The Durham City Council heard citizens' comments on the city budget at a three-hour meeting Tuesday night.
The council, which also approved several zoning requests and discussed treatment as a substitute for jail time for felons with substance abuse problems, took comments from citizens on their recommendations for the 2001-2002 fiscal year budget. Citizens requested that the council allocate more resources to deal with juvenile crime and provide better housing.
"We were left with many questions concerning juvenile crime... from contact with a juvenile who has committed a crime all the way through the courts," said Mark Trustin, a representative of the City/County Violence Prevention Committee. "There aren't enough officers in the juvenile unit of the police department to address juvenile crime."
Trustin cited an article, published Tuesday on the front page of The News & Observer of Raleigh, that reports that many Durham juveniles who have been arrested for major crimes are nevertheless allowed to remain free for several months while juvenile investigators try to cope with a backlog of paperwork.
Several members of the Campaign for Decent Housing requested that the city refrain from reducing the number of housing inspectors and add two inspectors of nonresidential buildings to attract businesses.
"If two inspectors are cut, we may not be able to meet our goal of having every building up to code in two years," said Diane Wright, speaking for the group.
The group also proposed assisting residents who relocate from homes that are not up to code, making quicker repairs to low-income housing and hiring Spanish interpreters to help housing inspectors.
IN OTHER BUSINESS: The council approved by an 11-1 margin the rezoning of a sparsely populated residential neighborhood to accommodate a 106-lot development.
The developer, Centex Homes, which was seeking 110 lots before the meeting, agreed to cut four at the request of council members. Residents, who argued that the area's infrastructure could not support the development, had offered a compromise of 95 lots.
The council also voted 12-0 for a major-use permit for Shimar Recycling, a new facility in East Durham to process recyclables.
They also discussed details of when to let criminals with drug problems undergo treatment instead of jail time, but agreed to postpone the issue for further discussion.
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