Hurt from the past and hope for the future in historic Hayti area after Durham OKs $1.7M grant
DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- Larry Hester has never stopped believing in the possibilities of the historic Hayti community. It's why he and his wife invested in the community and built the Phoenix Crossing Shopping Center. Investment was important to the 73-year-old Hester because he was raised there. He walked the plaza with ABC11 and pointed out where businesses used to thrive back in the day.
"It means quite a bit. It's economic development," he said. "There was a market where my mother always sent me up to get groceries on my bicycle."
Hester is an Air Force veteran who became a part of the Fayetteville Street Planning Group, which is a group that advocated for the restoration of Hayti. It even asked the city to allocate millions of dollars toward reviving it down to the streetscape.
There's been a lot of wrongs done. So I'm not sure where the vision is going now. Hopefully, they're going to do the right thing.- Larry Hester
"Here it is, 30 years later, the sidewalks are finally being corrected," he said. "Nothing with curb and gutter."
On Monday night, Durham city council authorized $1.7 million in federal funds to go toward rebuilding and repairing homes and properties in Hayti, but there are questions about whether it's enough to repay this historically Black community for all it has lost through the years.
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"There's been a lot of wrongs done. So I'm not sure where the vision is going now. Hopefully, they're going to do the right thing," said Hester.
The money comes as the city's transportation department leads the Reimagine Durham Freeway Study.
It's an effort to develop a community-led vision for the Durham freeway corridor. Residents told ABC11 that there is distrust because urban renewal and the construction of the Durham Freeway split the community in half, which left the once thriving Black business mecca destroyed. The city never fulfilled its decades-long promise of rebuilding Hayti.
" We are very hopeful," said Thurston Miles, owner of Rhythm & Brews Bar and Grill.
He and his wife, Amy, just opened their business in August in Hayti's Phoenix Crossing. They are among many who believe the sun will again shine on Hayti.
"It may not return to the glory days, but we hope we can be a good stone in this community with a positive influence," said Amy Miles.
