The Durham City Council passed a motion to require permits to those selling items or soliciting on Durham streets for a $20 processing fee.
This new initiative affects both panhandlers and those selling the Herald-Sun of Durham newspaper. Permit holders have a set of regulations dictating where they can stand and how to address potential customers.
Such regulations include displaying permits on reflective vests, working from the median areas protected by a curb and approaching vehicles that are already stopped. Individuals must also be at least 16 years of age, work only during daylight hours and not do business in roadway construction.
The initiative was passed by a 6-0 vote.
Also on the agenda was the rezoning of the McFarland Property, a 13-acre commercial development site that runs along Chapel Hill Road. Council members, including Mayor Bill Bell, voiced concerns about the effect of the project on the environment and on local traffic.
Bill Ripley, a developer for Ripley Commercial Estates, which owns the property, conceded in some land use issues, agreeing that the land would not be used as a drive-in restaurant or as car dealerships and car shops. The land, however, can be used for sit-down restaurants, art galleries, banks, health clubs and hotels and will include sidewalks when appropriate. The motion passed 6-0.
IN OTHER BUSINESS: The Council also considered a major Special Use permit for the expansion of Duke's Perkins Library. A representative for the project's architect firm told the council that the extension would provide more storage and office space. He stressed that the project would have no major effects on the public because the construction is within the University's privately owned land.
There was no opposition to the project and it was passed by a 6-0 vote.
Bell announced Monday that the city this Thanksgiving will join other communities across the country in the "Feed America Thursday" program.
"I hereby urge all citizens to take special note of this occasion," Bell said, noting that 33 million Americans do not have access to an adequate food supply.
Feed America Thursday is a nationwide initiative founded last year in Provo, Utah. It calls on citizens to fast for two meals and donate the money they would have spent on food to a religious or charitable organization for the purpose of feeding the hungry.
The mayor called on the Rev. Ernie Mills, a supporter of the initiative, to comment briefly. Mills announced that the initiative will help to feed over 600 homeless people in Durham on Thanksgiving and asked citizens to fast and pray.
"That money that you would have spent on a restaurant, give it to the homeless," Mills said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.