Browsing by Subject "Durham"

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Open Access
911, Is There an Emergency? The Effects of Gentrification on 911 Calls in Durham, NC
(2021-02) Vila, Audrey
In recent years, urbanization in the United States has led to the displacement of low-income, minority communities for middle and high-income individuals, a process termed gentrification. Scholars debate the benefits and consequences of these changes for the existing populations. One possible effect is the changing of expectations and norms in city neighborhoods as the population shifts. Similarly, it raises questions about the interactions between new populations and existing residents. The following analysis uses urban block groups and Calls to Service data in Durham County between 2006 and 2018. According to established indicators of gentrification, Durham block groups are gentrifying within this time period with increased population, decreased Black populations, increased rent, increased education levels, and increased income. Importantly, the majority of Durham’s urban block groups are experiencing an influx of Hispanic residents, which is different from previous gentrification trends. Next, the paper assesses implications from previous literature that with population mixing, conflict from changing norms and perceptions would lead to increased conflict and result in greater use of the police for minor incidents. The paper uses simple linear regression with all indicators on a dependent variable that measures per capita call frequency. For 911 noise complaints, disturbances, alcohol and drug incidents, and suspicion calls, the regression results demonstrate that gentrification’s common indicators did not correlate with increased calls. The same result is found when focusing on block groups generally susceptible to the effects of gentrification. Therefore, the paper concludes that the city of Durham did not experience an increase in disturbance calls with gentrification as predicted by the literature, providing important information as the city continues to grow.
Open Access
A New Approach to Housing Choice Voucher Implementation in Durham, North Carolina
(2020-04-08)
The Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program is the largest federal rental housing program in the United States, providing housing subsidies for over 2.2 million low-income households at an annual cost of approximately $18.4 billion. However, even with substantial funding and bipartisan support, the HCV program does not do an optimal job at meeting its potential to give low-income households the opportunity to move into high-opportunity neighborhoods. While there is some existing evidence around creative approaches to improve HCV implementation in larger cities across the country, there is little research around implementation in midsized, southern cities like Durham, North Carolina. The following case study evaluates strategies implemented by housing authorities in Durham, North Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Richmond, Virginia. It also looks at two HCV implementation strategies that are growing in popularity across the country: source-of- income laws and Small Area Fair Market Rent (SAFMR). Altogether, the case study evaluation highlights demand-side and supply-side innovations and evaluates them against a set of criteria to determine whether the Durham Housing Authority (DHA) should consider implementation. This analysis gives way to a set of near-term and long-term recommendations. In the near-term, I recommend that the DHA... • Apply for Moving to Work (MTW) designation. This has been critical in enabling Charlotte’s housing authority, INLIVIAN, to test out new approaches to HCV implementation, many of which have been successful. In Durham, it is likely to have a similar impact. • Extend the time frame to find rental units. DHA should extend the time to find a unit to at least 120 days, a time frame that would make it more feasible for HCV recipients to find adequate units. This time frame is comparable to what is in practice in both Charlotte and Richmond. • Seek opportunities for local partnerships. Funding will be a significant barrier to implementing creative approaches to HCV administration. As such, DHA should seek out nonprofit partners who can support landlord recruitment efforts, serve as a conduit between landlords and tenants, and provide clear and consistent communication to both landlords and tenants. • Streamline landlord processes. DHA should seek out ways in which it can ease bureaucratic burdens for landlords and develop actionable solutions to implement these changes. This will reduce disincentives in the HCV program for landlord participation and will help increase the supply of landlords willing to rent to HCV recipients. In the long-term, I recommend that the DHA... • Adopt Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs). SAFMRs are growing in popularity across the country. As Durham continues to grow and housing prices continue to rise, SAFMRs have the potential to provide all voucher families with access to high- opportunity, low-poverty neighborhoods. In order to be intentional about program roll- out, DHA should consult with other PHAs which have rolled out SAFMRs to understand lessons learned from program implementation.
Open Access
AN UPDATED ANALYSIS OF PRIORITY LANDS FOR CONSERVATION IN THE ELLERBE CREEK WATERSHED
(2022-04-21) Shapiro, Shana; Keller, Sasha
Traditionally, conservation organizations sought to protect the most pristine land from the pressures of conversion and degradation. The conserved lands were identified by their inherent ecological value such as biodiversity or their proximity to bodies of water. The legacy of protecting important ecological areas often overlooked natural spaces in urban areas because they were near developed areas or were themselves developed and required restoration. The contrast between urban and rural land protection led to more conservation outside urban areas and made the spaces and ecosystem services even more difficult to access. Our client, the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association (ECWA), is a Durham nonprofit organization looking to contend with the conservation of natural spaces in an urban area in a more equitable way. Founded in 1999, ECWA was born from the realization that invasive species were proliferating in Durham. Through the use of conservation easements, fee simple acquisition, and transfers ECWA now owns and manages 450 acres of conserved lands. They work to protect and improve the Ellerbe Creek with the help of volunteers, and they are working to expand their efforts with equity and environmental justice at the forefront. ECWA first partnered with The Nicholas School to prioritize conservation lands in 2012. Yacobson (2013) constructed ECWA’s first geospatial tool to identify target areas, and our project works to update and reconstruct the model with both ecological and equity perspectives. Following a multi-criteria decision analysis framework, we constructed an adjustable model that will allow ECWA to find the most opportune areas for conservation according to their needs. Additionally, we emphasized equity as a core component of the analysis. Like many land trusts, ECWA has limited time and resources to devote to geospatial expertise. A driving goal for the project was to create a usable tool for ECWA’s limited GIS infrastructure. We created an easy-to-access, standardized, and easy-to-update model that includes datasets that are reliably funded and managed. Additionally, we synchronized our data with regional conservation efforts and built on established research in the Durham area. In collaboration with ECWA, we decided to base the prioritization on four main themes: (1) Water quality, (2) Habitat, (3) Equity, and (4) Accessibility potential. We combined the criteria from each theme in both equally weighted and adjusted weighting scenarios, resulting in different parcel conservation score rankings. Overall, the prioritization tool fulfills the need for a usable and adjustable tool that identifies the most opportune parcels for conservation. We provide maps and tables of the contributing criteria scores as well as the overall scores for different weighting scenarios. We find that when equity or accessibility are emphasized and weighted more heavily in the model, the resulting parcels with the highest conservation values are in distinctly different locations from model results where water quality or habitat are weighed more heavily. When equity and accessibility are weighed slightly higher than water quality or habitat, the parcels with the highest conservation value are located in more urban areas with lower socioeconomic status. The differences in conservation value based on the weighting scheme reflect how the priorities of a conservation organization can affect which parcels are most sought for conservation. The results can then inform conservation planning, project evaluation, educational outreach, and communication efforts for ECWA as they continue their work to protect the Ellerbe Creek watershed’s quality and provide more equitable access to green space.
Open Access
Analyzing conservation-siting decisions and spillover effects in North Carolina
(2020-04-20) Jain, Shivangi
Land conservation is used to protect a variety of vulnerable ecosystem services and land uses in the United States and around the world. As of 2019, 12% of the total land in the US was protected for conservation by private actors and public agencies. Strategies to select land for conservation consider a host of factors – the benefits protected by conserving land, the cost of implementing conservation, and the risk of future development if land remains unprotected. The two primary tools for conserving land, fee-simple acquisitions and conservation easements, differ in the level of protection they afford, their implementation costs, and their impact on development risk. Using data from Durham County in North Carolina, I explore how the two tools may be used to protect different types of land and how their use may have spillover effects on surrounding land values. A better understanding of the kinds of land being conserved and their spillover effects can inform future land conservation strategies for improved conservation benefits.
Open Access
Assessing the Feasibility of Green Stormwater Infrastructure Implementation in Downtown Durham
(2012-04-20) Schuneman, Matt
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY BACKGROUND The city and county of Durham are currently determining how to comply with two sets of nutrient management strategies which mandate significant water quality improvements for Jordan and Falls Lakes. These strategies, known as the Jordan and Falls Lake Rules, seek to reduce the quantities of phosphorus and nitrogen in the lakes’ waters. Preliminary estimates by Durham Stormwater Services on the costs of addressing these regulations range between $1.17 and $1.33 billion over the next twenty years. The fiscal demands of these rules threaten the continued efforts to revitalize Durham, as they may compel the city to redirect hundreds of millions of dollars in local revenue to achieve compliance with the rules. This could threaten the economic progress of downtown Durham by siphoning away resources which could be devoted to economic development or for essential services to the city’s poorer residents. Emerging trends in stormwater management may offer a solution to this dilemma. The burgeoning movement of green stormwater infrastructure uses engineered methods to mimic natural systems of water absorption and filtration. Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) uses methods that either collect and use the stormwater where it falls; slow the flow of stormwater before releasing it into traditional, “gray” infrastructure; or infiltrate the water on the spot, filtering out unwanted nutrients and directing the water into groundwater sources rather than funneling it through man-made channels. POLICY QUESTIONS The policy questions for this masters project center around the applicability of green stormwater infrastructure to the situation in which Durham finds itself, with a focus on how this plan would interact with the economic development of downtown Durham. Therefore: • Can a green stormwater infrastructure plan in downtown Durham address Durham’s needs for stormwater nutrient reduction in a way that encourages continued economic development? • What might such a stormwater plan look like in terms of the stakeholders involved, viable infrastructure to install, and means to finance or incentivize its implementation? DETAILS OF PROBLEM Though the successful promotion of GSI in other cities has highlighted the benefits of this new stormwater framework, there are certain elements of Durham’s situation which make its applicability problematic. The issues fall under five categories: 1) The details of the two lakes’ rules: Because Durham’s stormwater system is constructed differently than the systems of other cities incorporating GSI, and because the lake rules target different water quality standards, GSI implementation strategies from other municipalities cannot be readily transferred to Durham. 2) The characteristics of Durham’s soils: The GSI options which would best address the lake rules’ requirements are those which would infiltrate stormwater on-site and direct it to groundwater sources. However, Durham’s dense soils make the implementation of those GSI options problematic at best. 3) The characteristics of Durham’s climate: Durham’s rain levels and temperatures could lead to mixed performance for some of the most common GSI options. 4) The nature of downtown Durham’s building stock: The density of buildings in downtown Durham limits the available GSI options and complicates the necessary processes for successful design and implementation. 5) The funding available for GSI implementation: Federal and state funding which Durham could normally target to incentivize GSI implementation is being cut at both levels of government. SUGGESTED ALTERNATIVES The following options will provide more information to policymakers on whether and how GSI could successfully be applied to the regulatory requirements facing Durham. 1) Produce a district-level or building-level audit of downtown Durham and target the appropriate GSI investments to specific districts or building types. 2) Increase local stormwater management fees and provide adequate credits for GSI implementation to incentivize owners to adopt GSI options. 3) Adopt mandates to require the inclusion of GSI in the construction or refurbishment of public buildings. 4) Develop a new Durham city oversight committee which coordinates the efforts of the water management, transportation, economic development, and planning departments to address cross-jurisdictional issues and ensure alignment of priorities. 5) Construct a public/private partnership with local developers to provide public seed investments to stimulate private spending on GSI. 6) Incorporate funding for GSI within the creation of a downtown business improvement district (BID). 7) Continue lobbying efforts with the state to approve the use more GSI options and to provide more credit for the options that encourage innovative stormwater management. 8) Continue data collection regarding nutrient loading and GSI performance to provide better targeting of GSI options. 9) Review and update Durham codes that may unknowingly be discouraging or blocking the implementation of GSI.
Open Access
Budget Civic Engagement in the City of Durham
(2018-04-20) Burgess, Michelle
How can the City of Durham’s Budget and Management Services Department improve civic engagement in the budget development process? What opportunities exist to coordinate budget engagement with the city’s other civic engagement efforts? This paper explores these questions through an overview of Durham’s budget engagement, a case study of the pilot Community Conversations, and mapping of city wide communication channels and engagement efforts. Interviews with city staff as well as with community organizations provide the bulk of the information for this analysis.
Open Access
Duke University's Alternative Transportation Future
(2021-04-29) Gilman, James; Almes, Hardy
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Duke University’s emissions from commuting were increasing. To address this trend, Sustainable Duke has been looking to increase the use of alternative transportation by expanding usage of existing services that support these modes. This study examines the knowledge and barriers to use of alternative modes among graduate students. A survey was administered to assess these concerns. The study also examines the academic literature on alternative transportation and environmental psychology and compiles interview responses from peer universities. The study found students to be largely unaware of available alternative transportation options and services. Barriers relating to time, safety, and convenience were identified in both the survey and the existing literature. The data also suggest a strong preference for receiving information on transportation services via student-wide emails. These results will be used to develop informational materials designed to address barriers to alternative transportation use at Duke. Future work will be needed to judge the efficacy of and update these materials moving forward.
Open Access
Durham and Duke
(2007-01-22T20:49:56Z) Duke University. Office of Public Affairs
An analysis of Duke University's estimated total annual economic impact on the city and county of Durham
Open Access
Employer Perspectives on Former Offenders: An Analysis of How a Criminal Record Impacts the Hiring Decisions of Durham-Based Employers
(2018-04-20) Khatami, Sara
How does a criminal record affect the hiring decisions of Durham-based employers? What, if any, services or incentives might increase the likelihood of these employers hiring former offenders? Roughly 700 individuals return to Durham each year after serving time in state prison. These individuals face a variety of indirect consequences known as collateral consequences. Often more severe and long-lasting than imprisonment or fines, collateral consequences include the denial of parental rights, civil rights, and public benefits. These collateral consequences also render justice-involved individuals ineligible or unfit for various types of employment. Re-entry into the labor market remains one of the most challenging situations ex-offenders face. At the same time, a sizeable body of research consistently demonstrates that employment is correlated with a successful reentry to society. In determining potential ways to improve this population’s employment prospects, an important first step is to understand the barriers that limit their opportunities.
Open Access
Improving Access to Healthy Food in Durham’s Food Deserts: A Policy Analysis
(2014-04-25) Tucker, Dylan
The USDA categorizes food deserts as low-income census tracts with poor access to fresh produce. This lack of access to healthy food has been linked to public health problems such as obesity, diabetes, strokes, and cardiovascular diseases, leading to higher disease rates, health bills, and mortality rates within food deserts. Today in Durham, over 43,200 residents live in food deserts; this is 16.2% of the county population, and 16,800 more people than in 2012. To address the growing food desert problem in Durham, this report will develop a set of policies detailing how the city government along with private businesses can improve food access. The policies considered will target ways to improve access, specifically to locally sourced produce, in order to promote local agriculture and businesses as well. Furthermore, the policies will focus on short-term access and only those that do not overlap with federal food desert policy. Four policies will be analyzed: (1) the status quo, (2) added benefits to Electronic Benefit Transfer (food stamps) and Women, Infants, and Children benefits for shopping at local markets, (3) establishing new farmers’ markets in food deserts, and (4) establishing mobile markets operating in food deserts. They were developed based on case studies of other municipal actions to improve food access, and interviews with local stakeholders to apply them to Durham. Each policy will be analyzed based on its expected costs and benefits, its political feasibility and actors required for implementation, equity concerns, and the policy’s improvability and adaptability.
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Keep It Dirty Durham: A Social Marketing Strategy for Altering Public Littering Behavior
(2015-04-23) Doolin, Heather; Zhang, Qi
The city of Durham, North Carolina has a population whose chant is “Keep It Dirty, Durham.” With a unique character, the location of the food hub of the south, and an increasingly growing population, Durham’s citizens must recognize a progressively present problem. Litter in the form of cigarette butts, fast food wrappers, and beverage containers is becoming a normal daily sighting.Social marketing can be a useful and effective tool when trying to spread knowledge to a vast population. Outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram create easily accessible, tangible, and interesting ways not only to access information, but also digest it in a manner that is increasingly popular and understandable. The City of Durham is hoping to market anti-pollution campaigns with the intent of reducing gross solid waste from entering or blocking storm drains throughout the downtown Durham area. This project hopes to bring about the reduction by ten percent of gross litter at five bus stops in the City of Durham. Through the method of a targeted anti-litter campaign, we hope to target cigarette litter and fast food waste. This will occur through the use of social marketing methods by way of social media (Facebook and Twitter), presence at Durham events, passing out of swag (pocket ashtrays) at bus stop study areas, and the existence of flyers at bus stops and in DATA buses. By partnering with the Durham Stormwater Management Department, Keep Durham Beautiful, and DATA Transportation, this study will be made possible. The objective of the waste reduction intervention was met, showcasing statistically significant reductions at all sites even when including outliers that can skew data.
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Legacies of Lead Paint Contamination in the Mineral Soils Adjacent to Historic Buildings
(2023-04-28)
For hundreds of years, compounds containing the element lead (Pb) have been added to paint in order to improve the texture and weather resistance. Across the United States, millions of homes and buildings were painted with lead-based paints up through the 1970s, when lead paint was phased out following medical research confirming the link between lead and a variety of neurological and developmental disorders. Over 170 million Americans are estimated to have been exposed to lead levels above safe concentrations, many of whom were likely exposed to soil lead while playing in yards as children. Although the phase-out of lead in paint began over 50 years ago, the legacies of contamination from lead paint are still present in the soil in a meaningful way. This is largely due to the immobile nature of lead in the soil, tightly binding to clays and other particles, preventing it from being leached out of the soil. Previous soil lead studies have attempted to characterize spatial patterns of contamination at various scales, but this study is unique in the highly fine-scale sampling design around each structure. Up to 190 samples were taken around each structure, at a point density of 1 sample every 4-12 square meters, prioritizing areas closer to the base of the structure. Nine study sites were chosen in the vicinity of Durham, North Carolina, including 2 buildings that continue to be well-maintained, 5 dilapidated structures, and 2 footprints of buildings burned to the ground. For our study, we surveyed the top inch of the mineral soil using an Olympus Vanta portable X-ray Fluorescence Machine to get lead concentration in parts per million. At all nine of our study sites, we found evidence of elevated lead levels in the mineral soil that can reasonably be attributed to legacies of paint contamination. Sites varied in the intensity of lead contamination, ranging from maximum values below 300ppm to multiple samples above 5000ppm, and each had its own unique footprint of soil lead. Interpolations of lead concentration were created in ArcGIS from the point data. Despite the variation, we were able to draw a variety of conclusions about the state of soil lead around historic structures: • Concentrations are typically highest adjacent to the base of the structure, and often decline rapidly with distance. • Concentrations often decline back down to the geologic background within 4-12 meters of the structure, related to the maximum concentration. • The corners of buildings are often hotspots for lead contamination, likely due to weathering patterns of paint. • Topography and erosion of soil can affect concentrations and directionality of elevated lead plumes. • We did not find any direct pattern between lead levels and a building’s height, age, location, or level of maintenance. • Destroyed/burned structures can show very high hotspots even within the footprint of the former structure. • Mulch and other ground covers may either protect the soil from contamination or insulate the soil lead from loss. Statistical and geospatial analysis was used to help characterize the spatial patterns of the contamination at each site. For each structure, data of lead concentration versus distance from the building was used to generate a logarithmic regression that can be used to predict concentration at any given distance. For two structures, interpolations were georeferenced to estimate the area of spatial contamination at different thresholds. Other analyses were done on a site-specific basis, such as comparing concentrations at the different cardinal directions from one structure. All of our results were communicated and interpreted to the landowners to help inform their knowledge of their properties. This is especially important considering most of our sites are open to the public, and multiple have outdoor programs for children. For each site, we estimated a total health risk, based on the levels of lead contamination and the potential for human exposure. Considering the levels still present in soils even after 50+ years, more research is needed into soil remediation methods, as the high values we found in soils demonstrate that lead still poses a considerable risk to humans.
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Legacy Pb contamination in the soils of three Durham city parks: Do secondary forest organic horizons effectively blanket Pb in city park soils contaminated by historic waste incineration?
(2022-12-16) Bihari, Enikoe
Lead (Pb) has historically been used in many products such as gasoline, paint, batteries, ceramics, pipes and plumbing, solders, and cosmetics, and Pb contamination from these materials and their waste streams is widespread around the world. Pb is a highly insoluble and persistent contaminant that accumulates in the environment, especially in urban soils; to this day, soil Pb concentrations remain high in many cities, posing a significant long-term public health and environmental risk. Some remediation options are available for Pb, with the most effective being removal and replacement of the contaminated soil. However, plants that can tolerate soil Pb may be effective at phytostabilization. In phytostabilization, soil Pb is immobilized both physically and chemically by the roots, while also being sequestered by new layers of organic matter and soil that accumulate on the surface. Throughout the early 1900s, the city of Durham, NC operated neighborhood municipal incinerators which combusted most of the city’s waste, including waste collected from homes, businesses, and public street cleaning. Around 1950, the four of the incinerator sites were closed and converted into public parks, with playgrounds, grass fields, picnic benches, sports facilities, and walking paths. These are now Walltown, East End, East Durham, and Lyon Parks. The parks currently contain streams and large areas of secondary forest cover, which have been largely unmanaged throughout the last century. From local newspaper articles, we have direct evidence for the disposal of incinerator refuse at these sites and other Durham parks. While historic news accounts describe the incinerator sites being covered with topsoil, until this study there has been no monitoring of the status of contaminant metals in the soils throughout the parks. We hypothesized that the surface soils of these parks had elevated Pb concentrations as the result of the parks’ history of incineration. Our primary objectives were to: 1. Measure total mineral surface soil Pb concentrations across three of Durham’s urban parks which were historically used for waste incineration (Walltown, East End, and East Durham Parks). 2. Assess whether secondary hardwood forests have accumulated organic horizons that were effective barriers to Pb-contaminated mineral soil below. We sampled mineral surface soil and organic horizon according to a stratified random sampling design, and the samples were measured for total Pb with an Olympus Vanta pXRF instrument. Data were analyzed using R and ArcGIS Pro, resulting in statistical models and spatial interpolations. Our main results were: 1. Mineral soil Pb concentrations across Walltown, East End, and East Durham Parks are elevated above both geologic background levels and several EPA hazard thresholds, especially in some highly-trafficked areas. 2. Hardwood forest organic horizons provide a blanket for highly Pb-contaminated mineral soil, but a significant amounts of surface soil Pb is mixed up into these O horizons. Thus, exposure risk is not eliminated and can remain quite high. Our results show that all three parks have total Pb in surface soils (0-2.5 cm) well above the geologic background (0-30 ppm), with many soils exceeding the US EPA’s hazard thresholds for gardening (100 ppm), residential play areas (400 ppm), and residential non-play areas (1200 ppm). For all three parks combined, mineral soil Pb ranged from 8 to 2342 ppm, with a mean of 201 ppm and a median of 93 ppm. A notable hotspot with extremely high Pb was mapped throughout the southeastern portion of East Durham Park north of East Main St., spanning a grassy field and part a secondary forest (Figure 12). Mineral soil Pb in this hotspot ranged from 694 to 2342 ppm. This is of particular concern because this field is adjacent to an apartment building, and residents appear to use this area to play, garden, and park their cars. Additionally, our study demonstrates that while hardwood O horizons provide a physical barrier to exposure for highly contaminated mineral soil, a significant amount of mineral soil Pb is mixed up into the O horizons. This relationship differed significantly between the upper O1/O2 and the lower O3 horizons. Pb concentration in the lower O3 horizon increased by 0.6 ppm for every 1 ppm increase in Pb increase in the mineral soil, with an adjusted R2 of 0.86. This means that the lower O3 horizon has about 60% of the Pb concentration of the mineral soil below. In contrast, Pb concentration in the upper O1/O2 horizon increased by 0.1 ppm for every 1 ppm increase in Pb increase in the mineral soil, with an adjusted R2 of 0.49. This means that the upper O1/O2 horizons have about 10% of the Pb concentration of the mineral soil below, Our results suggest limitations to phytostabilization as tool to reduce Pb exposure, particularly in hardwood forests where there is relatively rapid decomposition and bioturbation in the O horizons compared to many coniferous forests. Overall, the spatial distribution of soil Pb concentrations demonstrates the complicated land use history of these landscapes, pointing towards multiple sources of Pb inputs and outputs throughout the 20th century. Based on articles in historic newspapers from five cities across the USA, many municipalities may have public parks converted from historic waste incinerator sites; these sites may be contaminated with Pb and other metals that would have accumulated in ash and cinders, posing an exposure risk to residents who visit the parks.
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Policy Implications of the Changing Juvenile Gang Dynamics in Durham, North Carolina
(2014-02-15) Paddock, Ellen
Across the country, juvenile gang membership has increased in places which don’t quite fit the mold of a conventional gang city. Durham, North Carolina is just such a place: a mid-sized city in the south with a tobacco manufacturing history and a reputation for good music. For the past couple decades, however, the city has also gained notoriety as a regional center of gang activity. Conventionally, the reason why juvenile gang membership concerns policymakers is crime, and typically rates of juvenile gang involvement are correlative to rates of juvenile crime. Yet what happens when these trends begin to diverge? This is the question that has been puzzling Durham policymakers since 2009: despite notable successes at reducing crime, juvenile gang membership has increased, raising a number of questions. If juvenile gang membership does not necessarily increase crime in a city, then should is still matter from a policy perspective? This thesis explores these recent developments in Durham and seeks to evaluate the ways in which juvenile gang membership should impact public safety policy.
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Promising Strategies for Partnership: Can Durham district and charter schools collaborate to improve opportunities for all children?
(2014-04-21) Thigpen, Magan
This report examines collaborative actions that Durham Public Schools (DPS), charter schools and other stakeholders can take to promote equitable access to high-quality learning opportunities for all of Durham’s students. The report proposes that Durham’s education leaders convene a taskforce of stakeholders to jointly consider how collaborative action between the school district and area charter schools could improve educational outcomes for all of Durham’s children. The proposed taskforce would include a wide range of perspectives including DPS, Durham charter schools, non-profit organizations, local political action committees and parents. Led by a neutral facilitator, the taskforce would form subcommittees to study key topics that are of interest and concern among Durham’s education community. By the end of the 10-month taskforce, each subcommittee would have a set of recommendations for actions that could be taken at DPS, charter schools and across Durham to strengthen schools and serve all kids. Many proposed actions would likely involve collaborative effort from DPS and some (or all) Durham charter schools. By collaborating, this group could aspire to move away from historic divisions and tensions between the school district and charter schools. Engaging in a taskforce also positions leaders to maximize operational efficiencies and enhance knowledge across schools by sharing expertise and engaging in mutual learning and problem solving. This effort could demonstrate to the community that DPS and charter schools are committed, above all else, to working together for the betterment of educational opportunities for all of Durham’s children. The documents that make up the report can serve as tools for Durham’s education leaders. This report is comprised of four related documents that can collectively serve as tools for leaders if they embark on collaborative work between the district and charters. The documents in this report include: 1. A one-page call to action that provides context on the current dynamic between DPS and charter schools and demonstrates the potential for change that could be brought from collaborative efforts. 2. A three-page strategy document that provides a high-level overview of how a taskforce could help progress Durham’s education landscape. 3. A taskforce action-plan that outlines steps for creating a taskforce, recommended elements of a taskforce and a discussion of the proposed taskforce subcommittees. 4. Analysis of potential collaborative actions that could be used as a resource for a taskforce to consider the benefits, challenges and feasibility of various efforts. To complement the key documents, this report also includes: • Three case studies that illustrate how varying components of these recommendations have taken shape in other cities around the nation. • A literature review that surveys the available research and best practices on interactions between school districts and charter schools and how they have worked collaboratively in other cities around the nation. • A history of charter schools in NC from 1996 to the present that can serve as a primer on additional context and history on the issues related to these recommendations. The report strives to serve the needs of Durham’s education leaders and stakeholders. This report aims to take a neutral perspective on the dynamics of DPS and area charter schools and sourced a wide range of perspectives, locally and nationally, to inform the recommendations. The Chair of the Durham Board of Education, Heidi Carter, and Board of Education member, Natalie Beyer, served as the clients for this project. However, the recommendations are aimed at challenges that face the entire Durham community and which require action from a wide range of actors. Therefore, these documents are framed to address and serve the broad community of Durham’s education leaders and stakeholders.
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Punishing Illegal Firearm Possession in Durham
(2018-01-17) Gavcovich, Amanda
Gun violence is a high-priority crime problem in Durham and other cities across the nation. In the first half of 2017, over 20,000 Americans died from gun violence. In Durham, as of 2016, gun homicides and injuries are at a 36-year high. Criminal misuse of guns by felons, youths, and others is an important precursor of gun violence. This thesis examines law enforcement response to illegal gun use, with a particular focus on how the courts process arrests for illegal possession, carrying, and transfer of a gun. The data set, all the non-violent, illegal firearm possession cases between June 2015 and June 2016, was specially requested from the Durham District Attorney’s Office to be examined for this thesis. To analyze subsequent arrest rates of the defendants, I gathered the data from the public access terminal at the Durham courthouse. In addition, the data results are better understood through interviews with Durham assistant district attorneys as well as the Durham public defenders. The illegal possession of a gun is essentially a victimless crime and lacks courthouse media coverage, like violent crimes tend to have. However, research suggests that illegal firearm possession is a precursor to violent crime and an inherently risky behavior. Efforts that have historically reduced risky behaviors have played an important role in addressing violent crime. For instance, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) created political strategy to target DUIs to address high rates of drunk driving accidents. DUI cases are a risky behavior that is a precursor to fatal crashes. In much the same way, reducing illegal firearms could be a useful step toward reducing violent gun crimes. Debate and opposition exist on the efficiency of enforcing a full punishment – like jail time – on a crime committed disproportionately by young black men, unlike DUIs. Minimum mandatories or firearm enhancements– policies that North Carolina does not currently have in place – face pushback from policymakers and some federal judges for being disproportionate to the particular charge and for its damaging effects on black youth. Still, young black men experience gun homicides at a much higher rate than young white men, and this fact warrants more immediate attention. The research indicated that the Durham District Attorney’s Office takes cases most seriously when a misdemeanor or felony probation violation is involved. Felony gun possession cases, without a probation violation, most often result in dismissal. These cases have a conviction rate at less than half, and active sentencing resulting in just 15% of cases. Most cases are charged with multiple offenses, but the gun charge is likely the offense convicted. The Durham District Attorney’s Office is using the gun charge to drive a conviction, even if it is not the lead charge. In addition, the DDA is recognizing more active offenders constituting illegal gun possession cases, as 58% of defendants who were sentenced to jail were rearrested on other gun related charges while 36% of defendants, overall, were rearrested. The police appear to be identifying and arresting a certain suspect, as well – between 18 and 24 years of age, black, and a prior criminal record matching gang diversion risk markers.
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Replanting Durham's Urban Forest
(2016-04-28) Cooper, Gregory; Liberti, Anne; Asch, Michael
Urban forests are the trees found within city limits along streets, in parks, and in backyards. This urban forest offers many ecosystem services that range from stormwater control to climate change mitigation. In the context of the City of Durham, this urban resource is being rapidly depleted due to the senescence of its mature oak canopy and threats from invasive tree pests. In order to combat this loss, the City was projected to need 1,600 new trees planted every year. The scope of this project sought to understand the present state of the urban forest by examining the current canopy through a historical lens. Historical planting efforts shed light on why and where trees are and are not located. Assessments of recent plantings, current canopy cover, and extent of invasive species in parks will offer insight for the management of the urban forest. The resulting analysis will guide the City of Durham to determine ideal planting sites for new trees to maximize environmental and social benefits with a recommendation for policy change in the existing planting procedure.
Open Access
ShotSpotter in Durham, NC: Service or Burden? A Community Sentiment Evaluation
(2023-12) Kelly, Pilar
ShotSpotter is a gunshot detection technology that uses audio sensors to locate and notify local police departments of gunfire. In 2023, the Durham Police Department (DPD) conducted a year-long pilot of ShotSpotter. Conversations with 30 residents of ShotSpotter’s three-square mile pilot area revealed nuanced opinions on the role of police officers, both generally and within their role as responders to ShotSpotter alerts. In the context of ShotSpotter specifically, conversations surrounded the ethics of technology and corporate actors in policing, as well as the lack of community engagement in the decision to pilot. Less frequently did these conversations reveal any observed impact on gun crime or police activity after ShotSpotter was implemented. Not one participant believed that ShotSpotter could help reduce gun crime. However, the participants who did report seeing changes in policing since ShotSpotter described those changes in a positive light. Opposition to ShotSpotter was rooted primarily in preconceived mistrust rather than direct experiences. This mistrust was directed toward City Council, ShotSpotter as a corporation, policing as an institution, and concerns about surveillance and storing personal sensitive information. City Council should consider the experiences and perceptions of the citizens most affected by gun violence when deciding how to proceed with ShotSpotter. Meaningful engagement and representation of these community voices is critical in efforts to promote institutional trust, community-police relations, and reductions in violent crime.
Open Access
Strange Chains: How Language Keeps Non-English Speakers Out of the Justice System – Or Locks Them In
(2016-05-11) Holmquist, Quinn
Until 2010, North Carolina’s courts, which promise “equal justice to all,” had no resources to accommodate the needs of all non-English speakers. They had to sign English-only forms they could not read and were expected find interpreters they could not pay for to explain a crime of which they had never been informed. Over the past five years, this incomprehensible state of language access has improved, thanks to the cooperation of judges, lawyers, advocacy groups, and the courts. In this project, I explore language access in North Carolina courts. I spent seventy-five hours observing in two North Carolina courthouses, one small and rural and one large and urban. During my time, I met and interviewed 13 non-English speakers whose stories directed my research and whose narratives I weave throughout this project. To understand the context of their experiences, I interviewed over 25 language access stakeholders, including legal scholars, lawyers, an attorney with the Department of Justice, and the interpreters themselves. I found that the ideal of universal interpreter provision has not yet translated into reality. In fact, 10 of my 13 informants were not provided an interpreter when they needed one. In Chapter I, I identify the two characteristics of the courtroom – scarcity and inefficiency – which bar non-English speakers particularly from access. In April 2015, the Court published its own solution to courtroom scarcity and inefficiency: the North Carolina Standards for Language Access. These Standards go further than any previous legislation in North Carolina to provide qualified, free interpreters for non-English speakers. Since the Standards are so new, no systematic analysis has been conducted on their application, until now. In Chapter II, I undertake the very first study of the Standards. I develop three shifts in the Standards’ application which, if applied, will address all 13 of my informants’ inaccess. As often happens with new research, I began seeking to understand one issue and ended exploring another. As my interaction with my informants spilled out of the courtroom, I began to realized that the most significant inaccess they faced occurred outside the courtroom. Even the best interpreter can only interpret when the non-English speaker is in the courtroom. But less than 5% of cases actually reach the courtroom trial. My informants ran into walls with pre- and post-court paperwork, at the Clerk’s office, and in lawyer-client conference rooms. Most legal work is done in these “in-between” spaces. These de-regulated, liminal settings are where nearly all litigation happens, but where research and service provision are scant. It is in these “in-between” spaces that I conducted the second part of my fieldwork, and from which Chapter III is inspired. Now that the Standards have made free interpreters a foregone conclusion (at least in theory), it is in these in-between spaces that scholars and policy-makers must re-focus if they are committed to holistic, meaningful access for foreign language speakers. With this analysis of “access in-between,” I take up the exhortation of Judge Smith, the primary author of the Standards, to “constantly…reexamine the goals” of language access in North Carolina. I hope that my analysis will break the tough ground of policy and academic inertia into new soil of legal access research and invite further examination. I hope to begin a conversation on language access that thinks broader than courtroom and deeper than interpreter quality.
Open Access
The Persistence of Smoke: Opera in One Act, Libretto by John Justice
(2011) Lam, George Tsz-Kwan
The Persistence of Smoke is a documentary opera. The libretto is based on interviews with various individuals related to the former Liggett and Myers Tobacco Company headquarters in Durham, North Carolina.
The cigarette industry once dominated Durham, but saw its decline in the 1990s as the link between cancer and smoking became increasingly clear. The American Tobacco Company and the Liggett and Myers Tobacco Company were once the biggest cigarette manufacturers in the city. As these companies left Durham, their factories and tobacco warehouses first sat vacant, but were gradually preserved and transformed into new spaces for offices, apartments and restaurants.
This project focused on the former Liggett and Myers headquarters along Main Street, a collection of buildings now known as "West Village". I interviewed current and former Durham residents who had a connection with these buildings, including local business representatives, community leaders, former Liggett employees, historians, current residents in the downtown area, municipal urban planners, journalists, and an architect. These interviews were given to local playwright John Justice, who created a libretto based on the themes that emerged.
The opera's story focuses on Kevin, an architect about to unveil his visionary master plan for redeveloping several defunct cigarette factories in an unnamed city. As Kevin leaves his newly renovated apartment for the press conference, he is confronted by his estranged father Curtis, a former cigarette worker who desperately wants to reconcile and reconnect, deliriously recalling the glory days of tobacco and the money that followed.