Nate Baker
@NateBakerDurham
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Durham City Council At-Large | Urban Planner | Fighting for a livable city |🌹
Durham, NC
Joined January 2020
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Pinned Tweet
Thank you Durham!!
I’m honored to be elected to serve you on the City Council.
As the top vote-getter, residents provided a strong mandate to implement the vision we ran on.
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@JoeCutrufo
@SylvesterTurner
@TxDOTHouston
@TxDOTCommission
@TxDOT
@FarmAndCity
@HouGalvAreaCog
@dwr4hou
@jayrjordan
@HoustonChron
Reminds me of this
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In a fictional country the ruling party receives 49.9% of votes but gives itself 71-78% of political seats.
It’s your job to determine whether or not that country is a legitimate democracy. GO!
Also, that fictional country is the State of North Carolina.
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@ClayHartedGhoul
Worth comparing to other comparable capitalist countries on a variety of metrics.
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We can never forget what inhumane public policy across America did to poor and predominantly black neighborhoods, including here in Durham in Hayti. Images from Open Durham.
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Kannapolis, NC just adopted one of the most progressive UDO rewrites in the state of North Carolina.
The ordinance goes into effect on July 1st.
Here are some highlights of what it does and lessons for Durham 🧵
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As Councilperson-elect, I stand with Durham’s Palestinian community and others in urging
@ValerieFoushee
to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
City Councils across the country have adopted resolutions calling for a ceasefire and I will explore that option upon taking office.
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Across the country, momentum is building for universities to make annual payments to the cities they are in.
An extra $10-20 million per year could go a long way in Durham. It’s time for Duke to start paying it’s fair share.
A Luta Continua:
Ithaca, NY has become a new battleground over public dollars for the public good. Cornell owns about 47% of city's property. It's mostly tax exempt. If they paid taxes on land (about $35 million) that is almost half of the city's budget...(1/2)
@CaseyGrants
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This absolute gem from 15 years ago where Jon Stewart rips apart Tucker Carlson and the absurdity of the corporate media.
Yes, this one is worth your time.
Jon Stewart on Crossfire via
@YouTube
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In 2020, a developer proposed a 675 residential unit project in Durham, 2% affordable housing.
The developer said approve it or he’d walk.
We voted NO.
We got called NIMBYs. The developer walked…
This week it’s coming back with over 800 units, 25% affordable housing.
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The results are in and we received the highest number of votes in the Durham municipal primary!
Thank you so much to everyone that has helped get us here. Let’s carry this momentum through to the general!
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Durham’s main library is one of the great gems of our downtown and a redevelopment success story. But it’s cut off by high-speed roads, parking, and the downtown loop.
On Council, I’ll work to centralize and celebrate the main library by physically reconnecting it to downtown.
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Hey Durham!
I want to share that I will be applying for the vacant Durham City Council seat.
I’m an urban planner & Durham native.
I want to fight for sustainable & equitable growth.
I’m passionate about building community power.
Join me or learn more
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We need a Labor March on Washington.
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In North Carolina…
Minimum wage:
2020 - $7.25
2021 - $7.25
2022 - $7.25
2023 - $7.25
Maximum campaign contribution:
2020 - $5,400
2021 - $5,600
2022 - $5,600
2023 - $6,400
NC’s minimum wage hasn’t changed since 2008 but campaign contributions are tied to inflation.
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Less than 3% of workers in the State of North Carolina are unionized, putting us at 49th in the country.
We’ll never be able to achieve the big changes we need to improve people’s lives without strong unions.
Support organized labor!
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We need to transform Durham’s street design standards and practices for the safety and comfort of all travelers.
That includes green, resilient, and *physically protected* bicycle lanes and boulevards, like this.
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Today, my colleague and I walked out of the Durham Planning Commission meeting and broke quorum in solidarity with
@UE150Union
and city workers. We need change to the status quo.
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The Chapel Hill Transit bus at Durham pride is awesome!
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In 2021, the Planning Commission initiated UDO text amendments to ensure all new subdivisions be more walkable and connected.
Today, those amendments were approved by City Council.
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@KawsachunNews
This is so patronizing. “Unmet needs” is such a bizarre term for anyone in the American government to use against another nation when we don’t guarantee basic human rights to our own people.
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January 3, 2024 marks the kickoff to the City of Durham FY24-25 budget process.
It’s also the 100 year anniversary of property-tax-exempt Duke University thriving in our city without paying its fair share to the City of Durham.
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Congratulations to the Duke Raleigh Hospital maintenance workers for their successful vote to join the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 465. All workers deserve a union.
BREAKING: Duke Raleigh Hospital Maintenance Workers Unionize, first workers in NC in 2024 to do so:
#1u
#unionsforall
#organizethesouth
#ncpol
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Durham doesn’t require developers to build and dedicate public parks (other NC communities do).
This results in thousands of acres of new exclusionary single family developments with privatized recreation.
We need to adopt park dedication standards.
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I'm running for Durham City Council because I believe in the people of the Bull City and the future we can build together.
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Durham should be able to realize itself for… itself. Not what PulteGroup and other national homebuilders want it to be.
Durhamites that I hear from want a dense, green, transit-oriented, inclusive, mixed use community🌳🌆🚎 not thousands more acres of suburban sprawl. 🚗🏘🚗🏘
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🚨 DURHAM EVICTION ALERT 🚨
A young developer named Matthew Lee (& rich investors) recently bought multiple properties off Geer Street, including a multifamily building housing low income families and wants to *evict* the families and bulldoze the units for townhomes.
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Raleigh just launched a program to make building ADUs cheaper and easier while providing assurances to neighbors that they’ll be high quality and well-designed.
This is the kind of simple win-win we should be pursuing in Durham.
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Durham should be able to realize itself for… itself. Not what national corporate homebuilders want it to be.
Durhamites that I hear from want a dense, green, transit-oriented, inclusive, mixed-use community 🌳🌆🚎 not thousands more acres of suburban sprawl 🚗🏘🚗🏘
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HUGE NEWS: This month, Durham is going to be massively reshaped by the real estate industry.
The industry is asking to lock in place over 400 football fields worth of land for permanently unsustainable single family sprawl.
City Council is unlikely to demand it to be walkable.
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Future generations will one day read about the wholesale removal and replacement of one people with another on a scale not seen since urban renewal. 🧵
Tract 9 Block Group 2:
2016 Black Pop. 80.5%
2020 Black Pop. 43.8%
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Bike infrastructure shouldn’t just be designed for the current spandex riders who are already comfy in traffic.
It needs to be for people who won’t jump on a bike without a hard barrier between them and two ton metal boxes moving at 45 mph.
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Across the country, momentum is building for universities to make regular payments to the cities they are in.
An extra $10-20 million per year could go a long way in Durham. It’s time for Duke to start paying it’s fair share.
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Every resident of Durham should have access to high quality public green space, trails, and playgrounds within a safe and comfortable 5-minute walk.
Good morning! ☀️
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Durham’s greatest strength is its people. Across this city, people show up for their communities.
But far too many are struggling to get by, afford to stay, or be heard.
I’m running for Durham City Council to fight for all of Durham’s people, block by block.
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It’s an honor to serve the people of Durham on your city council. Let’s get to work.
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In neighborhood after neighborhood, Durham residents express that they feel stuck driving a car and want other safe and comfortable ways to reach their daily needs.
On City Council, I will fight for a multimodal city with safe streets and more transportation options.
🚌 🚴🚶🏿♂️🌳
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The city should only consider selling this centrally-located property if the new development will include permanent affordable housing units.
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Durham should rewrite our own development regulations to achieve a dense, walkable, sustainable city instead of letting developers pay $3,800 to rewrite our regulations.
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We urgently need more safe and *physically protected* bicycle infrastructure in Durham—something people of all ages and abilities feel comfortable using.
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ON TUESDAY Durham Planning Commission will vote to initiate UDO changes to require new large-scale developments have short walkable blocks.
This will be the first time EVER that the Commission will move to initiate regulatory changes.
If you have a moment please write us!
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2022 is a great year in Durham to…
✅ End unsustainable suburban sprawl
✅ Create a climate action plan
✅ Prioritize non-auto forms of transportation
✅ Start requiring affordable housing in new developments
✅ Establish a small area planning division
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@damienISgoodmon
@Bankoff
@JerusalemDemsas
@ranjchak
@ezraklein
@Evict_Twit_ter
@mayavada
@thomas_lord
@sotiredofish
@ValerieRoss14
@EvanMast2
There is actually a ton of Koch money involved in the YIMBY astroturf movement. Best known the work coming out of the Mercatus Center. The strategy of throwing money at legitimizing and mainstreaming far-right economics has, as we’ve seen, been very effective.
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Some small but good Durham planning news:
The Planning Commission’s Policy Committee developed an amendment to the city’s regulations that if passed would make new developments more walkable and connected.
It would mean shorter blocks and more pedestrian connections.
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Some top priorities for my first 100 days:
-Focus on productive relationships with other Council colleagues and explore opportunities for collaboration
-Convene a tenants advocacy group and begin developing priority actions to improve housing conditions and fight displacement
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Durham will add more than 120,000 new people over the next 25 years.
Where will they all go? How will everyone get around?
We need to plan ahead, manage growth, change our transportation & land use policies, and leave a more sustainable city for future generations.
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NC allows cities to require public parks in new development.
Durham chooses not to do this.
73% of Durham residents do not live within a walkshed (5 min. walk) of a public park.
Durham is growing by a football field of new development every 8 hours.
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Let’s implement the vision we were elected for:
✅ Pay Durham city workers a fair wage
✅ Create a small area planning program
✅ Adopt a plan for equitable redevelopment of Northgate Mall
✅ End car-centric sprawl & build a walkable city
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Hey Durham!
If you want to build a dense, walkable, mixed-use, green, and just city, please sign up at the link.
This page includes more information about the 400+ acres of sprawl rezoning/annexation cases happening this month.
Like/RT if you can
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Unless we act with urgency to change Durham’s rules and institutions, this is the unsustainable future city we will leave to future generations: long & empty stretches, block after block of garage doors, only the automobile to get around, a climate and equity nightmare
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What is the strategic importance of Northgate Mall redevelopment to Durham?
It’s larger than the downtown loop.
It holds enormous social and economic potential.
It’s a gateway from a major interstate.
It’s an equity issue.
The city government needs to come to the table. Act!
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Hey Durham!
I’m in the IndyWeek today discussing our moral crisis around gentrification. We haven’t seen current levels of displacement since urban renewal.
I hope you’ll give it a read.
Census data from Durham shows Black populations in some neighborhoods have undergone mass displacement in alarmingly short time periods.
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Durham is great because of its people, but our built environment and the rules creating it aren’t serving them well.
Durham is one of the least walkable cities in one of the least walkable states. And it continues to head in the wrong direction.
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I’m honored to have the endorsement of
@UE150Union
- Durham City Workers Union. Every city worker should be able to afford to live in our city.
Solidarity with workers everywhere.
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I’m thrilled and honored to receive the endorsement of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, the longest active Political Action Committee in Durham with a deep legacy and nearly 90 years of political organizing in the community.
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The Durham City Council majority has approved thousands of acres of sprawling rezonings in SE Durham over the past five years.
Now, the Southern Environmental Law Center is intervening over the city’s “failure to enforce water quality standards against real estate developers.”
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This Labor Day, let’s celebrate the local labor organizing at
@dukegradunion
,
@amazoncause
,
@UE150Union
,
@reiuniondurham
,
@RaiseUptheSouth
, and across our city and state.
The labor movement is ENERGIZED.
Unions are the reason we have the weekend, 40 hour work week, and more!
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Duke University: We believe in diversity, equity, and inclusion ♥️
@dukegradunion
: *exercises collective bargaining rights*
DU: No, not that way!
Great to hear from
@RevDrBarber
,
@NancyMacLean5
, and so many others.
A better world is possible!
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Last night, the Durham Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend denial of an irresponsible 90-acre rezoning request for more auto-oriented sprawl in south Durham.
The applicant, PulteGroup, who is the third largest home construction company in the US, seemed unfazed.
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@Urban_Connector
Here’s what Northwood Raven presented last night. The term “pedestrian-oriented design” was used. The red line through the parking lot is a proposed trail.
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In 2004, The Herald Sun had 350 highly trained professionals digging into important local stories and informing Durham residents.
That year, Paxton Media bought the Herald and laid off 80 people, with more layoffs in subsequent years.
Today, The Herald Sun is a ghost newspaper.
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This is a huge deal! A big win for Duke grad students and a victory for workers across Durham.
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Can North Carolina cities stop developers from tearing down small single family and duplex buildings and replacing them with big McMansions?
Yes! Zoning provides that power.
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I stand with all Durham public sector workers who fight for fair pay and safe working conditions.
They are the backbone of our public systems. Support DPS workers.
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✅ Adopt bold multimodal street design plans and standards
✅ Develop a comprehensive affordable housing strategy
✅ Update our UDO with long-overdue provisions prior to the full rewrite
✅ Triangle-wide climate action
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Here is the Landmark Mall redevelopment plan. It’s real: planned, approved, and moving forward right now, with loads of affordable housing and public space.
Landmark Mall is a transformative project, and Northgate Mall can be too.
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Durham should eliminate parking minimums, and swap them for a different public good, like green building requirements and wider sidewalks.
Since many big developers over-provide parking, we also need parking maximums.
This is just one of many land use reforms the city needs.
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22 people’s lives have been cut short in Durham because our built environment requires that people get around by car.
We need to hold the 4-3 majority on City Council accountable for approving over 4,000 additional acres of auto-oriented streets and land uses over just 5 years.
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@LolOverruled
Can someone with programming skills make us an app to help track what is ok and not ok to buy to support labor?
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We’re fighting to build a walkable city that puts people over profit.
We knocked over 1,500 doors and spoke with residents in and around Walltown this weekend with
@NC_DSA
,
@ncstateydsa
,
@SunriseDurham
, Walltown residents, and campaign volunteers.
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In 2021, the Planning Commission initiated UDO text amendments to ensure all new subdivisions be more walkable and connected.
Today, those amendments are finally coming back to the Commission for a vote!
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To densify neighborhoods, we should develop dozens of beautiful missing middle design prototypes and let neighborhoods select the ones they want to allow by-right.
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I am humbled to have been selected as one of the four finalists to be interviewed for the vacant Durham City Council seat.
All applicants share a love for & commitment to Durham.
Learn more about next steps in the process and how to get involved here:
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Most folks know the basic story of urban renewal in Durham, how decades ago the Hayti District was flattened and the Durham Freeway plowed through its center.
But not many know the story of the Southside neighborhood in the 2000s and 2010s. 🧵
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Walkability is in high demand.
But we’re concentrating walkable development within a small, increasingly exclusionary area while 1,000s of acres of new development is auto-oriented.
We’re building a city where only the wealthy can afford to live conveniently without a car.
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Durham homeowners and homebuilders:
We changed the law so that porches can now encroach into your front setback.
Why?
Porches are awesome. Build more porches.
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On Durham City Council, I will fight for a climate action plan, complete streets policy, and bold new street design standards that create a better city for pedestrians, transit-riders, and bicyclists.
Did you know that our streets are designed and built with our Climate Action Plan in mind? We build Complete Streets, which help keep Raleigh green.
Learn more about our Complete Streets.
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I’m thrilled to receive the endorsement of the NC Triangle DSA!
This election, we have the opportunity to move away from the neoliberal status quo. It’s time to put people over profit.
NC Triangle DSA endorses
@NateBakerDurham
's campaign for
#Durham
City Council because: 1. He refuses money from developers, 2. He understands why Durham is gentrifying and pushing out our Black and Brown neighbors, 3. He will organize and fight for working people.
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One day, instead of calling it ‘bike-ped infrastructure,’ we’ll just be able to call it ‘transportation infrastructure.’
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The problem is not that this rezoning enables housing development.
The problem is that the City is annexing and rezoning thousands of acres for exclusionary, carbon-intensive, single-family sprawl with no requirements for walkability.
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An important concept in urban development is what we call the “3 Ds”:
(1) Density
(2) Diversity
(3) Design
To build a walkable and sustainable future, we need to implement all of them, simultaneously. 🧵
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Tonight the Durham Planning Commission voted:
FOR:
1 small upzoning
1 affordable multifamily upzoning
1 small commercial rezoning fix
AGAINST
2 large auto-oriented single family sprawl cases
Nothing too wild but here’s the video for those interested:
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Durham needs to create and implement a housing plan and establish a small area planning division that prioritizes areas home to vulnerable populations undergoing intense development pressures.
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Cities all over the world are seizing the moment to transition from car-oriented to people-oriented built environments.
Let’s do this in Durham. 🌳🚴 🌇 🚃
For all the love that Paris is rightly getting for the pandemic transition away from cars, I am shocked that we are seeing so little about what is happening in Mexico City
So here is a thread about the best transition in North America
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Thank you all for the outpouring of support! I’m not discouraged, are you? We’ll keep working to shift Durham’s growth to a more equitable and sustainable path. 🌳🏙 🚌
I’m excited to see Dr. Monique Holsey-Hyman in action.
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I took to the sky with Sound Rivers’ Neuse Riverkeeper, Samantha Krop, to observe the environmentally-destructive sprawl in Southeast Durham.
We must end car-centric sprawl, manage growth, and plan for a sustainable, transit-oriented, green city.
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Durham needs to take urgent action on the climate emergency.
We need:
✅ A community climate action & resiliency plan to map out GHG neutrality
✅ Immediate zoning amendments and a new UDO that forever end auto-oriented sprawl
✅ To spearhead a Triangle climate plan & summit
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Let walking, biking, bussing, and renting in Durham radicalize you.
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Since this was posted, here’s what we’ve collectively accomplished:
✅ Planning Commission recommended denial of more sprawl
✅ City posted the connectivity amendments
✅ City Councilmember announced a UDO rewrite
✅ 208 residents signed up to fight for a walkable city
Hey Durham!
If you want to build a dense, walkable, mixed-use, green, and just city, please sign up at the link.
This page includes more information about the 400+ acres of sprawl rezoning/annexation cases happening this month.
Like/RT if you can
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We CAN make Durham a carbon neutral community but not without urgent and immediate changes.
We are headed in the wrong direction. Every day brings another city block’s worth of unsustainable carbon-intensive development. We do not have time to spare.
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If we wanted to, we could require above curb bike lanes on every new collector and arterial road.
The only thing holding us back is… ourselves.
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4. Kannapolis adopted the best street connectivity standards in the state.
Connectivity is a fundamental design element of creating cities for all transportation users.
Maximum average block lengths in most places can no longer exceed 550 ft (with exceptions & flexibility).
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