Memos at Random


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

What started as a party to mark the end of the season when the village of Arden was a summer resort, primarily for Philadelphians, has become a nearly century-old tradition. Blessed with sunny skies and comfortable temperature on Sept. 4, the 97th annual Arden Fair attracted a large crowd.

TIMELY APPOINTMENTS PROMISED: County Executive Tom Gordon said he will appoint community review advisory committees for Claymont and Hockessin before County Council enacts 'hometown' zoning for them in October. He said the five to nine members of the committees will be selected in consultation with the respective area civic associations and the Council members representing the district. In the initial go-round, they are the Claymont Community Coalition, Greater Hockessin Area Development Association, Robert Weiner and William Tansey.

Ken Murphy, president of the Hockessin organization, said the committee members, who will serve without pay, have to be thoroughly instructed about the rationale for and intent of the new approach to land use in traditional communities. "It's going to fail unless they do their work properly," he said, suggesting that that will require about three months of training. The steering committee that developed the Claymont plan has begun seeking recruits for that advisory committee. A similar effort will be begun soon in Hockessin, Murphy said.

Wawa plans to complete its purchase of the former Brosius & Eliason property at Philadelphia Pike and Harvey Road in mid-September. Company official Brian Pomykacz said the company expects to obtain a county building permit in time to begin construction by the turn of the year. It will take about six months to complete. Before the present building is demolished, Claymont Fire Company will conduct some drills there, but, contrary to a rumor, that will not include burning it.

AUDITOR TARGETED: Councilwoman Karen Venezky has circulated a memorandum among her colleagues reportedly criticizing county auditor Robert Hicks's performance of his duties in what some think is an effort to have him fired. Councilman Penrose Hollins said the matter will be discussed at the next meeting of Council's personnel committee, which he chairs. "This has been going on for some time. [It is] an attempt to undermine him," Hollins said. "There is a full-court press to get rid of Hicks," according to Councilman Robert Weiner.

Council president Christopher Coons said he is unaware of any movement to have Hicks fired. However, Coons added, "I will stand up for his right to a fair hearing and full review of any allegations against him in the event such a move to relieve him is made by others members of Council." He went on to say that Hicks "has upset powerful people in the current county administration." Coons noted that Council has just established an audit committee and said that would be the place to raise questions about Hicks's performance. Neither Hicks nor Venezky responded to Delaforum requests for comment. (CLICK HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)

Governor Ruth Ann Minner has reconvened the taskforce she appointed to review Wilmington city government's financial needs and recommend new revenue sources.

Kate Bailey, the governor's acting press secretary, told Delaforum that the panel will begin meeting again after Labor Day with an intent to come up with a report by the time the next General Assembly begins in January. State legislation would likely be necessary to implement anything the taskforce recommends. In response to the taskforce's initial recommendations, the Assembly in 2003 enacted measures which resulted in the city's taking in an additional $3 million this year, Bailey pointed out. City officials have said that was welcome, but insufficient to meet long-term needs.

Bailey said that Scott Green and Fred Sears, co-chairs of the taskforce, met during the week of Aug. 16 with representatives of state and city governments "to outline a path forward ." During extensive discussion of a $15 million New Castle County grant to the city on Aug. 24, there were several comments regarding the taskforce, but neither William Montgomery, Mayor James Baker's chief of staff, City Council president Ted Blunt nor Council finance committee chairman Norman Griffiths even hinted that the group was about to re-assemble. (CLICK HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)

ATTORNEY REQUESTED: County Executive Tom Gordon asked federal court to provide a lawyer to defend him against criminal corruption charges. At a hearing on Aug. 23 he told Judge Kent Jordan that he wants a lawyer, but does not have enough money to pay for one. Until now, Gordon, who was indicted in May by a grand jury on eight felony counts alleging racketeering, mail fraud and wire fraud and has pleaded not guilty, has been speaking for himself in court. "I had an attorney [that] I spent considerable money on," Gordon said. "At this point, it's a financial issue."

Jordan directed Gordon to file a financial disclosure affidavit and to submit supporting data. He will appoint a court-paid lawyer "if it is true ... you can't afford an attorney," he said. The judge cautioned, however, that court policy makes a distinction between not being able to afford representation and its being "financially painful" to hire a lawyer. In any event, he added, it may be difficult to find a local lawyer who does not have a conflict of interest because of having worked for county government. "We may have to go out of the county or even out of the state [to do so]," he said.

REDEVELOPMENT PLANNED: Home Depot has filed an application with the county Department of Land Use to tear down part of the Miller Road Shopping Center and put up a 92,435 square foot store and build a separate 4,000 square foot restaurant. As the result of some long-ago gerrymandering, the 16.4 acre property is in Brandywine Hundred, just outside the Wilmington city limits. City government earlier sought unsuccessfully to annex the property in order to attract a Shop Rite supermarket to locate there. The Home Depot would replace a now-closed variety store.

Construction on the Delaware Art Museum's $25 million expansion is moving ahead toward a completion and reopening now scheduled for March, 2005. An additional 60,000 square feet of gallery and education space is being built and the building's existing 40,000 square feet is being renovated. There will also be sculpture garden on the 11 acre property in the Kentmere section of west Wilmington. The museum has been in temporary quarters at the Riverfront Art Center.

We can't help but wonder why folks hereabout insist on telling people that they live in or near Wil-ming-TIN.

Daniel Harkins found a major gap in this year's anniversary observances of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision: Claymont High was barely -- and often not even -- mentioned.

Given the media penchant for focusing, then as now, on the 'negative', he isn't surprised. "There was no disruption here. It was accomplished with cooperation by all the parties," he said. "Claymont made the moral choice to do the right thing." But he wasn't about to let it rest there. With backing from the Delaware Heritage Commission he has organized a day-long symposium to focus on 'First school -- first state -- first to integrate'. Claymont High, of which Harkins is an alumnus, was the first and only school involved in the historic racial integration cases to voluntarily admit black students.

If that is something of a footnote in the history books, he isn't about to have the symposium be a footnote to the 50th anniversary. Sept. 5 is the 52nd anniversary of Claymont High integration; its first black graduate received a diploma just two months after the Supreme Court ruling. Jack Greenberg, of Columbia University, the last of the lawyers who argued the Brown cases, will be keynote speaker. There will be panel of students who were involved who'll tell it like it was. The intent, Harkins said, "is to make people aware of the respectful and dignified manner by which integration was achieved in Claymont." (CLICK HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)

The symposium, open to the public without charge, will be Sept. 18, beginning at 12:30 p.m. in the auditorium of Claymont Intermediate School, which now shares the former Claymont High campus.