Wilmington’s Business Community Says Enough Is Enough
Yesterday, the NJ published a lengthy article where Wilmington’s business community officially went on the record to voice their disapproval of the Williams’ Administration’s approach to managing crime in the city. While news and complaints about the crime problem are not new, the fact that portions of Wilmington’s business community is willing to talk to journalists about their concerns is new and huge, I think. Previously, they could just reach out to the 9th floor and they usually had not just a sympathetic ear, but also an administration that at least tried to address their concerns. Not, the problem (while admittedly not that much bigger than before) is exacerbated by both the glib promises made by the Mayor and his people as well as an administration that is utterly MIA on this issue. It isn’t just that no one from the Administration will speak or even be seen to be proactive on safety issues (even the perception of safety issues), Wilmington’s business community has met with the Administration multiple times asking how they can help AND communicating that they can be counted on to support solutions. This effort has been met with silence. The Mayor and his people responded to the effort to deal with panhandlers downtown by assigning a round the clock (although I don’t think that they are so round the clock now) Community Policing Unit. This is the same kind of Community Policing that neighborhoods have been asking for over the last six years or so.
Government must seriously address the problem or risk losing the companies that employ office workers fueling commerce in Delaware’s largest city, business leaders and landlords say.
Some of these companies would leave now if they did not have tax credit or other supports that mean that they are committed for awhile. And I think it would be fair to say that some of the frustration with these business leaders is that they don’t think that the Mayor cares about the problem or is willing to step up to help deal with it. The fact that neither the Mayor or his Chief-of-Staff could rouse themselves to speak to a reporter, while The Governor and the new AG clearly thought that this was important to discuss adds to the sense of overall abandonment. I’m in touch with one firm whose employees are pressuring them to get out of the city and here’s been little to no triage by anyone from the Administration.
That said, this article contains multiple anecdotes of individual issues downtown, with no accompanying statistics for the area. And they exist. Showing these and comparing them with other areas of the city would have been useful and responsible, and I’d guess that they would show that effort needs to be in the high crime areas to further minimize issues downtown. But since the NJ is dealing in anecdotes here, I’ll note again that I live in West Center City and regularly walk to venues downtown and at the Riverfront. My neighbor and I have walked the Riverfront as early as 5AM. None of us have been accosted, either. But it is well past time for folks to stop believing that their workplace is going to be more crime free than where they live.
Even so, it is difficult to read where places like Camden, NJ; Philadelphia, PA; Baltimore, MD had reductions in most crime categories — certainly all of these places still have major challenges, but they are at least working hard on it. It is routine to hear officials from Philadelphia and Trenton on WHYY discussing this issue and communicating how seriously they take it, not so with the Williams Administration.
And while businesses are just now going on record, neighborhoods like Trinity, Cool Springs/Tilton and Quaker Hill (where I live) are being undermined by the lack of action on safety. It would be tragic for businesses to continue an exodus from the city, but homeowners leaving would be the nail in the coffin. Because there won’t be more homeowners, there will be tax-subsidized rentals. You don’t have to go far in Wilmington to see what that does to a neighborhood. But the issues with neighborhoods and homeowners is not new, either — unfortunately no one from the NJ will document how unhappy they are with the decreasing value of their homes and even the lack of enforcement of basic L&I laws.
Still, Matt Denn is a ray of hope here. He seems serious about addressing the crime in Wilmington and I hope that he has a partner for that in the Williams Administration. In the meantime, the conversation over the 2016 Mayoral race has started and so far I can’t find anyone who would vote for Dennis Williams again.
While I’m at it, here is a great article putting some of Wilmington’s revitalization success in context: There are two Wilmingtons. Here’s how you can help both
what a joke, no one wants to pay taxes…but they sure want the services.
Corporate responsibility at it’s finest. While they are trying to find ways around the CFPB they are complaining about muggings.
Leagalized usery rates and the city still can’t find a way to benefit from it.
“Government must seriously address the problem or risk losing the companies that employ office workers fueling commerce in Delaware’s largest city, business leaders and landlords say.”
“Do what we want done or we’re leaving.”
There shorter and to the point and can be used for tax cuts, incentives, crime, parking. Now that the crime problem is spilling over and affecting business, I guess it just got real.
Thanks for coming to the table business’ but can we work together on this? Or is it gonna be another “plow my street dammit, I’m payin’ for this shit.”
The thing is — as I did note here — is that business has tried to create a table to work together around. And no one takes them up on it. They’ve been working at it for 2 years now and they can’t get a response. Much like the residents of this city. The real news here is that they’ve decided to go very public with their frustrations.
The article reads as if it were written at the behest of the Wilmington business community, which clearly is sick of the administration’s incompetence. No hard data is presented, but the personal stories carry weight, as do the many, many people expressing frustration with Dennis Williams’ leadership, or rather lack thereof.
A few stolen smart phones pale in significance next to the murder rate, but the article shows the administration isn’t protecting the business district, either. And it’s not for lack of resources. Downtown is equipped with cameras, and the downtown visions people are an underutilized resource. The police force is among the largest per capita in the country.
Dennis Williams ran for office claiming to have a plan for curbing violence. He didn’t, and was so amateurish he let it show. This article illustrates he hasn’t even been able to keep low-level crime under control, and the non-natives who pay the wage tax are getting restless.
When Theo Gregory seems like the voice of reason, you’re looking at an Exxon Valdez-level disaster ahead. At least Joe Hazelwood could blame the bottle. What’s Dennis’ excuse? Too much Potter?
I imagine that the folks who would normally pick up the phone and talk to the Mayor or his designate decided to see if the News Journal would listen to them. Which has the additional effect of rattling the nerves of folks who live here and don’t normally hear these concerns.
Williams did not have a plan, which I spent some time pointing out during the race. What he did was to put on paper some of the things the WPD was currently doing and hope that no one would notice. He also pointedly dismissed an effort being created similar to that of the High Point Strategy as “hugging thugs” — even though this approach has had some success in other places. The problem is bigger than the WPD, of course, but he insisted that he knew how to make the city safer and now we know he did not.
Frankly I think the problem is that he doesn’t know how to delegate, doesn’t know how to let direct reports do their jobs and relies on folks who probably shouldn’t be relied on for advice. You hire good people and let them do their jobs and I don’t think that there would be many of these managers who wouldn’t tell you that they are being micromanaged to paralysis if they could.
Also, too, it seems his attention span … hey, is that a squirrel?
Apparently the squirrel is the coverage of crime in Wilmington by the News Journal.
There’s no doubt that the coverage of the city is overly focused on its crime problem, and there’s no doubt that the paper doesn’t see itself in a champion mode for either the city or the state they cover. Criticizing the messenger is a pretty silly strategy when the people in your city are just as fed up over the crime. Interesting, though, that he did *not* criticize the businesspeople who provided the fodder for the latest story.
Mr. Williams made a lot of promises that he can not keep. I feel he has really screwed the pooch on this one, and he very well may be out, unless he has some dirty trick up his sleeves, which I, for one, would not doubt, whatsoever.
Expand the city limits to make Wilmington a viable city and Wilmington’s African American community have to make a commitment to lowering crime and keeping neighborhoods clean. The District of Columbia is experiencing growth both in business and population and a whole new vitality, but there is no way around it, that growth is in the Caucasian and Immigrant communities.
Three things. This is a hit piece… Aimed at putting in a Republican in 2016… (Koch financed, lol)
and secondly, I agree with Venu Gaddamidi’s article linked to in the first comment by Cass.
and thirdly, am I the only individual who notice that Wilm’s first death coincided with two shooting deaths in the county (Bear), and all major coverage and discussion by state media on that day was only on the one in the city? As Cass has repeatedly pointed out here, doesn’t that beg a question being asked?
It is a shot across Williams’ bow. While the local GOP is working at a Mayoral candidate for 2016, they’ve yet to get a candidate that the business community could enthusiastically get behind.
For Wilmington in the New Year, I wish for a cross with Sills and Baker; someone who knows what to do and how to do it.
@PoO: A fine wish, but you’ll have to wait two years for it to come true and even then it will be a long shot.
Let’s start talking up Paul Calistro right now.
Sills? I wasn’t here for Sills, but am told on multiple fronts that his administration wasn’t especially competent, either.
Paul Calistro is not a city resident anymore. And Sills and Baker; really?!?! Williams is a horrible mayor but these problems did not just start with his administration. They started with Sills, got worse with Baker and are even worse now.