DURHAM, N.C. – The City of Durham is busy preparing to keep operations running smoothly ahead of tomorrow’s predicted winter weather. If weather and road conditions worsen and operational decisions are made accordingly, residents and City employees are encouraged to stay up-to-date on information about City operational hours, program and service changes, trash and recycling collection delays, and more through the following ways:

• http://DurhamNC.gov
• http://Facebook.com/CityofDurhamNC
• http://Twitter.com/CityofDurhamNC
• Durham One Call at (919) 560-1200
• Durham Television Network (Time Warner Cable channel 8 and AT&T U-verse channel 99) The City’s Public Works Department has 22 trucks ready for salting and sanding city streets and will operate in 12-hour shifts until crews get all primary and secondary roads, bridges, and emergency routes cleared. The department is also coordinating with the local NCDOT maintenance office to ensure that State-maintained roads within the city limits are passable throughout this weather event. The City’s plan of action for clearing or reducing hazards on city streets is prioritized in the following order:
•  Bridges and overpasses throughout the city.

• Major arterial streets within the city.
• Streets to essential health facilities, police and fire stations, and critical community facilities.
• Routes to two City fuel sites.
• Streets within the central business district.
• Clear access to Durham Public Schools.
• All residential areas with priority initially to passage of emergency vehicles and then to all traffic.Residents and property owners are responsible for snow and ice removal in their driveways, apartment access roads, parking lots, and sidewalks. The clearing of private streets is the responsibility of the homeowners within that subdivision. In order to facilitate snow and ice removal on city streets, residents can help by adhering to the following tips:

• Stay off the roads if at all possible.
• Drive very slowly and carefully. If involved in a property damage wreck, motorists should pull off the road to prevent additional accidents and remember that it may take some additional time for an officer to respond to the accident due to icy road conditions.
• If at all possible, park cars off the street or highway to let salt-and-sand spreaders pass with ease.
• Treat intersections with malfunctioning traffic lights as four-way stops and proceed with caution.A decision on the collection of curbside trash and recycling will be made early tomorrow morning after an assessment of street conditions, and if the landfill that accepts the City’s trash will be open. Residents are asked to leave their carts on their curb by 7 a.m. on their scheduled collection day in the event collections can proceed. If collections must be suspended due to road conditions tomorrow morning, residents should leave their carts at the curb. The City’s General Services Department Urban Forestry Division and Landscape Services Division will be on-call during this event to help remove downed trees on City streets and public rights-of-way. Today, crews are prepping all equipment, such as chainsaws, bucket trucks, and knuckle loaders as well as pre-treating sidewalks and primary walkways downtown. The City’s Public Works Department, Solid Waste Management Department and Neighborhood Improvement Services Department will support Urban Forestry’s efforts to help remove larger debris as needed.To report downed trees on City-maintained streets, residents should contact the Durham Emergency Communications Center non-emergency line at (919) 560-4600 unless the downed tree presents an immediate, life-threatening hazard; then call 9-1-1. Residents and property owners are responsible for downed tree removal on private property, driveways, apartment access roads, parking lots, and sidewalks. Residents are urged to not touch downed trees or branches that are tangled up with power lines. Power outages and any downed power lines should be reported directly to Duke Energy Carolinas at 1-800-POWERON or 1-800-769-3766 (English), or 1-800-4APAGON or 1-800-427-2466 (Español). For weather-related updates for any Durham Parks and Recreation (DPR) facilities, recreation centers or special events, call the DPR weather line at (919) 560-4636 and select option #9. Updates will also be available on DPR’s website, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

To find out about GoDurham service disruptions, riders should visit the GoDurham website or call (919) 485-RIDE (7433) for details.

To All District 3 Neighbors, Please join us this Saturday, Jan 9th, from 10 am to noon for our monthly PAC3 meeting. The meeting is held at 1309 Halley Street, Durham, NC 27707 (Community Family Life & Recreation Center at Lyon Park.) This meeting provides a wealth of information and is a great forum for citizens to interact the with law enforcement and other Durham City and County departments.  If you have a neighborhood concern, bring it!

If you’ve never been to a PAC 3 meeting, come see what you’re missing! The meeting agenda will include: Guest Speaker/Topic:  Bertha Johnson, Director of the Department of Budget & Management Services for the City of Durham, will present an overview of the 2016-2017 budget development and oversight process in preparation for our annual “Coffee with Council” that is scheduled for our February monthly meeting. Ms Johnson will include the following in her presentation:

• How the budget is developed.
• Sources of revenue for the City of Durham.
• And how citizens can best voice their input.

If you have questions or recommendations to the City Council about the budget that you would like to submit prior to the Coffee with Council Meeting, please bring your questions in written format to the January meeting this Saturday. Your written questions will be submitted to the Council in preparation for the February meeting, “Coffee with Council.” Police and City Department Reports: As always the meeting will include reports from various City Departments and our District 3 Commander, Capt Robert Gaddy,Jr., offering you the opportunity to voice your concerns, questions and comments. *** Neighborhood Listserv Moderators: Please forward to your neighborhood listserv or website. Join us this Saturday. We look forward to seeing you. PAC3 Co-Facilitators JoAnn Comis jcomis@mindspring.com 919-225-5176 Mike Mayo mikewmayo@gmail.com  973- 722-4772

About PAC3:Partners Against Crime,District 3 is much more than our name implies; We strive to educate and provide our neighborhoods in District 3 with the tools and venue necessary to promote a stronger, safer community, and higher quality of life. Learn more at: www.pac3durhamnc.org

We had a great response of decorated holiday mailboxes for our first annual contest this past holiday season. Voting was tight. All mailboxes really added that holiday pop. The mail carriers also commented that they really enjoyed the decorations on their route. We did good! Thanks to all who voted.

And now the drum-roll please:

1st- Grand Prize Trophy for best classical ornate holiday theme:

• Box #4 — Carey and Perry Sharpe, 3122 Oxford Drive

2nd-Judges Trophy for Innovative holiday contemporary design that also lit up at night:

• Box #7 — Erin Richardson and Elliott Haucer, corner of Bexley and 3102 Hope Valley

3rd- Community Razzle-Dazzle Trophy for festive application of holiday bling:

• Box #3 — Kara and Jack Watson of 3107 Oxford Drive

Each winner will receive a Target gift card for $15 this next week.

Greetings Neighbors,

We are thrilled to announce that University Estates, for a 5^th consecutive year, has won a national award for our outstanding participation in the NNO 2015 crime, drug, and violence prevention program this past August.

This year’s event involved greater than 40 million people in over 16,000 communities from all 50 states, US territories and military bases worldwide.  We were one of a small select number of communities/neighborhoods selected among the nation’s best to receive this honor again.

It is our hope that this degree of success will empower and inspire other communities in building and growing their neighborhood watch programs, and participating in this annual event.

The NNO celebration serves as one of our core neighborhood watch activities that keep us focused in unity with local law enforcement to make our city and neighborhoods safe and crime free, and improve the quality of life for all. NNO is an annual event for our neighborhood and takes a team effort to put together, so please consider joining a team in the planning and hosting the event this next August for our neighborhood.  All are welcome and preparations start in early spring for the summer event. Stay tuned.

Stay warm and have a safe, enjoyable holiday season
University Estates Community