i THE CAROLINA TIKCS SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER 18. 1982
Hayti Fight Coming Between
City And H DC
By Donald Alderman
The battle of just what
role, if any, Durham's
black community, will
play in Hayti's"
redevelopment effort is
slowly taking shape, and
a test of the Hayti
Development Corpora
tion's strength looms on j
the horizon. . . .
The fight scene will
likely be the Durham Ci
ty Council Chambers in.
City Hall.
According to city
planners and officials of
the Hayti Development
Corporation the op
ponents in this public;
privatet fight a
feasibility study that will
help determine jut how
Hayti will be developed
could be underway by
month's end.- ' ,
HDC 'was formed
about a year' ago when'
several blacks decided to
spearhead Hayti's return "
to its former prominence',
as a , mecca .for ! black
economics. The. .group
has been successful in
getting the black com
munity to' take a more
active-role in Hayti's
redevelopment. .
The loss of Hayti,
plowed under during the i
uroan renewal cam
paigns of the 60s,
represents a major finan-;
cial setback to the black
community, and stands
as a major barrier to .
trust and friendship bet
ween the black com
munity and city Officials.
City planners with in
put from HDC have
almost completed the
process of attracting bids ,
for the study, and will j
recommend a consultant V
to the city council within :
the next two weeks.;
The long-awaited
study sets the stage for
Round One. ... v ;'
That found, according
to HDC officials, will in
volve making sure the
study answers the right
questions.
:The trick is agreeing
on which questions are
the right ones.
The 'two part" study
will first examine whatY. ject, says HDC and the
best for Hayti overall f city are "working for the
The second part of the -"Same. thing.,' the same
study will suggest wnicn
objected to letting HDC
view a draft I of the
feasibility ttudy.1 before
its, pur into final form.
Thus, the fight continues
to develop.
" Interestingly ,v ' Walls
specific "land uses" or
developments are likely"
to work best.
White said city plan
ners appear to be looking
at Aijny. developments
thai HOC. fav6rs won't
work rathe than looking
for innovative ways of
making them work ' and
of returning Hayti to Its"
former prominence. ; (
"We're looking at im
plementation," said
Nathaniel White, Jr.,
HDC president. "The,
study should say how a
particular . development
,can be made to work
rather than simply saying
( it won't work,"
But while HDC of
ficials argue foj former
pfdrrfinence, citj of
ficials "Avant a new pro
minence. fj,ic prize: a
valuable pietfe of proper
ty 54 acres of prime
real estabitlust south of
downtowrtf with easy acV' former boss, sfays HDC
cess, to.-the city's major ;.hpeth?" study shows
universitiesy&V Research, ; prom;se.fpr development
terstatey 40 and 85. -At any .rate, WJiite
'Thik- isa battle of says HDC will begin to
power and, money. The line uff developers before
stakes are high. To city the study,' is complete
ing, consistent with the
city's , long range
development plan writ-
. i - - i . t r r
way. .' ten in me eariy ou a
But White says city the ' urban, renewal
planners have already bulldozers began to roil
through Hayti to carry
out -plans to ' revitalize
downtown.
A few months ago, the
two sides compromised
in a ' development pro
posal that the City Coun-.
was hired by the city's cil accepted in concept,
planning " department i but didn't approve. -after
working with HDC ' ' That acceptance,
which .;. amounts to a
for six weeks.". Having
been -privy to the high
level thinking of HDC
officials, his hiring raises
the' question of whether
he's still 1 supportive of
the HDC approach.
Walls, who is black,
says thatHtC and the
city planners hope the
feasibility study . will
recommend development
that both parties hav
previously agreed on a
so-called compromise
municipal' thank, you,
came at the eleventh
hour as the council strug
gled to save its "pet". v.
the -downtown civic
center bond referendum
from apparent defeat.
That'., leverage t was
garnered when HDC of
ficials and many other
black leaders held
downtown development
the city's centerpiece
for '. , . downtown
- ' S , .. . '.- "'.1
I
n
THE CAROLINA TIMES ROUNDTABLE In their first meeting, four members of The Carolina
Times Roundtable of Sports Experts pause for a picture. They are: (1-r) Elson Armstrong, Jr., chairman;
Jimmy Green, Angela Sanders, and Bernard Dawson (standing). nM.i$at.M.ynrM
LOCal DemOCratS j (Continued from page 4)
development .proposal, redevelopment, the civic
t.& uw: Wollc' renter ' hnstace to
Biil White,; Walls
hostage to
redevelopment
planners, the; area com
plements plans tq rebuild
downtown. In their judg
ment, the old Hayti is
because the study could
be ai' delay tactic to
thwart HDC's plans.
White v added that
fertile ground (of plan:. more emphasis should be
ting houses 'to' "'give theput on financing Hayti's
revitalized downtown (redevelopment than stu-
people a 24-hour life. dying it
But to HDC and the
black community, Hayti
means business develop-- .
ment. It is a chance to
erase some pf the embar
rassment that came when "
a multi-million - dollar
economic base fell . prey
to hollow promises. It
represents a chance for
blacks to operate their
own businesses, and to
let black business dollars
circulate in the black;
community. , ,
In another point of1,
friction that illustrates
the coming fight, Melvin
Walls, a city planner in
i charge of the Hayti pro- i
And so it is clear that
the fight "centers- around
the input of blacks into
Haytis, redevelopment.
Getting that input has
always been a fight for
blacks.
From ' the beginning,
HDC envisioned Hayti
in light of its past, a
bustling commercial and
residential district.
center
Hayti,'
SUPPOrt.' ; Vl'.y!-!:'-
The council .accepted
the compromise plan and
gave HDC. $65,000,-as.
well as limited say in the
development '' .. process.
Then, the Durham Com
mittee pn,the Affairs of
Black People, in a
special meeting and after
a bitter" struggle, endors
ed the referendum,-and
the thousands of votes
that followed gave city
officials the $10 million
they needed f6r the civic
center. "' --
All of this is o say
that the city council and
city planners have always
been reluctant to jet
blacks have a say in how
their former black com
munity should be rebuilt.
If blacks hadn't had
the civic center to
bargain with, one must
,the'good ole boys have
.been caught with their
pnts .down thi$7 Jime.
Becky Heron has made it
clear that she will not
smoke cigars and cut
deals as they have been
cut for so long in
Durham County and'
also she has endorsed an
affirmative action pro
gram that the current
board had refused to
consider for the county.
Rod Adams, a lifetime
Democrat and
businessman, was unsuc
cessful during the
Democratic primary for
a county commission
seat.
He said hat while he
was not a leader in the
effort to get Democrats
to support Nance, who
owns a local eating
place, he was going to
vote for him.
"She (Heron) is too
liberal," Adams said.
"She has a strong liberal
tendency and that is too
much for me!"
Adams said that
reports that he had been
a major mover behind a
Democratic effort to
support Nance, were
false. "I am not out
there leading anything,"
he said, "I have never
talked to anyone work
ing for Nance."
I.L. "Buck" Dean, a
'close' ally of Governor
Jim Hunt, said that he
was not a part of the
Nance movement. Like
Adams, published
reports had linked him to
Nance.
"I am going to sup
port i the Democratic
ticket,' said the staunch
Democratic politician .
"Right now, I am sup
porting Mrs. .Heron.
As for Mrs. Heron, or
mighty Becky, as she is
being called, the reports
of an attempted sabotage
of her campaign do not
go unnoticed.
She said that after the
Democratic primary, she
sent out letters to party'
leaders and other can
didates asking them for
support. "I have not!
heard from any of these
gentlemen," she said
during an interview. "I
would appreciate their
visible support."
, "They have nothing to
fear," she Said, "I am
for ' open government
and an accessible com
mission. That is the plat
form that I ran oh during
the primary and that's .
where I stand now."
Housing Vs. Business
sprawled in the city's , wonder just how much,
heart and consistine of if any,' input blacks
over 100 black businesses ,
and 600 homes;
In their oVieinal Hayti ,
redevelopment proposal, bargaining power, city
city planners placed officials gave up as little
heavy emphasis on hous- as possible..
Would have in Hayti's
redevelopment. It is clear
that even with that
(Continued From Front)
Martin Rigsby, a local
merchant. Rigsby says
that the plan is not feasi
ble and that it will just
bring more people into a
neighborhood that is
"already over
populated." He said that many of .
the merchants in the
neighborhood are con
cerned that the addition ,
of low and moderate in
come in the area will in
crease crime and vagran
cy. He also said that
Pou's only concern was
to make money. Pqu was
out of town and could
not be reached to answer
that allegation.
Glass reject the low
and moderate' income,
concern. He said that
low and moderate in
come people already
populate the
neighborhood.
"I think that they have
some legitimate con-
cerns," Glass said, "but
Durham is in tremen
dous need ot redevelop
ment housing and that is
.exactly what Mr. Pou is
(attempting to do."
Rigsby said that the
business people would
prefer that additional
'commercial
establishments be built in
the neighborhood. He
said that low to
moderate income hous
ing would discourage
that type of develop
ment.
"The business people
know that there is a need
for housing," Rigsby
said, "I don't know
what the answer is. I
knew that the people
have to go somewhere,
but this is just not the
place."
According to Glass,,
the city council has tabl
ed the issue and is ex-,
pected to take action on
the matter before too
long.
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