How to deal with downtown Durham

After buying a new paperback at the Book Exchange, or after seeing an artsy movie at the Carolina Theatre, I often wonder on my way back to campus what can be done for downtown Durham. I think that the Bull City would shed its bad reputation with the Duke community if it developed a real downtown culture and commercial atmosphere. In the past, it was Durham's center of life and business, but now it is a reminder of the urban cancers that remain after tobacco left town.

Why this city-with its expanding, technology-rich tax base and association with a well-endowed university and medical center-has been unable to attract businesses downtown is a question that begs to be answered. It's got a charming, although confusing, street grid, convenient access to the Durham Freeway and lots of open buildings and warehouses, perfect for attracting gentrifying yuppies and high-tech startup firms.

There are signs that money has been spent to cure the urban blight of empty stores and offices. There have been renovations made to the Carolina Theatre, and a new YMCA and baseball stadium. Blue Devil Ventures, a development team led by Duke graduates and former basketball stars Christian Laettner and Brian Davis, is turning old warehouses into loft-style apartments, with retail and office space also available. But will any of this be enough to draw people and entrepreneurs from North Raleigh and the Research Triangle Park?

The problems for urban planners are extensive. Downtown Durham suffers from a lousy parking situation and very few restaurants to visit on a lunch break. The stores cannot be compared to what is available at South Square Mall or Northgate Mall, let alone Crabtree Valley Mall or the planned mall at Southpoint. The lovely minor-league baseball stadium is cut off from the central loop by a railroad line that deters pedestrian access. Durham's bid to host The North Carolina Performing Arts Institute lost out to west Raleigh.

The more successful projects in Durham's revitalization, Brightleaf Square and Ninth Street, are now bustling with stores and restaurants, attracting not only students but also residents of the surrounding communities of the Triangle. The University, which was instrumental in the development of those two projects, must be involved in nursing the downtown area back to health.

It should start by transferring more administrative offices to existing building space or to renovated spaces downtown. The University and Medical Center are currently in a crunch for office space, but they have utilized too much space in the Erwin Square complex. Because this site is isolated from the rest of Durham, the surrounding area does not benefit from having Duke faculty and staff working nearby. New offices should be built in the downtown area and be more incorporated into the central business district. Shops and restaurants would have the consumer base to survive and expand.

Whether the University or some outside business brings more jobs to Durham, the most important concern is that the new development must not destroy the community in the process. If property values rise too swiftly, if the only jobs that are created are taken by people from outside the region, if the character of the city is irrevocably changed, the people of Durham will not benefit at all. They will be further marginalized, increasing bitterness between town and gown and between town and tech. Developers taking advantage of the opportunity Durham provides should incorporate themselves into the community by hiring Durham residents, contributing to its schools and creating affordable housing.

David Margolis is a Trinity senior.