For those of us who are concerned that Durham is sacrificing its natural environment, its historical neighborhoods, and its very soul, for the benefit of developers serving anonymous, mostly foreign, LLC investment companies, this municipal election is crucial.
Three councilmembers have been fighting an uphill battle to make sure development is responsible and to protect our precious environment. The three are DeDreana Freeman, Chelsea Cook and Nate Baker. Freeman and Cook are on the ballot. We need them to remain on the council and to replace at least one of the four.
I live outside the city limits so I cannot vote. I would, if I could, vote for and I hope you will vote for:
DeDreana Freeman (Ward 1) – because she asks hard questions of the developers and stands up to bullies, Freeman is being attacked with dirty tricks and ridiculous accusations. Remember the fake cat fishing Griselda? (If not, see my post) Don’t fall for it. In fact, the huge effort the development community and their hangers-on are making to defeat Freeman is all the proof I need as to how important it is to support her. Keep DeDreana on the council for all of us.
Shanetta Burris (Ward 2)– I’ve talked with her and found her to be smart and not afraid to speak up to power. She will be a breath of fresh air after Middleton’s caustic attitude toward the public. And I think this is important, to me anyway, she spent her formative high school years in Hillsborough, near but outside of Durham’s power structure – I don’t think she’ll ignore those of us who live near Durham and are affected by its never ending expansion but don’t have a voice. I think she’ll listen.
Chelsea Cook (Ward 3) – Cook is a whip smart lawyer out of Stanford Law School. I’m a lawyer but I couldn’t get into Stanford. It’s one of the best schools in the country and we are very lucky to have Chelsea on the council. She understands the ramifications of the development proposals no matter what the developers claim. She can understand the ordinances and what effect proposed amendments would have. She is, also, an expert in tenants’ rights having worked for years at Legal Services, and she’s now teaching at Duke Law School.
Anjanee Bell (Mayor). – Bell beat Pablo Friedmann in the primary. I am now supporting Bell because I believe she will be open to citizen input on the developments that affect them and the environment. IMO, she would be a definite improvement on the incumbent.
The current majority of the city council are poised to approve a new Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) that will upzone all of Durham within the Urban Growth Boundary, to allow an additional 200,000 new housing units with very little restriction on density or type of housing. This means almost all development will be done “by right” without the need for public hearings – no voting by our elected officials and no input from citizens sure to be affected by the projects. To make matters worse, a recent state law says that once an area is upzoned, the zoning cannot be reduced without the property owner’s agreement. So even if future elected officials want to protect the environment or reduce density, they won’t be able to do it. So, if the upzone is passed it can never be undone. Keep in mind Durham has already approved more than the 66,000 housing units the Office of Budget and Management and Durham’s planning department projected we need by the year 2050. Think about it. Our only chance to avoid being shut out of development decisions is to change the council majority before the new UDO is voted on early next year. If you live within Durham city limits you have the power to stop this. VOTE.
For those of you who are able to vote in Durham’s municipal elections, I am sharing who I would vote for if only I could vote. I live out in the county where we are affected, almost always adversely, by City Council votes, but we have no choice as to the seven people who make those decisions. The current council majority, “the four,” almost always rubber stamps every annexation (I call them Durham tumors) pushing Durham’s city limits further into the county.
Urban sprawl in the form of huge, dense, subdivisions of packed in townhouses and apartments, has already destroyed southeast Durham. Forests are mass graded, animal habitat eliminated, and water rendered undrinkable. Traffic is intolerable. Schools are overburdened. Fire and police protection is not sufficient. None of this matters to the four.
There’s not much open space left in southeast Durham so they are coming for the north.
PS: Unlike some recent developer backed PAC’s, I am not afraid to identify myself. Katie Ross, retired attorney, north Durham county. This blog is not monetized – no solicitations – no one but me in control. You can easily see my interests (i.e., environment, open spaces, and public input on development cases) just by reading here.
I’ll add that we all should be careful about crediting any so called public interest group, such as YesforDurham, which hides its leadership and connections to candidates. It’s very easy to set up a website – I’ve done it multiple times. Look at who is behind any entity making endorsements and decide whether you agree with and trust them. Most importantly, look at the candidates and decide who you can trust.
Save Durham 