Wilmington’s City Council Looks to Wash Its Hands of the City’s Safety Problem and Just Throw Money At It

Wilmington’s City Council Looks to Wash Its Hands of the City’s Safety Problem and Just Throw Money At It

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Timed for the Friday afternoon news dump, Wilmington's City Council has scheduled a joint Committee of the Whole and a Public Safety meeting to debate the City budget's first budget amendment (not a month after the new budget went into effect). This budget amendment will add funds to the WPD budget to create two new Inspector positions and one civilian CIO position. The meeting is this Monday (June 29, 2015) at the City Council chambers starting at 5pm. This amendment has been revised from the original ask, now it provides approval for 3 new positions (rather than 4), does not add to the authorized strength of the Department and now spends just $285,000 of a projected surplus. A projected surplus that no one has any confidence in and AGAIN, I do not understand why we are committing to spending money that we think that we might have, rather than money that we actually do have. I'll extend that to wonder why they are having this hearing at all right now -- given that the GA has blown a hole in their budget and no one know what the world will look like on July 1, it seems clueless to spend any time talking about more spending until you know that your budget is intact.
In Which We Find Neither Accountability or Fiscal Sensibility in the Wilmington City Council — AGAIN

In Which We Find Neither Accountability or Fiscal Sensibility in the Wilmington City Council — AGAIN

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Tonight, the Wilmington City Council will vote on an amendment to the budget to add more management staff to the WPD. They will do that without having any hearings, with little notice to the public and without Bud Freel (the Finance Chair) in attendance. Councilman Freel is one of the few points of fiscal accountability (heck of any accountability) in the City Council and doing this without him available (guess Council President Gregory did not offer Bud first class tickets to come back to vote) and without a good public airing is good government malpractice. But then, we are talking about a group of people who aren't much interested in good government -- or, frankly, in representing their constituents. Here is what is being voted on:
The NEW New Wilmington Crime Plan

The NEW New Wilmington Crime Plan

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Today, at a press conference that the public heard about maybe an hour and a half before it occurred, the Mayor and Chief Cummings announced ONE MORE Crime plan for Wilmington. It seems that not many people know what is in this plan (even City Councilpeople Sherry Dorsey and Hanifa Shabazz who endorsed it all without seeing it), and although there was some rumor that the plan would be available to the public shortly after the press conference, this plan is not on the City's website where the public can take a look or was it provided to the Governor or the WPSSC as a courtesy. So we have a press conference that was designed to exclude as many Wilmingtonians as possible, continuing the contempt this Mayor has for the citizens of Wilmington. But here is the gist of what is supposed to be on deck:
Wilmington’s Leadership and Education

Wilmington’s Leadership and Education

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It is pretty normal to go to any Wilmington civic meeting and have at least part of that meeting focused on a discussion of improving educational opportunities for kids in the city. This is a good thing, because it is pretty clear that residents know that education is important for this kids; they know that the city is full of kids who need some additional help here and they know that it will be easier for the city to stabilize if it has great schools available to all of its kids. City Leadership from both the Administration and the City Council enthusiastically join in these discussions, carving out their own place in the Amen Corner here and showing themselves as on the same page with what their constituents want. It is a bad thing because none of these meetings is a school board meeting and I have never witnessed one of these discussions where any government official: 1) explained that the City of Wilmington has no authority over the schools in the city; 2) encouraged people to actually take all of this energy to a school board meeting where something could be done to address those concerns or 3) encouraged people to get out to vote in a school district referendum.
“We’re Not Going to Let This Commission Take Credit for These Ideas”

“We’re Not Going to Let This Commission Take Credit for These Ideas”

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That's a paraphrase of what Wilmington's Public Safety Liaison, Mr. Douglas Iardella, told one of the attendees of tonite's Wilmington Public Safety Strategies Commission. This, unfortunately, is the only thing that can explain the Administration's continued and obvious delay in talking about implementing the recommendations of the Commission's report. Tonight's meeting was expected to feature Chief Bobby Cummings discussing the report's recommendations that the WPD would implement and discuss the path forward. Many community members came out (again) to be a part of the discussion and several of Wilmington's GA delegation came as well.
UPDATE: When Bad Math Emerges from the Bunker

UPDATE: When Bad Math Emerges from the Bunker

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The Tuesday Town Hall meeting had a couple of handouts, apparently. I only got one that didn't make much sense, but there was a packet that I missed that had some additional data not on my handout, ostensibly showing the percent decrease in Class A crimes in the city. One of folks attending this meeting was Clayton Stacey, a Cool Springs resident who was brutalized in a robbery about a month ago. Mr. Stacey got one of these other handouts and he took a good look at the stats presented. And then he checked the math:
What A Difference An Actual Report Makes, Right Mr. Mayor?

What A Difference An Actual Report Makes, Right Mr. Mayor?

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Yesterday, Mayor Williams had his last Town Hall. I'll say more about that in another post. But he said to WDEL yesterday:
Wilmington Mayor Dennis Williams is making it clear he's not a huge fan of the Wilmington Public Safety Strategies Commission. "What's the big deal about this crime commission?" Williams posed on WDEL's Delaware's Morning News. "Everybody that put a few dollars up, talked about this crime commission being so great," Williams said. "Where were these people when I asked them to support Wilmington many years ago?"
But when the Wilmington Public Safety Strategies Commission was authorized by the Governor, this is what he had to say:
"Since taking office in 2013, I have recognized the value and necessity of State assistance in fighting violent crime," Williams said in a written statement. "I have consistently lobbied for Governor Markell and the State's support in tackling the violent crime in Wilmington. I would like to thank the Governor and City Delegation for their steadfast support and commitment, as we work collectively on the issue of eradicating the crime and violence in our city."
Ditch the Seige Mentality, It’s Hurting Wilmington

Ditch the Seige Mentality, It’s Hurting Wilmington

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It isn't news that cities like Camden, NJ and Philadelphia, PA are reducing their violent crime statistics. I've been posting that news along with most of the posts I write here about the current situation in Wilmington. What these cities have done includes re-orienting themselves to data and intelligence-driven forces, able to address crime hot spots and get out in front of crime -- rather than simply wait for a phone call to respond to. Heck, even the SEPTA has moved to a data-driven policing model and is clearly bending the curve on their own crime problem. So what's wrong with Wilmington?
Just Fix Them

Just Fix Them

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Seriously, stop the high school hallway belligerence and just fix Wilmington's cameras. Today, Mayor Dennis Williams and Councilman Mike Brown decided to have an argument via WDEL about the amount of money spent on the city’s cameras currently monitored (in theory) by Downtown Visions. The Mayor says that Councilman’s Brown’s figure on the amount of money spent on the cameras is wrong and Brown provides some detail showing that the number he gave was rounded, but not far off from right. Both of them highlight a few of the City’s key problems in dealing with its safety issues:
Sign This Petition to Support Implementing Real Violence Reduction Strategies in Wilmington

Sign This Petition to Support Implementing Real Violence Reduction Strategies in Wilmington

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This petition at the site change.org is addressed to the Governor, AG Matt Denn, Mayor Dennis Williams and Chief Bobby Cummings to ask them to implement the Wilmington Public Safety Strategies Commission report and 9 other actions to help to address and reduce the violence in Wilmington. Please take a few minutes to read this over and sign it, if you can. Also forward this on to your friends and share via your FB pages or Twitter to help spread the word. Thanks!
DDOE Tells Christina To Close Or Restructure (Charter/Privatize) Its Priority Schools

DDOE Tells Christina To Close Or Restructure (Charter/Privatize) Its Priority Schools

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There are actually three choices on the table: Closure, Charter Conversion/Privatization... and handing all 5 of Christina's city schools to Red Clay. No matter what, Christina loses these schools.
The Christina school board must choose by Feb. 27 whether to close its three Priority Schools or hand them over to charter schools or other education management organizations, the Department of Education said in a letter to district staff Tuesday. The letter leaves one possible alternative: If Christina works with the state on the possibility of redistricting schools so that it no longer operates city schools, it could be removed from the Priority Schools saga altogether.
The Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) is very good at closing down schools. Go speak with anyone at these six Priority Schools and ask them when DDOE showed up to "help" them. Surely DDOE has been in these schools for years - since these six schools have been struggling for a long, long time? Surely, DDOE can point to all the support they've given these schools over the years? I hear that DDOE didn't step foot in these schools or offer assistance prior to Governor Markell's Priority School announcement last fall. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe DDOE has been working with the six priority schools for years and drastic action was needed because they exhausted all other options?
Wilmington City Council Votes To Not Let In More Charter Schools

Wilmington City Council Votes To Not Let In More Charter Schools

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Yes, this is symbolic, but we've come a long way.
The Wilmington City Council sent a request to state leaders Thursday night: Don't allow any more charter schools to open in the city for the time being, and give the city more say over which schools get approved. Council approved 9-3, with President Theo Gregory absent, a resolution urging the Department of Education not to consider any new charter applications in the city to "allow elected officials and community representatives time to assess the impact of charter schools in Wilmington and throughout the State."
Impact is the key word and one of the biggest problem with charters - their impact on surrounding neighborhoods and schools isn't really considered - and even though the new charter law pays lip service to impact, impact alone isn't enough to stop a charter from entering a community. Try building an addition to your house without community approval. Maybe labeling the addition as a charter school would be the way to go! Whether or not a community wants a charter in their neighborhood doesn't matter. As long as a charter follows state law they can pretty much go where they want. Westgate Farms fought against Odyssey Charter moving in.  They eventually won by focusing on the historic location.  Good thing a cemetery was located there. Otherwise, Odyssey could have moved in - no matter what the surrounding community thought or wanted.
Wilmington’s Business Community Says Enough Is Enough

Wilmington’s Business Community Says Enough Is Enough

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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.