PAC2 meeting minutes – 09 June 03
Agenda:
Neighborhood Watch update
National Night Out
Property & Facilities Management
311 update
Housing update
Animal Control update
ABC permits
results of May police initiative
Green Street area
Impact Team update
recent crime & gang activity
community concerns
PAC2 elections
upcoming events
Neighborhood Watch update: Officer Eric Hester presented the new Neighborhood Watch sign and explained the plan to place additional icons on the signs to represent quality-of-life issues such as natural disaster preparedness, Courtwatch, and Citizen Observer Patrol. He also reported on a recent conversation with Eric Schulz, project director of Meet the Challenge, about the national Neighborhood Watch program. If you would like to receive email bulletins, send your address to Officer Hester at ehester@ci.durham.nc.us.
From July 16-18, there will be a workshop in Durham on the topic of “reinforcing communication and trust through community partnership building”. This workshop will bring together law enforcement personnel, citizens, and community leaders in seminars on ethical issues. The seminars will have two cofacilitators, one representing law enforcement and one representing the citizens of the community. On one evening there will be a roundtable discussion at the Durham Police Dept. Officer Hester will be posting more information about this to the listserve, and would like to see at least five people from PAC2 take part.
Officer Hester reported that he was able to get a great price on the printing of the new Neighborhood Watch signs, and the first of them should be going up within 30 days. The statement made by the newly designed signs should spark interest and help reduce crimes of opportunity.
The COP (Citizen Observer Patrol) program went before the Durham Police Dept. command staff for review the week before last; they are still studying it.
National Night Out: The first Tuesday in August, the 5th, will be National Night Out. Applications for street closing were distributed at the recent block captain workshop; if anyone needs more, just ask. You can get your block officially closed to traffic for your National Night Out event, but you must apply in advance.
Lt. Allen reported that there may also be a main downtown event. Within the last fortnight, the PAC4 facilitators have proposed a central National Night Out event, to be held at the ballpark. A parade would start around 4pm from Civic Center Plaza and proceed around the downtown loop to wind up at the ballpark. Everyone is encouraged to come together and participate in this. Bulls representatives are hoping to provide free food for the event, if they can get an idea of the number of people likely to attend. Communities can contribute to the parade in the form of marching bands, choral groups, floats, drill teams, or whatever they have. If interested, you should contact Lt. Allen or Officer Hester.
Newman added that the PAC leaders had recently met with the city manager about this, and that the PAC leadership were all in favor of such an event as a way to bring their constituencies together. He emphasized that the downtown event would in no way preclude neighborhood events or block parties, and encouraged people to have both. The mayor and city council members usually spend the evening visiting the various block parties and meeting people; last year there were so many events it was difficult for them to get around to all of them. That will be easier with a centralized event, though they probably will also try to visit many of the smaller events.
Property & Facilities Management: Tonight’s guest speaker was Mark Greenspan, director of the former Property & Facilities Management department, which is now changing its name to General Services. Greenspan has been instrumental in getting the COP program going, and the car to be donated to it will come from his department. He was familiar with the COP concept from the community in South Florida where he lived prior to coming to Durham a year ago.
General Services is a large department, one of the big six in the city. Among other things, it is responsible for police, fire, and all other city vehicles. Tonight, however, Greenspan focused on the popular subject of park maintenance. Durham has 63 parks, encompassing 450 acres; our parks contain 12 miles of trails and 1.5 million square feet of buildings. There are 80 people to maintain the park system.
Greenspan opined that park maintenance in Durham is currently a ‘broken business system’. The department is reactive where it should be proactive. He is currently studying the department’s function with a view to changing these systems, but he anticipated that a principal conclusion of this analysis would be that there are not enough staff resources to get the job done as it should be. As a result of staff shortage, maintenance is spread too thin, grass grows up, our beautiful parks deteriorate, and the department can only manage to be reactive. In the present harsh economic climate, it’s difficult to obtain the additional funding the park system needs. Greenspan said he doesn’t know what the solution is, but that it might include bringing in community groups who want to help. He then opened the floor to questions.
Someone asked how many park rangers there are. There are about seven regular rangers plus one supervisor. Greenspan pointed out that there are several groups with important roles to play in making the parks safer: the rangers, who are police officers; the neighborhoods; and (referencing the ‘broken windows’ theory) the parks maintenance staff.
Mitch Archer of the Impact Team raised the question of the interdepartmental team meetings he said the city used to have. These meetings allowed city employees from different departments to get to know each other and network to provide services more efficiently; they also made it easier to bring new employees up to speed. He suggested that it would be a good idea to bring back these meetings. Archer further pointed out that the Impact Team is involved in the park system because they remove graffiti in the parks. He said that citizens often don’t know who to call about parks-related issues; Parks & Recreation often gets calls about problems that properly belong to Facilities Management. Parks & Rec handles programming of events & activities in the parks, including athletics and leisure services. Greenspan said that if someone has a parks issue or is dissatisfied with park services, they should call division manager David Clark; if still dissatisfied, they should call Greenspan himself.
Archer argued that Greenspan should be informed about what goes on in the parks, even if it’s handled by someone else—for instance, the removal of graffiti by the Impact Team. Greenspan disagreed; he feels that if his managers are doing their job and things are under control, he doesn’t have to know about it. His job is to be a problem-solver, and he wants to know if there are problems.
A Watts-Hillandale resident raised an issue that had come up at their neighborhood association’s last board meeting—faulty play equipment which may be dangerous for kids. Greenspan said he had already heard about it, and most of the problems have now been dealt with. He wants to make the department more aggressive about proactively going out and checking all equipment, rather than waiting for citizens to complain about it.
Newman wanted to know when Greenspan expects his study of the department to be completed. Greenspan said it would be done within about six months, and the next step will be talks with the city council on how to get the needed resources. He needs the data and analysis to back up his requests for additional resources. Greenspan intends to do estimates similar to those a contractor would—for each park, what staff and what other resources will be needed to accomplish what needs to be done in that park.
A Walltown resident asked whether General Services is responsible for making park entrances handicap accessible. Greenspan replied that if any park entrances were not accessible, he’d like to know about it. She said that the Walltown park has an entrance that’s not accessible on one side. She also said that in one place there’s a step up and no indication that there will be a step; she was injured a few years ago when she missed the step and fell, needing stitches. Greenspan promised to check it out.
Someone asked whether volunteer help from the neighborhoods could be used in the parks. Greenspan said yes, and that he and Tim Grant were working on a project to let people or groups volunteer to adopt a park or trail. He then opined, however, that a community cleanup or a special project like mulching is OK, but it’s not right to get volunteers to do the jobs his department should be doing; that’s their responsibility.
Someone asked what percentage of the problems in the parks were caused by vandalism. Greenspan said that vandalism was indeed a problem, but he didn’t have sufficient data to quantify to what extent. He said that a significant problem was the department’s need for a new work order system, which they are getting.
An Old Farm resident brought up a problem in the park there; water from the Eno runs around the park, and kids are making their own walkways through the park to get down to the water. They asked if there could be an official way down to the water, or signage of some kind, because it could be dangerous if a kid didn’t know there was water down there. Someone else pointed out that swimming in the Eno is dangerous, due to currents, flooding, and obstacles in the river, and is discouraged anyway.
Newman asked about Northgate Park; bond funds were supposed to be used for renovation there, but it hasn’t been done. Greenspan said that the Parks Dept. handles the planning and design, and then the project comes to him for construction. Newman mentioned that there had been extensive discussion of this issue on the listserve, and said that since specific funds had been allocated, why couldn’t the project proceed? Greenspan said that all projects funded by the bond issue were proceeding; they are awaiting design, in design, or going out to bid for construction. He pointed out that the government purchasing system is a tortuous process, but said that he is able to get information on the status of any project.
Another Walltown resident asked who’s responsible for runoff water that carries garbage. There’s a drain running across at Berkeley and Englewood, and the runoff goes behind the God’s Anointed Ministry church on that corner, and leaves a heap of trash where it stops. Mitch Archer of the Impact Team spoke to this, saying that if it’s on the private property of the church, then it’s their problem. He reminded us that the city does not own any creeks or streams. However, if the community wanted to do a cleanup, Solid Waste could help arrange it. This issue does not constitute illegal dumping because it’s on private property. Archer said that the person to contact about any creek or stream issue is Bambi Wilson of Public Works, who deals with storm water. Newman suggested that perhaps this could be a Walltown/PAC2 project. Another Walltown resident said that discarded stolen property is among the debris; the culprit is a habitual thief who’s known in the neighborhood.
311 update: Newman reported that this has been discussed by the PAC leaders with the city manager, and there will not be a 311 number as such. However, money has been budgeted for another number that will serve the same purpose. The number may be something similar, like 560-3111, but it won’t actually be 311. The call center for non-emergency issues hopefully will come into existence later this year, or perhaps early next year. It will probably operate only during business hours initially, hoping to expand later and ultimately be 24/7.
Housing update: June is National Homeownership Month. There will be a Community Day celebration on Saturday, June 21, from 11am till 2pm, at the Little River Community Resource Center, at 8305 N. Roxboro Rd. There are now two new homeownership programs, directed to teachers and police officers. First-time homebuyers can get up to $20,000, and a second mortgage at 2% interest.
We are losing a housing inspector in District 2, but the department is still hiring new inspectors, and expects to hire at least ten.
Animal Control update: Cindy Bailey of Animal Control reported that the recent rainy weekends have thwarted their plans to deal with loose dogs, but they are still working on it. The first publication from our own Animal Control Task Force will be out soon. In the past eight weeks, 17 stray dogs have been picked up in Watts-Hillandale. Two of these had been previously impounded and were known to have been involved in cat maulings. Last time they were reclaimed by their owner, but the owner did not claim them this time, and they will not be put up for adoption. Six dogs were picked up in Old North Durham. Animal Control is targeting the Lancaster-Sedgefield area.
ABC permits: Officer Scott Baker presented three applications for ABC permits.
The first was from the establishment currently known as Fuzzy’s Country Store, which owner Julie Sexton wants to rename to J & M’s Country Store. Located at 3112 N. Roxboro, the store currently holds a permit for on- and off-premises sales of beer and wine, and is applying for a renewal of the same permit. Baker reported that the background check was clean, he was aware of no community opposition, and the call history was negligible; the only call in the last year was to a traffic accident that had occurred in front of the store. PAC2 voted unanimously to approve.
The next application was for the Town & Country convenience store, located at Club and Dearborn. Baker reported a clean background check and negligible call history; the new owner of the store is applying for a renewal of a permit for off-premises beer and wine. Officer Eric Hester said that there had been requests for some CPTED landscaping to be done in the field adjacent to the store. This empty field is littered with bottles, furniture, etc., and people use it as a hangout. It has been estimated that it would take $5000 to clean it up. Hester was called in last year to do a CPTED analysis of this location, with the goal of eliminating foot traffic through the field. This effort was foiled by storm debris, but has not been abandoned. PAC2 voted unanimously not to approve this application.
The final application was from Tienda Salvadoriana Kimberly, located at 3117 Guess Rd., north of Carver St., in a strip mall. This is a Hispanic convenience store seeking a permit for off-premises beer sales. Baker reported that the owner had no criminal history and the call history was negligible. He said the neighborhood survey had not yet been done, but he didn’t know of any problems. PAC2 voted unanimously to approve.
Results of May police initiative: At Katherine’s request, Officer Baker reported some statistics from the target area, which was around Green St./Washington/Markham/the 300 block of W. Trinity. In the month of May, the police did 1195 traffic stops in the target area, compared to 475 in the rest of the district. Usually there might have been about 50 in this area. Baker said there had been an ‘immense’ police presence there. There were 41 license checks done in this area, compared to 23 in the rest of District 2. In the target area, the police issued 143 traffic citations, 31 warning tickets, and 14 parking tickets. The CATT team was instrumental in this effort, as were the patrol squads, particularly B and D squads. Several arrests were also made; there were 16 DUI arrests in the area, which is double the usual. Baker said the heightened police presence in this area would continue.
Green Street area: Richard Mullinax updated us on efforts currently underway in Old North Durham, Duke Park, and Trinity Park to deal with this area, which is just north of Central Park, roughly bounded by Club, Duke, and Trinity. An earlier effort to get the surrounding neighborhoods to reincorporate the Green Street area, but this proved unsuccessful. Now there’s an initiative underway to create an independent community, the Central Park neighborhood. Newman pointed out that the existing neighborhoods don’t want to have to take on the crime statistics from this area. Also, there’s lots of rental property, which is off-putting. Mullinax said that Central Park will need volunteers for their initial board to help them get their new neighborhood association going. This area was previously referred to as ‘no man’s land’. Now it’s called the ‘Green Street area’, but the crime and other problems there haven’t gone away. Anyone interested in being involved should contact Newman Aguiar or Richard Mullinax.
Impact Team update: Mitch Archer, returning after being absent from the last few meetings for personal reasons, brought us ample assurance that the Impact Team has not been idle. In May, they received and investigated 70 complaints, and consequently made ten trips to the transfer station with 10.92 tons of trash and debris. They cleaned up seven illegal dump sites by making thirteen trips with 6.29 tons of trash and debris. People have once again been dumping unrecyclable stuff at the Oxford Commons recycling site; they made 12 visits to the Northgate Mall site, which has the same problems. The following delinquent shopping carts were rounded up and taken into custody: 25 from Food Lion, 7 from Harris Teeter, 3 from Family Dollar, 2 from Dollar Tree, 5 from Wal-Mart, 4 from Winn Dixie, 2 from K-Mart, and 3 from Rose’s, for a total of 51 carts. The Impact Team removed graffiti from the 2100 block of Guess and Bldg. E of the Palm Park Apartments. The summer litter program will only last for six weeks this year, from June 16 to July 25. There should be about 15 kids assigned to District 2. The city has received 586 applications for the 40 available positions. The applicants will be categorized by district and by whether they are high school or junior high school students, and then the selection will be by lottery. There should be six high schoolers and four junior high kids chosen from District 2. A crew of 15 kids plus a supervisor will be in District 2 picking up litter. The spring cleanup campaign went fine, but people want to go back to having it at multiple locations, and Archer said he hopes to be able to do so. The Impact Team is now under the Solid Waste department. Neighborhoods can have one neighborhood cleanup per year; to arrange a neighborhood cleanup, call Billy Smith (560-4185) at Solid Waste. The calendar is filling up fast, so call soon.
Someone complained about grass clippings in the streets in River Forest; Archer said he’s getting on the problem. He emphasized the need to educate people that grass clippings belong in their yard waste containers. Yard waste containers must have the yellow sticker or they will not get emptied. The storm debris pickup is now over; if you still have storm debris, you need to either hire someone to haul it away, or cut it up small enough to fit in your yard waste cart. There are between 4000-6000 trees still damaged from the storm, but the amount of stuff removed was still amazing, much better than after Fran.
Someone else asked about graffiti on Hillsborough Road. Archer said they’ve been on it, chasing the graffiti up and down Hillsborough. As ever, the Impact Team is committed to getting graffiti gone within 24 hours of receiving notice from the DPD gang unit. They are also working on the trails.
Recent crime & gang activity: Newman initiated this discussion by mentioning that he had noticed what appeared to be increased gang activity in several neighborhoods. Several locations have experienced mass vandalism, and there have been break-ins where only a few inconsequential items were taken, often a series of them on a single block. He wanted to know what the police thought was going on.
Lt. Allen responded by urging people to be cautious about assuming things are gang-related. He said that he reads the reports of every crime in District 2, as do Capt. Clark and another sergeant. Tomorrow they are meeting with a crime analyst about the timing of incidents on Club and Green, so that they can respond with enforcement. It’s summer and kids are out of school; break-ins where not much is taken can be the work of kids with too much time on their hands. Gangs are more inclined to armed robbery, and to using graffiti to mark their territory. The breakup of Few Gardens resulted in the dispersal of gangs into the community. In some places, there’s now a mix of different gangs present in the same neighborhood, which has led to increased territory marking. On one occasion in District 4, the police had to contact DATA and get them to eliminate the last scheduled bus of the night on a certain route, because members of two rival gangs that had encountered each other at a cinema were both waiting to get on it, and they felt that hostilities might ensue.
Mitch Archer reiterated that removal of graffiti within 24 hours is the top priority of the Impact Team, although he said that the gang unit has been busy with other issues.
Newman pointed out that it’s the beginning of summer and we’re already seeing a rise in crime. He asked what we could do—how communities and neighborhoods could act now to prevent a crime-laden summer. Allen responded that the neighborhoods need to come together, and be put on notice that the police can’t do it all. He mentioned that in June, there had been concentrated police initiatives in two problem areas, one on Danube Lane near Old Oxford, and one in Walltown. The police can’t be everywhere; they need extra eyes and ears.
Community concerns: One resident expressed a concern that there are too many liquor permits issued in North Durham. Some areas have an establishment selling alcohol on virtually every corner. She argued that we should be opposing new permit applications. A real estate agent spoke up and testified that there are some areas, such as Orient St., where she can’t sell a property at any price; some neighborhoods she won’t even go to alone to show a house. Newman said that the issue of alcohol permits was before council now, especially in terms of the nuisance aspect. Decisions are made by the ABC board, and there’s not enough community influence in the process. People are seeking to reempower the community, so that if a neighborhood rejects a permit application, their decision wouldn’t be overridden. Another resident pointed out that there has historically been a lot of denial about gang activity in Durham; he agreed that we shouldn’t assume incidents are gang-related, but argued that we shouldn’t assume they aren’t gang-related either. Mitch Archer brought up a property at the corner of Duke & Carver, asking why and how the property owner was allowed to take out one house and put five more in its place. How did that get by us? Someone else responded that the Durham Association of Realtors had opposed this development, and that it had occurred as a favor from the city. An Old North Durham resident asked if it would help to get other city departments, such as zoning, economic development, etc., to attend PAC2 meetings. Newman said that he and Katherine met recently with the director for Economic Development, and that he was interested in participating in PAC2. Newman predicted that we’ll see this happen. As for Zoning, one of our requests put forth at the Coffee with Council was for all zoning requests to come to PAC. We were told that we need to contact the department and get the information sent to us, and Newman will be working on this.
Another resident asked about enforcement of the open container ordinance. He said he sees people drinking from open containers all the time in the neighborhood around his church, and sometimes he sees patrol cars go by and not do anything about it. Lt. Allen asked him to report any such incidents to him, with the number of the car involved.
An Old North Durham resident said she had recently been talking with someone interested in starting a Neighborhood Watch, and they were concerned about a property near N. Trinity and Rosetta. This house has been a center of gun use and drug activity for some time. The neighbors wanted to know about how to begin pursuing a nuisance abatement case over it. Officer Eric Hester advised them to contact Sgt. Wanda Gibbons (560-4582) with the primary target team. Newman said that they should also contact the city attorney’s office, who will prosecute nuisance abatement cases for us. They are currently reviewing nuisance abatement procedures.
Walltown residents complained about a case involving possibly stolen bicycles; they had seen 20-25 kids’ bikes being loaded into a truck from one house in their neighborhood. Officer Hester asked them to give him the details after the meeting so he could look into it. At the same house, residents have pitched a tent in the yard and put up ramps so they can work on cars in their yard. The property belongs to notorious slumlord Lee Ray Bergman, whose response to neighbors’ complaints has been to hang up on them. Mitch Archer advised them to call a Mr. Pratt in zoning, and said that he would also do so himself; the home car repair business could cause groundwater contamination from oil, gasoline, etc.
Someone else wanted to know if there’s an ordinance about digging a pond in your yard. Mitch Archer said no, because it’s legal to dig a hole in your yard for a swimming pool. NC Extension can provide free advice on water circulation systems and aquatic landscaping.
A representative of the North Durham Branch Library complained about problems with illegal parking in the shopping center where the library is located. In the past, when there was a parking patrol, they would ticket people illegally parked in handicap and fire lane zones, but now that there’s no enforcement, the problem has returned. Handicapped patrons are obstructed from being able to use the library by people who illegally take up all the handicap spaces, and if people park in fire lanes, there’s no access for emergency vehicles. She pointed out that so-called fire lanes are actually intended for all types of emergency vehicle; if someone had an accident or was taken ill in the library, the ambulance wouldn’t be able to get to them if the fire lane was blocked. She asked that when police officers come through or pass by the shopping center, they stop and ticket people who are illegally parked.
Another resident asked what the rules were under the city noise ordinance. Officer Hester replied that the ordinance mandates relative quiet from 11pm to 7am. For the details, the ordinance can be found on the city web site.
PAC2 elections: This is Newman’s last meeting as co-chair. Two possible candidates for his replacement have been identified, one from Watts-Hillandale and one from Old North Durham. Elections will be held next month.
Upcoming events: Chief Chalmers will speak at the August meeting of PAC2, to give us an update on crime statistics and what’s going on in the Durham Police Department. Anyone who has questions or issues they’d like to raise should email Newman about them in advance, and he’ll pass the word to Chalmers so he can come prepared to address those topics.
Officer Eric Hester will give a safety presentation at the North Durham Branch Library on June 26 at 2:30pm.
Newman had a few final words in praise of the greatness of PAC2, the progress it has made in recent years, and the respect it has gained. He thanked everyone who has been active in PAC2, and encouraged us all to battle on. He urged us to turn out for safety events and to meet and encourage new people to get involved in PAC2.