Durham City Council breezed through its agenda Monday night, discussing everything from providing jobs for local citizens to the naming rights of the Durham Performing Arts Center.
Victoria Peterson, Durham resident and community activist, said she hoped construction service contracts for several parks and a theater in Durham would include workforce components that helped local youth find jobs.
"We really need to make sure that the subcontractors-as well as contractors-are hiring our local, legal citizens here in Durham," Peterson said, adding that as many as 1,500 could be employed if more workforce components mirroring those of the Workforce Development Strategy, a previous piece of legislation, were put in place.
Peterson asked that a similar workforce development program be incorporated into future contracts.
The council has received calls from concerned citizens willing to train prospective hires, mayor pro tempore Cora Cole-McFadden said.
Cole-McFadden noted that the activism of Durham residents is "why Durham is the great place that it is."
Council members also discussed the naming rights of the Durham Performing Arts Center.
Capital Broadcasting will pay $300,000 per year, a sum exceeding market average, for the naming rights of the plaza and lobby of the center.
Cole-McFadden was recognized for an award she received Nov. 11 at the NAACP's annual Freedom Fun Banquet honoring her civil involvement on youth issues.
Despite the event's focus on leaders like McFadden, she said that the banquet was all about "celebrating our young people."
In other business:
Council member Howard Clement raised the issue of fines for reported violations of environmental standards, including a sewage spill fine of $32,000.
Ordinances and plan amendments for the land use around several Durham streets were also discussed.
Council member Thomas Stith congratulated Duke University Hospital and its nurses for being named a magnet hospital by the American Nurses Association.
The Council also held a moment of silence for the late Reverend Robert Page.
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