photo from file.
(Overheard on his cellphone to his developer boss; paraphrased, coming from a skinny twenty something, logo’d in a golf shirt, khaki pants, standing in the vestibule corner as everyone filed out; “it’s spinning out of control. E-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y is angry. I don’t think we can fix it. It’s going the wrong way. I think we lost the election.”)
Now I’ve seen many meetings. Usually it’s always the same comfortable group, the same participants, with one or two of the same troublemaker activists. We all know each other, politely nod to our enemies, and once our duty is performed, socializing progresses afterwards. The short story version appears in the News Journal two days later….
Usually.
That was not what happened last night, August September 4th ( 🙂 h/t rsmitty) inside the Crossroads Presbyterian Church, which had blissfully wonderful cushioned green seats; that is if you were early enough to grab one…
Standing-room-only would be too cliche to describe the turnout. This issue at hand was so hot it swelled participation far above the 200 the organizers had expected…. (237 cars were counted; 500 participants?) They had even forgotten to plan for a microphone, assuming normal voices would suffice.
They didn’t, and fortunately a microphone was found.
Dignitaries (ie our politicos) sat across in front of the crowd… Dick Cathcart sat center, Bill Bell sat next to him. Bill Powers sat and stood on Cathcart’s left. Penrose Hollins drove down to represent Council. Bill Dunn, Bethany Hall Long, Earl Jacques, Rebecca Walker, Tom Scherer, Mike Protack, Bruce Ennis, members of the land use committee, and the Superintendent of the Appoquinimink School District showed up. Ms Fitzpatrick (sp) came in place of Representative Lofink, who was unfortunately at his son’s wedding rehearsal, to which one irate resident blurted out….”that’s no excuse!” Her spouse, quickly put his hand on her leg, and warned her to calm down..”it’s his son’s wedding….”
Yes tensions were that high…..
But the real star of the entire evening was the map…. Yes, a silly map. It stood tall over the entire meeting, dominating everyone’s attention… It out staged the County Council Head, Penrose Collins, who stormed off when it became obvious that the audience was not interested in his point of view….
Most felt that was fair play…. for no one had taken the time to consider their point of view when these ordinances were passed, affecting the entire lower region of the New Castle County… That it turns out, appears to be true…. no one.
The map stood tall over the entire proceeding, reminding everyone, every minute of the immense changes coming soon. And the changes were immense….
Here is the scale they are speaking off.
Three new schools will need to be built, one each year, to accommodate the new influx of students. The school district was surprised tonight; the plans were made without consulting them. They have no money to grow.
Traffic will grow by 1800 cars. What’s the visual of 1800 cars? At fifteen feet per vehicle, 27,000 feet total divided by 5280 ft/mile, equals a line of cars, parked bumper to bumper, a little over 5 miles long… Imagine a line of cars parked on the shoulder of RT 1 from St. George’s bridge to the heart of Odessa. There is your visual image. Deldot was surprised tonight. The plans were made without consulting them. And they too, have no money to grow.
Most of the areas do not have sewer capacity yet; however in a rush, building will progress, anticipating promised waivers to use septic systems, until the county sewer system can catch up….. (Do you follow county finances?) They have no money to grow…..
The wells to supply additional amounts of water; they are not yet drilled. They are on hold, for they have no money to grow….
The anger seemed to grow exponentially within that room… (Thank heavens they held this disclosure within a church).
Hats off to a great job done by the organizers, including one Chuck Mulholland. No one could have prepared them for what took place. Their natural demeanor saved the day, rising to the challenge of the moment. Particularly impressive was Chuck’s impromptu changing of the agenda, as it became quite apparent that citizens were there to make their voices heard, not listen to failed excuses…. That change-up, diffused some tension, perhaps saving a riot… I’ll bet he never expected to put 3 miles on that evening, all the while carrying the microphone.
The question of the day? How could this have happened…
The answer:
Mr. Pam Scott Paul Clark, President of County Council.
All these elements were rushed though, without vetting, to get developers in construction phase before the public could become aware of what was aimed at them. No vetting was done, so no leaks would occur. The last thing developers and Paul Clark needed, was a large meeting of outraged citizens.
Obviously the details of the arrangements were made in his home, and presented fait accompli to the Council for its rubber stamp. That is after all, what New County Council’s tend to do…
Therefore Paul Clark needs to go.
Councilman Bill Bell, who resembles the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man, performed the role of a stool quite adequately. “No one told me” was his response….” I didn’t know…” he stammered. The question which immediately popped into every head but one, was ” why not?” That’s your job…
Obviously his principal function was to be the Rose Margaret Henry of the County Council. Being put in that position by the developers and unions, means he obviously feels he doesn’t need to call back his constituents, doesn’t need to show up at their meetings, doesn’t need to answer their letters or emails… Like Margaret Rose Henry, all he needs to do is show up… and vote the way he is told..
When faced with 450 some people he began to get nervous. His primary is days away… His opponent Tom Scherer, who is having his own personal fight with the developers of his development, over their unfulfilled promises.. certainly does appear to be the better choice, Towards the end, almost reduced to pleading for his seat, Mr. Bell promised too late, to “not support” the resolution that due to his complicity, has already been passed….
If there was another star, other than the map, the organizers, and the citizens themselves, it was Representative Dick Cathcart… Angered at the incompetence bordering on deceit coming from Mr Pam Scott Paul Clark and his Council, he promised legislation to forever put County Council growth under State oversight…. it’s about time.
Bruce Ennis, surprised everyone in the room by coming down hard for a moratorium on all new development. Two, three, four years whatever it takes to get local citizens to become comfortable with the new developments. He cited Kent County as a place where citizens took control and booted all developers our of governmental oversight positions…. That county is once again under control of its citizens; spawning a series of lawsuits from developers against it. Ennis implied that as long as New Castle’s citizenry supported the continuation of a moratorium against such lawsuits, he would as well. Most nuisance lawsuits would be thrown out, costing nothing since they were filed with no legal grounds to support them, but still the stigma of having lawsuits might make some citizens feel uneasy…. The consensus in that room was: if you take on the developers…. we got your back….
Go get them Bruce.
They came to listen. They got their earful.
Distilled to its basic elixir, here is the essence.
New Castle County development is controlled by developers and the Building Trades Union who are linked together in their interest for growth. Money for developers, jobs for employees. They own the following: Chris Coons, Paul Clark, Bill Bell, Bill Powers, George Smiley, and Bob Weiner….
Breaking that connection is the first step in returning Democracy back to those New Castle County citizens who live outside the city. Democratic Voters have the opportunity to sever that connection during Tuesday’s primary, September 8th. Voting Bill Dunn over Paul Clark, Tom Gordon over Chris Coons, Tom Scherer over Bill Bill, and Carl Colantuono over John Cartier, will do your part in returning Democracy to County Government. (Yeah, I know one is controversial, but if elected, we will own him, not the developers).
I’ve run out of time and space. Not mentioned here was the citizens fear of falling property values; not mentioned here was one realtor who spoke 6 (?) times, warning citizens of how workforce housing would affect their property values, not mentioned here was the question of where these workforce housing residents, transferred from Wilmington’s projects on the East Side, would find ever find work to pay for their housing, pimps, and bags of crack; not mentioned here was the cost of someone to cut down tennis shoes hanging from electric wires; not mentioned here was how noble Bill Dunn looked when working the crowd, compared to Paul Clark 4 years ago; not mentioned here was how poorly workforce housing residents obey driving laws; not mention here was how insufficient the current sewer systems are today, even without additional units; not mentioned here was how County Council increased the density levels, so developers could sell more houses per lot, more profit per lot; not mentioned here were the number of minority citizens who vehemently said they left the city to get away from the trash the County was again forcing upon them; not mentioned here was how hard everyone has worked, and suffered, to build their piece of the American dream, which now the County Council, at the bequest of Developers and Building Trade Unions, was about to destroy, WITHOUT EVEN CONSULTING THEM!
I wish I had more time…
Nancy, Geek? Can you add more?
33 comments
Comments feed for this article
September 5, 2008 at 5:28 pm
rsmitty
Nice write up! I felt like I was there! Now that everyone has a new *ahem* “favorite” councilman in Bell, did you see my yesterday’s post on him?
September 5, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Kavips Puts Me To Shame
[…] had to explain all of the goings on to my wife upon my return home. Kavips wrote the piece that I wanted to write. Go read it. Please. Then call Chris Coons. Tell ‘em an angry mob (and […]
September 5, 2008 at 5:31 pm
liberalgeek
I have your back. I plan to do a few more posts on this today.
September 5, 2008 at 5:44 pm
edisonkitty
Thanks, Kavips. Fantastic writeup. I am calling now.
September 5, 2008 at 5:50 pm
anon
Looks like the Delaware Liberal gang got the Chris Coons question wrong wrong wrong. I can see the dilema though, a crook or a tool of developers? No real good choice there.
Also, Bell is as fucking waste of space loser. I hope he is out on his ass.
September 5, 2008 at 6:22 pm
FrankC
Poking around this issue this morning it is clear that this has been discussed for nearly three years and people want to yell and scream now that they didn’t know about it?
Click to access CC%20Minutes_%20November%209%202005.pdf
I read somewhere Delaware is should expect 230,000 new residents in the next 20 years. Fairfax, VA meet MOT Delaware.
Bring back Gordon, he truly cares about every citizen and his magic wand will fix everything! (snicker)
September 5, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Down with Absolutes! » Blog Archive » ABSOLUTE Must-Read of the Day: Kavips on last night’s land use meeting
[…] and local citizens were out for blood last night! Please take ten minutes out of your day and read the post. Here’s just a bit of a marvelous piece: The question of the day? How could this have […]
September 5, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Mike Matthews
My fucking god. Kavips, this is the best rundown of a meeting I’ve read in all four years of blogging. Bravo!
September 5, 2008 at 7:15 pm
hopeful
“WOW”, Kavips that was a fantastic write up. I was at that meeting, and that was one of the best meetings I have attended in a long time.
BELL WAS AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE.
Blamed everyone else for his Bad Decisions, Powers was no better, sat there with his mouth shut.
Chuck MulHolland was in his glory, and he did a wonderful job.
DICK CATHCART WAS OUR CHAMPION, and BRUCE ENNIS FOLLOWED HIM WITH A PUNCH TO COUNCIL.
Thank God we can count on them.
PEOPLE , PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, VOTE BELL, & CLARK OUT TUESDAY.
I am so glad that Tom Scherer and Bill Dunn decided to step up to the plate and run for these positions. Despite all odds, against incumbents, with little money, they are taking the hits, and they are Standing up for US.
People we need to Seize the Day, and Make Tuesday, OUR DAY, a day to finally be free from some of this good old boy politics.
IN ADDITION — PLEASE DO NOT FORGET ABOUT JACK MARKELL, THE BEST CHANCE FOR DELAWARE.
AND COME NOVEMBER….. CATHCART WILL FIGHT FOR US………..
September 5, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Observer
Ahhhh :
<>>>
You know these homes are going to cost around $250,000. I’ve been here forever. When did you move into your sprawl development – like 9 years ago? I guess it’s ok for you and your family – but no one else.
Also, Cathcart knew about this well before. He’s on the Land Use Committee in the General Assembly.
The real scandal is that he sent that letter around to his district via his General Aseembly stationary. For free. He’s made this political and got a free mailing.
Am I the only one who thinks it’s actually good that regular people can actually buy a home in this state?
NIMBY much?
September 5, 2008 at 7:29 pm
rsmitty
Bull shit, observer. Cathcart has long stood for wise growth. That’s why developers don’t support him! THEY CAN’T STAND HIS STANCES!
He’s on the Land Use Committee in the General Assembly. You do know this went through COUNTY COUNCIL, right? Freaking partisan jackass.
It’s this stuff that led to his upset voctory ober Chris Roberts in 1997! Roberts couldn’t bring himself to put a wedge between him and development interests! Not until after he (Roberts) disgraced himself did he realize the bad business it was for the area.
SNCCA has supported Cathcart. Alan Mueller’s Green Delaware has supported Cathcart. Both groups with major interests in smart growth and environmental concerns in MOT. You are a partisan hack and nothing more. Cathcart has been bi-partisan for YEARS.
September 5, 2008 at 7:35 pm
rsmitty
BTW, non-observer, here are Cathcart’s committees:
Ethics
House Administration
House Rules
Legislative Council
Veterans Affairs
You partisan hack.
September 5, 2008 at 7:57 pm
rsmitty
Damn it, non-observer, you really have be pissed off on this. Anyone calling this NIMBY has no freaking clue about the impact. The infrastructure as it is currently, CAN NOT SUPPORT THIS or ANY DEVELOPMENT! The area can not currently handle more, period! Affordable housing is fine, but not the way it is planned. High-density is BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD! Got it? BAD!
September 5, 2008 at 8:04 pm
liberalgeek
Yeah, the issue is that there are no roads, no schools, no sewer, no public transportation, no jobs and no planning (except retirement planning by the developers). You want to put apartments on Vance Neck Rd.? Fine, build the infrastructure, but don’t build it on a f@#king swamp with a back road as its only access.
But thanks for your input Mr. Capano (or Wilkinson or whoever).
September 5, 2008 at 8:19 pm
kavips
Observer,
One idea floated which I forgot to mention was:
There was no objection to having the workers move into existing housing as it it WAS BEING AUCTIONED OFF IN SHERIFFS SALES TO THE TUNE OF 19 PER DAY….
The objection leaned more to the building of new houses with no streets. no schools, no roads, not water, no police, no ambulance service, no parks, and meanwhile saying to the residents living there, NO PROBLEM……
Another wise point which I did forgot to mention, was.expressed by citizens with this point of view:….. “We have no problem with them moving in here…. Why don’t they skrimp and save and do it as did we? Save your money. (If only that crack wasn’t so expensive). Why should we invest in our 401K plan (their property) to have you guys lower its property value to shuffle your garbage on us….
So you see observer…. it is not so simple… Maybe if there was a litmus test, such as having a diploma, having no drug record, having a record of maintaining your property, perhaps some of the resentment would dissipate. But most of those litmus tests just mentioned, I think are illegal, and if not…. they should be… I certainly would not want to be under such scrutiny… with what little libertarian blood flows through my veins….
September 5, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Steve Newton
awesome post–kudos
September 5, 2008 at 8:25 pm
hopeful
I must chime in on OBserver,it is rather obvious that you know nothing about the impact that the workforce housing ordinance that was proposed would place on this area of NCC. No one wants to stop people from getting affordable housing, but for Goshs’ sake putting over 963 units in not even a 5 mile radius,with no infrastructure or public transportation around. OBserver, WAKE UP please… WHERE are these PEOPLE going to WOrk, How are they going to get to WORK. WHERE IN GODS NAME ARE THEY GOING TO GO TO SCHOOL ???
Cathcart did a wonderful job, as did Ennis, they have worked long and hard to represent the people, and they deserve our support and respect.
LASTLY, VOTE BELL & CLARK OUT OF TUESDAY.
VOTE SCHERER AND DUNN
September 5, 2008 at 8:27 pm
kavips
Hopeful, thanks for your praise, I am going to dedicate my next post to you, and lay down the dedication here…
It was your comment on the ineffective Bell and the enterprising Scherer two weeks ago, that made me see the light on what do when presented with an incumbent and a challenger, both who I had never heard of……
That insight is how to crack the party of Incumbency. I ran it by others outside of Delaware, and they said “we have always done that…..”
I can’t thank you enough for that insight…..
September 5, 2008 at 8:42 pm
kavips
Frank C.
Awesome link…. And here is the point Penrose did not get last night…..
Let me use cancer as an analogy…
One can have cancer in the form of a polyp and not even know it. It grows microscopically, one day at a time. But when it gets too profuse, it starts blocking the bowels, it becomes a problem….
Ramming all these developments at once, with the obvious nod to developers to ensure that they are enriched, to waive the UDC code just so they can, to blame the state as a reason they need to waive the density requirements, to not tell the school district that it was coming so citizens could not get organized until it was a done deal, to ram it through during a time when there was no money for DELDOT, no money for NCC Sewers, no money for the water utilities……
All that is what residents were trying to explain was “not right” to Mr. Hollins…. No doubt he tried to bully his way through the arguments in the hallway and with rural America… you don’t bully anybody to get your way….. Apparently he didn’t know that….
September 5, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Bill Dunn
As I’ve said elsewhere, I’ll try to get back later to all the sites about last nights meeting, but in the meantime please go and look at my position on community input on Land development: http://www.billdunn2008.com/issues.htm
September 5, 2008 at 8:43 pm
rsmitty
I don’t know Tom Scherer, but I have certainly heard of him (and his wife) and their efforts at Odessa National. If anyone reads this that lives in NCCo district 12 and is voting in the D-Priamary on the 9th, do yourself a HUGE favor and get to know about him, or know him personally ASAP!
September 5, 2008 at 9:03 pm
kavips
I felt a little sorry for Rebecca Walker, who will be running against Cathcart and will still be after last nights meeting.
Cathcart by pushing State Mandated Control, may have saved his butt last night… His doing so just shoved Labor support behind Rebecca, but Cathcart rose to hero status, and the votes will be there for him…
Minner ran a statewide growth control campaign during her first campaign in 2000. But…. he got sidelined by the Democrats who owed their support to the Building Trades… Also the counties needed money and the transfer tax was their cash flow…. She had no way of getting a moratorium on development passed through a legislature where the Labor Democrats held a critical bloc of votes,and “livable Delaware” faded from prominence.
As a Republican, Cathcart just may get a moratorium passed…. Last night he may have just stumbled on a wedge issue that Republicans can increase their vote tallies…… Of course, Republicans have the developers, funding and driving parts of their party……
So what is best, is once someone in cahoots with this block is identified, the public votes in their challenger…. Then these guys will always have influence, but not the power to destroy the state…..
Assuming of course that overcrowding is the death of Delaware…. For then, why would anyone even want to visit us? Or move into a cesspool with new industry?
We need a statewide candidate who sets a goal that in 4 years, Delaware will be ranked as the most livable state. Then work specifically to get us there on all fronts….
Who will take us there? Someone with vision? It certainly won’t be one connected to this same “old boys” network……
September 5, 2008 at 9:10 pm
kavips
Check out Dunn’s site: Click issues on the top left….. it leads with this statement…..
” Land use planning must protect the current residents of this County! Democracy must be returned to land use decisions of government! ”
Compared to the alternative, which would be this:
“Land use planning must protect my wife’s clients. Democracy may one day be returned to land use decisions but not for now.”
I think we have a clear choice. I just hope everyone makes the trip on Tuesday and doesn’t stay at home and say “ah… why bother…”
September 5, 2008 at 9:52 pm
rsmitty
kavips, I think it may be obvious that I am a big supporter of Cathcart. If it isn’t clear, then I need to make it known, as it is only fair to disclose that with this thread. With that, here is a response to your comment with a time stamp of 9:03PM (are we in future mode???)
(*plug starts here*) unions have been split in regard to Cathcart for years. The trades most directly involved with land development typically support his opponent for reasons obvious from last night, Latham’s local OBVIOUSLY doesn’t support him (does Latham ever go against D?), either, but others do support him. That’s not to say all his opponents are pro-development, but it is to say who they don’t want to win. He is absolutely a bi-partisan “R”, too. The conservatives in this state begrudgingly accept him like they do Terry Spence. Like Spence, Cathcart knows his constituency, listens to them, and works accordingly. I met Cathcart back in 04 or 05, I can’t remember. At the time, I was anti-politics like you couldn’t believe. I hate Bush, never voted for the guy and was increasingly disgusted with the party. Cathcart gave me the time of day, allowed me to pry into his beliefs, and I was won over. (*end plug*)
On Rebecca Walker, I’ve had the opportunity to talk with her a few times in the past and probably will again in the near future. I do like her. I’m not happy with the committees behind her, but Rebecca is a good person. However, my beliefs in how politics and legislation should work is solid behind Cathcart. I don’t see that changing.
September 5, 2008 at 9:55 pm
rsmitty
” Land use planning must protect the current residents of this County! Democracy must be returned to land use decisions of government! ”
Compared to the alternative, which would be this:
“Land use planning must protect my wife’s clients. Democracy may one day be returned to land use decisions but not for now.”
I love your contrast there! LOL!
September 5, 2008 at 10:29 pm
kavips
First to Bill Dunn.
Why are you wasting precious minutes on the blogs!! You need to be getting votes. We will get the blog vote on your side if not already, you’ve got more important things to do.
We need you bro….. boy do we ever…..
September 5, 2008 at 10:39 pm
kavips
To rssmitty:
I don’t think there is anyone out there who already doesn’t know your are a Cathcart supporter…. Most of those reading this blog have enough intelligence to figure those things out for themselves…..
“Full disclosure” is a nice trapping, but on this rag, we are all grownups. It is not necessary to waste one’s time… We readers are savvy enough to figure those things out for themselves……..
🙂
(This turned out to obviously be addressed to other would-be commentators, so they too would know that “full disclosure” was not necessary. Furthermore, new readers, anonymity is encouraged…. People are more truthful when they won’t be skewered in real life afterward….) Just be honest and don’t waste a reader’s time with stupidity, unless it is designed to make us laugh…. then by all means…be stupid…. Humor trumps all…) lol
September 5, 2008 at 10:46 pm
hopeful
Thanks for your praise Kavips, but you must give yourself credit. You are wonderful on these blogs. One thing I must say though, Cathcart did help my community when no one else would, on of course a county issue.
Rebecca Walker is a nice person, and in all honesty if the 9th district did not have so many problems, I may consider her. But, hands down, I need Cathcart to help this district, I do not think Ms. Walker has the experience behind her to tackle some of this, especially WORK FORCE HOUSING.
Cheers and thanks, off to work
September 5, 2008 at 10:58 pm
rsmitty
I don’t think there is anyone out there who already doesn’t know your are a Cathcart supporter…
So, my fake nose and glasses didn’t work? DAMN IT! 😛
September 5, 2008 at 11:01 pm
rsmitty
Hopeful…if you don’t already know me (you may, but I have no clue who you are), I would like you to contact me. It seems to me that kavips knows you, so kavips can gleen my email off of my comments and share that with you, if you’re cool with it. I can tell we are geographically close and share the same concerns.
September 6, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Was a Willing Blogger
Great job, I printed this out to read last night – no pc at home still.
laughed, cried and spit a little.
September 8, 2008 at 4:45 pm
DEwind: The Week That Was September 1st – nemski.com
[…] of the week deals with development and reported on brilliantly by kavips and liberalgeek. First kavips writes: But the real star of the entire evening was the map…. Yes, a silly map. It stood tall over the […]
October 23, 2008 at 11:30 am
A Tale of Two Meetings « kavips
[…] citizens did not like what the County told them there…. (You can refresh your memory here to find out why…) Since that time research was done and an action and plan of attack has been […]