Is Durham the most tolerant city in America?

I have previously voiced my skepticism of rankings of various kinds, be they complementary or critical of the Bull City. But the appeal of traffic-pleasing ratings arms race is too strong for many online publications to resit. The latest, courtesy of the Daily Beast, crowns Durham the most tolerant city in America. Durham comes ahead of San Fransisco (third) and Honolulu (second).

The rankings were based on measuring racial diversity, religious tolerance, same-sex marriage rates and hate-crime reporting rates. But this analysis conveniently ignores the larger tapestry of state laws that,arguably, affect local residents to the same if not greater extent than the cities where they live.

Although I am very proud of Durham's diversity and progressive politics, we are still living in a fairly conservative southern state. To say that Durham is a better place for a same-sex couple than New York City or Boston would be ludicrous, as both of those states have legalized gay marriage. Similarly, no matter how welcoming a community Durham may be to undocumented migrants, the larger policies of North Carolina are surely less advantageous to that community than the more immigrant-friendly laws of California and Hawaii.

So readers, we’d like to know what you think.Do you think Durham is the most tolerant city in America?

Critical City Council Vote on Ninth Street Plan this Tuesday

**Update: the City Council voted in favor of the Ninth Street plan as originally proposed and agreed to by OWDNA**

There is a critical City Council vote this Tuesday, January 17, on the recomendation of the planning staff to adpot the Ninth Street Plan, turning it into the UDO (uniform development ordiance). Below is the message from Brett Walters, the President of the OWDA Neighborhod Association, which I am reposting in full. This community has always been at the forefront of civic engagement, and I hope that our readers will consider attending this important vote and voicing their support for turning the Ninth Street Development Plan into reality. The failure to do so could open our neighborhood to large-scale development, obliterating the character and charm of this place and turning us into another generic development with no soul. The full message is after the break.

Update on the renovation of 725 Broad Street

As most of us have seen by now, the renovation of 725 Broad Street is in full swing. A local architectural firm, BLOCK Architecture, PLLC, has been tasked with turning a 5,000 SQ office space from 1964 into a modern two story building that could serve as an anchor for further Broad Street revitalization. According to the architects' facebook page, the space is designed to host a bakery, class A offices and an event space. I posted some drawing of the finished project from the same page. It is exciting to see new energy brought to a long-suffering stretch of the road and it comes amid an influx of new businesses on the 700 block, including Ad Spice and Nataraja Healing Arts. Here is what the place looked like before renovation.
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Free Community Event at Broad Street Cafe this Sunday

This Sunday, January 15, at 4:30 p.m. the Broad Street Cafe is hosting another one of its BSC Kids events, which occur every first and third Sunday of each month, October through March.

The featured artist is Baron Von Rumblebuss, who sings of "robots, superheros, and failing into an onion dip" among other kind-friendly and adult-pleasing favorites. According to John Hite, of the Broad Street Cafe, you will hear "the lingering echos of The Kinks, The Who, Devo, and more. Please support Broad Street Cafe by purchasing food/drink and keeping this event free.


[source: Watts-Hillandale Listserv]



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City Program to Save You Money (and save the Earth in the process)

The Herald Sun has a good article about a year-old but still very much underutilized program to weatherize your home and reduce energy costs based on a 2009 grant of over $900,000 from the EPA. The program pays for significant retrofit to older houses, provided they meet certain criteria. The detailed information is available here.


To qualify​​ , homes must be either single story  two story with the top and bottom floors having the exact same footprint. All homes must be 2,300 square feet or less. All-electric homes will receive priority for participation in this program. Homes with natural gas, propane, or fuel oil will also be accepted.

The full article is reprinted after the break.

Duke Conference on Fraking

Fraking Diagram - source:

As a follow up on my last post about dangers of fraking in North Carolina, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke is hosting a conference on the subject this Monday, January 9, from 8:00 until 3:00 p.m. The conference is open to the public. The agenda includes overview of the groundbreaking study by Duke scientists of drinking water in Pennsylvania and is sure to include a spirited discussion of economics benefits and dangers of frakings in North Carolina. As a reminder, there are an estimates 1,400 square miles of shale rock in the state that are believed to hold decades of natural gas supplies, and most are located in an around the Triangle (including Chatham and Durham countries).

Weekly Neighborhood Watch Report

RAIDS Online is a crime tracking system utilized by the City of Durham to keep track of crime reports throughout the city. One of its best features is a mapping system that allows users to see crime trends by neighborhood or specific address  and easily categorize and hone in on problem areas. Anyone can sign up for free on RAIDS website. After the jump is the full list of all crime that took place within one mile radius of Ninth Street in the past week.

Recycling Event at Northgate Mall - bring your electronics

Just in time for a deluge of New Year's resolution, the city is holding its monthly electronics recycling event this Saturday, January 14, 2012. According to the Herald Sun, the non-exhausting list of items that will be recycled includes: computers, computer accessories and parts, televisions, audio equipment, small kitchen appliances, phones, hair dryers, vacuum cleaners, power tools and electronic toys. Bring your stuff to the Sears parking lot at Northgate Mall. 



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*Large appliances like refrigerators cannot be accepted, nor can anything containing Freon, like air conditioners.

Read more: The Herald-Sun - Recycling event just in time for New Year’s cleaning 

Lies, Damn Lies and Businessweek Rankings

As the title of this post suggests, I am not a big fan of rankings, particularly rankings of cities by using some arbitrary criteria taken out of context. Fore more on why city rankings are always wrong, see this fantastic Salon article.So now we have these new rankings from Businesweek of best cities to live in the U.S. and Raleigh comes in at #1, while Durham is at #37 behind Greensboro (#31). Give me a break! The full description is after the break.

Books Do Furnish A Room - Sale Through Monday

One of the remarkable things about living in this neighborhood is the presence of three separate independent bookstores in a three block radius -- a feat made ever more astonishing by the increasing homogenization and decline of the book industry. A particular gem is "Books Do Furnish A Room," a fantastic book store located right on the edge of the Ninth Street Shopping District. I wonder if it was named after a famous novel by Anthony Powell.

All this week, this little shop is having a 30% sale on many new and used books! Please check it out and support your local -- and independent -- bookstore.