If I Could Have A Moment Of Your Time…
It’s no secret that I’m 100% supporting Eugene Young for Mayor of the city of Wilmington. He’s young, energetic and has a vision and a plan for our entire city.
Cassandra wrote about him (and the other candidates) here. I’ll copy what she wrote about Eugene:
Eugene Young — Advocacy Director, Delaware Center for Justice
Eugene is a young man from Wilmington’s East Side who has spent his career in public service, including founding and running the Delaware Elite program. Eugene announced this month, with a hugely professional announcement (a nice press release, an intro video, and a website launch) controlled by the campaign (not forced by the media) and designed to capitalize on the groundwork his folks have been executing since the beginning of the year. He also started walking the neighborhoods on the day he announced. This promises to be a highly energetic and focused campaign effort by a young man (and a young-ish team) looking to change Wilmington’s tipping point to a positive one. He has alot of work to do to ask for votes all over the city, but he seems committed to spending the shoe leather to do that. I think that the campaign that he and his Team plan to run will upend the usual path to running for Mayor here, which should have some long term political consequences, not the least of which is energizing a group of young Wilmington professionals to weigh into a conversation about creating the city they want to live in.
I canvassed with Eugene this past fall and was impressed with his grasp of the issues and his solutions. I’m impressed by the broad coalition of volunteers and staff he has been surrounded himself with — people who are energizing their networks and creating one of the most professionally run campaigns I’ve ever seen in the city. It is gratifying to see (and work with!) younger people energized by stepping up to do the work of making sure that Wilmington is a great place for them to live in and work in.
The diversity and outreach in this campaign is awe-inspiring. Eugene is campaigning across the entire city, in every community. That’s refreshing and smart. Far too often candidates for mayor focus solely on certain communities. Even worse, a few pit communities against each other by employing fear and the familiar “tough on crime” stance, dividing the city into “us and them”.
It’s also no secret that campaigns need contributions. It’s also also no secret that our city needs a new direction and vision. I believe the person capable of setting us on a new path is Eugene Young. So I’m calling on (really, asking) the DL statewide community (because you guys are awesome!) to contribute to Eugene’s campaign. In order to keep track of our awesomeness please add .16 to your contribution. (You know… 25.16)
Click here to donate and make my day!
(Don’t forget to add the .16!)
*The campaign is having a citywide canvass/rally/bbq on May 7. All are welcome. Details here.
Tags: Eugene Young, Featured, Wilmington Mayoral Election 2016
Here’s my question. What real world experience does this candidate have? I know Al Mascitti was even raising this qualification issue on the radio before Al was unceremoniously dumped by WDEL. Eugene was the driver/ body man for Cory Booker for two years? With all due respect, that does not a Mayor make. Its great that he has energy and vision. But running for a seat on City Council would have been a great, positive first step & still gotten young people galvanized. Has he ever managed people? has he ever crafted large budgets? What does he know about negotiating with tough police and fire unions? Those are my questions. Seems like nice fellow, but I am VERY skeptical that he has the experience for this major undertaking …..
I’ll leave it to others to provide a point-by-point rebuttal… However, the candidate with “experience” working with police and fire unions (having one time been a member), with experience in crafting a budget (former member of JFC)… that candidate has been an abysmal failure. While I don’t live in Wilmington, from everything I read, everything I follow, and the people I talk to, someone from the current City Council jumping over into the Mayor’s office doesn’t scream “No brainer… We’re finally saved by sound and responsible decision-making.”
All of that to say that the typical pathway to becoming Wilmington’s mayor, a path marked by cronyism, piss-poor management and leadership abilities, yet still with that ridiculous stamp of traditional experience… That pathway has proven ineffective and a failure… Maybe it’s time for something bolder, out-of-the-box, instead of the same “lather-rinse-repeat” Wilmington politics that’s been going on long enough.
He was not a driver. As you know, mayors “like ours” are driven by law enforcement. He was Booker’s personal aide/bodyman. With the Mayor at every moment. In every meeting, in every discussion. I really don’t know why thats a problem. Jack Markell was SB Woo’s aide. John Carney was Biden’s aide. Young had other jobs too: like working in the state house, running a major non profit, and currently as the Director of SURJ, lobbying in Dover. To pick one job with a funny title on his resume and poke at it… sounds a lot like Sarah Palin bashing Obama, the Community Organizer.
I’m not comparing him to Obama, but the rhetorical parallel is striking.
Especially since everyone else thats running has centuries of experience as public and private sector leaders in Wilmington…. how’s that “real world experience” been working for the City to this point?
As someone who both lives and works in Wilmington I’ll simply refer you to Joe and Bane’s comments. Also, I join Pandora in urging you to join me in making a contribution to Young’s campaign.
I’ve met the candidates. I attended the first debate. The candidates with so-called experience (with the exception of one I won’t mention) are shocking. Tammany Hall style backroom dealers, perpetuators of blatant nepotism, proud disciplines of gentrification and basically a litany of old tired men.
The idea that Young is unqualified is lazy and untrue.
Hats off to Dorian, Bane and Prop Joe. Nicely done. Hope you guys can contribute – if so, don’t forget to add the 16 cents!
But I’m wondering who Chris is supporting and why? I hope he tells us – otherwise I’m not sure what his point is. (Not being snarky.)
know who else is a “body man”? gary on hbo’s “veep.” definition of body man per wiki: “a personal assistant and sometimes valet . . . often arranging lodging, transportation, and meals, and providing snacks, a cell phone . . .”
My point is that being a Chief Executive is a lot different than having energy and ideas. Jim Baker served as City Council President for 28 years before he became Mayor. Dan Frawley served on Council many years before he became Mayor. We haven’t thrown too many into the deep end as Mayor and just hoped for the best!
I think Kevin Kelley brings a lot to the table in terms of working across diverse communities, serving on Council and understanding the legislative process, and serving in a finance capacity at the state for DHSS. I have not chosen a preferred candidate yet. I respect that folks are enthused about a young candidate like Eugene. I am not bashing. I just think he comes up light on something that matters to me– experience! I am pleased that there is a crowded field of folks with diverse experience. I just like to know the actual, real world experience a candidate brings to office. It does MATTER! I would vote for him for City Council in a heartbeat, just not for the top job.
Lazy and untrue? Then list the qualifications, beyond body man for Cory Booker — who, by the way, has tighter ties to Wall Street than just about any other politician in the US. Why a connection with Cory Booker is supposed to excite us is another question.
@Bane: He was a body man. Deal with it. His “other jobs” are not what gets highlighted when he’s introduced. It’s always the Booker connection. So if that’s not a big deal, why does Young stress it. So your argument fails. Also, the other aides you mentioned were actual aides, dealing with issues of substance. A body man is not that.
@all three: As for the line about “how are the experienced candidates working for you?” let’s just remember that everything that’s been said here about Young not having experience can also be said — and has been said — by Trump supporters about his lack of experience. It’s a logical fallacy to say that the problem with the other candidates is their experience.
He’s a bright young guy with energy and ideas. He’s also a bright young guy with no connections to power centers in the state, and is unlikely to be able to deal successfully from the position of weakness that Wilmington perpetually finds itself in with Dover.
I don’t live there and have few reasons (and no desire) to visit, so it doesn’t much matter to me. But if I’m looking for someone who’s going to improve the economic standing of the city — and, Williams’ failures with violence aside, that’s the city’s real problem — I’m looking for someone more experienced than Eugene Young.
Eugene has the experience to move Wilmington forward.
He is Advocacy Director at the Delaware Center for Justice and works on criminal justice reform – including juvenile justice, improving reentry services, and reducing incarceration – policies that acutely affect Wilmington residents. http://www.dcjustice.org/index.php/policy-action/
Before that, he was legislative aide to Reps. Keeley and Bolden, working with Wilmington residents daily to solve their problems.
I think what really sets Eugene apart is his commitment to service – it’s pretty clear from listening to him speak that his reason for running is so that he can help more people from a position where it will have the greatest impact.
I think that he’s different from the other candidates BECAUSE of his youth – he has the ability to think creatively and establish partnerships to bring outside resources into Wilmington.
If you look at what he’s done on his own – starting a youth nonprofit on the East Side, bringing 30,000 books into Wilmington schools to improve literacy – think of what he could do with an entire city.
Sorry, but as qualifications for mayor, those are underwhelming. When I think of what he could do with a whole city, I see a shambles.
Running an organization is not a job for beginners. You have lots of people working for you who are actually working for themselves. You don’t get to staff the place with the people you want; you have to work with unionized public servants.
Show me where he’s cleaned up a mess, and then explain how he’ll ramp that up to clean up a mess the size of Wilmington’s.
“I don’t live there and have few reasons (and no desire) to visit, so it doesn’t much matter to me.”
And yet here you are weighing in on a community you don’t care about (or desire to care about) or really understand. Eugene has been quite successful in attracting people who actually live in the city. His ideas and policy resonate with city voters who are extremely tired of the same old, same old.
I agree 100%, Mini. People discounting Eugene’s experience are being dishonest about his accomplishments. Not sure why they need to reduce him to one job when he’s held many positions.
@Chris, I personally like Kevin Kelley, but for some reason he simply doesn’t connect with the voters in the mayor’s race. He hasn’t been able to fix that for whatever reason.
Lucky an anonymous internet fortune teller and his or hers crystal ball is irrelevant to me.
Pandora’s point is a good one. Young isn’t running against what you think he might do. He’s running against other candidates.
One of the most important things about a public executive is whom they surround themselves with. If Young puts together a good team, that would go a long way towards overcoming any issues with his inexperience (and as others have alluded, while inexperience may go into the negative column in a context free pro/con list, in Wilmington it may hardly be a drawback). One of the major detriments of the current Mayor is that he’s surrounded himself with yes-men, lacks the humility to have at least one or two honest advisors to keep him out of trouble, and has had incredibly high turnover among his staff (three chiefs of staff in three years). Young appears good at picking effective people and doesn’t seem to be so full of himself that he won’t listen to his team. Pandora, any idea who if anyone may be part of Young’s team if he gets into office? I think that’s just as important as who the Mayor is.
Doesn’t have connections to state power centers? If you knew all the elected and private sector Young supporters throughout the state, your concerns would be satiflsfied.
@DB: “Lucky an anonymous internet fortune teller and his or hers crystal ball is irrelevant to me.”
Great. I’ll mark that one down as “can’t answer.” Feel free to actually engage rather than dismissing points you can’t answer.
@Bane: Really? Any of those supporters run any of the big banks? In fact, who are they? Where’s the list? I couldn’t find it at his web site.
@pandora: I understand it a lot better than you do. What has Eugene Young actually RUN? How can someone with no executive experience run a city successfully? I’m skeptical — no, highly skeptical — of charismatic people with little background. But again, feel free to piss on people just because you don’t know who they are. Pretty odd angle for someone running a public blog — do you have membership fees or something?
“His ideas and policy resonate with city voters who are extremely tired of the same old, same old.”
So do Trump’s.
@DG: It was a simple question. List the qualifications. You couldn’t do it. Pathetic.
Wilmington has had a string of “experienced” mayors. Hasn’t worked out so well. Perhaps someone who has lived in the city their whole life and been around policy and government is exactly what is needed.
aaa, borhiem, bubbie, you beg for ‘civil discussion’, then try to compare someone who passionately wants to improve the well-being of his home-town to Trump?
Trump, btw, has a LOT of executive experience. The entire experience is failing up, but it’s still experience.
@aaanonymous Eugene started and ran a nonprofit right out of college to mentor youth in Wilmington.
These are kids that everyone had written off…who had no hope and no opportunity, much like many people in Wilmington now. Now they’re in college, have careers, and want to give back to the communities they came from…that’s the model for how you change a city.
In order to run a city, you have to understand its parts and its people. You have to surround yourself with people who have expertise in specialized areas, and be humble enough to delegate. Leadership is changing, and bringing that approach to Wilmington is the only way to transform city government into the effective, responsive service provider that we all want.
“But again, feel free to piss on people just because you don’t know who they are. Pretty odd angle for someone running a public blog — do you have membership fees or something?”
I have no idea what your point is.
I mean that you right away wanted to know who Chris was. I was dismissed as “anonymous,” as if Bane, Dorian Gray and Pandora are people’s actual names. Understand the comment now?
pandora: it’s young’s supporters who keep harping about his connection to booker, maybe to impress the rubes with a “big” name. on his own web site, the only specific accomplishment he cites is something called delaware elite, which from its Facebook site seems mostly about sports. a few other vague references to unnamed “nonprofit” work — the kind of thing anybody with enthusiasm can get (never said he didn’t have enthusiasm). a “feel-good” candidate like young won’t lift wilmington out of the cess pool. he seems like a fine young man, but maybe he should have had an actual job before becoming mayor.
@ben: Let me try to explain this in smaller words for you: First, I don’t care about civil discussion. I point out when people ignore the question to insult the questioner. Second, the comparison to Trump was to show how empty the compliment was. Understand now?
@Mini: “that approach to Wilmington is the only way to transform city government into the effective, responsive service provider that we all want.”
That has nothing to do with the challenge facing the next mayor, which is almost entirely budgetary. And surrounding yourself with other outsiders will get you nowhere in Delaware.
Again, Bane, where is this list of powerful people backing Eugene Young?
Seriously, you people need to learn how to conduct a political discussion. If you can’t answer these points on a blog, how is he going to answer them when his opponents raise them?
Nope. I didn’t ask who Chris was; I asked who he was supporting. Why you’d have a problem with that is beyond me. And please show me where I dismissed you as anonymous.
And while you’re at it, explain to me why you’re allowed to be rude and dismissive to people but it’s out of line when other commenters respond in kind? So if you don’t like it when commenters “piss” on you, perhaps you should change your behavior. BTW, I’m fine with your comments, but if you’re gonna dish it out…
@aaanonymous So looking at the budget, realistically at the moment there are no additional funds for community programming, which is what Wilmington desperately needs to address crime long-term and bring businesses back into the city. Streamlining and reducing redundancy can go a long way, but in order to fund these programs we will certainly need additional resources. That is something Eugene has proven he can do on his own, and why I support him for mayor – he can critically analyze the budget, but also look outside of those constraints to bring additional funding into the city through partnerships and grants.
Also, I think a lot of the time we’re looking at experience the wrong way. Instead of saying “I had X title, so I’m qualified to have X title again,” maybe we should be considering the sum of all of a candidate’s experiences, and how those experiences and skills translate to the position.
The skills learned in non-executive positions can absolutely be just as valuable as those learned in executive positions – managerial experience does not make you a good manager.
Here’s an example: a friend of mine runs a software development company. When hiring consultants a few years ago, they started looking for candidates with technical experience and banked on teaching them how to work with clients. Well, that went terribly for 2 reasons – 1) soft skills are extremely difficult to teach, and 2) previous technical experience did not actually shorten the time it took to train them in the specific programs.
Since then, they’ve changed that model and have had much more success hiring those who may lack technical training but demonstrate the capacity and willingness to learn – they found that technical experience doesn’t actually translate between jobs, even in a very narrow field.
Mini, thank you for all of your input. Many commenters have pointed out Eugene’s experience. Why certain people (not Chris) ignore these experiences – or at least won’t take the time to compare them to the other candidate’s experience – is beyond me. Fortunately, it seems like two of our biggest naysayers aren’t city residents so I’ll take their insight with a grain of salt.
more like a grain of “who gives a crap”
Im very excited that new people are stepping up to challenge the entrenched powers. Between Townsend, Meyers and Young (who am i missing) we have a real opportunity to overhaul Delaware’s government… Now if only someone would challenge Carney.
“Again, Bane, where is this list of powerful people backing Eugene Young?”
isnt one of your biggest complaints with Clinton the powerful people backing her? why the double standard?
@Dan
Sorry I missed your question! I’m not sure who will be on Eugene’s official team. I can tell you this… whenever I attend an event for Eugene I am impressed with all the familiar faces in attendance. The one that thrills me the most is Paul Calistro. Talk about someone who knows our city and has always had its best interest at heart.
pandora: are you calling me a naysayer on wilmington because i said it’s in a cess pool? i’m all for wilmington getting out of the cess pool. get it? i’m pulling for wilmington. it’s not being negative to point out real problems. or maybe you meant somebody else. in that case, never mind.
Wilmington is not a cesspool. I live here. I raised my children here. I love living here and I love our communities, restaurants, entertainment, etc.. It is not a cesspool. And I do resent that sweeping description.
And what real problems have you pointed out? I went back and reread your comments. I’m not seeing you point out problems. If I missed them please show me where they are. Thanks.
pandora: problems in wilmington — crime and poverty, mainly. incompetent (or potentially inexperienced) leadership, not much to do, brain drain, corporate drain. it’s not big enough to be big time (with some promising exceptions), but it has some big city problems. bad combination.
and, you’re right, cesspool is one word.
http://citiscope.org/story/2015/how-one-americas-youngest-mayors-leads-one-its-most-troubled-cities
As most of you know, I’m not from here — but one of the most beloved Mayors in recent Wilmington history (at least anecdotally), was Tom Maloney. Who became Mayor in a very difficult time and who was all of 30 when he took office. I can’t speak much to Maloney’s time in office, but I don’t hear criticisms of his tenure that are attributed to any inexperience — and most of the people I hear talking about him still regret that he wasn’t in office longer. And hey — Paul Calistro was Mayor of Newport when he was a young man and Newport certainly didn’t burn to the ground.
One of the other things that isn’t well known about Wilmington is that there is a fierce and growing group of young tech entrepreneurs in the City who are building quite the culture and economy in the City. They have a long way to go to surpass the influence of the banks, but what is genuinely awesome about these young people is that the biggest thing they want from the City is for it to work — not tax breaks, or handouts or any of the usual business butt-kissing — they want the City to work. Young people are at the forefront of the Creative District development — another group of folks who want the city to work and for it to be a welcoming place to live and create.
Wilmington already has young people working at creating something better here and it makes sense for one of them to step up for governing. Executive abilities are largely in who you can hire and in the culture you create to move your vision forward — and if his campaign is any indication, Eugene is going to be able to tap into a segment of talent here that isn’t usually involved with city government. No one knows who his governing team will be because he isn’t making any promises to anyone. So we have the tantalizing promise of a government that doesn’t consist of the usual retreads.
And getting out of the usual retreads is the way (IMO) to actually start tackling the City’s problems. You aren’t going to re-orient the focus of service in the city without an injection of new direction and focus. The current arguments for experience seem to argue for the usual cronyism and government for ourselves that is killing us now. Someone without these connections (which is what a stint in City Council would only provide a training ground for) has a chance at the kind of disruptive leadership that could start steering it all in a new direction.
I’ll note also that when the New Castle Chamber had their straw poll, Eugene came in second for choice for Mayor. Purzyki came in first by a landslide, which can’t be much of a surprise, since he is functionally their candidate. Mayor Williams didn’t get a single vote.
I attended the first debate. At this time, I mostly agree with Chris. I think Eugene Young is sincere, smart and dynamic. But, I’m not convinced he is ready to be mayor of Wilmington.
That said, I was greatly impressed with his public safety proposal: http://www.eugeneyoungformayor.com/issues.html. I’d like to see more policy proposals from all our candidates — for city council to Congress. So far, I’ve only seen truly substantive policies from Young (on public safety, link above) and Sean Barney (on democracy reform here: http://www.seanbarneyforcongress.com/newsroom-2/2016/2/15/sean-barney-releases-democracy-reform-plan).
Since I know pandora will ask, I’m not sure who will win my vote. It might be Young. After the debate, I have only managed to elimate candidates.
As someone who doesn’t live in Wilmington, I really don’t have enormous equity in this race. I think Wilmington is in a very desperate place, and I hope they get a Mayor – better than the current one – to get them out of the trouble they find themselves in. I can tell you it won’t be the “tech entrepreneurs”, many of whom don’t seem to have any products or customers or funding. I don’t know why anyone would start a business in Wilmington – it’s absolutely mind boggling, given the other options a successful business would have. I guess because it’s cheaper than Philly or Baltimore? But you get what you pay for and the people who can’t afford Baltimore… well, I wouldn’t suspect they are future captains of industry.
On Young, by all accounts, the guy is very nice and very competent. I don’t think, however, the questions related to his qualifications have been answered here. If the argument is he’s young and energetic (and these seem to be, really, the only arguments), I don’t think that’s enough. It’s too cute. If he were smart, or if he really wanted to impact change as he and his band of supporters – (many of whom do not live in Wilmington, they’re white kids from the suburbs who occasionally get drunk at Iron Hill and think it’s an urban experience. This will prove unhelpful considering you actually need votes IN Wilmington.) – say they do, then he would run for Council and wait 4 years while Williams (who will win a second term, despite being terrible), finishes out whatever hell he has still in store.
Then, at least, he’d have a platform for 4 years and some experience and a record under his belt that could be useful not only to him politically but also would make him a better executive. That would have been my recommendation to him.
In summary, he’s not qualified, he doesn’t have the votes, and he’s not going to win. But, I hope he stays in the game and uses whatever energy he generates from this run, to put his head down and do some real work.
I can tell you it won’t be the “tech entrepreneurs”, many of whom don’t seem to have any products or customers or funding.
This is quite wrong.
f he were smart, or if he really wanted to impact change as he and his band of supporters – (many of whom do not live in Wilmington, they’re white kids from the suburbs who occasionally get drunk at Iron Hill and think it’s an urban experience.
This is quite wrong too.
Which is how we know you don’t live in Wilmington.
“If he were smart, or if he really wanted to impact change as he and his band of supporters – (many of whom do not live in Wilmington, they’re white kids from the suburbs who occasionally get drunk at Iron Hill and think it’s an urban experience. This will prove unhelpful considering you actually need votes IN Wilmington.)”
Really, really wrong. And issued by someone who has obviously not attended an event/strategy session for Eugene.
I also find it amazing that serving on City Council is what counts as experience – and what only seems to count. Not to mention, several commenters have listed Eugene’s resume, which, for some reason, is ignored. No idea why people act like those supporting Eugene have only cited youth, energy and Cory Booker. It isn’t remotely true.
That’s right, I haven’t attended an event or strategy session for Eugene. I offered my thoughts and advice for free right up there on the internet.
“No idea why people act like those supporting Eugene have only cited youth, energy and Cory Booker. It isn’t remotely true.”
Well, since you’re privy to all of these “Strategy sessions”, you may want to add updating the About page to reflect all of this experience.
http://www.eugeneyoungformayor.com/page-about.html
I don’t see any of the things you’re talking about there. I can’t do this for you. And maybe spend a little less time on “strategy” and more time on execution and you might actually see some traction.
Just to reiterate – I have no gripe with Eugene, I just don’t agree he’s qualified to run a government yet. Sorry, we’re just not going to see eye to eye on that and I think the evidence offered is very poor. And when everyone calls out the light case you pivot to say “Welll well well Barack Obama.” Pretty lame.
Eugene is presenting a plan for Wilmington, not trying to fix it all by himself. Isn’t that we look for in leaders?
Eugene’s campaign is the most diverse and energized I’ve ever witnessed. And of his core team (iron hill youngsters) I don’t know of one that doesn’t live in the city.
All I can say about Eugene Young is that I had the opportunity to meet with him, and was blown away by the comprehensive nature of his vision. He may be young, but he’s mature well beyond his years.
Only Bryan Townsend in recent memory has engendered this kind of enthusiasm from me. I donated when I met him, I’ll likely donate going forward.
Having now listened to the entire debate at the Grand, only Young and Kevin Kelley sounded like potential mayors to me, by which I mean well-thought out ideas and the ability to inspire Wilmingtonians. Plus, I like the idea that Young might be able to tap into some of the people who helped Booker revive Newark.
No experience – Not Interested.
We already have a President that sold us on this same BS.
No experience – Not Interested.
Do you live in Wilmington, Tom Kline?
The President who sold us on “this same BS” rescued our country from GWB’s financial shitshow, yet Republicans still seem to blame Obama for things that happened BEFORE Obama was President.
Obama isn’t perfect. I’m disappointed with his presidency. I’d vote for him again if he was eligible for a third term. He’s much more rational and tolerable than anyone currently running for President.
Lol… That whole team lives in Wilmington. Of course there are volunteers who come from all over the state, but his team is Wilmington down. When I talk to voters, Eugene is consistently their 1st or second choice.
What I think is most impressive is that he has been able to generate all of this attention and buzz before doing mail, billboards, or paying for huge events at the Westin Hotel.
This is a good sign that he will be smart with tax payer dollars and not blow them on things like hiring a consultant to do something that the state already paid for. I would expect better from someone with the experience of being JFC chair in Dover.
lebey, yes.
if you live in this City, Young is a refreshing choice in a race of older “more experienced” men who have either done some great things or not done enough in their years via positions of power, elected or not. A Mayor is not a dictatorship she or he needs to work with a team day in and out on every aspect of improving City life. Young seems to have that in place and his “young” supporters working on the campaign absolutely live here and absolutely know more about our culture than an occasional drink at iron hill. His actual plans that offer solutions and statistics are unheard of for this city in a mayoral race that likes sound bites from members of the good old politicians’ club. A few candidates are good guys, sure, but Young seems no less experienced in turning a city around than a real estate developer who effectively developed an empty eyesore or current or former council officials who have seen this city decline on their watch.
@pandora: Along with dishing it out, I make points. It’s not the insults, it’s the lack of intelligence. Insult me personally all you want; if you don’t answer the question I’ll still notice.
@ben: Someone said he had powerful backers. I asked who they are. They still aren’t listed.
People here are acting as if Eugene Young’s election will make all the deadwood players on City Council, in the unions, etc. suddenly become team players and do what’s best for the city instead of what’s best for themselves. None of what he’s done includes “cleaned up huge mess.”
Show me where Eugene Young has solved a problem and I’ll get interested.
By the way, I knew Tom Maloney. The Wilmington he took over was nothing like this one.
“Young seems no less experienced in turning a city around than a real estate developer who effectively developed an empty eyesore”
That’s the single most idiotic statement on this thread, which is saying something.
“Do you live in Wilmington, Tom Kline?”
“Tom Kline” lives in a server bank in Dayton.
Election 2016, News, Wilmington
WASHINGTON FILES AS IPoD WILMINGTON MAYORAL CANDIDATE
March 24, 2016
Steven Washington has officially filed as the Independent Party of Delaware (IPoD) Wilmington Mayoral candidate. He was unanimously nominated at the IPoD State Convention, held in Dover on March 12, 2016. Incumbent Dennis Williams faces a contentious Democratic primary with five other candidates
Steve Washington Files for Mayor
Steven Washington Files as IPoD Wilmington Mayoral Candidate 3/23/2016
Mr. Washington’s campaign theme is “Education, Appreciation and Communication”, aimed at building a broad coalition across many sectors and including more creative and proactive community involvement in city government in the greater public interest.
So far, he is receiving increasing positive feedback as more citizens seek an independent alternative of machine politics as usual. Mr. Washington warmly welcomes community input, active participation and assistance in his grass roots issue-oriented campaign for the People of Wilmington.
Contact: (302) 602-5149
e-mail: stevewash@comcast.net
FB: StevenWashington
Further information is available at: http://WWW.washingtonforwilmington.com and independentpartyofdelaware.com
STEVEN WASHINGTON is featured on CH 28 every 3rd Thursday of the month at 8 PM.
IPoDSteven WashingtonUrbanWilmington Politics
The deadwood players will still be the deadwood players. But a mayor who can inspire can also at least embarrass them into action. As ‘deadwood’, they only want to get reelected. Going against a popular mayor is not the way to do that.
And, a popular mayor with a vision that inspires can bypass the deadwood to a certain extent.
Finally, is there a candidate better equipped to deal with the deadwood? Maybe, but I’d like to know who and how.
Also, too, this from JTF:
“Just to reiterate – I have no gripe with Eugene, I just don’t agree he’s qualified to run a government yet. Sorry, we’re just not going to see eye to eye on that and I think the evidence offered is very poor.”
100% concur.
@ES: Sorry, not going to play that game. “Who’s better?” is a much different question from “Is this guy experienced enough to succeed?”
Experienced doing what? Only one candidate was part of the revitalizing of a failing city. That was Eugene Young. Which of the so-called ‘experienced’ candidates in the field offer anything similar?
Young does not possess the life experiences to run a city particularly one like Wilmington at this time.He’s a great salesman but when you get it home, you’re going to be incredibly disappointed and wonder what you were thinking when you bought it and there are no exchanges. you’re going to own this bad boy for 4 years
Godfather, AA: I understand the skepticism, I really do. I am a skeptic by nature. I like to think I have a real good BS detector. I was skeptical and my antennae were up when I met with the guy.
I am especially suspicious of the ‘salesman’ type. (Hey, my bosses were politicians for over twenty years.) But the guy wasn’t a glib salesman at all. Very well-spoken, yes. But it was the degree of thoughtfulness that impressed me. He’s thought through what he wants to do, he recognizes the challenges. As Yogi Berra might say, he has deep depth.
And I DO think that the contacts that he has made outside of Wilmington can be of great help if he’s mayor. I think he could bring some people in from outside the city who could help him. I also think that the city may well need an inspirational and galvanizing presence, and Young provides that.
At this point, I’m not trying to convince you. Although, if you haven’t met him I strongly encourage you to do so. You just might be as impressed as I was.
It’s not a game. We have a slate of candidates to choose from. We compare them and then pick our candidate. If Eugene weren’t running we’d still have to choose from existing candidates. That’s the way it works. It is about “who’s better”. How could it not be?
As far as life experience, I’m not happy with the majority of candidate’s experience when it comes to the city. My second choice in this race is Kevin Kelley, but, for some reason, he doesn’t connect. I’m not sure why. Purzycki is at the bottom of my list. His platform seems to be to build a wall around the Riverfront and certain parts of Market Street. That doesn’t appeal to me, and it sure doesn’t address the issues facing the city. But if you support him, that’s fine. We all have different priorities.
“Only one candidate was part of the revitalizing of a failing city. That was Eugene Young. ”
… you mean Cory Booker? He wasn’t a department head or manager in Newark.
He was his driver. i’m not discounting the job, but he didn’t have any responsibility, or accountability for fixing anything in Newark, so I don’t think he was a “part” of revitalizing a failing city. That’s the sort of stretching of the truth that really reflects poorly on your other arguments.
I won’t even touch the part about Newark being revitalized which in and of itself, I think, is a bit of a stretch.
He was not just his driver, or primarily his driver. Again, talk to the guy. He was his assistant and soaked up what Booker was trying to do. He had input.
The cheap ‘driver’ argument is the type of thing being peddled by his opponents in lieu of actually getting to know the guy and what he’s done. It’s not true.
And again, what type of superior ‘life experience’ do the other candidates have? Some of them ARE the deadwood that AA references, and some harken back to what they accomplished 20 years ago. All worth considering, but not a slam dunk in the bunch.
I know I can’t convince those of you who are skeptical. I encourage you and them to talk to him, then get back to me.
ElSom, that’s fair. I honestly do hear great things about the guy and absolutely think he could play/will play an important role as a future leader in the state. And I certainly have no great affection for the other candidates in the mayoral race…. I’ll keep my eyes and ears open.
A prerequisite to solving the city’s crime or other social problems is a strong vibrant economy. you better have a mayor that is well received by the guys in the thousand dollar suits. Of the 6 candidates Purzycki appears to be the only one of the candidates with that kind of credibility and experience. It’s hard for me to conjure up the image of any of the other 5 candidates convincing Chemours to stay in Wilmington
yes, godfather. purzycki offers the best chance to improve wilmington’s economy, and without that the other problems will not get solved. wonder if pandora just fears the prospect of having a white male in charge. she will be outraged to hear this, but that doesn’t make it incorrect.
And yet they are. For now. And make no mistake that they are staying because of Jack Markell and his team’s efforts. For now.
And this:
you better have a mayor that is well received by the guys in the thousand dollar suits.
is genuinely hilarious. Because there are people arguing about Eugene’s experience who said the same thing last time – except Williams was meant to be the guy who was ohsocredible to the suits because of his JFC “experience”.
Eugene’s team includes managing partners in some of the city’s largest accounting firms, prominent civil and criminal attorneys, real policy experts in public safety, environment, health & social service, criminal justice , redevelopment. This is a team of young and old people and it is very diverse. He is running a very different campaign that what has been done in Wilmington for some time — not paying attention to the usual cliquish boundaries. As of now he is running the most disciplined campaign of all of them.
What’s also fun about this is that some of the same voices now complaining about experience told you:
No one knew who he was
He couldn’t raise money
He had no policy ideas
And now your complaint (after blowing past all of the rest of these) is that he is too young.
Which is all well and good, but so far the only person consistently blowing past expectations is Eugene. This counts on any resume.
With all due respect to Purzycki, the state threw millions upon millions to the Riverfront Development Project–and they would have done it with or w/o Purzycki. Which is not to say that he didn’t do a good job. But the vision was that of Russell Peterson and Dr. Trabant as well as legislators like Bob Marshall.
Purzycki was at least as much beneficiary as he was benefactor.
He IS the choice of the $1000-suit guys. But I don’t think he’ll be the choice of the people who live in neighborhoods less tony than Mike’s. And there aren’t nearly enough voters in his community to get him through the primary.
He’d make a good Economic Development Director for the City. Just don’t know about mayor, though.
“wonder if pandora just fears the prospect of having a white male in charge. she will be outraged to hear this, but that doesn’t make it incorrect.”
LOL! Yeah, I’m the one outraged on this thread.
This:
Which is all well and good, but so far the only person consistently blowing past expectations is Eugene. This counts on any resume.
and this:
Purzycki was at least as much beneficiary as he was benefactor.
He IS the choice of the $1000-suit guys. But I don’t think he’ll be the choice of the people who live in neighborhoods less tony than Mike’s. And there aren’t nearly enough voters in his community to get him through the primary.
are spot on.
We talk about experience (which keeps changing since I doubt anyone is touting Theo’s experience, but he does seem to meet the requirement), and I really question Purzycki’s decision of hiring a media consultant. If that’s priority spending for a campaign then I’m concerned what priorities would be set for the city.
“And yet they are. For now. And make no mistake that they are staying because of Jack Markell and his team’s efforts. For now.”
I would not take even money that Chemours will even exist in four years, let alone worry about whether or not it stays in Wilmington. Count it as gone because one way or another it soon will be.
The only part of the future of Chemours that will benefit Delaware is the vast amount of corporate litigation likely to ensue when the bankruptcy plans collide with legacy toxic sites. Ultimately those legacy sites will most likely be left to the government — the same ones now shoveling money they don’t have to a failing business.
This mayor blows. Purzicki sounds like he’s running to be mayor of the business class. Furthermore, we breezed pass Godfather’s point about how the business class won’t speak to the other 5 candidates. Can’t help but to assume that the two candidates you assume they will be receptive to are the 2 white candidates. These are the exact same racial politics that Williams and others (white and black) have used for years. This is why Eugene’s movement is so necessary.
^^^This. The current political climate is still too focused on itself and on what it can get for itself. This is the hallmark of some other recent urban city failures. Time to start disrupting that.
Barry saved us from nothing. But I agree that GW did screw us up big time. I’m one of the lucky ones and sold my investment properties in the city without losing to much. Wilmington is doomed.
No experience – Not Interested.
Do you live in Wilmington, Tom Kline?
The President who sold us on “this same BS” rescued our country from GWB’s financial shitshow, yet Republicans still seem to blame Obama for things that happened BEFORE Obama was President.
Obama isn’t perfect. I’m disappointed with his presidency. I’d vote for him again if he was eligible for a third term. He’s much more rational and tolerable than anyone currently running for President.