CITIZENS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT WORKING TOGETHER • DURHAM, NC • DISTRICT 2

Home • Minutes • Resources • Forms • Outreach • Grant Information • City of Durham

6/17/2002 Partners Against Crime District II Minutes
 

Agenda

Changing PAC2 meeting schedule
East End Connector
Nonprofit status for PAC2
Police outreach on Leon St.
ABC applications
Recently solved crimes
Neighborhood Watch
PAC2's relations with neighborhoods
Housing update
Police target areas
Crime data analysis
Community concerns

Changing PAC2 meeting schedule: Changing the PAC2 meeting date from the 3rd Monday of each month has been under discussion for some time, primarily because this schedule conflicts with the meetings of the city council, preventing council members from attending PAC2 meetings as they otherwise might. After discussion of other options, including Tuesday meetings, we voted to change to the second Monday of each month, but to delay implementation of the change until August. Consequently, the next PAC2 meeting will be on July 15th. The one after that will be on August 12th, and thereafter PAC2 will meet on the second Monday of each month.

East End Connector: Caleb Southern gave a presentation on the East End Connector, a highway project that was part of the original plan for a Durham loop and has been in the works since 1959. The EEC is only about a mile long, from the Hwy. 70 bypass near Holloway down to Hwy. 147 (the Durham Freeway). It has already been studied, planned, and approved. There is no significant opposition to the project; the only principal issue is funding. Building the EEC would cost about $106 million. The East End Connector would help get through traffic out of neighborhoods in District 2 and elsewhere. By providing an alternate, all-highway route to get from northern Durham, and residential areas north of Durham, down to RTP, it would reduce the cut-through traffic on city streets such as Alston, Avondale, Roxbury, Mangum, Duke, Gregson, Buchanan, and Hillandale. The reduction in traffic would improve pedestrian safety in our neighborhoods, especially for kids. It would also promote neighborhood unity, as heavily traveled streets tend to become neighborhood 'walls'. Although no hard data are available on the volume of traffic expected to be rerouted, Newman cited the Trinity Park traffic study, which found that most of the traffic through Trinity Park was from areas north of I-85 to the Durham Freeway. The EEC would not completely obviate the need for local traffic calming measures, but should have a significant impact on traffic in many neighborhoods. The state highway trust fund has been reopened due to local opposition to the Eno Drive project. This creates a second window of opportunity for the East End Connector to finally be built. It will still require approval by the NC legislature, as would any use of these funds. Most of the land is already publicly owned and allocated to the EEC. The construction of the East End Connector would destroy six homes, which is a relatively low impact for this type of project. The affected residents have long been aware of the plans, and Mark Aaronson of the city Dept. of Transportation was cited as saying that they are not in opposition to the EEC. Those who support the EEC should make their views known to the city council promptly, as they will be considering the project soon. Failure to fund the East End Connector now could result in another ten years' delay. Caleb Southern volunteered to write a model letter of support to the council, which will be posted to the listserve. Further information on the East End Connector, including maps illustrating the potential impact in different neighborhoods, is available on Caleb's website, www.durhamloop.org.

Nonprofit status for PAC2: Newman Aguiar updated us on the result of his application for a highly competitive Duke fellowship to study the possibility of PAC2 becoming a nonprofit. Newman was not among those finally selected. Although this particular funding avenue didn't work out, Newman pointed out that research into this question still needs to be done.

Police outreach on Leon St.: Officer Tony Scott spoke about a planned outreach centered on the Palm Parks apartment complex, similar to the one done in the Green Street Area in March of last year. He pointed out that Durham's Latino residents are disproportionately victims of assault and armed robbery. Approximately 6% of the District 2 population is Latino, but Latinos are 60% of armed robbery victims. On Leon St. between Duke and Broad Sts. there are several apartment complexes (including Palm Parks), totaling about 250 units. Residents of this area have been frequently victimized. Many Latino residents are mistrustful of banks and prefer to keep their money in cash. Also, many share apartments with roommates whom they may not know or trust enough to leave their savings at home; consequently, they end up walking around carrying large sums of cash and becoming appealing targets for criminals. The Durham police have tried unsuccessfully to connect with this community, and are now trying to learn from previous mistakes to devise and implement a more effective approach. Barriers to be overcome include a high rate of illiteracy, which reduces the effectiveness of distributing printed literature, and a general mistrust of the police. The DPD tried inviting residents to a community meeting last month at a local church, but got no attendance. Their new strategy is to try to connect with residents at home; the outreach will be focused entirely on giving people useful information, not on collecting information from them. The Durham police are committed to a long-term effort to earn the community's trust. The police are striving to connect with community leaders, and to enlist the participation of local organizations in this outreach, including, the Cooperativa Latina (a Latino credit union), El Centro, and the Immaculata Church. The outreach is slated for Sunday, July 14th, from about 4 to 6 p.m. They hope to have about ten officers and twenty civilians. Volunteers to participate-particularly, but not exclusively, Spanish speakers-are still needed; anyone interested can contact Officer Scott. Other suggestions for outreach to the Latino community included building events around Spanish holidays, and drawing on the Mexican consulate in Raleigh as a source for cultural information. Ernie Mills of the Durham Rescue Mission raised the possibility of coordinating with the police for their participation in events the DRM has planned for August.

ABC applications: The only application this month was a permit renewal for the Durham Food Mart at 407 Old Oxford, for off-premises beer and wine. Officer Scott Baker reported no prior opposition to the permit, no violations on the property, and few calls for service. PAC2 voted to support the application.

Recently solved crimes: Lt. Ed Sarvis reported that a car theft in District 1 had led to the apprehension of a suspect at the Carolina Duke motor inn. The Winston-Salem youth, who is currently in jail, has confessed to more than twenty local break-ins in addition to the auto theft. Consequently, the police hope to clear a number of cases, and recent B&E victims may wish to contact the police to see if they can identify any belongings.

Neighborhood Watch: Officer Eric Hester reported that his work with Neighborhood Watch is progressing, and there have been several recent NW events. Next Saturday, July 20th, Officer Hester and a K-9 unit will attend a community event on Latta Rd. where they will be fingerprinting kids.

PAC2's relations with neighborhoods: Newman once again raised the issue of formalizing relations between PAC2 and the neighborhood organizations of the various District 2 neighborhoods. Each neighborhood organization is being asked to appoint a board member as their PAC2 liaison. This will promote the flow of information from PAC2, through the neighborhood organizations, and to every resident through Neighborhood Watch. Newman emphasized the importance of Neighborhood Watch as perhaps the most essential part of all the community work that we do.

Housing update: The Housing department is working with the railroads to get the Mangum Street bridge securely fenced off. They are also dealing with other recent problems, including weedy and overgrown lots. On the inspection front, housing inspectors are concentrating on the same focus area as the police, within beat 212. Officer Scott added that police from each district meet monthly with representatives from other city departments, including parks and recreation, solid waste, city and county planning, housing, et al. These representatives subsequently report back to their department heads about police and PAC concerns related to their department.

Police target areas: Lt. Sarvis explained that within each district, a particular focus area (usually about a square mile) is chosen based on crime statistics. In District 2, there have been three or four different target areas in as many years. Previous target areas have included Oxford Manor & Channing Court, and Walltown, which has seen significant improvement. The new target area is around the 300 block of Trinity & Northwood Circle.

Crime data analysis: Susan Kauffman, from the Duke Office of Community Affairs, reported on the work she has been doing, with the aid of a Duke intern, to make crime statistics available for the five neighborhoods in PAC2 that are part of the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership. Until now, the DPD has not had the ability to sort crime data by neighborhood and generate neighborhood-specific statistics. Now crime statistics are available for Old West Durham, Watts-Hillandale, Walltown, Trinity Heights, and Trinity Park. Maps and statistics for these neighborhoods will be posted on the PAC2 website, and will undoubtedly prove useful as PAC2 develops its relations with the individual neighborhoods.

Community concerns: The only issue raised had to do with abandoned vehicles in alleyways, which inspection is working to address.

Meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m.

***

IMPORTANT PAC II Contact Information

Web site: http://www.pac2durham.com/

Listserv: pac2@yahoogroups.com

Subscribe: pac2-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe: pac2-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

PAC2 Co-chair: Newman Aguiar <newman@nc.rr.com> Term Expires: July 31, 2003
PAC2 Co-Chair: Jeff White <jwbikes@us.ibm.com> Term Expires: July 31, 2004
PAC2 Secretary: Lori Harris <Ellephai@aol.com> Term Expires: July 31, 2004
PAC2 Treasurer: Fred Lamar<dolce2@duke.edu> Term Expires: July 31, 2003

Webmaster/listserv admin: Pam Spaulding <pam@pfsimple.com>

Top