[Durham INC] Draft February Minutes

[Pat Carstensen]

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



February Delegate Meeting of the InterNeighborhood Council of Durham

Via Zoom

February 23, 2021



Attending the meeting were:

Neighborhoods

Bragtown – Constance Wright, Vannessa Evans

Cross Counties – Pat Carstensen

Falconbridge – Richard Ford

Forest Hills – Sarah Morris

Long Meadow – Eric Hamilton

Merrick-Moore – Bonita Green

Morehead Hill – Rochelle Araujo

Northgate Park – Keith Cochran, Debra Hawkins

Old West Durham – David Eklund

Trappers Creek / Greymoss – Will Wilson

Trinity Park – Philip Azar, Mimi Kessler

Tuscaloosa-Lakewood – Susan Sewell

Watts Hospital Hillandale – Tom Miller


Visitors

Annette Smith -- Durham Parks and Recreation

Alisa Johnson -- SW Durham Quality of Life Project

Robin Emmons -- Hayti Heritage Center

Josh Hawn -- Hayti Heritage Center



President Will Wilson called the meeting to order, and those present introduced themselves.

We are still looking for a Vice-President.  There were no adjustments to the agenda.  Eric moved to approve both the November/December minutes and the January minutes, Pat seconded, and both sets of minutes were approved.


Hayti Heritage Center -- Robin Emmons is the new development director.  Hayti is an iconic feature of Durham.  St. Joseph AME Church was founded by formerly enslaved people, and the building, one of the few survivors of urban renewal, was built 130 years ago.  They are having a film festival, including drive-in showings; the website is https://hayti.org/programming/film/. They will be launching a year-long celebration for the 130th anniversary.  Please enlist as an ambassador for the center, think about donating to it, and subscribe to the newsletter.  There was a discussion of how systemic racism has related to funding of cultural institutions.


Comprehensive Plan Draft Objectives -- A subcommittee had a lot of calls and produced a 23-page document of comments to the staff-drafted draft objectives.  The deadline to submit comments was last Friday so draft comments were submitted (clearly marked as a draft).  Watts Hospital Hillandale board looked at the draft comments, and had a number of comments, mostly editorial, which we could incorporate.  Once the goals are adopted, Planning staff will work on the next step, which will have more concrete policy statements; we are just starting the process of creating the new plan.  Tom moved that we approve the document with cosmetic changes (getting out “community policing,” eliminating use of the first person voice, correcting the word “ordinary” and so on), Rochelle seconded. The vote was 10 for, 0 against, and 4 abstain or otherwise not voting.


Bylaws Rewrite -- The committee met with the student assigned from the Duke Law Clinic.  They discussed re-definition of “member neighborhoods.”  Alisa Johnson, who at one time represented Burch Avenue, said that SW Durham Quality of Life (QoL) is an amalgamation of 6 neighborhoods, formed to address common issues of their neighborhoods, and would think about joining as a way to get representation for those of their member neighborhoods that don’t have the capacity to join INC on their own.  For most of their history, QoL worked on affordable housing, especially in Lyon Park and the West End.  After some initial missteps in talking to the neighborhoods, Duke gave $1M to buy land on which non-profits built affordable housing.  QoL also worked on economic development in the commercial corridor and did celebrations of history and culture.  Tuscaloosa-Lakewood has non-voting members, which might be an option as we re-define “membership.”


Development Update -- This year’s omnibus UDO amendments will come to the Planning Commission in March.


Neighborhood Reports

  *   Tuscaloosa-Lakewood has had a neighbor shot and killed by an ex-partner, and is doing remembrance, grief support, and neighborhood building activities. Some activities are led by Religious Coalition for a NonViolent Durham (https://nonviolentdurham.org/).

  *   Northgate Park is starting its season of food-truck pop-up events.

  *   John Schelp is doing a virtual history tour in March.

  *   Merrick-Moore is continuing to engage on the athletic park in their neighborhood.

  *   The artist selection committee for the Club Boulevard crossing art project has selected an artist; the art is intended to slow down traffic and the installation will start this spring.  More information: https://durhamnc.gov/4280/Club-Crossing.  The Lakewood Park art has been completed.


Adjourn.




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