The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, as it is wont, is passing out cards at some of the polls today listing the candidates it's endorsed.

That list includes incumbent mayor Bill Bell. But the committee's poll workers are also passing out campaign cards for Bell's opponent, Steven L. Williams.

A case of impartiality, or what?

Whether he realized it at the time or not, when City Council member Howard Clement moved last night to put off a decision on $175,000 for the Mok'e Jazz Cultural Center for two weeks, he was setting it at a critical time.

Oct. 5: Election Eve.

Clement and council member Cora Cole-McFadden are both up for re-election and both face multiple opponents in the Oct. 6 primary.

Both Clement and Cole-McFadden had previously expressed support for the grant, requested by Mozella McLaughlin and her three children to help renovate and expand the building she owns at 2520 Fayetteville Street for a community center with live jazz, a restaurant, rooftop garden and other amenities.

But they hedged their support at last night's council meeting, where one of Cole-McFadden's challengers and two of Clement's stated their positions on the grant and more than 20 speakers urged the council to help keep the Know Book Store -- McLaughlin's current tenant -- in business.

Cole-McFadden and Clement said they wanted a compromise that would aid both sides, and supported a delay to allow time for more negotiation between tenant and landlord, after Clement challenger Darius Little and Cole-McFadden challenger Donald Hughes spoke for the grant as community revitalization; and Clement challenger Matt Drew spoke against it as an overly risky investment of taxpayers' money.

Bookstore owner Bruce Bridges, who also runs a restaurant and holds weekly Jazz Nights at the building, has claimed McLaughlin's project could put him out of business. McLaughlin has offered Bridges a place in the Mok'e Center, but Bridges has said the increased rent he would have to pay for less space, plus giving up the restaurant operation to McLaughlin, would likely cripple his store.

Monday night, Bridges tossed a new issue into the dispute by asking the council to grant money for his business if it approved the McLaughlin grant.

Mayor Bill Bell also tossed in a new issue, wanting to know why the financial analysis that the city economic-development department for McLaughlin's grant application had not taken into account the cost of state and federal taxes her Center would have to pay as a for-profit enterprise.

Postponing a decision, Bell said, should be for the purpose of re-analyzing the Mok'e Center's reasonable cash flow and not for dealing with the Know Book Store, which he considered an issue separate from the grant, involving landlord and tenant.

But Bridges, and other speakers, made a connection in objecting to a public subsidy for one business that would jeopardize another.

Councilman Eugene Brown, who has said the Mok'e Center is not financially viable in opposing the city grant, passionately repeated that point during the council deliberation.

Councilman Farad Ali was equally passionate in supporting the grant, saying, "This is project that has life," and maintaining that the council had unfairly subjected the McLaughlin application to terms and scrutiny it had not applied to other grants under the city's Neighborhood Commercial Revitalization program.

Mayor Bill Bell filed for re-election this afternoon, making him the fourth candidate officially running in this fall's city election.

Bell has been the city's mayor since 2001.

City Council incumbents Howard Clement and Mike Woodard filed for re-election Monday, along with Matt Drew, who is challenging Clement for the Ward 2 seat.

Candidate filing continues until noon July 17.

This time last week, Mayor Bill Bell was in Washington to talk economic stimulus with the president.

Ever a gentleman, Hizzonner wrote a thank-you letter to the White House, both for his session with President Obama and some other highly influential people and for followup details about the administration's plan for a 21st-century New Deal.

Bell's letter also ticks off some practical matters Durham owes thanks for. In addition to the $4.85 million for stimulating the city's streets, which Bull's Eye reported Wednesday (see below), Bell mentions:

• "In addition to the initial roadway projects, the City of Durham just learned [Thursday] ... that we will receive an additional $516,025 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding as well as an additional $789,101 in Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) funding. ...
• "The City of Durham is also poised to receive approximately $556 thousand dollars for youth initiatives.  The City will use approximately $278,000 to provide an additional 75-100 youth with summer employment. ... The additional stimulus funding will also enable us to serve dislocated workers."

The block-grant money will go to services for low-income families, Bell wrote. The emergency shelter money to assist citizens at risk of losing their shelter and behind in their utility bills.

Lotta action on tomorrow night's game between Duke and Carolina.

As our sister blog, Orange Chat, reports: Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy and Durham Mayor Bill Bell have a friendly wager going on the game.

Giving his “State of the City” address Monday night, Durham Mayor Bill Bell ticked off a long list of the city’s accomplishments during 2008 before warning of tough times ahead in 2009.

“What’s for sure is, that we must prepare for the worst,” he said.

The Rev. Melvin Whitley asked the Durham City Council to support his "bullet ownership bill" Thursday, and got a mixed reception.

While council member Howard Clement and Mayor Pro-Tem Cora Cole-McFadden expressed enthusiastic support, council member Eugene Brown said, "There are lot more things that we can do that might pass constitutional muster and legislative muster and do a lot more good."

Sensitized by the volume of citizen complaints over recent water bills, the City Council talked Thursday about enlightening the public why their water costs what it does.

Reason is, the rates went up last summer so the city can pay for improving the water system before another drought comes our way.