“The housing crisis has gotten worse. It seems we’re in a post-pandemic boom, with housing prices climbing even higher than they were at the time I wrote the story. The legislature hasn’t become any more permissive about giving cities options for dealing with affordable housing. In fact, there is a movement afoot to further restrict cities’ zoning rights.

I think the city—broadly defined to include city government, the nonprofit sector, churches, and activist groups—continues to grapple with how to provide housing for both potential owner-occupants and renters who don’t make much money. Million-dollar house sales are no longer uncommon, and it’s virtually impossible to find a house for less than, I don’t know, a third of a million dollars.

All of that, I think, is in some ways a continuation of what was happening when I wrote the story.”

– Barry Yeoman

“We were in survival mode for a significant amount of time, and things that depended on public events definitely took a huge setback during the pandemic. I do think we’re reentering a period where these institutions are building back, but one of the things we’re seeing—again at the top of the hierarchy of needs—is that the boom in real estate and rising costs are impacting those efforts, too.

One of the things that really began to change around 2010 or 2011 was that Durham, until then, didn’t have much of a street life. There wasn’t much outdoor drinking or socializing—not many outdoor brewpubs or places like that. That really started to change with the development of the area around the Rigsbee and Geer intersection: places like Motorco, Fullsteam, and Cocoa Cinnamon. That was really the first part of Durham where we began to see ourselves as a city where people gather.

As that district developed, it became very attractive to real estate developers. Now, I don’t know if you’ve been there lately, but it’s just packed with brand-new six- and seven-story luxury apartment buildings. Liberty Warehouse is there, the food hall is at Central Park, and goes all the way up to where Motorco is. But Fullsteam just had to close its doors. It couldn’t survive in a place where the rent became so high that it was no longer viable.

Yes, it’s great that Fullsteam is reopening at American Tobacco, but we’re definitely seeing the intrusion of the hot real estate market. It’s not just impacting basic needs like housing—it’s also affecting higher needs, like places where we can gather and socialize.”

– Barry Yeoman

“We’ve been doing Cyphers since 2017, every Friday. Then, when COVID hit, we weren’t able to gather safely in groups anymore, so we took some time away. When we came back, we switched to first and third Fridays.

Since we started the Cyphers, Rowdy—the guy I mentioned who passed away—was the main champion, the backbone of the whole thing. Now that he’s gone, we’re still trying to figure out what Cyphers look like without him. It’s almost like he built this thing on his back, and without him, we’re unsure what the future holds.

After he passed in April, we kept the Cyphers going from April through September, but then we decided to take a break and give ourselves some time and space to grieve. I think we’re planning to start it back up next year when it’s a little warmer, probably around April or May.

Right now, things feel a bit in flux. That tragedy really caught us all off guard, and we’re still figuring things out.”

– Pierce Freelon

“I think artists were particularly hard-hit because, for those of us who make our living through performing, gig work, or independent contractor work, it’s not like a nine-to-five where you can just switch to virtual. Our jobs depend on people showing up. A lot of people in the culinary arts and restaurant industry experienced the same thing.

There were many artists who couldn’t continue their work because they couldn’t bring in enough income to cover their rent due to COVID. Our city, though, was really progressive in its response. City Council created a grant program to support artists, and the ARPA—the American Rescue Plan Act—is still putting grants into the community to help support creatives, local business owners, artists, and entrepreneurs.

I think Durham has been particularly on the vanguard of progressive policy in using federal, state, and city dollars to help artists get back on their feet. That said, as I mentioned, artists are resilient. They’re creative not just in their art but in figuring out how to make money and get their work out there. It’s been an interesting journey, and while the impact has been huge, most artists have found a way to persevere and stay committed to their creative practices despite the hardships of the pandemic.”

– Pierce Freelon

“I think what’s really important for downtown is that it needs to continue to reinforce that it’s everybody’s downtown, right? If you live in Durham, the county, you should think of downtown Durham as like, ‘Oh, that’s my city, you know, that’s my place.’ You may not live there, but you should be as comfortable being downtown as everyone who lives here. It’s like how New York City is New York City for an entire region. Downtown Durham needs to be downtown Durham for an entire region. So I think that’s really important. I think that messaging and that thinking has kind of been lost.”

– John Warasila