John Carney Still Doesn’t Give A Shit About The Homeless. City lied about promises it made. Who could have possibly seen that coming?:
As a train barrels along the bridge above, Boz Malik describes his daily existence since being evicted from the homeless encampment at Christina Park. Wilmington officials shut down the eastside city-sanctioned campsite on June 15.
When the city forced residents out, it promised to help provide housing for those being displaced. But months later, some of those residents are back on the streets.
Malik said he was given a motel voucher to stay at the Superlodge motel for three months, but he and other former park residents were kicked out after about a month.
He’s currently living beneath an underpass near the Wilmington Amtrak/SEPTA station.
“[City officials] started it, stopped it, put us in hotels, threw us out and threw us back out on the street in less than a year,” Malik said. “Now that we’re out here, [Wilmington police] don’t tell us we have to leave, but they push us around. ‘You can’t have this, you can’t have that. We’re throwing this out.’”
Frederick Allen Hodgson, a former Christina Park resident, said he was in the hospital when the city closed the homeless encampment. Hodgson, who identified himself as a Vietnam veteran, said when he returned to the park, all of his belongings were gone.
“They took the tent, all my stuff. This is all I own,” he said, gesturing to his wheelchair.
Friendship House, the nonprofit that managed the homeless encampment, said it was still helping about 20 former park residents, with most of those living at the Hope Center, a New Castle County homeless shelter.
Housing advocate Shyanne Miller, who has been critical of the city’s decision to open and then close the temporary homeless encampment, said there should be a review of how successful they were in placing people into long-term housing.
“The question that needs to be answered is, ‘How did it turn out? How did it work? Did you use good practices,’” she said. “The answer is obviously no.”
Friendship House CEO Kim Eppehimer said the overall number of people becoming homeless in Wilmington is only rising. About a dozen or more individuals appeared to be living under the train bridge. More people are camping at the Seventh Street skatepark in tents and mobile homes. It’s unclear whether all or some of them were previous residents of Christina Park.
The lack of shelter beds and rental assistance to keep people housed or to pay the upfront costs to secure housing continues to be a barrier to combat the homeless crisis in Wilmington and across the state.
For John Carney, the city exists solely for Dan Cruce supporters and the areas being gentrified by Buccini/Pollin.
That’s it.
To NIMBY or NOT to NIMBY, that is the question. You decide:
Earlier this month, Wilmington City Councilman Chris Johnson tabled a measure that would have rezoned land along Bancroft Parkway, allowing developers to move forward with plans for a high-rise apartment complex.
If the high-rise were built, it would be the tallest development along the Bancroft Parkway, a century-old greenspace that runs through northwest Wilmington.
The decision came amid months of opposition from nearby residents, who have raised concerns about the size and scale of the proposed development and argued that it would change the character of the surrounding northwest city neighborhood.
For now, those concerns have put the rezoning and the project on hold. But residents and the Wilmington and Newark-based developer, Tsionas, have remained in discussions over whether they can reach a compromise on what could ultimately be built at the site.
Under the presented concept, the development would include 72 apartments across two buildings, one would be three stories tall and the other eight stories, along with approximately 48 surface parking spaces. The apartments would be less expensive than luxury units and would feature fewer amenities, such as a gym or garage, and more modest finishes, according to the press release.
The new concept marks a significant change from the previous proposal, which called for a 12-story apartment building and a parking garage with nearly 300 spaces.
Despite the new proposal, residents made it clear they remain opposed to rezoning the properties, arguing that the change would legally allow a taller, larger development that could increase traffic and parking problems and alter the neighborhood’s character, regardless of the developer’s promises to build something smaller.
“Build within the legal right you have to build. Go to town, do what you want, but don’t try to change the law,” said Kathleen Dinsmore, a longtime neighborhood resident and an organizer of Protect Bancroft Parkway.
It looks like the property owner made a series of concessions designed to address community concerns, but the community was having none of it. My conclusion: Some communities have more pull when it comes to NIMBYism than others.
They’re Not Ads, They’re Public Service Announcements. That’s why you’re paying for them:
Since Wednesday, the federal government has been airing a taxpayer-funded political advertisement on channels like Fox News promoting the virtues of President Donald Trump, as Republicans ramp up advertising in the lead-up to November’s midterm elections.
The ad, soundtracked with the chorus of the singer JMSN’s “Love Me,” is structured like a TikTok hype reel for Trump and against communism. It’s captioned “Paid for by the US Government.”
“The ad’s cost has jumped from $14,000 to $430,000 as it runs on a variety of network TV channels in markets across the country, according to AdImpact, which tracks media spending,” the Associated Press reported Friday. “The actual amount spent could be significantly more, depending on whether networks classified the ad as a political ad.”
Of course it’s a political ad that we’re paying for. The good news? It won’t make a single person hate him less than they already do.
Trump Rolls Back Auto Emission Standards. Because he can:
The Trump administration on Monday plans to release new fuel economy standards that would relax regulatory requirements for automakers to control pollution from gasoline-powered cars and light trucks.
President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social media account Saturday that the less stringent mileage requirements would “take the waste out of building cars in America” and save families “thousands on a new, beautiful and safe car,” while boosting auto production in the U.S.
Last December, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration projected that the new standards would set the industry fleetwide average for light-duty vehicles at roughly 34.5 miles per gallon in the 2031 model year, down from a projected 50.4 miles per gallon in 2031 under rules put in place by the Biden administration.
Fuel economy requirements set out how far new vehicles need to travel on a gallon of gasoline. The change would further make do on Trump’s promise to revoke policies that encouraged or created incentives for the production of electric vehicles.
Since taking office, Trump has relaxed auto tailpipe emissions rules, repealed fines for automakers that do not meet federal mileage standards and terminated consumer credits of up to $7,500 for EV purchases.
He is the Pollution President.
What do you want to talk about?
” the development would include 72 apartments across two buildings, one would be three stories tall and the other eight stories, along with approximately 48 surface parking spaces. ”
just out of curiosity, where would everyone park?
That’s the big “compromise” the developer made, lowering the building by eliminating the parking garage. So 72 apartment get 48 parking spaces? That’s a fucking joke. A working couple renting one of those units would need two; any proposal that includes fewer than 100 isn’t serious. And the developer, or his land use attorney, knows it, so I expect the next compromise will be to increase the parking by eliminating the shorter building.
Developers always come in asking for the sun, the moon and the stars. They might compromise by leaving out the sun and the stars, but they still shoot for the moon.
Another thing: These apartment would be “less expensive than luxury units,” which is a much different thing from “affordable.” This is a problem with YIMBY – it usually doesn’t increase the supply of the affordable housing.
It’s not my backyard, but I don’t see why they can’t make these apartments adjacent to Pennsylvania Ave. instead of Bancroft Parkway. Seems like that would be a much easier navigation/traffic situation and less disruptive.
and we always hear about the traffic impact, who the hell is that area going to handle 150 more cars during morning and evening commute times with all the school busses that roll through there.