Memos at Random


	A potpourri of miscellaneous news SCRIBBLED IN A REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK

Two residents who have been critical of county government are forming a 'good-government watchdog' organization to keep an eye on things.

Chuck Riley, of Claymont, said the nonpartisan Citizens for New Directions was inspired by response to a pair ad hoc meetings in January. The new group will hold a public organizational meeting soon, he said. In a press statement announcing formation of the group, Riley said citizen responsibilities "do not end with the vote in the voting booth but, rather, continue by keeping abreast of issues and ensuring that elected representatives and government employees are performing their duties as they should - by keeping the best interests of their constituents and the tax paying public at heart."

Co-founder of the new group is Richard Korn, of Hockessin, who was instrumental several years ago in combating improper practices by local officials in a county on Long Island, N.Y. He is a plaintiff, with Jerry Martin, of Brandywine Hundred, in a civil lawsuit challenging the hiring of outside law firms to represent New Castle County employees in connection with the continuing federal investigation of the Gordon administration. "The foundation of good government is the integrity and the lawfulness of those with who we entrust our civic and governmental responsibilities," he said in the press statement.

BLANK SLATE: With only three filing days left before the deadline, there are still no candidates for election to the Brandywine Board of Education. The Department of Elections for New Castle County will close the books at the close of business on Mar. 5, taking the decision away from residents and permitting the present board to fill the vacancy that will be created by the expiration of president Nancy Doorey's term on June 30. Doorey, who would be eligible for that appointment, has refused to say if she is interested in keeping the unpaid position she has held for five years.

TWO ON ONE: The state Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control and the federal Environmental Protection Agency have proposed to fine the Delaware Solid Waste Authority a total of $210,900 for air pollution violations at the Cherry Island Marsh landfill. The violations involve the release of methane and other gases. The state order also orders corrective steps be taken within a state time period, but a press statement did not say what that period would be. The authority, which is not financed by the state government, has to right to appeal the orders.

SHUT DOWN FOR GOOD ?: The Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control declared the former General Chemical sulfuric acid plant to be abandoned property as far as the Coastal Zone Act is concerned. "No further heavy industrial activity may take place at this site by General Chemical Corp. or any subsequent property owner," said a press statement. That apparently puts the kybosh on announced plans to sell the plant site to another manufacturing company, but Delafourm was unable to immediately confirm that. General Chemical or anyone else has 60 days to appeal.

Selected highways will get brighter -- three and a half times brighter, as a matter of fact -- after their stripes get redrawn with new road-marking material.

Delaware Department of Transportation has just asked for bids on a $3.5 million three-year contract to replace waterborne paint on several heavily traveled highways with an epoxy laced with glass beads. The epoxy is a glue-like pigmented liquid which hardens to hold two sizes of beads in place. The beads reflect vehicle headlights giving drivers the appearance of a lighted guideway. That technology has been used for several years in mostly metropolitan areas around the nation to significantly increase visibility, especially of rainy nights. This will be its first appearance in Delaware.

Gary Laing, DelDOT's municipal liaison officer. told Delaforum that the material was selected after being tested since 2002 on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway -- Delaware 1. It costs 20¢ a linear foot, compared to between 3¢ and 8¢ for paint. But it lasts about three years, compared to paint's six to eight months. For the record, the epoxy's reflectivity is more than 500 millicandellas, while traditional highway paint is rated at 150 millicandellas. So, on balance, cost is about equal while safety benefits of the epoxy is far greater, Laing said. (CLICK HERE to read previous Delafourm story.)

Concord Pike, Kennett Pike, Philadelphia Pike, Lancaster Pike, Naamans Road, Montchanin Road, State 141 roads and Interstate 495 are among the highways to initially get the treatment.

The county Department of Land Use has completed the redesign and expansion of its Web site. As Delaforum previously reported, the site will provide a more comprehensive view of department's operations. Among other things, it will be an electronic portal to public property records which previously available only for in-person inspection. (CLICK HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)

READY TO ACT: County Council is expect to take up, and most likely enact, a somewhat revised version of the 'hometown overlay' ordinance at its session on Mar. 9. The main change in a substitute for the pending proposed ordinance would specifically include incorporated municipalities that have elected to be covered by the Unified Development Code. Arden, Ardentown and Ardencroft, which fall into that category, have asked to be included. The law would apply mainly to unincorporated communities which existed before the county adopted its first zoning code in 1954.

The ordinance provides for Council to establish the overlays upon request by community groups working with their Council representatives. After that is done, the community produces a plan defining the kinds of development and redevelopment that fit its 'traditional character'. After Council confers the status of law on the plan, a local review board is empowered to determine whether a proposed project is in keeping the the plan. Conventional zoning remains in place, but the proposed ordinance provides that the community plan supercede it in the event of conflict. (CLICK HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)

Mount Pleasant High has been designated as a secondary school eligible to award the prestigious International Baccalaureate diploma.

Acceptance by the Switzerland-based organization came on Feb. 17 as the culmination of a three-year evaluation process. Meanwhile, 23 Mount Pleasant sophomores and 45 freshmen are now participating in an academically rigorous curriculum to prepare them for admission into the two-year diploma program next September. When the older group graduates in June, 2006, they will be the first public school students in Delaware to receive what program coordinator Lynn Wright described as "an educational passport to any college in the world." Wilmington Friends School is a year ahead in offering the program.

Wright said the diploma program is an educational venture regarded as "the most challenging in the world." Only a relative handful of teenagers are admitted into the diploma program and, on average, about 80% successfully complete it. In order to teach it, schools and their faculties must maintain exceptionally high academic standards. "It is a tribute to our students and their parents that they had the confidence to stay with it" during the long and by-no-means certain acceptance process, Wright said. (CLICK HERE to read previous Delaforum article; CLICK HERE to access the International Baccalaureate Organization's Web site.)