The Purzycki Heat Map
As you can see, the potential Mayor-Elect Mike Purzycki owes his victory to the Highlands and the West Side, though he had strong second place finishes in those areas where Eugene Young notched his victories. Interestingly though, in those areas where Kevin Kelley won in the West Side, Purzycki did not finish second, but third or worse. Further, in the north and northeast, where the color indicates that he finished in fifth place, he really finished much worse than that. Like 6th, 7th or 8th place. I just ran out of shades of pink and space in order to express that correctly. So as Purzycki admitted on election night, he has work to there and across the city in Kevin Kelley’s home base. Another thing that I found interesting is that Purzycki finished third in the southern Riverfront area across the river. I would have figured the residents of Christina Landing would have put him in second at least.
Wow. Thanks, DD!
Well done!
Purzycki’s involvement with the Riverfront is business-oriented. The people who live there don’t have any special reason to like him.
Purczyki bought that race. If he didn’t payoff Norman Oliver and Charles Potter then Eugene a Young would be Mayor. How do you think Velda Potter won with her past record.
“How do you think Velda Potter won with her past record.”
Because nobody with better qualifications ran against her.
Are you kidding me. Ken Matlusky is a CPA and went to Noter Dame he is more qualified then her. And by the way I heard that when she takes office she is laying off 3 good workers to put her friends in there.
And he finished third. Perhaps if the fellow with no qualifications at all had dropped out Velda would still be on the outside.
That’s what comes of giving people like her window-dressing jobs in corporate America. The bank job led to Markell putting her on board for vote-currying purposes, etc.
It all started with the bank, and the people at the bank say she was useless there.
I would like to hear some comments, from DLer’s about Mr. Phillip’s article in the NJ, yesterday.
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/columnists/carron-phillips/2016/09/16/phillips-mike-purzyckis-arrogance-going-problem/90502444/
My response is that the News Journal got what it’s paying for. And I doubt it’s paying very much.
You now have an editorial page being run by the sports editor in his spare time, along with a columnist who was a sports columnist until very recently.
He’s not a bad writer, but you’re not going to get a whole lot of deep analysis from a guy who’s new to Wilmington and was hired basically to be the black voice of the editorial page. He’s a lot better than Berlinda Bruce and writes better than Rhonda Graham.
Mr. Phillips is wrong about gentrification at the Riverfront. As far as I can tell, no one lived there to be displaced in its development. We need to be better about the use of that word.
Otherwise, his point is on the money.
Matlusky finished third with about 25% of the vote. He started late and didn’t do much campaigning (as far as I can tell) — if he had gotten out of the gate better, made his experience AND lack of involvement with city corruption, I wonder how much better he would have done.
let me see if i have this right. carron phillips thinks purzycki might be a racist (code word: “arrogant”) because he pointed out that eugene young would not be considered for employment at a big company because of his inexperience. for one thing, it’s no stretch to say purzycki’s statement was true. for another, was it wrong to say this about young simply because he’s black? would it have been ok if purzycki had said this about a white candidate with similar experience? is it wrong to point out that trump lacks the experience to be president? of course not. i’d say carron phillips himself lacks the experience needed to write a column at the news-journal. or i’d say that if the news-journal wasn’t hiring anybody willing to work really cheap.
The problem with the “experience” argument is that it seems to only be used against young black people. What was Tom Carper’s finance experience before he became state treasurer…. campaign treasurer for Soles campaign for Congress? If some brand new, young, black County Councilman ran against Chris Coons for US Senate, people would be disgusted at the audacity. Joe Biden did it, but no problem there.
Before Bryan Townsend became a state senator 4 years ago, he had practically been a professional student and lived with his parents. Nobody bulked when he declared for US Congress against people who have had much longer careers in public service.
In a state where the good ole boys rarely bestow high powered private sector positions or public offices on young black males, it would be nearly impossible to run for an important office by checking all of the “traditional” boxes… unless they serve in a legislative body for 20+ years; in which case they will no longer be young or fresh.
To hold a lack of “traditional” experience against young minorities given Delaware’s history and extreme lack of diversity, would be like holding it against a rose for not growing in a desert.
This article confused me – mainly due to the timing. If what Purzycki said during one of the debates was that big of a deal then why not write this article the day after it happened?
Sure, I found Purzycki’s comments dismissive and, yeah, a bit arrogant. He basically said that Eugene was unqualified and that it “terrifies” him. Terrifies? That language seems a bit over the top, but as part of Team Young I know I’m biased.
And then there’s this comment:
This comment had many people questioning Purzycki’s grasp of the issues facing the entire city. I completely understand his election strategy – get out the votes in the 8th and get Rs to switch to Ds. Perfectly valid, but winning a primary by focusing on one area doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the rest of the city. To admit that he still needs to introduce himself and his ideas to many parts of the city has people asking why he didn’t do that during the primary.
It was a political strategy (which obviously worked), but it fed into the narrative surrounding him that he wasn’t concerned with the entire city. I’m sure he cares very much about the city, but I do think he doesn’t really know the issues facing many of our neighborhoods. I hope he changes that perception/reality. (Pick one – and no matter which word you chose he should address what concerned city residents about his candidacy and what his quote above did to validate those concerns.)
carron phillips thinks purzycki might be a racist (code word: “arrogant”) because he pointed out that eugene young would not be considered for employment at a big company because of his inexperience.
I was in the room when he said this and the collective gasp throughout the audience told you that everyone got that MP meant to insult Eugene that day. And Carron Phillips used the word arrogant — not racist — which was quite correct. You don’t get to pretend that MP is a victim here.
The comment about experience was both trite and an insult to Eugene. In my own field, MP would never get past the recruiting manager (of the Board Chair) because he doesn’t have the necessary experience. MP was specifically targeting EY that evening and specifically communicating to him and his supporters that they did not count.
If the old editor of the NJ editorial page had written a piece about how Dennis Williams needed to curb his arrogance a few days after the primary, you would have just nodded your head.
That doesn’t obviate the fact that plenty of observers (including others running for Mayor) found MP to be specifically condescending to EY during this primary. Calling him out on that makes perfect sense to me.
Mike Purzycki and arrogance go together like cookies and milk. It’s his defining characteristic.
“The problem with the “experience” argument is that it seems to only be used against young black people.”
Biggest wagon-load of horse shit ever unloaded here. All the candidates you cited were criticized for lack of experience. The difference is that, being white, it didn’t keep them from winning.
This is laughable, maybe Purzycki won because everything he said was true about experience and he was truly the best candidate? Like notice that the people who gotv were the ones who liked purzycki instead of the yups who liked Eugene because he was their age but didn’t take time to be organized and gotv? And buying the vote? Eugene had a PAC?? He raised a lot of money as well does that mean he bought his votes?
Are you being paid by the question mark??
Yeah I’m secretly being paid by Kevin Kelly so that the conversation gets diverted and he can secretly win next time against the people Eugenes PAC paid to endorse him.
Wow. What’s up with the whining coming from the campaign with 234 more votes? Obviously, the electorate was split – and every candidate should have known that and planned for it. You know, have a plan to unite the city. And yet… Purzycki supporters are still throwing mud. Stay classy.
I was mocking your punctuation. Paranoid much?
Just remember the real winner. Purzycki’s corporate overloads at Buccini/Pollin. While we argue about whether the Riverfront counts as “gentrification” because technically no one was displaced, the owners of family-run Kennedy’s Fried Chicken are being forced out of their Market St location to make room for “high-end” apartments and retail space. The story was accompanied by a nice quote about “critical mass” from Michael Hare, BPG VP, and campaign manager for Purzycki to Mayor.
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/money/real-estate/2016/09/20/buccinipollin-buys-3-buildings-wilmington/90754038/
The new BPG building down the block will have a Starbucks soon! Fucking-A!
Don’t worry, Jack. We all know exactly why Purzycki won. It’s not complicated.
@DG: Is the displacement of a restaurant supposed to make us feel better or worse? Because if you want Wilmington to thrive, this will happen a lot more, not less.
I guess your definition of thriving differs from mine. Care to nit pick? 🙂 One person’s thriving is another person’s strip mall.
Joking aside, I understand development is necessary, but I think we should be all over it early so it doesn’t get away from us. That’s all.
When I saw the sign for the new Starbucks on Market Street I shook my head. What’s next? A Panera? So yeah, I have a problem with opening a Starbucks, and my problem is that there are already two wonderful, small business coffee shops on Market Street – Brew HaHa and LOMA Coffee. The last thing we needed was a Starbucks.
Kennedy Chicken is a small, successful business that has been in the city for years. I don’t understand why the developers couldn’t work with existing small business to stay in their location or help them find a new one on Market Street. Levitea and Pochi are gone – two wonderful, unique city businesses on 9th Street. Hey, maybe that’s where the Panera or Olive Garden will be located.
In other news, Theatre N in the Nemours Building was unexpectedly closed “for renovations”:
“A post on the theatre’s website states The Buccini/Pollin Group would be handling the release of information regarding the closure. “”
http://www.wdel.com/story/77311-theatre-n-at-nemours-suddenly-closed
I was just in that theater Wednesday night for a meeting at The MIll (which continued in the theater), where it was announced that the theater was available for future bookings through The MIll. So I guess the closure really was a surprise. Incidentally, attendees were commenting on how nice the theater was.
I was just there Monday for a screening of the documentary “Trapped” sponsored by Planned Parenthood. I did notice that the theatre had been painted and spruced up a bit. Here’s to hoping the theatre will reopen with improvements. Again, we need to be all over this BPG shit before there’s a chain franchise on every corner.
Poor journalism and immaturity at its finest. I really appreciate the laughs this website gives me, It reminds me of the onion except more comical, because the writers are actually serious and debatably make more ridiculous points. All emotion and no logic.
Shorter Jack: “I’m a handjob.”
Shorter, shorter Jack: This place sucks and yet, here I am commenting – without addressing a single point.
@ Dorian
“Joking aside, I understand development is necessary, but I think we should be all over it early so it doesn’t get away from us. That’s all.”
Great point, but you forgot you live in Delaware. Look at what there doing in Sussex county. They approved 18 new developments! Their going to have to make DE 1 bigger to handle all the New Jersey and New York people coming to DE to buy homes.
@ Pandora You want the young professionals to work in Wilmington and buy homes in Wilmington and that is what they want. Starbucks and Panera Bread. I think Starbucks is bitter, IMHO.
@pandora: Technically, mine was shorter. 😉
The difference between Wilmington and Sussex is what the market will bear. Sussex development issues are largely because there is alot of market pressures for more development. That is much less the case for Wilmington. To me, the real thing to watch for is who pays for new development in Wilmington. The city doesn’t have any money, so it will be interesting to see where the money comes from for all of this development he says will happen. The state doesn’t have any money, either.
@ cassandra:
“The state doesn’t have any money, either.” I’m very surprise, an intelligent person as yourself, would make a statement like this.
The money would be forced on us, like they did with, (sorry to mention the words) but none other than Bloom Energy. So, the State has lots of money, they just tap into us! UNFORTUNATELY!
Do you have to persist in being so obtuse? If the state is looking to ask for more money from us that means — guess what? — that the state doesn’t have any money!
The point of my post, of course, is that someone has to pay for all of the development that Purzycki is promising. I am not certain that there is enough market demand for the markets to finance all of this. So then what?
Was the Shawshank Redemption on again??
“ask for more money from us that means — guess what?” The State doesn’t ask for more money, they lie to get more money. They make bad investments!
And, your guy didn’t get in so your going to bash, on Purzycki. He hasn’t even taken office yet! But, I’m sure you’ll come around and praise him if he brings Young on.
You would be so much more interesting if you could actually read a spreadsheet.
But there’s no bashing — I’m just laying my marker for this development plan. Because I am really sure that the folks who voted for this will NOT be volunteering to pay for this. At All.