Remember when DPS made the decision not to consider the Duke Forest tract site for a high school?

Erwin-Cornwallis Organization co-founder Elizabeth Vigdor came out tonight to express her gratitude for the district's decision and willingness to engage in "thoughtful dialogue." 

Just before the close of the board meeting (and by then, practically no one was in the audience), board member Fredrick Davis decided to address the controversy. I thought some of what he said was worth sharing. Here's his entire comment:

"We need to make sure from our administration that the public is informed when we have not made a decision on matters. You heard some representatives from the Erwin Road-Cornwallis group thank us for making a decision with the support of the administration. I want to go on record that I didn’t make a decision to support the administration.

The administration, in their own rights and responsibilities, made that decision and for the record, if it had been brought to my action, I would have voted for that property. Because one of these days, the citizenry of Durham is going to have to bite the bullet and make sure that we have schools in Durham County that’s going to reach the total community.

I just want to go on record on my position. And they can send all of the letters to board members all they want. We need to be clear that we’ve got to make a decision –and county commissioners as well – that we’ve got to make a decision on where we're going to build schools for the advancement of the children of this county. Those who don’t like it have to stand up to say we’ll help you find some property and we’ll pay for it. Otherwise, they need to let the administration do their job in finding appropriate property and then the administration will bring it to this board so that then we can make a decision.
But until this happens, this board has not taken an action on whether or not that was a good idea - but Frederick Davis said it’s [the former school site] a good idea!"

What do you think of what Pastor Davis said? Leave your thoughts in the comments, or shoot me an e-mail.

County commissioner Becky Heron has a definite opinion about Durham Public Schools' notion to build a new high school at Cornwallis and Erwin roads.

"It is just insane," she said.

"They are going to see a lot of opposition," said Heron, who lives nearby on Kerley Road.

They would have seen it, had DPS sent a representative to a neighborhood meeting Tuesday night.

The schools were invited, but if anyone was there he or she kept his or her presence quiet as an estimated 300 residents of the Lochn'ora, Arrowhead and other neighborhoods along Erwin Road jammed the music room at Forest View Elementary School and spread into the hall outside.

But former school board chairwoman Kathryn Myers was there, and she doesn't think much of the idea, either.

"Horrible, horrible," she said.

A Duke Forest tract at the intersection's southwest corner is one of several Durham Public Schools is eyeing to relieve crowding at Jordan and Riverside high schools.

The site in question, which is part of Duke Forest, has steep, wooden slopes, a wide flood zone and several creeks. A high school there would add about 500 vehicles going and coming each weekday via already heavily traveled roads.

"Erwin and Cornwallis are not built for that," said Elizabeth Vigdor, homeowners' association president of the adjoining Lochn'ora neighborhood and one of the meeting's organizers.

It's the second time this year a proposed school site has met neighborhood opposition over traffic and environmental issues. For residents along Erwin Road, it's one more instance of a development threatening the character of a stretch of Durham County that still has a sense of country about it.

Read more about the situation in this Saturday's Durham News.

A stretch of Pickett Road that has been closed for about a week now will remain so through late November, an engineer with the state Department of Transportation said today.

The DOT is replacing a 400-foot stretch of bridge on Pickett Road running over Mud Creek, which is near Pine View Circle on the western end of Pickett Road, said engineer Cadmus Capehart. The project is expected to last until Nov. 21, and the road will be closed until then. Capehart added that, as of July 31, the work was ahead of schedule.

The road closing is a hindrance for residents of western Durham near the Orange County line, since that section of Pickett Road is the most direct way for many folks there to get out to U.S. 15-501 via Garrett Road.

A detour sends motorists along Erwin and Cornwallis roads.