Good letter to the mayor from a downtown resident concerned about parking lot safety after the beating of Self-Help founder Martin Eakes.

The writer lives in a loft apartment and rents two parking spaces in the city lot that faces Main and Mangum. Her car was recently broken into and ransacked.

"We all have friends from Raleigh or Chapel Hill who are nervous about the safety of visiting downtown Durham," she writes. "It will only take one or two visitors being robbed or worse to kill the Durham Performing Arts Center's ability to thrive and thereby sustain all the great restaurants downtown during this economic downturn."

She proposes the city install a video surveillance system on the first floors and in the stairwells of its garages. The city has had mixed results with street surveillance cameras, but this would be different. She says she knows it's worth it because she's involved with pricing a security system for new parking decks in a $130 million state construction project in Raleigh.

"The cost is negligible compared to hiring nightwatchmen to do a hit or miss job. With modern video surveillance systems the cameras can be turned on by motion detectors ... That signal can be fed to a website that can be viewed in the police headquarters or elsewhere to minimize the need to watch each view constantly - especially late at night when little is happening."

She pays $50 a month for a space but would gladly pay another 10 percent toward a good video surveillance system. "A little spent now could help prevent the City from being charged with negligence in the future," she says, "which could cost the City far more than a video system."

Comment from pjp2008 at 8:43 p.m. Tuesday

Great facility (DPAC) but no sign of any police presence in the parking and walking area at night. Immediate area needs more lighting and security. Recent Divine Performing Arts performance on Sunday was excellent and well attended. Let's make Durham a safe place for cultural events.

Comment posted by ksdavis at 5:06 a.m. Wednesday

I disagree. I'm downtown 6-7 days a week, including at night, and feel very safe downtown in general. It's not uncommon to see bike patrols and the like checking in on the streets. The real question here seems one of a particular parking deck, not a general statement about safety downtown.

THE AL DELISLE LIST

Posted by Mark Schultz at 10:41 a.m. Tuesday

How big a loss to the Bull City is Assistant City Manager Alan DeLisle's departure? An e-mail from interim finance director Keith Herrman gives a good overview.

DeLisle oversaw some of the city's signature projects. Jim Wise reports in this morning's News & Observer (reported on this blog yesterday afternoon) that Minor League Baseball has concerns with the pace and quality of renovations to the Historic Durham Athletic Park. "Someone has to replace Al as the point person to nurture this relationship and ensure MiLB stays committed to Durham for the long term," Herrman writes.

The Greenfire developers, who envision remaking the center city as a place where people can live, work and play, is an even bigger concern. Greenfire has bought more than 25 properties in and near downtown. Its 17-year, 13-property project of building and renovation inside the Downtown Loop alone represents an investment of $295 million. But the public-private partnership deal is complex, Herrman tells City Manager Tom Bonfield. "Who takes ownership of the various agreements?"

And then of course there is the Durham Performing Arts Center. Cool building, no doubt about that, but naming rights are lagging. The city can force the developer to pay 60 percent of whatever comes up short, but it's on the hook for the remaining 40 percent, plus interest on anything that later comes in against the developers' share. "Who takes over the City leadership of the DPAC oversight committee upon Al's departure?" asks Herrman. "We need to designate a 'theater person.'"

DeLisle is leaving Durham to take over the Downtown Development Corp. of Louisville, Ky. He starts his new job Feb. 2.