Neighbors come to Duke’s defense

Amid angst over development plans, partnership holds

BY HUNTER LEWIS hlewis@heraldsun.com; 419-6651

Frustrated by the turns that negotiations with Duke University have taken in the past year over future campus development, a small but vocal group of neighborhood activists has threatened to pull out of the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership.

However, several neighborhood leaders voiced their support Thursday for the 8-year-old partnership.

"There's a rising tide of frustration that Duke is more concerned about doing what Duke wants to do rather than fostering a true partnership with nearby neighborhoods," said John Schelp, president of the Old West Durham Neighborhood Association.

Schelp said residents of Old West Durham were considering pulling out of the partnership or at least making a request that it be moved out from under the auspices of Duke's public affairs office.

The residents' frustration began to percolate last year as Duke sought to rezone a large chunk of the university under a new university-college ordinance. While most residents involved in the process generally supported Duke's rezoning and future development, some issues, including a possible fence around East Campus and retail on Central Campus, proved to be major sticking points.

Schelp said residents grew alarmed last year when a university architect "went behind our back" by removing the words "limited retail" from the development agreement. Those retail concerns arose again when Duke recently revealed its plans for Central Campus. Duke wants to retain the right to include some retail as it redevelops property off Erwin Road, but some residents and merchants fear that the university's tax-exempt status will give future campus merchants an unfair advantage over nearby business districts, including Ninth Street, Brightleaf Square and Northgate Mall.

The fence -- or Duke's insistence on retaining the right to build one around East Campus -- also drew the ire of residents, who felt that the university wanted to further separate itself from the community.

But Kay Alexander, a resident of Burch Avenue and former president of the Burch Avenue Neighborhood Association, said the concerns were more complex than just a fence or retail.

"The fewer issues [Duke] can reduce this to, the easier they can paint us as being hysterical and anti-growth," said Alexander, adding that she spoke for herself and not her neighborhood. "We're just looking at a bigger picture than [Duke is]."

John Burness, Duke's vice president for public affairs and government relations, said the progress made through the Duke-Durham partnership speaks for itself.

"There's nothing that keeps [a neighborhood] in the partnership for one that doesn't want to be there," he said. "I don't think it's realistic to expect the university and the neighborhoods to agree on everything, but I really do believe people of good faith and goodwill will work together on principle."

Several neighborhood leaders involved in the partnership said Duke remained committed to its goal of improving the quality of life in the 12 neighborhoods near campus and improving education in the seven public schools located in those neighborhoods.

Weary of the criticism lobbed at Duke, Guillo Rodriguez, president of the Watts Hospital-Hillandale Neighborhood Association, said he and a handful of folks from his neighborhood had met with Burness on Tuesday to pledge their support for the partnership.

"[Duke] should be praised for what they're doing for helping these kids out toward long-term solutions," Rodriguez said. "Relatively speaking, [Duke's] contribution seems to be much more positive than some mentioning of a fence that will probably never be built. I keep hearing about Duke walling itself off and turning its back on the community. I don't see that."

Other neighborhood leaders, including Patricia Stubbing, John Heffernan and Risa Foster, the presidents of the Lakewood Park Community, Tuscaloosa-Lakewood Neighborhood and Trinity Heights Neighborhood associations, respectively, said their neighborhoods also support the partnership.

Meanwhile, Audrey Mitchell, president of the Walltown Community Association, declined to comment Thursday, and attempts to reach representatives of the six other partnership neighborhoods were unsuccessful. Those neighborhoods are Burch Avenue, Crest Street, Lyon Park, Morehead Hill, Trinity Park and West End.

© Copyright by The Durham Herald Company. Original copyright 2004. Copyright renewed 2005. All rights reserved. All material on heraldsun.com is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws and may not be reproduced or redistributed in any medium except as provided in the site's Terms of Use.