015 reduced crashes by 45% and speeds by 5 mph.  What neighborhoods can do is create a culture of safety, making safety more important than speed; conduct a road safety audit, and take on tactical urbanism temporary projects such as using tires to try out a neighborhood traffic circle. The next steps include creating a Vision Zero Action Plan, adopting a Complete Street Policy, improving data processes, continuing public outreach, and implementing demonstration projects. One of the biggest reasons folks don’t bike more is safety so Bike Durham is working on creating a low-stress network; currently the well-protected segments don’t connect up.  The “gold standard” of creating bike infrastructure is Seville, Spain, which built about 50 miles of infrastructure in 4 years and went from 0.6% ridership to 6%. NC Vision Zero dashboard (https://ncvisionzero.org/visualizations/vision-zero-maps/) lets you see where the accidents are.


Barbara Elliott brought to our attention that there are two bills (Senate Bill 566 and House Bill 615) in the NC legislature that would loosen restrictions on consumer fireworks. She has had embers from air-born fireworks on her roof.


Committees

  *   EHC Accountability / Indicators Workgroup has met 4 times; they have gathered values to be supported and are getting the values organized, then will figure what metrics would be associated with these values and what data would need to be collected for these metrics.
  *   Nominating Committee – Tom, Rochelle, Matt and Vicky – Rochelle moved and Tom seconded to form a nominating committee with these folks, which passed.
  *   Political Forum Committee – The primary is October 8, the general election is on November 5.  Jose has secured room for Thursday October 17.  We paid for closed captioning last time.  Pat moved that we have one debate on October 17that 6:30, for City Council only, and allocated up to $500 for any costs.  Deb Hawkins seconded and it passed.  Jose will also ask the NCCU and Duke folks if they want to participate again.


Billboards are back in the General Assembly.


Pollinator-friendly yard was flagged by NIS to be mowed, but apparently the appeal worked.  We might want to get presentation to learn about the facts, or a general presentation on inspections.


Reports and announcements

  *   Northgate Park will have their Food Truck Rodeo, with two new trucks, on Thursday, as well as an event about food for schools.
  *   The Durham Parks and Rec has received 2 grants for new park equipment in Braggtown.  Final movie and final music events are in August (https://www.dprplaymore.org/318/Rock-the-Park-Concert-Movie-Series).
  *   National Night Out is August 6.
  *   Cross Counties neighborhood is looking at a rezoning of the property that was going to be the ROMF for light-rail.
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