Today's City Council Vote to Widen Alston Ave. (Durham) (Erwin: neighborhoods, elementary school)

[dbn_girl]

For those who don't know, today Durham's city council will be voting on whether or not to accept funding from the NC Dept. of Transportation to widen Alston Ave. (the proposed plan is from 2 lanes to 4-6 lanes).

This decision would negatively and directly affect several historic neighborhoods in the East Durham & Downtown areas of the city. Residents of these neighborhoods are furious that City Council isn't hearing our opposition, and as it stands it looks like at least 4 of our council members (including Mayor Bell) are likely to endorse this project.

Those who feel some way about this issue, or who are residents of neighborhoods that will be directly affected by this change, can help.
Aidil Collins in Uplift East Durham has many wonderful points about the negative impact this road will have on our mutual neihgborhoods.
Please email or call Council today:


1) State your opposition for NC DOT's design of Alston Ave. 2) Give at least one reason for your opposition. See the list below for some ideas or share another one of your own.
3) Suggest that the city can pay for the street's improvement through a street scape project.


Reasons for Opposition

1. Three times as much property is being affected by the Alston Ave. project than the East End Connector, yet there was no adhoc community committee that met regularly with NC DOT for this project. Howard Clement suggested this for the East End Connector and it is a good process. The Alston Ave. project should have the same ability to weigh in on a project that has three times the impact on property.
2. The scope of this project has negative impacts on the historical features of this neighborhood.
3. This project is like the Freeway in regards to it's lack of fit to the area that will host it.
4. Pedestrians will be negatively affected by this project. East Durham has a higher rate of walking and biking traffic than other parts of Durham, and dedicated right hand turn lanes are unsafe here because of that. Also, approximately $500K was spent to do a pedestrian plan & a bike plan and the NC DOT's Alston Ave. project does not conform with the plan.
5. The Office of Economic and Workforce Development and the Division of Transportation do not support the Alston Ave. plan proposed by NC DOT. They would PREFER to invest in a streetscape project with city dollars that will better suit the needs of the community.
6. Pedestrian access to Eastway Elementary School and Lawn Meadow Park's new pool will be restricted by the NC DOT's Alston Ave. project. A mini freeway is not compatible with these amenities.
7. Erwin Rd. by the 9th street was narrowed about a year ago. Why is such a road for pedestrian access good enough for Duke, but not good enough for East Durham?
8. The old thinking of roadways only being about cars is over. The neighborhood residents and Community Builders want to promote walkability.
9. NC DOT's Alston Ave. project design may work in the suburbs but it does not fit the context of our community.

I am also adding to this list that such an expansion of Alston Ave. will move us further away from becoming a "green" city be encouraging more traffic (particularly larger commercial trucks/vans) which will give way to more trash & litter, more environmental pollution and more noise pollution. It completely discourages residents walking and/or biking as alternative means of transportation. The street scape plan that was previously being discussed would have introduced more walkable sidewalks and bike lanes as improvements to Alston Ave.

Should this decision go through, it will mean a lot of change for the community, but not positive change. These communities will become more dangerous for pedestrians, children at plan, children getting on/off the school buses and bikers. We are looking at potential for many more pedestrian-related fatalities and injuries!

Those who will be effected by this expansion (Cleavland-Holloway neighborhood, parts of Old North Durham and East Durham (Edgemont/Morning Glory, Angier Ave. and Eastway) please show your support for your community by contacting City Council today (reach them by phone at 919-560-4396 or by email at council@ci.durham.nc.us). If you are in opposition to this expansion, you can use any of the reasons above or state your own. The more voices that call out for change, the better our chances of being heard!

-DBN_Girl
(Cleavland-Holloway neighborhood)