RANT FOR A REPUBLICAN
This is a guess post from frequent Delaware commenter, Disbelief.
I read donviti’s post about St. Hedwig’s and Wilmington, and was saddened by his description of what has happened to the city, and even more saddened by the fact that no hope is in sight. I reacted to don’s comment about the teenager with the baby crossing the intersection in a manner designed to be a pain in the ass to as many people as possible by thinking, “Its her turf. She can walk anywhere she wants. You are not supposed to be there.” That thought is just a bit cynical and shows a political attitude that “We can’t do anything about it.” That’s the kind of attitude that allowed the DE GOP to rot from within, and threatens a growing effort to prevent the Del Dems from making the same mistakes of mindlessly complying with a status quo of authority and authority figures that stifles hope and prevents progress and hope.
Wilmington is the actual center of the State in many ways (except geographically, hube, in case you point this out to me). What can we do to improve it?
Someone made a tongue-in-cheek comment some time ago about Tyler Nixon running for Mayor of Wilmington. Why would I, as a Democrat, think this is a good idea? At some point we need results. At some point, we have to shed the sycophants who demand loyalty to their party and enforced condemnation of the other party. At some point, we must get behind the best leader on the horizon and say, “This would be good for the State; let party affiliations be damned.” Tyler has been forestalled at every turn by his party’s status quo. But a city Mayoral race is different. If he can’t move the party core, he can go around it by running a race typically outside the Strine/Rakestraw/Castle purview.
And for those Democrats who feel this idea smacks of disloyalty coming from a Democrat, think of the moral victory we could enjoy by saying, “If the GOP refuses to elect its best leaders, the Dems will do it for them.”
Hey Tyler; think about it.
I have to agree, but take one little exception with one sentence.
At some point, we have to shed the sycophants who demand loyalty to their party and enforced condemnation of the other party.
I think that people like Castle and Carper are loathsome because they demand loyalty to something more powerful than a mere political party.
They demand loyalty to in insider clique which dolls up all manner of backscratching and cronyism in the high sounding language of “bipartisanship”.
It is that loyalty to selfserving bipartisanship that is really at the cprrupt heart of what people call “The Delaware Way”.
I made the point of “bipartisan” between Carper and Castle on FSP, noting that the powerful soon realize that’s its easier for them to control us with interlocking political monopoly than it is to oppose the policies of each other. Soon they become like the pigs in Orwell’s Animal farm, and completely resemble the humans. Or is it the other way around.
The problem with Wilmington is nobody lives there. Oh sure, there are 73,000 people living in city limits. All of them could fit into Yankee Stadium.
But nobody lives downtown. Go to a “vibrant” city like NYC or Philly or Baltimore and walk down a downtown street with lots of shops on in. Over those shops are APARTMENTS full of people who live, work, shop, vote, and pay taxes in the city, and they go out at night IN THE CITY.
So Wilmington needs magnets to draw young professionals as well as bohemian artist-types to the city. This is not a mystery, urban planners know what these things are. And when they get there they need places to live. The way a grassroots urban renaissance gets started is that artists and professionals discover new resources, such as apartments or loft space, that are CHEAP and readily available. The city needs to clear any obstacles toward the formation of that phenomenon.
Wilmington also needs to work on the neighborhoods. The keys there are code enforcement on landlords (“fix it or lose it”), police presence, jobs, and public transportation.
A large influx of gays would help out and I’m serious. Maybe one of Nixon’s initiatives could be to attract gays.
Maybe one of Nixon’s initiatives could be to attract gays.
I think Tyler’s already on it – whether he knows it or not.
glad I was able to provoke some deep thought out of you for a change 😉
“If the GOP refuses to elect its best leaders, the Dems will do it for them.”
already done (markel and coons)
“The keys there are code enforcement on landlords”
the biggest holder of vacant property is the city of Wilmington. They take the (abandon) property for unpaid tax and then sit on it because nobody is willing to pay $20k in back taxes for a tear-down.
Strict Code enforcement is keeping those upper floors on Market Street from becoming cheap appartments. It is too expensive to bring most of those old buildings up to code. So the upper floors stay vacant.
Strict Code enforcement is keeping those upper floors on Market Street from becoming cheap appartments. It is too expensive to bring most of those old buildings up to code. So the upper floors stay vacant.
So why don’t the developers just bribe the local government, like they do in the suburbs?
I live in Quaker Hill, along with a great handful of folks who have very high hopes for this area between the Mayor’s beloved Riverfront and Downtown.
From where I am — in an area struggling for some change — the City is really lacking in the strategic thinking that could make a city tick. I am relatively new here, but am from Baltimore and lived through much of the transformation of the Inner Harbor and the mid-part of the city.
1. People need to be proud of where they live. This speaks for itself, I think. There are good things here and better cheerleaders are needed. You can read the comments in the NJ articles for the prevailing attitudes towards all things Wilmington and it is heartbreaking.
2. The city needs more homeowners. A city with a 50%+ rental rate (at least a city of this size) is simply never going to be healthy. While renters want to complain about landlords and landlords want to complain about tenants, it looks to me that both parties leave something to be desired here.
3. City leaders need to know how to balance the needs of residents and the needs of its business community. Both are entitled to be here and both need incentives to be here. And the city should take a good look at its middle class (and could-be middle class) neighborhoods and make damn sure that they stay stable.
4. People need a reason to be in Wilmington – the Riverfront shops are a huge failure for a bunch of reasons ( not the least of which the standard outlet shop thing was on the wane when these things opened and that this location is tough to get to), but there are plenty of other possibilities. Like getting the upscale outlets that are doing bangup business right now. Like getting a Wegman’s down there. Some retail destination is really needed and that does not seem to be on the horizon.
That said, I do think that the City offers some cool stuff – like the Jazz and Blues Festivals ( you guys better do a Drinking Liberally around these), Theater N, some nice restaurants and some really interesting history if you can find it. None of the City’s leadership seems at all invested in any long-term vision here – just the next deal for a new downtown building or new low income housing.
don, I wanted you to realize that there’s more than just strikingly good looks here.
Talking to the old timers, the theory is that I-95 ruined Wilmington. Everyone moved out.
“Someone made a tongue-in-cheek comment some time ago about Tyler Nixon running for Mayor of Wilmington.”
It wasn’t tongue-in-cheek. It was a straight-up call for Tyler Nixon to run for Mayor of Wilmington. And the call was made by a GOP party leader. Me.
Kind of defeats your argument, huh?
“People need to be proud of where they live.”
Sorry Oeddie, Wilmingtonians are more proud of a drug dealer who gave new basketball shoes to kids.
Apart from work, I stopped going into the city the night the Barn Door stopped having live punk/rock music. (The last show was Mother Nature’s Black Light Rainbow, for all you local trivia buffs.)
Everyone be nice to Dave’s ego. He’s a bit touchy right now.
Big difference between “tongue in cheek” and a request in earnest. That deserves clarification. Plus, it’s not his ego that is big. D’oh!
Talking to the old timers, the theory is that I-95 ruined Wilmington.
One of my (first tries at) college roomates was a grad student whose family lived on Jackson St when he was born. He says all his dad talked about was I95 killing the city. Their house was one of the many razed by the I95 build.
On a side topic, I grew up in Edgemoor in the early-mid-80’s. That is a great example of what an interstate with zero access at the time will do to an area. That in addition to cutting off the only direct path to work for most residents at the time (the old Hay Rd bridge getting closed down). Obviously, I was too young to see the impact in motion, but I certainly heard about it from many self-proclaimed historians. The Merchandise Mart used to be thriving. Now, it’s a quaint little tax break called Merchant’s Square. The Pallidan experiment seems to have done so well, too. OK, that last part was an outright fib.
Everyone has an ego, but why would I be touchy?
As for the discussion of what ruined Wilmington, it’s worth noting that not everybody moved out. While Wilmington, along with most other older cities, lost population in the 50s, 60s and 70s, it began adding population in the 80s and continues to grow.
Wilmington can thrive again if two things happen.
Delivery of Basic Services
Safety in the Streets
Wilmington has about 10% of the state population, 17% of the police force in the state an 47% of reportable crime. The city needs 50-60 more police officers.
Also, part of our campaign is a state wireless network and part of that nestwork can be used to track and prevent gun crimes by using remote noise activated sensors and cameras.
There needs to be an evaluation of combining some city services with the County.
Just a few thoughts.
Apart from work, I stopped going into the city the night the Barn Door stopped having live punk/rock music. (The last show was Mother Nature’s Black Light Rainbow, for all you local trivia buffs.)
*
Greatness! One cat from that band ended up on Taxi cab confessions. My only MNBLR tape self-destructed last year. The last place I saw them play was in the club off of Basin Road near New Castle.
Shit, I find myself in agreement with Mike Protack. The world is coming to an end.
“My only MNBLR tape self-destructed last year.”
Nancy, I think I still have the CD rattling around somewhere. I also saw them play the last show at the Co/Da tavern before it became a country bar.
“Wilmington has about 10% of the state population, 17% of the police force in the state and 47% of reportable crime.”
Yes, but Mayor Baker says it’s mostly crime from Philly, and Mayor Street says Philly’s crime problem is George W’s fault. Thus, when Queen Hillary is crowned, all will be well. The lamb will lay down with the lion, etcetera.