21 responses so far ↓

• 1 Lenore // Dec 24, 2007 at 10:47 pm

  When I lived in Durham (’76-’89), off Hope Valley Road, crime was pretty much not a concern. The worst we had to deal with was neighbors trying to mow our lawn when we weren’t looking. Looking at the crime data for our old neighborhood, it looks as if there hasn’t been much crime other than a few burglaries in the last couple of years.

  I’ve lived in Orange County since then and, aside from one vicious dog, it’s been great.

• 2 claire // Dec 25, 2007 at 9:53 am

  I’d be happy to have neighbors mow my lawn, whether I’m looking or not!

• 3 Roger Green // Dec 26, 2007 at 5:27 pm

  Despite the alleged “decrease in crime”, I just think that most everywhere is just a little more dangerous. It’s certainly true in Albany, NY, where the mayor’s only recent acknowledged the fact that there are gangs in the city.

• 4 claire // Dec 27, 2007 at 9:09 am

  True, but some are less dangerous than others. And the “danger” to me is just the icing on the cake of some incredibly shitty neighbors.

  Since Durham has been subject to a couple of documentaries and tv reports about gangs, there’s certainly no denial of the issue from the mayor here.

  I see the problem as the flip side to the broken windows theory: if city resources are tied up in chasing gangs and murderers and drug dealers, then enforcing things like trash and noise ordinances just falls off the radar of city priorities.

  For instance: in East Palo Alto, where I could hear machine gun fire on a regular basis, I never even bothered to call the police about the neighbor’s 3 dogs barking nonstop through the night. But when I lived in sleepy San Carlos, I got ticketed for going 5 miles over the speed limit.

  With no major crime to deal with, that city was able to concentrate on other quality of life and safety issues. I just don’t think that will ever happen in Durham.

• 5 Toastie // Dec 28, 2007 at 12:50 pm

  I sympathize. I wrote in my blog that if Barry of all people can’t find the right help, the rest of us don’t stand much of a chance. I *like* Durham. I’m not going to go so far as to say I love it, and if I do, I’m lying unless things have changed in an extraordinary way. I like Durham and hope I can build a happy life here. But there are daily nuisances that accumulate–barking dogs, scattered trash, inaccessible sidewalks, drug-dealing just a couple of blocks aways, speeders, speeders with ridiculous bass–and I think I’m contending with a fraction of what you and Barry face.

  Yes, other neighborhoods in Durham might make for a less stressful life. Yes, other communities outside of Durham might as well. There are lots of Durham cheerleaders whose efforts to counter negative impressions of Durham I applaud, but I don’t blame anyone who decides they should reside elsewhere.

• 6 Jeremy // Dec 28, 2007 at 1:49 pm

  I came to this post via Barry’s blog.

  I don’t know where you live, but I can easily relate to the feelings you’re having. We moved into the Burch Avenue neighborhood (a little area between Duke University, the Durham Freeway, W Chapel Hill St, and Swift Ave.) a year and a half ago when I was presented a job opportunity in the area. I’ve lived in NC my entire life, and Durham’s always had a bad reputation with regards to crime, but I had high hopes for neighborhood revitalization to “trickle down” from some of the more visible and successful projects downtown.

  I’m not so sure that’s happening. While I don’t believe it’s as bad here as it is in your area, we still hear plenty of gunshots - somebody on the neighborhood mailing list reports them every couple of weeks, I’d say. Since I’ve moved in, there haven’t been any crimes in the area immediately adjacent to my house, but the same isn’t true for the rest of the neighborhood - a guy was shot one block over in gang violence in November, and the Christmas morning assassination of a driver on the Durham freeway was just a few blocks away.

  The neighborhood has shown some encouraging signs - including the renovation of several dilapidated houses - but whenever I get my hopes up too high, there’s always another tale of gangs and drugs and shootings and slum lords and robberies that springs up and brings me back to reality. Maybe I’d just feel better if I wasn’t on the neighborhood mailing list.

  It’s true, I think, that the gang members and drug dealers prefer to kill, shoot, or maim each other over the people who aren’t involved. But that’s honestly not much solace - just because they may prefer not to mess with me or my family doesn’t mean that they won’t do it if they feel it’s in their best interest.

  I hear it’s improving, and that home ownership continues to slowly increase, but it’s definitely not as good as I’d like. I don’t live my life in fear, but I don’t feel entirely comfortable here either - and the simple fact of the matter is that I can afford to live somewhere in Durham where people aren’t shooting at each other. I know such places exist. I know people who live in them.

  The bottom line is that I don’t value “diversity” enough to risk my family’s life in its name. If things don’t seem to improve within the next year or so, I’ll have to think long and hard about how willing I am to stay here.

• 7 M.K // Dec 28, 2007 at 4:41 pm

  Claire, it was the guy’s inability to tell the difference between lawn and flower bed that was the problem.

  Lenore’s mom

• 8 Allen // Dec 28, 2007 at 10:20 pm

  Hey, I live in the Burch Ave. Neighborhood as well (off Gattis). The neighborhood is pretty diverse in my opinion. I never really wanted the renovation efforts to ‘trickle’ down to the neighborhood. Well, I wouldn’t mind some improvements, but nothing that would raise prices in the neighborhood. I moved in around the same time as you. The only thing I’ve noticed that really bothered me was the two people who went house to house when we initially moved in. That kind of stopped when people reported them. The neighborhood has a lot of cool people.

  I guess I never expected for everything to be hunky dorey. It’s definitely a neighborhood for singles. At least, I like our little neighborhood meetups at the park, haha.

• 9 Valerie // Dec 29, 2007 at 11:24 am

  As mentioned, this is one reason we left Carrboro for Durham. I was tired of living in a hazy zoning area (and having to work so hard at enforcement), unsolved murders, prostitutes, drug deals… you name it… right outside my window.

  And since we’ve been here… and we’ve had a house and two businesses… the city services have been incredibly responsive and helpful. I swear I’m not just getting my “Love” on; it’s true.

  Maybe it’s all relative.

  You do have to live someplace you love. I hope you find it, here or out there!

• 10 claire // Dec 29, 2007 at 11:40 am

  I’d agree with Mr. Toast that I don’t love Durham, but I do like it well enough. I’d describe my relationship with this town as a “like/dislike” relationship–not terribly passionate in either direction. I moved here to be with Barry, who loves it, so I can’t say that I really chose where I live, I just went along for the ride.

  I have been a big booster of Durham in general, and have read all the reports showing that our town doesn’t have any more crime than other cities our size. And I still maintain that I feel safe walking to my car from my downtown studio at night. Culturally and socially, I have had no complaints about the town.

  But I also find that even Durham’s boosters (maybe especially Durham’s boosters) are so much on the defensive about how Durham is dissed by others in the Triangle, that they downplay things that are apparent to an outsider–like I myself was 7 years ago. Crime is not the only issue, nor is it the main issue for me, personally.

  This is the dirtiest place I’ve ever lived, bar none. I find it depressing to walk around my neighborhood and see the volume of trash just tossed in the street, and even on people’s yards and porches. While most of my friends are bursting with civic pride about their beloved city, and value their neighbors and their neighborhoods, it seems that a lot of the residents simply don’t give a shit. So the efforts we’ve made personally–picking up trash along Avondale and in Duke Park, lobbying the city for a trash can by the bus stop, reporting code violations and animal abuse and criminal activity, contacting landlords and property managers about problem tenants–have no more than a temporary band-aid effect, if they have an effect at all. In most cases, the response has been a big yawn of indifference, if not outright hostility.

  I don’t accept that this level of trash, crime, and generally bad neighbor activity is par for the course for living in an urban area. I’ve lived and worked and traveled in other cities where it was simply not the case.

• 11 claire // Dec 29, 2007 at 11:44 am

  Valerie, I’d be interested to know where you live that you’ve had positive responses from city services. I’m curious to know if responses are consistent across town.

• 12 Allen // Dec 29, 2007 at 1:01 pm

  Yes! The trash! It’s sad when you see a city like Atlanta have tougher laws against littering ($10,000 if you’re seen throwing trash on the highway) than Durham.

• 13 Jeremy // Dec 29, 2007 at 2:44 pm

  Allen: there are a lot of things I like about this community, but it’s hard to ignore the crime - there were more gunshots just last night. I didn’t move here anticipating that property values would skyrocket, but I had really hoped that the drug dealers and gang bangers would be less prevalent. And, perhaps they are less prevalent than they had been - but there are still too many crimes in the area for my comfort.

  One challenge specifically facing Burch is the poor state of the commercial district on Chapel Hill St. This sort of area is a prime target for city funds to clean things up and to shut the drug-marts down. With some city assistance for new businesses, a thriving commercial district could do a world of good in keeping the shady characters off the streets.

  I agree 100% with comments on trash in this city, and it’s not specific to any particular neighborhood. Large chunks of the city look like dumps. I often wonder if downtown, now all nice and neat after the renovation, can possibly stay that way without being trashed. I guess it helps that they put a good number of trash cans around.

  I do have a general sense that “things are getting better” in Durham, but I also have a sense that it’s happening at a snail’s pace. There are a ton of problems that need to be addressed, and it’s hard to expect people to just wait it out hoping that their area will get better.

• 14 Allen // Dec 29, 2007 at 5:02 pm

  Where do you hear gunshots? I’ve been out of town for the past couple of weeks. I’ve never heard any (I’m not saying there hasn’t been). Maybe I just have old man ears. I’m not saying that we should think everything is great and have blinders on. We should definitely take a stand against crime, littering, etc. in our neighborhood. I believe we wouldn’t be good neighbors if we didn’t help each other out. Apparently someone knocked on my door a couple of nights ago when my roomate was home. She didn’t check to see who it was (it could very well have been our neighbor) but I hope that strangers aren’t going door to door asking for money again. That was a problem when I first moved in.

  Have you checked out the Food for life supreme place next to the Ingold Tire?

• 15 Jeremy // Dec 29, 2007 at 8:59 pm

  Allen: I have the general impression that the gunfire usually comes from Exum, but it seems to happen in other parts of the neighborhood as well. It’s not a consistent thing - it seems to go through fits and spurts, sometimes with months of calm, sometimes with periods of shots every night. I’ve heard shots several times personally (including Friday), but more often I don’t hear them and only read about it through the mailing list.

  One general piece of wisdom from the list - if you hear shots, ALWAYS call 911. In fact, if you see ANYTHING suspicious, just call 911. The theory goes that the more calls the police get, the more likely they are to add patrols in the area. Whether this is effective or not I don’t really know.

  I know that our neighborhood isn’t as bad as some places (it certainly seems a bit safer than what Claire and Barry are describing), but that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable either.

• 16 Allen // Dec 29, 2007 at 9:14 pm

  I completely agree. It’s not acceptable. Maybe we should do more things as a community to help keep it safe. I’m not saying lets put up gates and keep “thems outsiders” away, but the neighborhood should be more active in that department.

• 17 Allen // Dec 29, 2007 at 9:56 pm

  And by gates I mean like a huge white lattice gate with a garden that you watered even though we were under a strict watering ban. Yeah…like that kind of gate.

  

• 18 Natalie // Dec 30, 2007 at 1:40 pm

  It’s hit or miss over here. Sometimes the police show up, sometimes they are helpful, sometimes they do their damn jobs… but not always;

  I also think that the 911 operators do not take their jobs seriously, it’s as if they expect there to be lots of police issues in Durham and are perfectly happy with the status quo.

• 19 Valerie // Dec 30, 2007 at 5:49 pm

  Claire, I live in SW Durham, not within an HOA.

  I bet 911 operators are overworked everywhere. I also bet they are trained not to seem or be overemotional, which might come across as disinterest. I’ve called 911 in several municipalities and it seems the same all over.

• 20 Michael // Dec 31, 2007 at 12:22 am

  I’ve been ruminating on Claire’s post for several days now.

  Part of the problem remains, yes, that you and Barry are living in, by quite a margin, the nicest part of town between Roxboro and US-70 and between 147 and 85. That eastern segment of Duke Park has some very lovely sections in it, but looking on a map, you’re just across the rail/power cuts and a few blocks down from Canal St., which was ground zero for crime and gang issues in the whole city just 5 years ago. In 1999 when I moved back here, there was one of those “rules” (which was clearly bogus, but spread nonetheless) that living anywhere east of Duke St. was taking a big risk. I think there are still quite a few people who would look at where you and Barry live and blanch.

  Is it better elsewhere in the city? Well, yes and no. Burch Ave.’s an interesting counter-example, but it has heaps of problems of its own (I tried and failed to buy 827 Burch several years ago). For one, it’s just across the street from what, throughout Durham’s history, has been basically the poorest neighborhood in town, the West End. Also, along with the W. Chapel Hill St. business district, is badly strangled by the freeway, the cemetaries, and the urban renewal moonscapes on the west side of downtown. On the other hand, in Old West Durham, which I think people sometimes assume has been completely gentrified, I’ve lived next to a drug house, had a stabbing murder happen three doors away, and a few months ago had gunshots fired in front of my house. It’s way, way better now than it used to be, but you don’t wave some magic wand and have it all go away.

  I remember standing down by the public library sometime around 2000, looking at Roxboro St., at the gaping hole where Central Park is now, at a completely abandoned downtown, and at the TNT Mart, and feeling a sense of overwhelming hopelessness, like the task in front of us was just too monumental, and we would never be able to have a thriving downtown, safe, strong, and organized residential neighborhoods, and some measure of replacement for what was lost in urban renewal. I still see the task as daunting, but I’m far from hopeless.

  However, all of this said, I want to repeat what I said to Natalie last night at the bar, particularly since we deep into the spirits, but also for everyone else. If you ever, even once, get the attitude that Natalie is talking about from ANYONE in city governance — be it DPD, Durham Sheriff, 911, city officers — when you report something and are basically told that “it’s east Durham/West End/Burch Ave./whereever, what do you expect? (quit bothering me)” PLEASE either let me know (michael at snowplow dot org), or let the folks at your local PAC *and* PAC2 know. I want to raise holy hell about this every time it happens. *EVERY* neighborhood in Durham deserves prompt, professional, concerned police response. We cannot accept gun shots in *ANY* neighborhood in Durham. (Excepting the firing ranges, of course.) There should be *NO* place in Durham that’s called a “drug neighborhood” by the police, or where someone tells you that you “just don’t go there.” I know these places exist now, but if any governmental official so much as starts to think that this makes it acceptable, they should be reprimanded, and if they can’t get it out of their heads, they should be fired.

  The biggest step in turning around these neighborhoods is making both residents and government officials believe that it doesn’t have to be that way, and indeed, it shall not be allowed to be that way.

• 21 claire // Dec 31, 2007 at 9:46 am

  The vast majority of our neighborhood is good homes and nice, responsible neighbors. It’s amazing that it really does take only a few bad apples to spoil the whole bunch. Our big problem is that we back up to Avondale, which is a very blighted street. In fact, the vast majority of our problems have been from 4 houses on Avondale and one on Shawnee (which is now vacant, but it took a pregnant neighbor threatening to sue the landlord when she was threatened by the loose pit bulls, plus meetings of 20-3o neighbors, including city council members, for the landlord to stop renting to miscreants).

  I think I’d be more willing to tolerate the nonsense if I enjoyed the advantages of urban living, not just the disadvantages. This may be a downtown neighborhood, but it’s still a residential district of detached homes, with no commercial strip (unless I want to walk under the freeway to McDonald’s). I have to get in my car to go anywhere, unless I want to walk 30 minutes, which I do on occasion to go to work. At least if I could walk down to the corner store to get a cup of coffee and the paper, I’d feel like there was an advantage to living in the city. As it is, I’m living with the suburban inconveniences of car dependence and yard maintenance, plus the urban problems of crime, trash and noise. It’s not a good balance.

Leave a Comment