No city is an island

It's in the papers everyday and broadcast over the airwaves minute-by-minute. There's no escaping it. The recession is in full force, trickling from Wall Street to Main Street, with no indication that the economic turmoil is going to let up anytime soon. But the Bull City is a place that prides itself on its grit and fortitude. While the rest of the country is bending under the downturn's formidable will, Durham residents and officials said they are more than prepared to withstand the storm-and emerge as survivors.

The Good Samaritan Inn, found on a once-desolate patch off of Interstate 85, is no stranger to hard times.

Formerly the Durham Inn, a motel frequented by drug dealers and prostitutes, a judge ordered that the "public nuisance" be torn down until the nonprofit Durham Rescue Mission petitioned to use the space as a center for homeless families, which opened in 2005.

As of late, the center, which provides services to more than 160 of the city's most destitute currently, is showing signs of bending under the weight of a deepening recession that shows no sign of relenting. There are few things in the Bull City that the recession has not touched, Durham business owners and city officials said.

Demands on the center are up 7 percent, charitable donations down almost 8 percent and Executive Director Ernie Mills is tightening expenses to make ends meet, he said. The Missions' thrift shop, on the other hand, is buzzing, experiencing a 44 percent increase in sales as the number of those looking for low-end, discount goods rises.

"It's taking a bad turn on just about everybody," Mills said. "Even those that have a job are working scared on pins and needles and saying, 'Am I the next to be laid off?'"

The tidal waves of bad financial news that have dominated national headlines for the past year are increasingly making their painful ripple effects felt close to home.

Signs of the downturn have begun to appear in both the private and public sectors, by the numbers as well as in the stories of those struggling to keep their heads above water.

Early casualties were former Durham staples the Pizza Palace and the Book Exchange-closing their doors after 45 and 76 years of business, respectively.

The owners of other locally-owned stores and shops said they are keeping their fingers crossed that they will not meet the same fate, depending on the support of the community for their livelihood.

"Most small businesses rely on those with discretionary income and people are just not buying as much as they used to," said Larry Wood, owner of Ninth Street Flowers, adding that he has scaled back his inventory to accommodate the changes in spending habits. "People have to have a very good reason to buy flowers."

Down the road, at another Durham mainstay, the three-decades-old Regulator Bookshop has witnessed customers thinking twice before reaching for the next bestseller, said Co-founder John Valentine, Trinity '71. Although the store has scaled back on overhead expenses and adjusted orders to meet lower demands, he said he feels confident business will rebound.

"We're lucky to be here and I think we feel the optimism of the country," Valentine said. "I think things will start coming back. The people really want it to work."

Other Durham business owners have taken a more tongue-in-cheek approach to dealing with their financial woes. Outside of Orlando Morales' Native American specialty store, Native Threads, a large frog sculpture holds a sign advertising a "Bailout Sale."

"We're seeing the collapse of a certain form of capitalism," he said. "Big economic change is afoot. But I'm hopeful."

Despite the gloomy forecast, city officials suggest that if there is a perfect place to ride out the storm, Durham just might be it.

"Durham as a community is faring reasonably well as compared to other technology-heavy areas and in comparison to the state of North Carolina," said Ted Conner, vice president of economic development at the Durham Chamber of Commerce. "Some people say, 'Well, you're recession-proof.' Now, we're not proof, but we are more resistant."

The resilience of Durham's economy has not failed to attract national media attention. In October, BusinessWeek ranked the city the third-best in the country to weather the recession. More recently, CNBC featured Durham Mayor Bill Bell on "Beating the Odds," a segment on American cities that are successfully battling the downturn.

Conner attributed the stability of the local economy to its large health care industry and the presence of institutions of higher education and research.

"If we constantly read the news, listen to the news, all that's happening to us is we're being bombarded by bad economic news, but there are many businesses that are holding their own," Conner said, adding that the vast majority of Durham's population is still in the workforce.

But city officials said they are not underestimating the urgency of the situation.

"The local economy is hurting. There's no way to camouflage that, but we are doing a lot better than the rest of the country for sure," City Council member Eugene Brown said. "Everything is a question of degree."

Brown, Bell and Clement all stressed the need for the government to take a proactive stance to create jobs and bolster urban economies. Durham has 29 "ready-to-go" projects in need of approximately $105 million in funding that would create more than 1,000 jobs, according to a report published Jan. 17 by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Mayors prepared these ready-to-go reports to jockey for a piece of the federal stimulus that passed last week.

"The whole idea behind the stimulus is to create jobs so people will be spending more and people will be producing more," Bell said. "Hopefully the economy can turn around, and you want to do that as quickly as possible."

City officials, however, said it is unclear how the government stimulus bill will impact Durham.

"In concept we support the bill," Clement said. "There's no question-infrastructure enhancements, that's what we need. It will meet some of the basic needs of the city and more importantly, it'll put people to work. That to me is the overarching requirement for a successful stimulus plan."

Until the economy kicks back, Durham residents said they are counting their blessings.

"In Durham, there is this real sense of community," said Randy Byrd, a clerk at Vaguely Reminiscent, a specialty store on Ninth Street. "We're in a lucky place."