Grading Wilmington’s City Council

Grading Wilmington’s City Council

6 Comments
So readers -- we have a gauntlet:
[P]erhaps someone in Delaware Liberal should grade out City Council people once a year.
Yes, I was nominated to do this grading, but will recruit some help to get this done. First off, if you are a city voter, tell me what you want to know about your City Council and their legislative track record.
A Wilmingtonian’s Appeal to City Council President Theo Gregory

A Wilmingtonian’s Appeal to City Council President Theo Gregory

21 Comments
We've all read the NJ articles and listened to the WDEL reporting, and some of us actually sat through the Channel 28 debacle of former Mayoral Policy Advisor Velda Jones-Potter's "explanation" as to how City taxpayers ended up paying for 20 WPD officers and other city resources at the Foxtail concert on 14 September. Many of us (publicly and otherwise) have been calling for a full, impartial investigation by City Council -- an investigation where the parties involved provide sworn testimony and where any found wrongdoing is referred to the Attorney General. Mr. Gregory did promise a Special City Council meeting dedicated to looking into why taxpayer dollars were so badly mishandled and who would have authorized this. Monday, September October 30 is the date, but I want to ask -- again -- that Mr. Gregory make sure that this is a robust questioning and investigation. Wilmington already has a bad reputation for governing itself, and making sure that the tough questions get asked and making sure that unethical behavior has consequences would be a great beginning in changing that reputation.

Conflict of Interest by 3 Wilmington City Council Members

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Or at least the appearance of a conflict of interest by 3 Councilmembers who work for or have recently worked for Connections CSP in Wilmington. Sunday's NJ has a great article by Andrew Staub and Beth Miller detailing the concerns that quite a few people have had over what appeared to be conflicts of interests between the roles of City Council members and Connections employees or consultants for Hanifa Shabazz, Mike Brown and Darius Brown.
Wilmington Budget Follies

Wilmington Budget Follies

13 Comments
For the past few weeks, the back and forth over coming to some agreement over the Wilmington budget for the next fiscal year has been a source of a great deal of cynicism, exasperation and a fair amount of entertainment. While there is not alot to be proud of here -- at bottom we have a new administration who seems to think that they can get things done by fiat. For all of the yelling and screaming about what the Wilmington City Charter says -- it still gives the Administration the power to spend the money that City Council allocates to it. That is pretty basic everywhere. Even though the Council spent much of its time rubber-stamping much of the Baker Administration's work, I wish I could be more hopeful in a more energized Council who will actually do what the Charter expects of them.

Wilmington City Council vs. Newark Charter School

80 Comments
Anyone else get the feeling that education in Delaware is about to explode? Personally, I'd like to slow the entire Charter (and Choice) train down. I can't keep up, and can't shake the feeling that these Charters and our legislators are privy to information that the rest of read only after the deal is done. Basically, I'm not supposed to keep up or catch up. Meanwhile, things are moving forward in City government.