Paul Calistro Announces for Mayor of Wilmington
Paul Calistro told friends and supporters over this holiday weekend that he was definitely IN as a candidate for the Mayor of Wilmington for 2012. From his Facebook page:
Thank you to the hundreds of friends and neighbors who have encouraged me to consider a candidacy for Mayor. I am quite convinced that the residents, communities and business owners are ready for our city to move in a new positive direction. This past week we took the first step and formally filed the Calistro 2012 Committee. Your collective energy, enthusiasm, and insights have been extremely helpful in making this decision. We recognize that our city has so many great assets and wonderful hard working creative people that need to be part of the transformation. Collectively we can truly “raise the bar” and reshape Wilmington into a City that strives for nothing less than excellence. We have assembled a team of concerned citizens to begin developing a plan for the path forward. As we begin this journey together, we invite you to contribute your ideas, concerns, and support. Please take a moment and share your thoughts with us.
This is fantastic news for everyone who lives in the City and who wants it to really live up to its potential. You can expect to hear some other “on the fence” candidates officially get in as a response to this shortly.
One of the best bios that anyone can get is the one that the News Journal did on Paul when they inaugurated their “25 Who Matter” series (I think they’ve increased this to 50 now). He’s been doing and instigating the kind of neighborhood-focused investment and development that folks all over the City have been clamoring for – and doing that in creative ways that keep neighbors invested. And he’s been creative in figuring out ways to help portions of the community that have been traditionally underserved – like kids aged out of foster care. He’s also one of the biggest boosters of small businesses out there – you can’t go many places (at least on Wilmington’s West Side) who aren’t already fans of his approach to support local small businesses.
Paul is an accomplished community guy and you won’t find many folks who will say otherwise. He has led the West End Neighborhood House to its place as a hub of probably the best work going on in Wilmington for community service and community development. It is certainly the most vibrant of the old Settlement Houses and more recent community centers. The commitment and innovation coming from West End needs to be replicated city-wide, specifically to help other neighborhoods build from their own assets and contribute to the success of the city. His 20 years of working at West End also give him a strong understanding of the current strengths and weaknesses of city government in terms of service to residents as well as a partner for community and economic development. It has also given him the opportunity to develop some very strong working relationships with people in Dover, the local business community, as well as with many of Wilmington’s civic and neighborhood leaders.
There will likely be a more formal announcement/celebration sometime after the first of the year. But it is really great news that Paul has officially thrown his hat in the ring.
So what do you think, Wilmingtonians?
Tags: Mayor Race, Paul Calistro
I think this is great! Sign me up to help!
I’m in!
I”m not a Wilmingtonian, but this sounds great to me. But how does he overcome DPWilliams?
If you live, work, or play in the City, Paul is the only candidate to consider. This is going to be a very exciting race. I encourage readers who haven’t yet done so to head over to the Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/ConvinceCalistro. Give it a Like; Share it on your wall; leave your comments for the kind of Wilmington you would like to see.
First off, DPWilliams has not won the Mayor’s race by any stretch. Williams may have somewhat better name recognition to the suburbanites looking in (and in some parts of the city), but that doesn’t make the race for mayor hugely easier for him.
Secondly, Calistro’s assets do include lots of neighborhood connections (on both sides of I95), lots of relationships with businesses large and small in the city, and a long list of neighborhood-based accomplishments of the kind that people in the city say they want.
Third, the exasperation with the current state of city government (at pretty much every level) is probably hard to see and to grasp unless you are here and listening to neighborhood folks. As a result, it isn’t just the Mayor’s race that will be pretty competitive, but some City Council seats ought to be just as competitive.
Cass: I realize Williams has issues, and a major one is that the African American voters have divided loyalties. My worry is that mainstream D’s will consider him more of a known quantity and team player, and will fund him accordingly.
WOW. Great news! As someone who both lives and works in the city, my vote will finally be cast with meaningful confidence and conviction. Knowing what I know about Mr. Calistro, I back his efforts to lead Wilmington. Congrats to all!
What can Dennis Williams say he has done for the city?
http://www.wdel.com/story.php?id=39141
“What can Dennis Williams say he has done for the city?”
Are you under the impression the city gets taken care of in Dover without anyone in the city’s GA delegation advocating for it? Who do you think made the most effective advocate for the city in Dover? Hint: Which one has common ground with the other cops in the legislature?
Williams’ job was in Dover, and the connections he has formed there will be the basis of his approach to voters. He will also campaign on being the right person to restructure the police force. A law-and-order background is a strength, not a weakness, as is his connection to the Joint Finance Committee.
People aren’t voting on what the candidates did in the past, but on what they’re going to do as mayor. Williams will have a compelling resume to advertise — which is why I wondered how Calistro’s supporters will overcome it.
But I don’t think most voters have seen any personal benefit from what Williams has done. Many have personally experienced the benefits of Paul’s work. That will matter when they vote.
Don’t be silly. About 10,000 people voted in the 2008 mayoral primary. Unless you’re claiming 5,000 registered voters who have been personally helped will flood the polls, I don’t think that’s a big factor.
One other thing I neglected to mention in response to Cass: Williams, like Calistro, can run an outsider campaign. It wouldn’t be entirely true, but at least he is not part of the dysfunctional city government.
From what I understand, even Williams’ “ascent” to the mayoral race has been shady. The very LAST thing Wilmington needs is a mayor who flip-flops, back-tracks, and weasels about. And this all just to announce!
Um… No thanks.
I’m still trying to figure out why anyone cares. Wilmington is a perpetual boil on the ass of Delaware. None of these people are going to be its savior.
I’m not stumping for Williams. I’m explaining why he will not be easily vanquished. I don’t think charging him with flip-flopping is going to get the job done.
“I don’t think charging him with flip-flopping is going to get the job done.”
Nor do I, Geezer. My point is that his seemingly erratic path to the race doesn’t bode well for an individual hoping to gain the trust of voters.
He doesn’t have to “gain” the trust of voters. They’ve been voting for him for 20 years. That’s your challenge.
We’ve got this Geezer! 🙂
“He doesn’t have to “gain” the trust of voters. They’ve been voting for him for 20 years. That’s your challenge.”
CORRECTION: It’s Williams’ challenge to prove to voters in light of his questionable behavior in getting to an announcement, that Williams’ isn’t part of the same old Wilmington back-door business-as-usual cronyism for which the city is famous.
“CORRECTION: blah blah blah”
Get back to me when you put down the pom-poms. I said I’m not stumping for Williams and I mean it. I find cheerleading here in the locker room unseemly — especially from newbies.
Sinead, it’s one thing to claim that Williams’ behavior in announcing is erratic. It’s quite another to state that his behavior is “shady.” That suggests possible illegal or unethical behavior. Unless you can provide convincing evidence for such a claim, you should choose your words more carefully.
I really like Paul Calistro. We had a chance to work with him on improving the housing stock in Browntown and Hedgeville and in bringing homeowners back to those communities.
However, Dennis Williams also deserves plenty of credit, especially this year, for letting Gov. Markell know in no uncertain terms that the Joint Finance Committee he chaired would not support Markell’s push to cut medical benefits to the most indigent by $92 a month. That’s something that I think all of us here at DL appreciated.
All I’m saying is that it ill-suits Paul Calistro’s supporters to be throwing out all sorts of innuendo about Williams. Let’s have a race run on the issues of what’s best for the City.
DP has a temper that will make Baker look calm:). I have seen it in full bloom no innuendo here. He will not be able to suppress it. There is a big difference between mayor and legislator.
Geezer, I’m certainly not claiming that Williams will be easily vanquished. I’m claiming that he is nowhere near the slam dunk you often portray him as.
They’ve been voting for him for 20 years.
Only RD 1 has — and there are 3 more RDs for Wilmington who have never voted for Dennis P. Williams. And while he might want to run an outsider campaign, he is going to find it tough to erase people’s memories of his involvement with various city actors. He may claim that he is the goto guy to get stuff done for the City in Dover, there are other Reps and Senators who have been just as vital. Think Helene Keeley — and some of these Reps and Senators aren’t going to let him claim their work (their work as a team) for his own.
But more vitally, while DP Williams may have been in Dover getting stuff for the Administration, he was getting stuff for an Administration that was ignoring its neighborhoods. It is harder to be an outsider when you will tell people that you got funding for the projects that let the Administration largely ignore its neighborhoods.
Which isn’t to say that Williams hasn’t done a good job as part of the team advocating for the City in Dover. I just wonder how far pointing to getting an Administration shopping list is going to get you as a resume in this environment.
There was a piece in today’s NJ Opinion section co-written by Paul Calistro and David Moore from the Milford Housing Development Co discussing the importance and potential impacts of $100M in New Markets Tax Credits that ING applied for.
This is a little wonky, but points to some of his work philosophy. Joining forces with someone a county away to advocate for an investment program that will not just be good for Wilmington but for other communities as well.
In a sense, relatively few people have been “voting for” Williams. He got his seat essentially by fiat: selected by his district’s committee in 1995 to be Democratic nominee for the seat that Lonnie George vacated in mid-term to assume the presidency of DelTech. [John Flaherty was the only other person to offer his candidacy to the 1st District Committee.]
Williams got 63 percent in the special election against Karen Jackson Miller, a Realtor who is the only candidate the GOP has ever fielded against him. 63 percent is less impressive than it sounds. This is a district that the Other Dennis Williams carried against Mike Castle for Congress in ’96, while going 85 percent for the rest of the Democratic ticket.
Since, Williams has run unopposed except for three quixotic primary challenges, each after Williams had served a decade and had access to gushers of PAC money. Culling 1,400 primary voters every few years is sufficient against a threadbare first-time candidate, but does not bespeak a real organization.
Many suburbanites assume that City voters choose a mayor out of habit. They predicted victories for Babiarz in ’68, Vari in ’84, Frawley in ’92, Sills in ’00, all for this reason. Yet, the choice of mayor is the most fervently focused decision that a city voter makes. Neighborhood ties and ethnic loyalties play their roles, but are not immutable. The Ninth Ward gave Frawley his margins in ’84 and ’88; enough switched to put Sills over in ’92.
Geezer, I’m not sure what you mean by “newbies”, but, as a city resident I am looking for who would do the best job for the city. And I won’t just “cheer in the locker room” but will put my time and money toward Paul’s effort.
AQC: I mean people whose names I’ve never seen. You’ve been around for a good while.
I’m talking about the man’s chances for election. The task is simple: Find 6,000 people, plus or minus, who will go to the polls in September to vote for Paul Calistro. If you do this, you win. Go to it.
JM: Thank you for your analysis. I agree that Williams’ support has never been tested, and that he is beatable. Like JSG, I have heard tales of his temper. And another viable African American candidate would doom him by splitting those who will vote by race. All these things are exploitable.
The problem is that he’ll get the amount of money you said he’ll need, and use it to pound home his law enforcement bona fides and run photos of himself shaking hands with the governor.
It should be a fascinating race. I look forward to meeting Mr. Calistro.
Point taken, Dana. Thank you.
If you are interested in volunteering for the campaign, please send a message to calistro2012@gmail.com
Can you say Herman Cain. Amazing. Paul Calistro nor Hermain Cain; neither of these men represent honor, respect or values.
Neither should represent our country in any capacity.
Scoundrel.
Good luck, Wilmington, DE.
It’s about time. Best gift so far of the holiday season. I’ve watched Paul help people for 2 decades and I am proud to say I know him. Sign me up to help in any way I can.
P-Pattie– If you are going to make very strong accusations like that, then have the courage to be specific and to sign your name. Is Paul Calistro a perfect person– nope. Neither are you and neither am I. Not looking for perfect— looking for effective. And NO ONE can argue Paul Calistro’s effectiveness. So either “woman up” about your accusations or keep quiet.
Michele: The best approach is to ignore that crap.