Schwartzkopf and Claymont
If you are the Majority Leader of the Delaware House of Representatives, it is probably best that you not reveal that you never knew that Claymont wasn’t an actual town.
Pouring over maps of Delaware for the past three months of his life, House Majority Leader Pete Schwartzkopf of Rehoboth Beach says he learned a lot about the First State as he drew new legislative district boundaries for the House of Representatives. “I’ll tell you something I found out,” Schwartzkopf told reporters during a redistricting briefing in his office. “The area of Claymont is not an incorporated area. … It’s like Hardscrabble in Sussex County. It’s not incorporated area. It’s just there.”
It doesn’t matter that I also did not know that. And I live in the Bellefonte area, just down the street. In fact, if Claymont is not an actual incorporated area, then why are there “Welcome to Claymont” signs on Philadelphia Pike and Governor Printz Boulevard? But I digress. I can afford to look idiotic, and it happens often. But if you are the Majority Leader, wouldn’t it be the wiser course to keep your mouth shut about something you just found out. Maybe I am being too hard on Pete, and perhaps this makes him look humble and folksy to his downstate readers. But I dunno.
Actually, the down state voters are probably glad that he doesn’t know much about Claymont. Shows he’s concentrating on his district. And, besides, who in Sussex County thinks anything good ever comes out of NCC? As you know El Som, he had plenty of input from the folks who know the area. Likely, more than he wanted.
“Hometown Overlay District” just doesn’t have the same ring to it as “town”. If Claymont were incorporated along the boundaries of 19703, its 17,000 residents would make it Delaware’s fourth largest town (after Wilmington, Dover and Newark).
I think it’s a CDP (Census Designated Place).
Claymont is many things. It is a CDP, a zip code, a hometown overlay district, and it is first in the hearts of its citizens. What it is not is an actual town. Claymont will have a very hard time reaching its potential as long as it is not an incorporated town.
With all due respect the only person that looks stupid here is you Del Dem. In the context in which Pete was speaking he was absolutely correct. The newest Incorporated town in Delaware is Dewey Beach in 1981. Claymont may well benefit by a move of the residents to incorporate. Some of m favorite people are Claymonsters!
ps: Was it shoe leather or canvass sneaker on your breath Del Dem?
I think I allowed for the fact that I can be an idiot, so your point is well taken.
FMD is correct. Claymont has endured much and takes a beating from people across Delaware. No doubt there are problems. But for many of us who live here, there is much to like and believe in.
Incorporation has positives and negatives. Would it bring local taxes? What about police protection, trash collection, snow removal? What form of government would we have?
It’s disappointing that Schwartzkopf doesn’t know more about this part of the state, but I’m not sure how much that really matters. Maybe he could come up this December for the Christmas parade and lunch at Claymont Steak Shop.
A more relevant example would be Long Neck. Hardscrabble is just a crossroads no one would know about if the landfill wasn’t put there.
If I wanted to spin this I’d say Pete just compared Claymont to a Sussex County Landfill. LOL
Well, Arden IS an incorporated town, and it doesn’t get jack-shit for that. We can’t even get a postal designation back.
Claymont is an historic area with a proud past and a future to create. I don’t know whether incorporating would help there, or not. but it wouldn’t affect the love most of us in the area bear for it.