In case there is anyone taking a break from holiday festivities long enough to check in here, here’s an Open Thread for you!
Are you following the shenanigans going on between Wilmington’s Mayor and City Council? Basically, the City Council has re-discovered that it is a co-equal branch of the government and that it has some leverage in the face of a Mayor who essentially doesn’t speak to them. This is being played out over the City’s budget which needs to be in place by 1 June. After some back and forth, City Council is sticking to its defunding of a couple of positions in the Finance Department and in keeping the $250K it added to its own budget. The Mayor seems to think that the defunding of these positions reduces tax revenue — which may or may not be true — but it is his job to spend funds allocated to get the job done. I’m not crazy about the Council adding more to their own budget for reasons that aren’t clear (and apparently not auditable), either, but they have some right to do this. So the Mayor has vetoed the budget and called for a “special Meeting” on Tuesday. The President of City Council has said IxNay on the “Special Meeting”, they’ll meet as scheduled on 30 May to vote on overriding the budget veto. Andrew Staub at the NJ got former Mayor Baker to weigh in on this too. He thinks that Williams needs to find a path to working with City Council. What I’m hoping is the City Council finds a way to have a more functional place at the governing table and that Mayor Williams figures out how local government works, but quick.
ALSO — if you are on Facebook, Peaceful Rioters for Wilmington, DE is providing some interesting commentary on this and other city issues. LIKE them if you are interested in what goes on in Wilmington.
In other news, there are global marches against Monsanto and GMOs today. You can get updates on the activity here. No idea where the Delaware marches are, but if you have any details, please let us know in the comments.
Then there’s this:
What Do You Call 242 Republicans in One House?
What interests you today?