Durham parking deck's safety doubted

Durham deck site of brutal attack

DURHAM -- Even though a prominent Durham businessman was attacked near the city's new performing arts center, city leaders and those who work downtown say the downtown area is safe.

But some are questioning the safety of the city-owned Corcoran Street Parking Garage, where Self-Help Credit Union co-founder Martin Eakes was severely beaten Nov. 24. The parking deck is on Main Street about two blocks from the new Durham Performing Arts Center.

A number of area businesses use the deck, including Self-Help, and employees have become more dependent on security escorts to their vehicles. After dark, employees at Centre Studio Architecture, for instance, have agreed not to walk there alone.

Earlier this year, police received complaints of women being confronted and followed by suspicious persons in the garage, said Scott Harmon, co-owner of Centre Studio and co-facilitator of the area's Partners Against Crime group. The group allows residents and officers to work together in each of the city's five police districts to address local crime issues.

Eakes, 54, was walking from his office to his car at about 8 p.m. when four men attacked him. He suffered multiple bruises, a wound on his forehead that required 15 stitches and a severed left bicep muscle that required surgery.

Police have not made any arrests in the attack.

Eakes, who along with his wife started Self-Help in 1980, is a well-known business and civic leader in Durham. Based in Durham, Self-Help provides economic opportunities to high-risk applicants. It has grown to more than $1 billion in assets and has provided funding to more than 50,000 homeowners.

Eric Stein, Self-Help's chief operating officer, said Eakes is expected to return to work next week. He added that the parking deck's problems revolve around lighting and general upkeep.

Security cameras also are needed, he said.

"I think it's an isolated incident," Stein said Wednesday of the attack. "This one parking lot has things that need to be addressed that the city is working on. I personally don't feel the need to try to raise it into a larger issue."

Durham Police Chief Jose L. Lopez Sr. said police have already increased bike patrols, which occur day and night, since the attack, along with more patrols by plain-clothed officers.

Lopez said investigators suspect the attack was random, and that it doesn't fit into any downtown crime patterns. Crime in the area usually revolves around larcenies and quality-of-life issues, such as loitering.

"Visitors need not to be concerned about crime in downtown Durham, as it is a very safe place to be," Lopez said.

Attesting to the neighborhood's safety, Harmon said, is the fact that the anti-crime group's meetings have focused more on quality-of-life issues. And venues such as the performing arts center will bring more people -- and safety -- to the area.

"The more people that are down here, it will attract crime because crime follows people, but it will be harder to commit crime downtown because people won't find themselves alone here," he said. "A thriving urban environment where people are day and night is a very difficult place to commit crime."