City officials plan major "members only" swap meet Wilmington, DE. August 30, 1999. "We're being sold down river," was how Susan Regis Collins, Chair of the Wilmington River-City Committee (WRCC) described Saturday's announcement of plans to swap the City's Public Works yard for the former Diamond Oil site. "That's right." continued Collins, "Sold down river by our 'sell out' elected officials." "It's outrageous-- not only do they want to swap the yard, in addition, the city sweetens the swap by offering the Riverfront Devilment Corp.( RDC), 5 Million Dollars for them Îto take it off our handsâ," stated Charles Potter, Jr., (WRCC) VP and local businessman, "Everyone knows the RDC calls this Îthe most valuable land on the riverfrontâ. We know that too. We must have an appraisal of the true value of the land." Alden Jenkins, WRCC, Director of Environmental Concerns and founding member of Wilmington Waterfront Watch, was appalled by the idea: "If it's possible to have land that is more polluted that the Public Works yard it's Diamond Oil." "Why swap for a site across from the waterfront development epicenteris this defacto segregation?" "Can elected officials serve two masters?", questioned Paul Falkowski, WRCC Board Member and newly elected president of the Southwest Neighborhood Planning Council. "Both the mayor and council president sit on the RDC board, I'm not a lawyer but it looks like a conflict to me. The interests of residents of Wilmington are being badly misrepresented." The Wilmington River-City Committee, Inc. is a community based citizen advocacy group. To date the WRCC has sponsored three Citizen Summits "The Future of Our Waterfront." The preservation of city owned waterfront properties for the common good has been a high priority since 1997. "City Officials are well aware, we have documentation, that for the past three years WRCC has been working diligently to ensure Wilmingtonians are not denied access to waterfront development. we've been sold out again." said Collins. Please call: Jim Sills Voice: 571-4100 Fax: 571-4102 (Mayor of Wilmington) Send Mayor Sills an email mayor@ci.wilmington.de.us #####
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