"Don't Shoot: One Man, a Street Fellowship and the End Of Violence In Inner-City America" is a must read (well, maybe a you-really-ought-to-read) around City Hall and Police HQ these days.

"It's something that caught my attention," said City Manager Tom Bonfield. After he read it, Bonfield bought copies for City Council members. Bonfield said Police Chief Jose L. Lopez has also bought copies for his command staff.

"There's a lot of people looking at it," Bonfield said.

A delegation from the Occupy Durham protest arrived at City Hall while the City Council was meeting tonight. Mayor Bill Bell adjourned without giving them a hearing, but City Manager Tom Bonfield and City Attorney Patrick Baker stayed behind to meet with the group for about 20 minutes.

About 45 protesters wanted to know what city ordinance prohibited them from pitching tents at CCB Plaza, where the demonstration began on Sunday. They said they had been informed about 4 p.m. today that the city sanitation department would remove the tents if they were not taken down by 5 p.m.

By 5 p.m. the tents were gone, but demonstrator Mary Grace said police, when asked, had not cited an ordinance.

At City Hall, Baker said the city code does not specifically ban tents at CCB Plaza, but it is standing policy of the city parks department that erecting shelters there – "camping" – is not allowed without a permit.

City Councilman Mike Woodard, who stayed to watch the exchange, said afterwards that he had told protest organizers more than a week ago that they needed to apply for the permit in advance, but they had not done so.

Baker and Bonfield said the demonstrators were welcome to remain at CCB Plaza as long as they like, but not to raise tents or other structures.

They also refused to turn on the Plaza's electricity, which was cut off after demonstrators used it Sunday without authorization, despite a request from City Council candidate Victoria Peterson.

Questioned further, Baker offered to meet with Occupy Durham representatives on Tuesday after he consults with Bonfield.

Bonfield appeared to become testy as the meeting went on and questioners pressed for specifics such as the city's definition of "camping" and whether the shelter ban would be enforced in case of bad weather or in the case of homeless persons.

"You're going to do what you're going to do," Bonfield said. "We'll respond when you do it."

The group thanked Bonfield and Baker and returned to CCB Plaza, where an unsheltered "general assembly" continued the Occupy Durham demonstration.

This week's rains have forestalled water-use restrictions in Durham.

"Miraculously," City Manager Tom Bonfield said today.

More than 2.5 inches of rain fell Monday and Tuesday in the watersheds of Lake Michie and the Little River Reservoir, replenishing the city's water supply from about 70 percent of capacity to about 82 percent, Bonfield said. Seventy-five percent is the point at which Stage One restrictions are supposed to take effect.

At Tuesday night's City Council meeting Bonfield said he did not expect the rain to raise reservoir levels enough to avoid restrictions. But for the time being, he said, "We will not be moving forward with any water restrictions."

This week's rain is welcome, City Manager Tom Bonfield said Monday night, but it's probably not enough to put off water-use restrictions in Durham.

"It's not enough to move us out of drought conditions," Bonfield said.

In late August, with the city's water supply at 77.8 percent of normal, assistant Water Manager Vicki Westbrook said Stage 1 restrictions were likely "post-Labor Day" unless Durham's reservoirs received significant rainfall.

Monday night, Lake Michie was 3.5 feet below full and the Little River Reservoir was down nine feet. The rate of water flowing into the lakes shot up once the rains began Monday morning, but had been running far below average for the past week.

Bonfield said the water department will check stream flows and lake levels later this week, but "unless something drastically changes by the end of the week" he expects Stage 1 restrictions will be announced to take effect immediately.

Under Stage 1, city water customers could run sprinklers only once a week, instead of the three days per week normally allowed; and no exemptions would be issued for keeping new landscapes alive.

Watering by hand or with drip hoses, washing cars and washing outside walls and sidewalks would be OK. If the water supply falls to 55 percent capacity, more stringent Stage 2 rules kick in.

Bonfield said he anticipates that water-use restrictions will remain in effect at least until the end of October.

City Manager Tom Bonfield (right) proposed a $362.4-million budget Monday night for the coming fiscal year, including a .56-cent increase on the property-tax rate.

The increase would raise the city rate to 55.75 cents per $100 of tax valuation. That would raise annual taxes on a $150,000 house from $827.85 to $836.25.

City administrators had predicted a tax increase would be needed next year to cover debt service on bonds that voters approved in 2006, 2007 and 2010. Increases in water-sewer and stormwater fees, also previously forecast, are also part of the budget proposal. Those increases are 4.8 percent and 8.5 percent respectively.

The budget eliminates 10 positions, seven of which are currently filled. Bonfield said new jobs have been found for five of the affected employees, and he recommended creating new or un-freezing a total of 21 city jobs.

Employees can also look forward to raises, averaging 3 percent to 5 percent for police and firefighters and 2 percent for everyone else; and reinstating the city contribution to employee 401K retirement plans.

“That’s the most we can afford,” Bonfield said before his formal presentation to the city council.

“If the budget were described as a meal, it would be for somebody on a bland diet,” Bonfield said. “But it gets the job done.”

City Hall has been caught in some compromising positions lately, such as tearing up streets that were just repaved to replace a water main and docking a homeowner's bank account almost $83,000 for an erroneous water bill.

Those instances came up Tuesday night when City Manager Tom Bonfield (left) went to the InterNeighborhood Council to talk about the upcoming $20-million bond referendum for repaving streets.

Bonfield was asked how borrowing $20 million for streets might affect the city's similarly overdue maintenance on water and sewer lines. He explained that money for streets and money for water/sewer come out of two different pots. So, he said, the one doesn't affect the other.

"These two projects do intersect though," responded INC President Tom Miller, "in that we have to tear up the streets in order to do the pipes. We just resurfaced Englewood Avenue [in 2008], and now we're tearing Englewood Avenue up to replace water mains."

"That," Bonfield replied, "is a major screwup."

He went on to say the city "has systems in place now" to keep that from happening again; still, there's no guarantee the city won't have to re-repave a street if there's a sewer collapse or utility break or some other unforeseen calamity.

To which Miller said, "If you get that person to pay that $83,000 water bill you could probably pay for some of that."

Bonfield could only smile and say, "All right."

The City Council nudged along Greenfire Development's $4.2-million incentive package for a downtown hotel Thursday, setting a Sept. 20 public hearing on the deal.

Another city/Greenfire proposition, however, went back to the drawing board.

At the start of Thursday's council work session, City Manager Tom Bonfield pulled a proposed lease of a Greenfire property off the agenda, saying it was being referred back to the city administration.

"Much to my surprise, I was informed Greenfire had not agreed [to the deal] when I got to the office this morning," Bonfield said after the meeting. He said he had no idea what the problem was.

"It doesn't look like a major issue," said Greenfire partner Carl Webb. "We've been working with the city ... for quite some time to get it pulled together."

According to an Aug. 13 internal city memo, the deal would have the city lease 3,251 square feet on the ground floor of Greenfire's building at 112 W. Parrish St. for two years for $110,534.

The space would be used for a “Parrish Street Common Room”: a public-event venue with a theme commemorating Parrish Street’s history as a center for black-owned financial enterprise. It was proposed in the 2004 consultant’s report, “A New Era for Parrish Street,” on invigorating economic activity on the street at the heart of downtown Durham.

The first year’s rent would cover Greenfire’s expense to remodel the ground floor to city specifications. Money would come from the city’s Downtown Revitalization Fund.

Bonfield said he thought everything was set. Webb said, "We did not have everything solidified." Webb said.

Bonfield said, "It takes two parties to make a deal."

City Hall proposes to make an exception to a policy set just last May to provide Greenfire Development with $4.2 million to turn the Suntrust Building into a hotel.

"I really think this is a special case," City Manager Tom Bonfield said today.

The policy set $45 million as a minimum private capital investment for the city to consider a "major property investment." While total cost estimate for the Suntrust renovation is $52.7 million, its "qualified capital investment" is estimated at only $30.7 million according to the city finance office.

However, Bonfield said the complexity of Greenfire's overall financing plan and the difficulties involved in the building's structural renovation qualify the project for special consideration.

"A lot has to fall into place for this to happen," he said.

Bonfield plans to ask the City Council to hold a public hearing on the idea Sept. 20.

Suntrust Bank sold its 17-story building to Greenfire in 2006, after a new fire code forced the bank to close most of the building. Suntrust moved its own offices rather than undertake a difficult and expensive remodeling of the 1937 landmark.

The proposed agreement between Greenfire and the city is for a $1 million loan, to be repaid over 16 years, and $3.2 million in cash. Before it could get the money, Greenfire would have to finish the renovation by July 31, 2013.

The city is estimating that increased tax revenue from the hotel would more than repay the taxpayers' investment.

According to a city memo, Greenfire also hopes to secure $25 million from federal "recovery zone" bonds, $11 million in historic tax credits, $4 million in other tax credits and $1 million from Durham County.

Deputy County Manager Carolyn Titus said Greenfire has asked for county help with the project and the request is under consideration, but she is legally barred from discussing further details.

"All of that discussion is a matter for closed [commissioners'] session,” Titus said.

The Bull City Connector, a free bus service between Duke Medical Center and East Durham, began as scheduled this morning. And as befits a special occasion, driver Haywood Kornegay, city Transportation Director Mark Ahrendsen, Mayor Bill Bell and City Manager Tom Bonfield were wearing bright yellow sport shirts with Bull City Connector logos.

Bonfield said he was debating whether to wear his to tonight's City Council meeting, but he said that might present a problem.

"It's kind of hard to find a necktie that matches this," he said.

City Manager Tom Bonfield proposed a $353.4-million budget for 2010-11 Monday night, up 2.2 percent, or $7.7 million, over that approved for 2009-10.
 
His budget includes an increased property-tax rate and eliminating 31 staff positions, 15 currently filled. For the second year in a row, city employees are getting no raises, but Bonfield said he will ask the City Council to approve one-time bonuses for all employees if revenue is higher than expected by mid-year.

"On the revenue side I think we have bottomed out and begun to see some stabilization," Bonfield said before presenting his proposal to the council.

Of the tax increase, .49 cents is dedicated to increased costs for debt service on bonds that voters approved in 2005 and 2007 and .7 cents for the Durham Area Transit Authority to make up for decreased ridership and the end of federal stimulus funding.

"No aspect of the tax increase is going to support any of the [city] operations and core services," Bonfield said.

His proposed tax-rate increase is 1.19 cents per $100 valuation, to 55.19 cents or $1,103.80 on a $200,000 house.