Perhaps if more citizens ran for office who have leadership skills or, more importantly, if more citizens bothered to show up and vote, Dover might improve. Our last mayoral election had less than 2,000 citizens even bother to show up and actually cast a vote. That speaks ill of all of you who didn’t, who are often the ones who complain the loudest. I was always told, if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
As a result of low voter turnout, our elected leaders seem to lack vision. To complicate it further, business owners downtown do not seem to understand that the rents are too high to attract people who would love to rent the buildings for all kinds of fun things, like art studios, antiques shops, co-op-type venues and specialty shops. But the rents are way too high for small startups. They rent the apartments above but not street-level. Perhaps if someone knew what to do, there could be funding to help landowners get state subsidies when they rent at below-market rates.
A meeting was held recently for downtown businesses, and there is renewed focus in addressing the critical issues. The chief of police was there, and he needs help in getting data, and it is critical that incidences are reported to them when any act happens that you feel concerned about.
A critical issue that all city governments need to address is services for homeless individuals to help them not be that way. Since all the major health institutions were closed to homeless citizens decades ago, families, churches and nonprofits have tried to deal with those who truly need professional help and services of a professional nature. The breaking point has been reached by our society as a whole, as we have not invested in critical needs of our citizens who need help, and those families and agencies that tried can no longer do much of anything because funding is inadequate, and many situations are dire. This is a national problem at this point and is going to require all-hands-on-deck leadership in all sectors of government, or we will become a country of clearly defined haves and have-nots.
It is going to require state and federal funding to provide housing and services. We need local elected leaders to be experienced on advocacy and knowing how to get the appropriate bond bills and aid packages developed to get us out of this. We are the people we are looking for to come and rescue us. There is no knight in shining armor. It is up to us, people, to find the right leaders.
So, my recommendations are to get civic-minded, vote responsibly and get involved in being part of the solution by advocacy, being a good citizen and helping out any way you can with your knowledge, expertise and time. We’re all in this together, and we’d better figure it out.
As for me, when I was younger, I wanted a viable art league, so I helped accomplish that any way I could with friends and like-minded people, and a nonprofit was formed to be able to rent space and then, eventually, buy a building to become the Dover Art League. I worked for the federal government for almost 30 years. Upon retirement, I was president of a nonprofit for a two-year term in Washington, D.C. I have lived downtown since the ’70s, in the most diverse neighborhood ever. I opened a business with friends (which was an arduous two-year process and could be greatly simplified) and am still involved in community projects from time to time. I’ve been on a few boards. I love my city and do my part to make our visitors feel welcome. We literally do get visitors from all over the world with their bucket lists to see state capitals.
All I’m saying is, you (we) have to be the change you want to see and do your part. The days of John Q. Citizen sitting on the sideline are over. Our kids need to know what nonprofits are, our leaders need to be involved in getting federal and state funding, and we need visionaries and many more women on Dover City Council, Kent County Levy Court and the Delaware General Assembly. There will be no test, but this is a fail-or-pass moment. My hope is many will choose to be part of the solution and not be part of the ever-growing, worsening problem.
Taylor Collins
Dover
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
