Durham Mayor: City Has Room For Improvement

Bell spoke Monday at his annual State of the City address. He spoke about gun violence in the city, which saw five homicide within five days.

"We must acknowledge that gun violence is an injustice to our children and all citizens, and we must have a cease-fire," he said.

Bell also said more needs to be done to retain quality firefighters and police officers.

Bell's speech was held in a restored building that is part of the American Tobacco Project downtown. The project is being developed by WRAL's parent company, Capitol Broadcasting. Bell said the project represents the past and future of Durham.

You can watch Mayor Bill Bell's State of the City address at 8 p.m. Monday on WRAL NewsChannel on digital cable channel 256 or digital channel 5.2.