With 98 percent of the precincts counted, the incumbent Mayor of Durham Bill Bell knew he had won again.

"As long as I've got one person on the ballot other than myself, it's a contest," Bell said at a party held in his and other city leader's honor downtown Tuesday night.

Bell took 77 percent of the vote against one opponent in the municipal primary, Steven Williams.

"I ran in 2005. I did put my name in the hat to run but during that time I was going through a lot of personal issues. One of which - I lost twins," Williams said as he campaigned earlier in the day near a polling location. "I've been in Durham for 36 years, so it's not like I'm new. I know these streets like the back of my hand; I know this city like the back of my hand."

But now Bell gets ready for his fifth term in office. He's served eight years already and has seen the revitalization of downtown. Now he wants to see that expand to neighborhoods.

"My immediate focus is going to be on revitalizing our inner-city neighborhoods. I think that's very, very important," he said. "I'm a firm believer if you have strong neighborhoods, you have a strong city."

Bell said city staff members have identified three neighborhoods to focus on.

"Northeast central Durham has experienced the most ... in terms of economic downturn. So obviously that's very key on our agenda," he said. "We're also looking at south side, which includes Rolling Hills, South Street, Roxboro Street."

"Neighborhood revitalization is a lot tougher to do than doing downtown revitalization. Primarily because when you're talking about neighborhoods, you're talking about individual homes. That's something you have to be very sensitive to."

Related Links

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