William G. Faust Jr. is a resident of Dover.
The city of Dover seems to be stuck in a time warp and cannot break the cycle of truly addressing our city’s social issues and the criminal elements that have taken a grip.
It seems to me that it’s not practical or prudent how we are addressing our social issues of homelessness, gun violence and other criminal activities. If you do not go after the sources of criminal activities, our social and criminal issues will only grow in scope. We need to remove the kingpins who are bringing all the criminal elements into our city. An ordinance on street safety and an Alderman’s Court are not going to make Dover a safer and more affordable place to live. Let’s keep it real! True safety occurs when the cancer from our city is removed once and for all. Our Dover police officers are doing the best they can, but we need more boots on the ground. We should be calling in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and the state police. These additional resources working with our hardworking city officers would be a start. However, our attorney general needs to enforce the laws that are currently on the books. Releasing repeat offenders repeatedly onto the streets on cashless bails and unsecured bonds is so foolish. These offenders are released before officers’ paperwork is filed officially. By doing this, the attorney general is tying the hands of our officers.
When these criminal elements are slowed down or hopefully removed, then our city’s ills will slowly improve. By no means will this be an easy task, but we need to try.
I believe the mayor, City Council and the chief of police need to join forces to address the illegal influx of criminal elements/activities that have infected and invaded our great city.
One smart individual once stated, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome, when no changes have occurred.”
I want to see our fair city be a safer and more affordable place to live. This will not occur if we do not come up with a better plan to bring in needed revenue and a way of addressing our city’s social issues.
The city should not take on an event or project that we do not break even on or that isn’t finished on time. This is not rocket science! We were $7 million in debt, until council chipped away at the new budget. We, the citizens, still had to bail the city out with increases passed on to us, so we could have a balanced budget to approve.
With the uncertainty of state and federal funding in the future, it is not too much to ask that the city officials do not put us in a financial hole. If an event is held in the city of Dover, we should break even at the event, and any projects should be scrutinized to ensure that they are on budget and on time.
We need more action and less talking. We have debated these issues for over two years, and no true or positive changes have occurred. Our gun violence seems to be unchecked, our homelessness issues are only getting worse, and the mental health issues have not improved. We need short-term and long-term goals that are focused and practical to address and cure all the issues in our great city.
This is written by a concerned citizen.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
