I am writing to express my discontent with the Downtown Dover Partnership and its director after reading recent media articles on how they are continuing to push their agenda of revitalization forward without taking the concern of the citizens of Dover into account. From what many community members stated at a recent meeting at Peoples Church of Dover, it appears that the partnership is attempting to gentrify the area where it is building a luxurious apartment building and parking garage.
One of the downfalls I see with this revitalizing project is that no one is addressing the street crime in that area. Experts may say crime is inevitable, but personal risk can be assessed by looking at many factors, such as what is causing the crime. I would have hoped that the partnership and city officials took the initiative to do that before moving forward and just erecting a six-story luxury apartment building. But that doesn’t seem the case here. There are millions of taxpayer dollars at stake and involved with this revitalization project, according to a previous newspaper article.
At this juncture, it may behoove the partnership, developer and city officials to put the project on hold and address the crime and other issues currently making the area unattractive and unsellable. Again, this is not a time to celebrate but maybe a time to reevaluate the project, consider alternate measures and look at controlling the crime in the area.
I would think that folks would want to get this right and not jump into a sinking ship.
Rosemary Zacher
Dover
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
