This week’s news has been mostly dominated by a raft of extra-bad legislation coming out of Raleigh (more on that later today, most likely), but there are a few local happenings of interest:
- Duke has unleashed its own road construction projects to coincide with the end of the spring semester. Duke’s projects seem to be focusing on Campus drive, where they’re replacing chilled water pipes used in cooling applications; the “traffic circle” (which I’ve heard described as “a case study in how not to build a traffic circle”) near the chapel is especially screwed up, with traffic running alternately clockwise and counter-clockwise. Keep in mind that Main St. near East Campus is also closed for bridge replacement, so expect delays if you’re trying to get around on or near campus.
- Duke is beginning a project to “restore” the stream that runs near campus drive from East Campus. This was apparently originally part of Duke’s central campus project, which was placed on the back burner during the recession; it will be interesting to see whether this signals an interest in Duke picking that project back up.
- The fate of Liberty Warehouse (previously mentioned here) is to be decided (maybe) on May 20th. Preservation Durham has apparently encouraged people to email the Council expressing opposition to the landmark status change, and Gary wrote about the situation over at Open Durham. The city finds itself in a really unfortunate situation on this one: on the one hand, it’s an important historical structure in a crucial location near downtown; on the other, landmark designation makes it much less attractive for developers. As it hangs in this limbo, Greenfire is just letting it continue to slowly disintegrate.
- I guess Mateo is open for lunch. And it’s good.
- Not directly Durham related, but Chapel Hill lowered its food truck fee. Chapel Hill has been relatively hostile to food trucks, which has lead to this sector targeting the friendlier roads of Raleigh and Durham up to now. This is likely a good thing for Durham, as having a larger market means that more trucks will be able to compete, and we should see even more variety in our neck of the woods.
- The Herald-Sun is looking to sell its Pickett Rd. building and move into smaller digs. Apparently they had a lot of unused space after years of downsizing.
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