The Durham City Council discussed last night whether to transfer $198,000 in funding away from a community development corporation criticized for working too slowly and achieving too little.
The council ultimately made no decision on whether to give the money allocated to Hayti Development Corporation to other nonprofit community housing groups, postponing action on the item for five weeks with an 11-2 vote.
"I want to give everybody the benefit of the doubt," council member Pamela Blyth said. "But in two cycles when this comes back, I need to be convinced that this money is put to good use.... I will be surprised if I hear anything that convinces me that we shouldn't pull this money."
Last night's debate centered around a recommendation from Greg Bethea, Durham's interim city manager.
Bethea's plan calls for the city to cancel its contracts with Hayti for the redevelopment of 14 houses and four vacant lots throughout East Durham, and to reallocate that task to other community development corporations.
Under the plan, the group would continue to rehabilitate five properties.
At the meeting, a few residents of Northeast Central Durham-a neighborhood where Hayti has been working on several housing projects-criticized the company for failing to achieve results. "Pull Hayti's plug and give it to someone that will do the work," Debra Davis, a resident of the neighborhood, said. "We need it."
Council member Jacqueline Wagstaff agreed that Hayti had accomplished little. "The only thing that we can see out of that project is a gravel lot," she said. "The prostitutes that used to stand on the sidewalk, they can now stand on the gravel lot."
But Kelly Bryant, who served for several years as a board member of the Durham Business and Professional Chain, said community development is almost never achieved quickly. "It takes a long time to get anything done, and it's no different now than it was then," he said.
And Beverly Rose, chair of the Hayti's board of directors, said unexpected delays-ranging from leadership turnover to new regulations on lead-based paint-had slowed the nonprofit company's progress.
"Keep in mind that no other organization has remained faithful to this community," Rose said, pointing out that Hayti works in areas that Habitat for Humanity and Operation Breakthrough do not.
Still, a few members of the council stressed the need to act quickly.
"It would really behoove us as a council to expedite this as much as possible," Floyd McKissick said, although he voted in favor of postponing the motion. "This is a neighborhood that desperately needs our help."
Others, though, said a closer investigation was necessary. "For us tonight to take action that would in effect, yes, cripple that organization would be disastrous, and I just don't think we're ready to take that step," Mayor Pro Tem Howard Clement said. "We have a moral obligation to stand up and support the Hayti Development Corporation."
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