A Dog Story

I have often expressed my fondness for Durham's "texture" by which I mean that it isn't a carbon copy of dozens of cities across the Southeast. Durham has it's neighborhoods that might not be that much different than neighborhoods in those other cities but the combination of ethnic diversity, high tech opportunity, universities, cultural activities and sports make it pretty special. However, every once in a while a story comes along that illustrates what I mean without mentioning any of these things. The link is to a local blog called BullCityRising by Kevin Davis. I've never met Kevin but his "about me" says that he has only been in Durham since 2005. It also says he has a job which is amazing because he is the most prolific blogger on the good things happening in Durham that you could possibly imagine. This particular post is a dog story. However, if you scroll through the blog you will see some great reporting on the development going on in Downtown Durham, most recently Greenfire's development plans. Over ten years ago I was one of the businessmen on the founding Board of Downtown Durham, Inc. Prior to that I had served two terms as the chair of the Chamber's downtown revitalization committee. Bill Kalkhof was the first and only president of DDI and IMHO should get a lion's share of the credit for getting the ball rolling for the revitalization of Durham's core. Never in our wildest dreams or greatest hopes back then could we imagine some of the stuff that is coming out of the ground now. Still I come back to the heart warming story of tracking down a lost dog as an illustration of Durham at its best. Enjoy. http://www.bullcityrising.com/2008/02/beans-return-a.html
Jay