WHY is not a four letter word. But it begs to have some answers. It's not a political party, but a neighborly party. It's a City poised for change. We raise awareness; awareness to the broken things that need to be fixed. It may be that over time, WHY becomes the best vehicle for change in this City that we have ever seen. But it'll be because you get involved. I feel like someone has cut the horns off of our bull (and maybe cut off some other crucial parts as well). But there is no bull here, just real issues and real problems. For the most part, they are simple to fix. And this seems to be the case across this City. When I was awakened from a deep sleep a couple of weeks ago, the word flashing in my head was WHY. I mean it woke me up. It must have been because I went to bed wondering how so many simple problems lingered in being fixed and why stupid stuff just keeps happening. That was the beginning of WHY. And this web site is how I decided to figure it out.

I started this website because Durham is broken. It's not just one place here or there, it's across the board. Everywhere I go, I hear the citizens asking WHY. Hence, What's Happening to You (WHY). And I don't think I'll be able to give you a lot of answers as to WHY, but I hope to use this site to show those who lead our City, that there is no reason for things to be the way they are. Maybe we can get some of them fixed along the way. I guess those would be WHY success stories and another new page to the site. But right now, there aren't any success stories to share; just WHY. Maybe we could have the top 10 list of WHY. Who knows where this all will lead. But it's a start to getting the WHY fixed in our City. It's your City as well, so you have as much of a stake in this as I do. If it gets better for me, it gets better for you as well. And the day we quit asking WHY, well it'll be a big celebration for all of us.

We passed a $110 million dollar bond a year ago (we weren't out of money then and we're not out of money now; in fact there was somewhere near $1.2 million dollars left from last year that wasn't spent), our tax rate is one of the highest in the State, but our lives are filled with things that we should not just continue to have to put up with. That's what this site is about. It's those questions I hear everyone asking, WHY. When is the next question, but WHY is always the first one. We have more than a billion dollars in bonds coming down the tube; for schools, for infrastructure that is crumbling and for clean water buffers for the streams that feed Jordan Lake. That's $1,000,000,000.00 that we're going to need and have to repay as citizens and taxpayers. As an active participant in the citizen processes that help make this place (the 94th largest City in this great country of ours) better, I just feel that something is drastically wrong. There are just too many "broken" things that we have to continue to put up with when we shouldn't. It's my hopes that it is not becoming the norm that we have grown accustomed to all this "broken" stuff and that's good enough. Well, it's not good enough for me anymore and I hope it's not the norm for you as well. I hope this website will begin to point these problems out. I also feel it's not just the "broken" things, but the "broken" decisions and lack of leadership that leads to all this broken stuff. People mess up and things go bad; they get promoted. The decisions aren't related to jobs, they're related to those bad decisions people are making. The jobs really do not change. We need to start holding people accountable for their decisions, not just moving them around where they can continue to make these bad decisions in another position; perhaps even higher up the decision chain. We're in the top 100 largest cities in this country; we need top 100 people to make it the City it needs to be. WHY can't we get it right?

But I need your help as well. This project started because I saw so many things, just in my small window of the world, that were just not right. I can't be everywhere, so send me your "broken photos" (and a few words about it) or your question about WHY. I'll be more than happy to post them here for all to see. Pictures are, after all, worth a thousand words. And after this website really gets going, we can see just how well we are doing to fix this "broken" City. If we need to get some better leaders or better employees to do the job, then so be it. But it's high time we as citizens begin to point out all that is "broken" and see that it begins to get fixed. I'm just one guy, and this is the best way I know how to expose it all. Online for everyone to see. But with your help, maybe we can fix some of this "broken" stuff.

Durham is a great place; full of diversity and people who really care. I didn't begin this project to put Durham down. I started it to fix its "broken" parts. Or at least point them out with photos and WHY's. I know if I see these things, other neighbors across town must see the same things in their small windows to the world (your neighborhood). If I didn't want to live here and be actively involved in helping, I could easily move. But Durham is now my home. I learned at an early age that if you don't care about where you live, sooner or later you'll find yourself living some place where you don't want to live. So that's why I care and want to see things change for the better.

Send me a picture of your "broken" Durham (less than 2 megs please) and tell me a little about it. Or if it's just a question, send me your WHY. Maybe by exposing it all, it'll start to get fixed or we can get some new people who can fix them. Or maybe some answers as to WHY it is the way it is will surface. After all, we're paying for it. Pay more, get less. Those days are on their way out the door. Help me and maybe we can get it turned around. I'm starting this with my small window of the world. Send me your WHY.

Thanks,

RWP