March 23rd, 2009
Supplement to Newark’s Energy-Conservation Report
I have attached the supplement to this post for your reading.
Click here: Energy Conservation Report Update
March 23rd, 2009
New London Road / Hillside Road Intersection
DelDOT has made adjustments were made to the traffic signals at the Hillside and New London intersection. This was in response to concerns expressed to me regarding traffic signalization. I would also like to thank Senator Liane Sorenson for working with me on this issue. The main issues were that New London Rd traffic often gets backed up and the lights often only let a few cars go through. Additionally, there can be cars waiting a long time on New London when there is zero traffic on Hillside or zero pedestrians. I also heard that the timing is such that this is worse on weekends.
DelDOT would appreciate feedback on the adjustments they have made. Please e-mail me any comments and I will compile them to send on to DelDOT. They ask that if you pass through the intersection at different days and times, to note any remaining problems. DelDOT is requesting you also note the day and time.
Below is more information, from DelDOT, of what the adjustments are that they made:
“In response to the concerns expressed by you and others in the community regarding excessive delays, adjustments were made to the signal at SR 896 and Cleveland/Hillside. The intersection uses various cycle lengths throughout the day. We adjusted the timing in these cycle lengths to support all movements including the pedestrian signals. If the green or walk time allocated for a specific movement is not entirely used then the “left-over” time gets used on another approach. The left-over time must be used each cycle. When an overabundance of unused time occurs we try to reduce the overall cycle length* at the intersection. If the intersection is interconnected with other intersections along a corridor (as this one is) then the overall capacity of the corridor must be analyzed to ensure the capacity is not adversely affected.
I anticipate that the outcome of all this will be more green time to help clear southbound 896 at peak times, and more of a balance of delay on the various approaches to the intersection.
* the total time for the signal to serve all approaches”
February 17th, 2009
First Traffic Calming Committee established in City of Newark, for Country Club Drive
At Tuesday, February 17’s Traffic Committee meeting, the committee voted to create a Traffic Calming Committee to address speeding on Country Club Drive. The committee will be composed of a small number of residents and professional staff members. Stay tuned for more information as the committee investigates potential traffic calming solutions for Country Club Drive. Community opinions and idea will be sought. There will likely be a public forum as part of this process.
To get to this stage, 50% of households on Country Club Drive signed a petition in support of a traffic calming study. These petitions were sent to the Traffic Committee which voted to conduct a study.
From 5pm on February 6 until 5pm on February 13, a MetroCount Traffic Classifier was deployed on Country Club Drive just west of 112 Country Club Drive at the base of a speed limit sign.
During this time a total of 15,333 vehicles crossed the classifier, with 7,121 vehicles heading Eastbound and 8,212 vehicles heading Westbound. Peak flows were during 8am-9am, 11am-12n, and 4pm-6pm. Approximately 22% of vehicles were traveling within the speed limit of 25 mph. 44% were traveling between 25 mph and 30 mph. Approximately 25% were traveling between 30 mph and 35 mph. Approximately 8% were traveling above 35 mph. That means that 1163 cars were traveling over 10 mph over the speed limit on this residential street, which is the equivalent of one car every 4 1/3 minutes.
To proceed with a traffic calming project, an area must meet specific criteria in two of three areas: accident history, volume, and speeding. In this case, volume and speeding qualify Country Club Drive. Projects qualify under the speeding criterion if 85% of cars are not traveling within 5 mph of the speed limit. In this case, the 85th percentile speed was 33 mph, eight miles over the speed limit.
Once the new Traffic Calming Committee identifies appropriate traffic calming measures, two-thirds of households on Country Club Drive will have to petition that they want the measures implemented. The recommendations will go to the Traffic Committee who will make a recommendation to council.
Also on February 17, the Traffic Committee voted for a traffic calming study on Corbit Street. Data will be collected for the March meeting.
February 16th, 2009
Newark’s Civic Health
I recently completed my Master in Public Administration in State and Local Management at the University of Delaware. As the capstone to my graduate studies, I completed an analytical paper entitled, “Democratic Institutions Create Civic Health: How local jurisdictions can enhace their problem-solving capacities through inclusive governance, including a case study of Newark, Delaware.” As part of this project, I administered a survey to a cross-section of stakeholders in the Newark community. I will be presenting my findings at the February 23 city council meeting and plan to dedicate time during the remainder of my term to work on the issues identified in these papers.
To read a pdf of the two-page executive summary, click on the following link: Executive Summary_Newark Civic Health_Ezra Temko
To read or view the full paper, click on the following pdf link: Newark Civic Health_Ezra Temko
Civic Health refers to the strength of a community’s economic, civic, and social infrastructure, a measure of the community’s capacity to address opportunities and challenges it faces.
Democratic governance is the art of governing a community in participatory, inclusive, deliberative, and collaborative ways.
Democratic governance is a tool to enhance civic health. For example, “community visioning” is a common democratic governance tool used to help communities that need to develop their community vision. Contemporary local governments are also incorporating democratic governance into their governing systems which also enhances civic health. Democratic governance is increasingly important to governments trying to get results because of the growth in importance and changing in roles of non-government actors (private sector, citizens, nonprofits, etc). Democratic governance is a concept supported by the National League of Cities.
Civic Health can be measured in Newark through four components: having a community vision, fulfilling new roles for community governance, working together as a community, and the community’s problem solving ability. Each of these components involves specific criteria.
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Community vision entails having a vision for the community’s desired future.
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Community governance includes collaborative roles for business, citizens, local government, non-profits, the University of Delaware, and citizens.
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Working together includes bridging diversity, bridging university-community relations, crossing jurisdictional lines, reaching consensus, and sharing information.
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Problem solving includes building community leadership, educating citizens to meet community challenges, and learning from experience.
I administered a survey asking 74 participants from nine different stakeholder groups to evaluate the civic health of Newark based on 69 questions. Seventy-seven percent of surveys were returned. The following is a very general reporting of the survey results. For information on democratic governance tools used to address civic health areas in which Newark needs improvement, please see the full paper.
Civic health areas that are strengths for the Newark community:
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The Downtown Newark Partnership is active and highly visible in the Newark community.
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The Newark government is responsible and accountable to its citizens.
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Businesses in the Newark community participate in broad community improvement efforts.
Civic health areas that need improvement:
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Communicating Newark’s Vision
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Building Leadership
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Neighborhood Involvement
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Bridging Nonprofits
Civic health areas that need further exploration:
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Bridging diversity
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Bridging university-community relations
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Crossing jurisdictional lines
February 5th, 2009
Equal Rights Proposals
At February 9’s council meeting, there will be an initial discussion on equal rights proposals I am bringing to council. There will be a public hearing and anyone is welcome to come and speak on these issues. The meeting starts at 7:30pm in city hall (220 Elkton Road)
The four motions include:
1. Adding “gender identity and expression” to the city’s personnel policy regarding nondiscrimination.
2. Within city limits, making discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression illegal in housing, employment, and public accommodations (asking staff to research and report back).
3. Creating a life partner registry (asking staff to research and report back).
4. Offering domestic partner benefits to city employees (asking staff to research and report back).
Attached to this post are the text of these motions and three supporting documents with more background information.
Click here for the full text of these motions:
Click here for more information regarding nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression:
NonDiscrimination Background Information
Click here for more information on life partner registries:
Click here for more information regarding domestic partner benefits:
January 22nd, 2009
Open Government Resolution
Newark City Council will be voting on this resolution on Monday, January 26, 2009.
SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGE THE ADOPTION
BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF LEGISLATION WHICH
FURTHERS THE CAUSE OF OPEN, TRNASPARENT GOVERNMENT
WHEREAS, Newark City Council supports open, transparent governmental operations, and believes all political bodies have a duty to hold themselves to the highest ethical standards; and
WHEREAS, Newark City Council believes the state’s Freedom of Information Act was enacted to ensure that the People’s business is conducted in public; and
WHEREAS, the community of Newark is impacted by state legislation; and
WHEREAS, Newark City Council and every other local government and state agency complies with the Freedom of Information Act as a matter of law, yet also does so believing it is a wholly appropriate practice and becoming of good governments to do so; and
WHEREAS, Newark City Council believes it is a wholly appropriate practice and becoming of good governments to provide open access of government proceedings to the public; and
WHEREAS, open government is a nonpartisan issue and supported by members of our own Newark state delegation;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY NEWARK CITY COUNCIL, that the Mayor and the Council of the City of Newark support and encourage the adoption by the General Assembly of legislation which furthers the cause of uniform, open and transparent government at all levels in Delaware.
January 4th, 2009
Restaurant Week January 19-25
Newark’s Third Annual Restaurant Week!
“For one week only in late January, Downtown Newark hosts a culinary celebration highlighting our fabulous restaurants and their offerings – diverse enough to please any palate, and at prices to suit any purse! Everyone can eat downtown!
From Monday, January 19th through Sunday, January 25th, outstanding downtown Newark restaurants will offer specialty menus highlighting the best they have to offer at the right price! So well-priced, in fact, you’ll be tempted to sample all of them – and you can, because they are all located within a few steps of each other in exciting downtown Newark!
The event features FREE parking validation with meal, seasonal decorations, in-restaurant entertainment, and retail specials!
Three tiers of fabulous prix fixe meals are offered, with some restaurants offering more than one tier during the week! Each restaurant develops specific menus for the week according to their clientele and tier(s). Menus and tiers for each restaurant, as well as the full schedule of entertainment for the week, will be available after January 10th at www.eatdowntownnewark.com
The tiers:
Friends & Family Fun Meals - feeds a group of four people for $19.00
Luscious Lunches - features 2-course lunches for $10.00
Delightful Dinners - features 2-course dinners for $19.00 and 3-course dinners for $25.00
More information about this fabulous culinary event will follow!
DOWNTOWN NEWARK … A WONDERFUL PLACE TO EAT!”
December 10th, 2008
2009 Budget Adopted!
City Council adopted a budget Monday.
The budget included a small tax increase, greatly reduced from the 12 cents proposed (or more if you consider the changed projections for transfer tax revenue and in other areas).
Property tax will go up 2.25 cents, which will cost about $20/year for the average single-family home. This will fund an additional 3 police officers.
The electric utility margin was also increased 1.8% to help fund the pension contribution and retiree health care. Please note that electric customers should expect to see a decrease of at least 1.8% in January in electric rates (because of the previous temporary increase in response to rising wholesale costs) and therefore residents should not expect to pay any additional monies for their electricity at this time.
Grass collection service is also being changed and incorporated into a once-a-week Wednesday yard waste and grass collection service. This combined program will save the city over $40,000.
Other cost savings and alternative revenue streams were unfortunately unable to be embraced or adopted because council did not want to make hasty decisions. However, council will be picking back up the financial discussions in March and working on long-term financial planning as well as evaluating revenue diversification and cost savings.
I hope that you find this budget accomplishes our goals of keeping the city running and providing great services to you while having minimal impact on taxpayers. This next year we are adding three new police officers, beginning curbside recycling, addressing the Christiana Creek river crossing sewer issue, and moving towards meeting our contractual obligations for our pension fund and retiree health care.
I would also like to thank our Finance Director Dennis McFarland for all his work on this.
To read the News Journal article on the budget adoption, click here.
There will also be more information in the next Newark Post.
December 8th, 2008
My Current Budget Proposal
Please click here to open a PDF copy of the proposed budget developed by City Staff. The budget includes a proposed tax increase of 12 cents that covers current expenses, pays for 5 new police officers, and further funds our contractual obligations regarding our pension fund and retiree health care.
I currently have a plan that would cost about $18/year instead of the proposed $119 a year to meet our obligations.
