Entertain this proposition: your county has before it a project designed by some of the nation’s most renowned land planners to be built on 165 acres, while keeping approximately 60 acres as open space.

The developers offer to donate two developed school sites, a fire station site and a sheriff substation site, and invest $6.5 million in local traffic improvements. This will be the first development in the county to voluntarily include affordable housing.

The project meets all federal, state (including the yet to be enforced rules pertaining to the region’s water supply) and county environmental laws and guidelines. And because it meets all of the local development ordinances, the county Planning Department recommended the project for approval.

Jeff Speck, the past director of design at the National Endowment for the Arts and co-author of “The Smart Growth Manual, “ gave the project a Smart Growth grade of 96 percent. By using Smart Growth principles and following the EPA’s own recommendations published in Protecting Water Resources with Higher-Density Development, the developers will be able to design 1,300 residences and 600,000 square feet of commercial space on only 85 acres. This density allows for the creation of 3,000 new jobs, millions of dollars in added tax base, and civic donations and improvements - at no cost to the taxpayers.

Would your county embrace this project? A majority of the Durham County Board of Commissioners has. This project is 751 South. Unfortunately, the truth about 751 South has been lost - most recently in the N&O’s May 3 editorial “Super support, “ where it was incorrectly asserted that runoff from this project will put at risk the water supply for three area towns. The 363 pounds of nitrogen runoff per year that 751 South would produce is less than the runoff produced if it were farmland and would not impact a water supply that receives 500,000 pounds of nitrogen annually from three sewer plants.

With the tax revenues generated from 751 South, Durham can engage in meaningful Jordan Lake cleanup. We would be honored to have that be part of 751 South’s legacy in combination with job creation, infrastructure improvements, affordable housing, civic donations and an expanded tax base. This is our home, too.

Alex Mitchell

President

Southern Durham Development, LLC

Entrenched prejudice

People in Durham believed Crystal Mangum for the same reason people in Scottsboro believed Victoria Price: because her story so affirmed all their prejudices.

So entrenched were those prejudices that even the clergy joined in condemning the innocent – and simple things like facts were not allowed to change their minds.

People are all the same regardless of color and those two trials prove it; as well as the adage that those who don’t learn from history are condemned to repeat it.

R. B. Parrish

Scottsdale, Ariz.

Crosses we bear

We all have crosses in our lives. Some come periodically and are handled without too much trouble. Others cut so deep they take your breath away.

I am still reeling from the murder of Randolph my youngest child. My heart aches when I think about how alone he was and all he went through before he died. The violence was horrific.

It does not feel as if it has been five years since my son’s murder. The cross of that part of my life has not lessened. I struggle everyday. on holidays, his birthday and the day of his death is forever imprinted in my memory. I love him more and more and he is surely missed. The act of murder affect people differently. It becomes personal and loved ones react in various ways according to what that person meant to them.

For the 20th Annual Vigil Against Violence some friends from The Religious Coalition For a Nonviolent Durham, Parents Of Murdered Children and I put out crosses on the lawn of Shepard House at 107 Driver St. representing many of the victims from 1993 to 2003. When I saw those little white crosses with names written on them in black lettering, I was stunned. No matter how much time passes the love we have for those so violently taken from us never goes away.

Since the emergence of gangs so many years ago murders have increased significantly and we are at war here in Durham. Fighting a war in other countries we have a specific target. But trying to fight this war on our home soil is a different story. We are fighting violence, murder, alcohol, addiction and low self-esteem. In most cases we end up fighting the people we are suppose to love and care about.

If we want to win the war and not just isolated battles, we have to begin at the root of the problem. The parents have to be helped as well as the children. We can take the children out of chaotic environment for awhile trying to affect change, but often forgetting that they have to return. They usually go back in to their survivor mode which is familiar to them, this is how the make it from day to day.

We are losing the war and the casualties are high and increasing. It doesn’t just affect a portion of our population; but everyone. We can win if we tackle the root of these problem as unit helping one another. A united community is our strongest weapon.

Brenda James

Durham

Not worth costs

Are we willing to sacrifice countless human lives in order to reduce the U.S. deficit? Most of us would answer “no” to that question. But are Americans aware that the recent budget cuts we have been hearing about might do just that?

By cutting funding by a proposed $700 million for the president’s global health initiative, Congress could be directly reducing funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR)1, a program that is successfully combating the transmission of HIV/AIDS and alleviating suffering world wide.

PEPFAR has played an important role in helping countries build sustainable health care systems to allow them to improve the health of their people. It has become especially crucial in the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS due to the recent discovery that anti-retroviral treatment has preventative effects as well. A recent NIH study has shown that those infected with HIV that are on anti-retrovirals (ARVs) are 96 percent less likely to transmit the disease, making anti-retroviral treatment one of the most effect prevention strategies. PEPFAR alone was able to give 3.2 million people access to ARVs in 2010. However, with the expected budget cuts, Congress is significantly reducing PEPFAR’s reach and directly impairing intervention efforts.

More importantly, because ARVs require that the person undergoing treatment follow a strict regiment, stopping treatment in the middle could actually cause more someone to suffer more than before beginning the ARV regiment. Thus, if PEPFAR funding is significantly reduced and the program isn’t able to continue funding anti-retroviral treatment, we are guaranteed to see an increase in transmission of HIV/AIDS, suffering, and death around the world. PEPFAR is also working with other organizations to try to create a working relationship between the countries in need and the countries giving aid in order to create sustainable and impactful intervention strategies. Not only would a cut in funding decrease the potential of PEPFAR to reduce the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the reduction would also impair the function of other programs across the world.

So the question we have to ask ourselves is: how can we, as concerned individuals, make it known to Congress that decreasing PEPFAR funding will directly cause increased suffering? Is it right to cut government spending in global health when there is a chance to significantly reduce HIV/AIDS prevalence in the world just to save a little money?

Jane Chen

Freshman

Duke University