The Good: The ArtsCenter
Last January, The ArtsCenter announced that it was pulling out as an anchor of Carrboro’s mixed-use 203 Project, nearly a year after it signed a development agreement with the town. ArtsCenter executive director Dan Mayer said at the time that the nonprofit had “decided to pursue other options that better fit our needs.” Last week, we got a clearer sense of what that meant: The New Jersey-based Nicholson Foundation, a major ArtsCenter funder for almost a decade, granted the organization $1.6 million toward building its own $5.5 million facility at 303 Jones Ferry Road. Barbara McFayden, a Nicholson trustee who is on The ArtsCenter’s board, said it’s time for “The ArtsCenter to have a home that can showcase the imagination within so that it can flourish, embrace, and inspire more members of our community.”
The Bad: The Durham Housing Authority
From the Department of Bad Timing: Last week, news surfaced that on December 30—four days before a carbon monoxide crisis forced the evacuation of McDougald Terrace—the Durham Housing Authority Board of Commissioners awarded CEO Anthony Scott a 1.5 percent raise, worth almost $3,000, and a $15,000 bonus, with the Performance Evaluation Committee praising Scott for rebuilding the DHA’s relationships with the city and HUD and inspiring confidence that the agency could handle major rebuilding and renovation projects. Days later, the carbon monoxide crisis at the McDougald Terrace blew up—bringing to the surface decades of neglect and horror stories of mold and sewage problems and gas leaks—and the DHA had to evacuate some 300 residents to area hotels; it’s spent almost $500,000 on the relocation.
The Awful: The Raleigh Police Department
When you’re telling people not to “rush to judgment” based on video footage—in other words, not to believe what their eyes are telling them—things have gone sideways. This is the position Raleigh Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown found herself in on Friday afternoon, defending the body-cam footage the RPD had released in response to a viral video showing the brutal arrest of Braily Batista-Concepcion. And yes, the footage was bad, no matter which version you saw: Officers beating, punching, and kneeing Batista-Concepcion until his face was bloody and he had a black eye. As hard as the footage was to watch, Deck-Brown said, the blame lay with Batista-Concepcion: “Compliance and cooperation are so important during these types of encounters.” Batista-Concepcion returned to the hospital on Friday due to injuries sustained during his arrest on Tuesday.
Contact editor in chief Jeffrey C. Billman at jbillman@indyweek.com.
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