The Bull in Full

Schelp vs. Funderburk

My neighbor John Schelp is rarely at a loss for words when it comes to local politics.  This election season is apparently no different.  John sent out this e-mail to what I'm guessing is a number of folks last night, and I asked him if I could reprint it here. 

Tell it like it is, John...

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. In the 11/02 Herald-Sun, longtime Duke University administrator Laney Funderburk describes:

"a city government that spends its time 'careening from one crisis to another,' that's overly image-conscious and that sometimes makes decisions that 'smack of cronyism.'"

Funny, that's a pretty darn good description of Duke.

The rest below the fold.

Update: Barry beat me to it this morning.

Blogging the Duke Stith-Bell Debate

I've already made my preferences in this election quite clear (I'm not a huge Bell fan, but I find Stith an appalling alternative), so while it looks like Kevin, sitting a few feet away, is trying to take down a transcript, and David is taking pictures, I'm going to just try to post some of Stith's comments and why I think they're spurious.

I'm pretty bad at doing this, given my mild attention deficit disorder, so this could be a bit disjointed.  But here goes:

Stith rolled out one of the most irritating and counterproductive planks in his platform, that of "getting tough" on crime, "zero tolerance," and most of all, "removing" negative elements from our community.  There have been acres of text written on this (Rob Schofield most recently) and why "get tough" is ridiculous, but the question I wish I'd been able to confront Mr. Stith with is, once you "remove" someone for breaking and entering, you're likely giving them a 18-36 month sentence.  What happens once this person, whom you "got tough" on and "removed," and they come back into the community after spending time in a prison where they were very likely forced to join a gang for self protection?  How have you done anything to help crime in that case?

Stith just asserted that the city encompasses most of the county.  People who don't look at maps irritate me so.

Argh.  Stith just rolled out that damned saying, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."  This is so freaking irritating.  Neither Franklin, nor Einstein, nor Twain, nor any of the other famous people it's attributed to  ever said this, as far as anyone who's looked closely can tell, and it's pretty ridiculous  to assert that that's somehow the definition.  Just a nitpick....

(I stood up to ask the first question directly, but this is running long anyway...)

Can it be? Something positive out of the lacrosse case?

Somehow in reading the print version of this morning's paper, I missed this item:

DURHAM -- Duke University will invest $1.25 million over the next five years for its law school to establish a center devoted to the promotion of justice in the criminal justice system and the training of lawyers to fight against wrongful convictions, Duke President Richard Brodhead announced Wednesday.

Addressing problems in the North Carolina legal system highlighted by the Duke lacrosse case, the center will incorporate and expand the law school's Wrongful Convictions Clinic and Innocence Project, which investigates credible claims of innocence made by convicted felons in North Carolina and works to raise public awareness of systemic problems in the criminal justice system that lead to wrongful convictions.

With the snarling still going on from the various camps on the issue, I'm not sure there's much of anything anyone could find fault with here.  A repeated item from those of us who get a bit ill with the lacrosse triumphalism has been that a ridiculous amount of attention has been spent on this case, when wrongful accusations and convictions have happened and continue to happen, with much graver consequences than in this case.

Okay, there is one thing I can find fault with.  $1.25 million over five years is a pittance for a law school, unless this is just seed money, and Duke intends to use it to start a center and raise funds for it to permanently endow positions there.  Nonetheless, having a university and a law school of Duke's stature throwing a fully funded center behind the issue of wrongful convictions in North Carolina is a very positive, substantial development.  Is it a PR move?  Of course.  But that doesn't mean it's not also a good move, which is really the best way to get good PR.

Cesar Pelli to design Central Campus

Oh, the tension... should I be concerned, or estatic?  Cesar Pelli, designer of breathtaking skyscrapers across the globe, including the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, has been selected to design Duke's Central Campus.  My first reaction, I must confess, is that of euphoria.  Pelli's towers, to my eye, comprise a truly ridiculous percentage of the most beautiful, inspiring, and striking skyscrapers in the world.  The more I look at his portfolio, the more I'm struck at how he seems to have designed what I would pick as the "best skyscraper in town" in a number of cities.  I was very sad to see the Petronas Towers lose the "world's tallest building" crown to Taipei 101 a few years ago.  Much as I like the city of Chicago, having the Sears Tower be the world's tallest was an embarrassment.  It's ugly and boring.  The Petronas Towers, on the other hand, are just downright breathtaking.  And now Pelli's coming to Durham—just a few blocks from my house.  My gut response is to jump up and do the happy dance.

Here's the problem, though: Pelli's skyscrapers are amazing, but looking at his portfolio, when it comes to lower design, I'd give him about a C+, mostly because of how he relates to the street.  Gary has spent over a year railing against the preponderance of glass and steel, and while I'd say Pelli does it better than just about anyone else, steel is his bread and glass is his butter.  Much of the Freelon Group designs for downtown that I wince at reach for the same elements as Pelli's designs.  I think my beef is this: it's one thing to have them soaring up in the sky, but quite a different thing for them to be down on the ground, where they can overwhelm what should be human-scaled space.

Pelli's not a complete failure here—he has some examples where his designs remain in dialog with the street.  On the other hand, there are plenty of bad or goofy facades that show a lack of understanding of an urban street.

It's been my hope that the new design of Central Campus would allow it to be a meeting point between Durham and Duke, opening up to Anderson St. and tying in with the neighborhoods to the north.  As much as I'd love to have a fresh new Pelli tower rising up from the old Elkins Chrysler dealership location, I worry that given Duke's paranoia about Durham, the result may be disappointing.

A great step for Duke and Durham

My mother once told me that when raising a child, it's important for 80% of your feedback to be positive, because it makes the 20% negative more effective and keeps the child from tuning you out.

Not that Duke is a child, but, well, you get the idea.  In that line, as well as, more importantly, the interest of cooperation and neighborliness, I'm trying to be sure to give Duke pats on the head when they do something right.

And this step is very, very right:

Phail Wynn Jr. may be leaving Durham Tech, but he isn't going far.       

A week after the community college announced his retirement effective Dec. 31, Duke University said Tuesday that Wynn will take the newly created position of vice president for Durham and regional affairs.

Wynn will work with the community, city officials, local businesses and the school system to create new partnerships and strengthen existing ones, Duke officials said.

Reasons why this rocks:

• Wynn knows Durham.  Specifically, he knows East Durham, Durhamites without college degrees, Durhamites in trade jobs, Durhamites looking for jobs who don't have high tech skills, and how to reach out to them.  That's about an exhaustive list of the segments of Durham Duke is currently not in touch with.  Michael Palmer, the head of the Duke-Durham partnership program, meant well, but was basically a PR guy brought in from out of town and given little support.
• Wynn is extremely competent.  I haven't followed his tenure or decisions, but if we can infer that he had something to do with Durham Tech's performance over the last three decades, it's a very good sign.  Durham Tech is a model for community colleges wanting to help their communities in the midst of rapidly changing economic conditions.  Their IT, biotech, computer literacy, and trade skill classes are all excellently targetted, and the "middle college" program they've done with the local high schools is a phenomenal innovation.
• Wynn has been given a position as a VP.  This is beyond huge.  It means he's not reporting to Tallman Trask, who'd be likely to be singularly uninterested, or John Burness, to whom Michael Palmer reported, whose main job is PR.  (Which says a little about what Duke saw the role of the partnership as.)  Wynn will report directly to the President, and while I'm sure he'll probably be low on the totem pole of vice presidents, it's better to have him in the room.

In the wake of the lacrosse mess, everyone has been wondering if the excellent lip service Brodhead gave to improving the partnership would lead to anything lasting.  This is far and away the best sign yet that it will.  I'm normally rather cynical about Duke's relationships with Durham, but this move gives me genuine, happy shiney hope that we're about to see a sea change in that relationship. 

Take a bow, you ol' devil, you...