|
Mayor Baker Signs An Executive Order
Establishing
a New Planning and Development Advisory Council
The New Council Will Review the
Administration's On-going Work to Create a
Citywide Master Plan to Guide the Growth of the City's
Neighborhoods,
Downtown and Riverfront
Saying that the City of
Wilmington in the Year 2001 and beyond must overcome serious
social, economic and environmental challenges that threaten its
future, Wilmington Mayor James M. Baker today named a new
Planning and
Development Advisory Council to assist and advise the
Administration on the continuing effort to create a citywide
master plan for Wilmington's future growth and development.
Since taking office
earlier this year, Mayor Baker has been working with his
Administration's planning and economic development professionals
and area architects to assess the City's strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities for, and threats to, future growth and development
in all areas of the City. Mayor Baker today added another
important element to the master planning process when he signed
an Executive Order creating the new 30-member Planning and
Development Advisory Council.
Council members will
participate in the development of a citywide master plan which
the Mayor said would include appropriate guidelines and action
steps to move ahead with the future growth and development of
Wilmington's neighborhoods, downtown district and riverfront.
"Past planning efforts
in Wilmington have, at times, been disjointed, too narrowly
focused or disconnected from issues such as the City's funding
capability or ability to attract adequate financial resources,
which is why these efforts never achieved the goal of setting a
total plan to guide Wilmington's future," Mayor Baker said
today. "Now, we have begun the process of creating a citywide
master plan by reviewing past, current and new planning and
development initiatives, be they public or private, integrating
elements of neighborhood and riverfront infrastructure needs,
and then adding the proper mix of downtown retail outlets along
with important historic preservation and beautification goals. I
am very excited to have the assistance and advice of a
multi-talented council that will help us move Wilmington
appropriately into the future."
The following members
have been named by the Mayor to serve on the new Advisory
Council:
Kemo Jabbar-Bey
President, Neighborhood Planning Council, District 1
Michell Griffiths
President, Neighborhood Planning Council, District 2
Lance Bruce President,
Neighborhood Planning Council, District 3
Frances Stafford
President, Neighborhood Planning Council, District 4
Jerome Brown President,
Neighborhood Planning Council, District 5
Paul Falkowski
President, Neighborhood Planning Council, District 6
Fritz Jones President,
Neighborhood Planning Council, District 7
Alan Emsley President,
Neighborhood Planning Council, District 8
John Tylee Deputy
Director, Wilmington Renaissance Corporation
Linda Brown Executive
Director, Greater Wilmington Convention and Visitors Bureau
Helen Foster-Parson
Economic Development Director, Metropolitan Wilmington Urban
League
Emily Knearl Community
Building Associate, United Way of Delaware
Kee Kim Director, Korean
Merchants Association
Jerry DuPhilly
President, Wilmington Downtown Busines Association
Sylvia Lahvis
Preservation Delaware
Andrew Hastings
President, Delaware Association of Nonprofit Agencies
Maria Matos Executive
Director, Latin American Community Center
Rich Heffron Senior
V.P., Government Affairs, Delaware State Chamber of Commerce
Selwyn Julian Minority
Business Association
Mike Purzycki Executive
Director, Riverfront Development Corporation
Pam Sapko Executive
Director, Delaware Center for Horticulture
Vincent White President,
New Castle County Board of Realtors
Norman Oliver Chair,
Economic Development Committee, Wilmington City Council
Gerard Kelly Chair,
Housing Committee, Wilmington City Council
Still to be named is a
representative of the Delaware State Senate, a representative
from the Delaware State House of Representatives and a
representative of the Delaware Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Mayor Baker said the
Council will hold its initial meeting later this month and he
will consider a recommendation from the Council on the selection
of a Co-Chair. The Mayor, meanwhile, has named Derrick
Lightfoot, Senior Planner in the City's Department of Planning,
as a Co-Chair of the Council. The Planning Department will also
provide staff support for the Council, according to the Mayor.
As the new Council
prepares to meet, Mayor Baker said he is working on arrangements
for three area architects, James Tevebaugh, Jim Nelson and
Charles Weymouth, to serve as consultants to the Administration
and to the Advisory Council for the development of a master
plan. The Mayor said these same professional architects
approached him early
in the Administration and, as volunteers, recently presented him
with some "concept" development plans that will be made
available to the new Advisory Council for review.
The Mayor said the
Council would play an important role immediately by reviewing
and commenting on work already underway toward developing a
master plan. In the future, the Mayor said he would look to the
leadership of the Council for assistance as the master plan is
presented and explained to citizens and business representatives
throughout the City.
Mayor Baker said today
that as the master plan is moved toward completion, it is
important to never lose sight of the social, economic and
environmental factors which have helped to shape Wilmington as
it is known today.
"The City has been
affected by many major events since its founding in the mid
1700's," Mayor Baker said today. "But our City underwent some of
its most profound changes in just the last half of the twentieth
century. The events that affected our City from 1950 through
2000 are helping to guide this planning process, such as the
loss of industry along Wilmington's waterways; urban renewal and
urban unrest affecting a substantial portion of our City's inner
urban areas; the construction of I-95 through a once lively
urban core; the degradation of our air quality; the substantial
growth of suburban areas around Wilmington; the financial center
development act, and the migration of Wilmington's manufacturing
core and the commensurate loss of jobs, population and economic
vitality for its neighborhoods.
The Mayor said it is his
hope that a working document of the Wilmington master plan would
be available early next year so he can move forward in
conjunction with the Wilmington City Council and the Wilmington
Planning Commission to begin implementing the action steps that
will be recommended.
###
Wednesday, August 8, 2001
John Rago
Communications Director
Office of Mayor James Baker
302.573.5530 (office)
302.420.7928 (cell and/or pager)
|
