Everyone remember the NCCU reporter who did a story on the AV and would not report some of what she found out? She was really bothered by what she found out about Crystal.
I wonder if she found out that Crystal was stripping again right away?
Town-gown deal near on theater [Mayor Bell's Quid Pro Quo at a sweet $2 million]
By Ray Gronberg : The Herald-Sun
Oct 17, 2006 : 11:11 pm ET
DURHAM -- Durham and Duke University officials have reached a deal that will provide the last piece of financing needed for the city's proposed performing arts center, if the two sides can agree next year on a plan to reconfigure Anderson Street.
If the City Council goes along with the proposal on Thursday, Duke would immediately turn over $500,000 the city could in turn use to help pay for the 2,800-seat, $44 million theater.
Another $1.5 million would follow by November 2007 if city regulators approve Duke's plan for Anderson Street, and issue "any other necessary approvals required by the city for Duke to undertake the improvements," according to the terms of the deal, which was released Tuesday.
Duke in turn promises to pay for the changes to Anderson Street, and to take on the financial responsibility for all future maintenance of the stretch between Erwin Road and Duke University Road, including repaving, lighting repairs and mowing.
The deal, hammered out in negotiations with Duke President Richard Brodhead, Executive Vice President Tallman Trask and Senior Vice President for Public and Governmental Relations John Burness, is a potential "win-win for both the city and Duke," said Mayor Bill Bell.
"This is part of a long range plan that Duke has in terms of trying to develop Anderson Street," Bell said, explaining the university's interest in the swap. "It'd probably give them a certain level of comfort if they could get the plan agreed to by both sides so they could go ahead and do what they need to do."
In turn, with the school's money in the pipeline, the City Council could go ahead and green-light the theater project which, as of early this month, was $2 million short of being fully funded.
The school's pledge would give administrators the ammunition they need to convince the N.C. Local Government Commission to approve the borrowing the city will use to finance the project, Bell said.
The backup plan for the theater, were the Duke deal to fall through, would be to ask the County Commissioners to step in to cover the gap, Bell said. And if that doesn't work, the City Council would have to decide whether or not to look elsewhere for the money needed to go ahead.
But "I'm comfortable we can reach an agreement with Duke so we can get it resolved at that level," the mayor said.
The deal specifies that Duke's $2 million is a "donation" to the city, not an advance payment for the city to do the work on Anderson Street. It also says that Duke's plan for changing the street can include a widening or reduction of the travel way, new landscaping and paving, and the installation of new medians, bridges, gateways, lighting, crosswalks, bike paths and other features. The end result is supposed to "reflect the character of the Duke University campus."
The university's interest in reconfiguring stems from its plan to redevelop the 128-acre Central Campus area, and the deal will reach the council before it rules on a rezoning that would facilitate that effort. The Durham Planning Commission has urged elected officials to turn down the request because the university so far hasn't offered enough safeguards against the possibility of new on-campus retail development competing with businesses in the city.
Bell and other city officials say they've tried to avoid any quid pro quo implying that Duke's money is a quid pro quo for the rezoning -- the sort of deal that could run afoul of the courts' strictures against "contract zoning" that trades legislation for favors.
Bell said administrators on both sides will have the flexibility they need to conduct a proper review of Duke's renovation plan for Anderson Street. He said that as far as he's concerned, the rezoning "is a separate issue."
"Duke understands we have certain guidelines we need to follow," Bell said. "We're going to be guided by that. At the same time, it gives us a lot of flexibility. There may be compromises on both side as we go through this process."
Councilman Thomas Stith, however, said Tuesday that city officials need to scrutinize the proposed deal carefully to make sure it doesn't obligate the city to rezone Central Campus.
"Clearly, given the timing, my concern would be that there is not any quid pro quo," Stith said. "I wouldn't want to commit the city to any open-ended deal that would prevent us from protecting the interests of our citizens and businesses in Durham."
Officials also released a memo Tuesday saying they're reached an agreement with Capitol Broadcasting Co., owner of WRAL and the Durham Bulls, that would give the company naming rights to the plaza outside the new theater.
Capitol would pay the city $300,000 a year for 13 to 20 years and in return get the right to have the plaza named for itself or any of its affiliates. It would also get the right to install video displays in the plaza and receive assurances that no other media or professional baseball company be allowed to purchase naming rights elsewhere in the performing arts center.
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-779573.html
* Gotta hand it to Mayor Bell. He really knows how to shake' em down.