In our last edition, Lena Geller wrote about what happened when Duke bought a duplex that housed The Living Room, a sometimes political community gathering space. Readers had mixed reactions to the piece, which, online, carried the headline “Duke Bought a Duplex That Housed a Thriving Community Space. Within Months, It Was Gone. Was That a Coincidence?”
From reader John Schelp (whose experience as a historian of the Erwin Mills area was featured in the story) by email:
Here we go again. Duke continues its long history of buying mill houses on the edge of campus and pushing out the tenants. This time it’s a wonderful young woman who has spent the last ten years building a community gathering space and garden on Swift Ave.
Duke bought the house and the next month began the process of pushing her out. Once the press got involved, Duke started carefully crafting its message, always protecting their image. But, in the end, out she goes. Shameful.
At the very least, one has to assume Duke will let the community garden remain until breaking ground on these unknown plans.
Finally, not sure why Duke didn’t propose to do what they agreed to do in the past and that is to give away the house for free and throw in the $10k demolition price to help to defray moving costs.
Save the garden and save the house, come on Duke, stop spinning and do the right thing.
From reader Marilyn Grubbsby email:
I just finished reading Lena Geller’s article about the Living Room. What an amazing piece of research and writing! I’m feeling equal parts of admiration and respect for what the space gave to the community while it existed, and for Geller’s work in bringing that to light, along with anger, frustration, and resignation at how Duke handled the situation. Also, I’m so glad that the Indy exists to do this amazing level of reporting!
From Instagram user jessd.light:
This is a pensive piece of journalism. What a loss of community space.
From Reddit user Hog_enthusiast:
Who cares? It’s a house. Like, it’s half a duplex. Maybe some cool stuff happened there but I bet we can find another half a duplex somewhere in Durham. If the person who owns a house wants to sell the house, and Duke wants to buy the house, I don’t think it’s really news. And I don’t really give a shit what someone who didn’t own the house has to say about it.
From Reddit user ForeskinWhatskin:
Talk about sensationalized headlines. Once again, Duke being made the boogie man of Durham. This is the kind of anti intellectual propaganda you see on fox news. A lot of the houses surrounding the undergrad campus are over a century old, falling apart, and probably loaded with mold. These buildings don’t need renovations. They need completely new foundations. No one should be living in a place like that. Also, one duplex doesn’t make or break an entire community and it’s culture. We need more education in this country so people know this BS when they see it. Media literacy is seriously lacking in the US and most people are eating the wrong rich. Eating academic institutions ain’t it.
And in response, from Reddit user Noteritrea:
Sensationalized headline? It literally describes what happened. Just because you claim the houses around Duke’s main campus are “falling apart, and probably loaded with mold” doesn’t make it true. Regardless, Duke buying residential properties around the city doesn’t necessarily fix that issue. Ultimately it either removes existing residential property from the market or, like the article describes, leaves Duke as the owner of a residential property in which they can kick the tenants out whenever they please.
And I would say killing any locally organized community is not to the betterment of the city.
Earlier this month, Bryan Anderson wrote for the INDY about Democrats expressing concern that appointing Jonah Garson to Graig Meyer’s former state Senate seat was “risky,” citing allegations Garson has denied. Some readers criticized the INDY’s decision to report on the officials’ comments.
From reader Damon Seils on Bluesky:
On top of the questionable editorial decision by @indyweek.bsky.social, it’s hard to see why a senator would go to this effort to smear a potential future colleague by repeating these anonymous—and, as far as we can tell, baseless—allegations. Politics is exhausting enough without this nonsense.
From reader Bonnie Bevan (one of the local officials who voted to appoint Garson to the seat) by email:
What was risky was publishing this article. Vindictive journalism- possibly unethical, I’d call it.
Did you actually look at the video of the bar scene where Jonah berated the bartender for serving an underage customer? He told the bartender “Do better..” The bartender didn’t like that.
And apparently you don’t know what a rule follower Jonah is. So using cocaine at a party doesn’t compute. Note Graig Meyer’s response.
The article stains the reputation of Indy Week. People will always remember Indy Week published this tacky story.
And lastly, Chase Pellegrini de Paur’s story on Fluid Garage, a new “women-, queer-, and non-binary-led community auto repair shop” in Durham, has struck a chord with many readers excited to check it out, including one who pointed out economic benefits to the model.
From reader Nate Joyner by email:
I very much enjoyed reading the April 6 article, “At a Soon to Open Durham Garage, Community Is the Driving Force.” While the opening of Fluid Community Garage is a win for Durham’s culture, it also represents a vital, often overlooked, financial investment in our city’s human capital.
In my opinion, Durham’s current economic growth is dangerously lopsided, focused heavily on high-end real estate and tech-sector offices. From a financial perspective, a healthy economy requires sector diversification. By providing a space for residents to learn high-demand vocational skills like auto mechanics, Fluid Community Garage acts as a low-barrier incubator for technical literacy. This reduces the “skills gap” and provides an excellent Return on Investment (ROI) for the community, given that, for every resident who learns to maintain their own vehicle or gains the confidence to pursue a trade, Durham’s overall household economic resilience increases.
Supporting “community-driven” business models is not just about sentiment, but also about building a local economy that is able to be more dependent on community, as opposed to corporate ethics. I hope to see more projects that prioritize skill-sharing and vocational equity alongside traditional profit motives, similarly to how this one did.
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