Everything You Wanted to Know about Old North Durham Park but Were Afraid to Ask

FAQs | Timeline | Photos | Documents | 11/9/07 Memo | 12/10/07 Memo | 10/21/10 Memo

“[Old North Durham Park]is for the whole city, not just the CPSC [Central Park School for Children] and the whole city desperately needs more athletic fields, the butterfly garden the walking trail, the picnic spaces that the school parents say they want exist right now in Central Park – 1 block away – isn’t that the point of having this school in an urban environment? And a soccer field and kids playing are not mutually exclusive – won’t a big green playing field be good for the kids to use for their games during the day.”

-Email comments by Durham Department of Parks and Recreation Assistant Director Beth Timson, Jan. 11, 2005.

Defending Democratic Process and Old North Durham Park, or What’s at Stake in the Struggle over OND Park?

The effort by Central Park School for Children and its associates to change Old North Durham Park according to private plans and with private funds is a danger to the democratic process and the neighborhood’s low-income, primarily Latino and Black neighborhood residents. CPSC’s use of private resources to impose the modification of a public space to suit particular interests effectively privatizes public land, and orients the time and energy of our public officials toward private gain. At stake is not simply our neighborhood’s park, but rather the dangerous precedent that only those who can mobilize vast sums of money have voice in the future of our city’s public spaces. This effectively disenfranchises lower income residents (most of our neighbors) and makes government the conduit of private wealth rather than fair administrator. This distortion is what has allowed the displacement of low-income Black and Latino residents from the city center and its public resources (replaced with middle class businesses, leisure spaces, and owner-occupied homes) to stand in for the common good. Gentrification in the guise of “revitalization” is not new in our neighborhood. OND Park is one of the few remaining downtown public spaces primarily used by Black and Latino residents, and its conversion into a space designed by and for others will no doubt further marginalize this community. El Kilombo community center urges the city to reaffirm its prior commitment to maintain and upgrade the park, including its full-size athletic field, as a public park under direct city management.

QUICK BACKGROUND:

Since moving to its current building in 2003, the board of Central Park School for Children, a charter school adjacent to the Old North Durham park, has derailed the park’s improvement, especially the park’s much-needed full-size athletic field.  In 2005, the City Council passed a resolution reaffirming its earlier decisions and funding commitments for the upgrade of OND Park’s full-size athletic field among other improvements, emphasizing the dire lack of such fields in the city, especially the downtown area.  City council, in November 2007 rejected an attempt by CPSC to lease OND Park for $10/year for ten years in order to develop it for the school’s purposes.  Since 2008, the City and the Durham Department of Parks and Recreations, has not sponsored any public meetings for local residents to discuss the park’s development. Instead, CPSC has held private meetings attended by Durham Parks and Recreation employees with other private entities to finalize a Master Plan that doesn’t include a full-size athletic field.  Under the organization “Friends of Old North Durham Park,” CPSC expects to privately finance, manage and develop OND Park in a way that continues to marginalize and displace low-income residents in our neighborhood.

Background Information:

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Timeline
• Visual Evidence Illustrating OND Park Situation
• Old North Durham Park Public Record Documents

Past Kilombo Memos Regarding Old North Durham Park

• November 8, 2007: Memo from Concerned Citizens of Old North Durham to City Council contesting private leasing of OND Park to Central Park School for Children Foundation (with all referenced documents).
• November 8, 2007: (above memo without referenced documents).
• December 10, 2007:  Follow up Memo to City Council from Concerned Citizens of Durham
• October 21, 2010: Memo from El Kilombo to City Council, presented at Oct. 21 Work Session

Download a letter to City Council to send via email to City Manager Tom Bonfield, tom.bonfield@durhamnc.gov and the City Council Council@DurhamNC.Gov, Bill.Bell@durhamnc.gov,farad.ali@durhamnc.gov, Cora.Cole-McFadden@durhamnc.gov, Eugene.Brown@durhamnc.gov, diane.catotti@durhamnc.gov, Howard.Clement@durhamnc.gov, mike.woodard@durhamnc.gov