NIMBY

[Steve Jones]

As a rule, I've learned that I'm a little too
intertwined to voice much of an opinion on what goes
on around here. (Class of '83;  current Student
Activities Coordinator and SLI)  Nonetheless, I've
read pretty much everything in the papers and on the
WHHNA neighborhood e-mail list. 

I'd just like to point out in defense of Dr. Boarman
that it's not clear that he was suggesting the
Northwood High School is in Durham (see the article
http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-712437.html). It's
not a direct quote; it appears to me that Boarman said
NCSSM was joining a conference with Northwood, Orange
and Cedar Ridge high schools, and perhaps it was the
journalist who gave the locations. I've not known him
to get details like that wrong, though I'm sure it
could happen. (Northwood is a high school in Chatham
County, south of Chapel Hill.)

Also, with a school of more than 600 students, it's
not surprising to find 2 students who would like to
play tennis at 9 pm at night. It's a novelty, after
all, and we're enjoying a premature spring. 

And to Kyle, whose note I just saw: no, there's no
required study for everyone. The current set-up
requires all juniors, and seniors on probation, to be
in supervised study during the first trimester (yes,
kids, they're on trimesters now) while other seniors
have "study hours" which asks them to study on their
own during that time (8:30-10). Since the end of the
first trimester, only a small number of seniors and
juniors who have academic difficulties are required to
continue in supervised study, while the remainder of
the students can choose what they want to do during
that time. Some are throwing Frisbees around, some
swing, some play music -- but most do study.

I'll be glad to answer other questions if you have
them. Again, I'm not interested in getting into the
school vs. neighborhood debate, as y'all can have that
one.

  --Steve Jones 



--- Michael Bacon <michael at snowplow.org> wrote:

> Nick,
> 
> I could understand giving Boarman some credit if
> this were his first 
> offense.  But as anyone who reads this list should
> know, it's clearly not.
> 
> As for whether he was confused, well, there's pretty
> incontrovertible 
> evidence that his office had an official memo from
> the Durham City-County 
> Joint Planning Department.  With that memo in hand,
> he sent out a letter to 
> alums and donors with incorrect information.  If the
> man listened to WHHNA 
> and took their version of the story while ignoring
> the official word from 
> the only source that mattered, I suppose that
> doesn't make him a liar, but 
> it does make him one spectacular idiot.
> 
> (It doesn't help that in his gripes Boarman said,
> "We just want what the 
> other Durham high schools have, like Northwood." 
> Um, sir, that's Northern, 
> not Northwood.  Way to be in touch with local
> issues.)
> 
> On a side note, I'm all for NCSSM having plenty of
> athletic opportunities 
> for students, but is it really a good idea for S&M
> students to be playing 
> tennis after 9 at night?  Has tennis really become
> such an unbelievably 
> popular sport all of the sudden that all the slots
> are full before first 
> check, even though most tennis courts in the country
> have seen a dramatic 
> decline in usage over the past couple decades?  I
> mean really.
> 
> Michael
> 
> --On Sunday, March 19, 2006 11:19 AM -0800 Nick
> Gorton 
> <nickgorton at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > I think re-reading the editorial is a pretty good
> suggestion. From the
> > tone and statements in that, it can pretty much be
> summed up that the
> > WHHNA (or at least Ned Kennington) really doesn't
> give a rats ass if the
> > school is able to provide the best for its several
> hundred students if
> > that comes at the expense of an occasional
> annoyance for about a dozen or
> > so homeowners.
> >
> > The fact that the man is perseverating about
> tennis courts being lit
> > until 2145 speaks loudly to that sentiment. I can
> certainly understand
> > feeling slighted that you were not kept well
> informed that the school
> > changed the policy to have the courts available to
> students 45 minutes
> > later... but calling the school immoral,
> dishonorable, and unscrupulous
> > because they didn't send you a memo? Just that
> histrionic tone of his
> > editorial and the fact that he's worried about
> NCSSM's 'moral values'
> > (red flag! red flag! red flag!) screams:
> malignantly entitled nutjob to
> > me.
> >
> > And that's precisely the reason that I suspect the
> school is not really
> > keen on engaging them. If you have a neighborhood
> association that is
> > reasonable when you want to have lighting for a
> tennis court, you might
> > be more willing to negotiate something more
> contentious like what is
> > proposed. However, if people are unreasonable
> about smaller issues, it
> > can fairly well be assured that they are going to
> be even less reasonable
> > about bigger ones. Given that, its not surprising
> that the administration
> > might not actively seek out their participation
> and might try to
> > circumvent the WHHNA altogether.
> >
> > With regard to Boarman in particular, I think his
> actions should be taken
> > in context. In the article to which you linked,
> when the error (about the
> > zoning rules changing) was brought to his
> attention, Boarman admitted it
> > was a mistake. The article then says he: "brought
> up worries about a
> > rezoning after contentious discussions with
> neighborhood representatives
> > who led him to believe designation under the
> university district would
> > limit what could be built." So if you believe the
> article: the WHHNA
> > misleads him to think that the zoning rules would
> change, he cites this
> > as a reason to urgently address this, then the
> WHHNA derides him for
> > using the information they misled him about as a
> means of fundraising.
> >
> > So Boarman's mistake in this incident was that he
> didn't question the
> > veracity of the WHHNA? Or that he made a factual
> error (which he admitted
> > was a mistake)?
> >
> > Now, I certainly do not claim that I know this guy
> or even that he is to
> > be trusted. However, the information in
> Kennington's letter and the N&O
> > article do not seem to indicate that his actions
> in this regard are
> > reasonably inappropriate. Furthermore, its not
> like he's the CEO of Enron
> > who's only out to make a buck. Michael Bacon said
> this was about:
> > "Boarman being dishonest and misleading to all
> parties in order to get
> > what he wants." However, 'what he wants' is to
> build an athletic stadium
> > for a high school, and while the ends don't always
> justify the means,
> > they sometimes do.
> >
> > Last week I saw an actively psychotic and violent
> person (who was *huge*)
> > in the ER. He refused all oral medicines that we
> wanted to give him, so
> > we had to use an injection (which he also
> refused.) So instead of getting
> > half a dozen cops to hold him down, I lied and
> told him that I was giving
> > him a tetanus shot (since he'd gotten injured
> earlier.) He accepted this
> > and let me inject a nice slug of haldol. Was this
> dishonest and
> > misleading? Sure. Was it the right thing to do?
> Also sure. So have a look
> > at Boarman's actions in this light. 'What he
> wants' is to build a high
> > school athletic stadium, not to swindle elderly
> women out of their life
> > savings.
> >
> > Nick
> >
> >
> > --
> > R. Nick Gorton, MD
> > Diplomate, American Board of Emergency Medicine
> > 808 F Street #311
> > Davis, CA 95616
> > (504) 261-8379
> >
> > The plural of anecdote is 'not data.' - Roger
> Brinner.
> >
> > Few arguments are more dangerous than those that
> "feel" right but can't
> > be justified. -Stephen Jay Gould
> >
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> 
> 
> 
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