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Durham manager feels heat
The City Council wants answers about a yard waste dump fire and the lack of a permit

Michael Biesecker, Staff Writer, N&O, Oct 03, 2006 12:30 AM

DURHAM - Durham City Manager Patrick Baker told the City Council on Monday that he will spend "100 percent of his time" in the coming days to prepare a full report of his administration's supervision of a yard waste dump that caught fire.

The manager will make a presentation to the elected board at a work session Thursday.

Baker and his immediate subordinates have been under intense scrutiny over his administration's handling of the fire that started Sept. 10 and burned for 14 days, smothering nearby homes in smoke and forcing some residents to flee for hotels. Council members were further upset by revelations that the dump had been operating without the required permit for more than two years after state inspectors had uncovered numerous violations at the site, several of which related directly to insufficient fire prevention. The dump had previously caught fire in 2004. -- jump--

Some members of the council indicated they were not impressed with the city manager's rebuttal. Bell said he looked forward to a more complete report Thursday about his core concern -- who knew what when.

Jackie Brown, a resident forced to leave her home because of the smoke, sat in the front row of the meeting room as Baker spoke, shaking her head. A close political confidante of the mayor, Brown is the president of Durham's Northeast Neighborhood Association.

"Either they're lying or they're incompetent," she said of the city manager and his aides. "Take your pick."**

http://www.newsobserver.com/145/story/494007.html

-- from City council meeting---

Stith changed the tone of the meeting by criticizing the City's "lack of action" in light of high crime and chronic poverty.

"Maybe I'm a bit too conservative for the fashion folks, but a band-aid isn't going to fix [Durham]-we need major surgery," Stith said. "The citizens of Durham are fed up. I know I am."

Further debate arose when City Manager Patrick Baker addressed an Oct. 1 N&O article that said he did not tell the truth about permits involved in a recent landfill fire.

Baker defended himself from the criticism at length. Bell eventually extinguished the debate. -jump--

"We need to put pressure on these companies to hire our local citizens," Durham resident Victoria Peterson said to Bell.

"There are very few people working out there who look like you and I," she added.

http://www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2006/10/03/
News/Council.Debates.New.Performing.Arts.Center-2328202.shtml?norewrite
200610040222&sourcedomain=www.dukechronicle.com

** Good quotes. Things seem rather testy downtown lately.