Sean Loves Making the City of Wilmington a Better Place to Live, Work and Play!

Meet Sean, a Downtown Visions Cleaning Ambassador that loves coming to work each day and making the City of Wilmington a better place for all to enjoy. Join us in thanking Sean for all of his hard work and efforts to provide us with an even more beautiful city. 

Interested in making a difference and becoming an ambassador or joining the Downtown Visions team? Click here for current opportunities! Curious about Downtown Visions and all of their incredible initiatives? Click here to learn more! 

Post by Julia Mason of Enthusiasm Lab

Explore the Future of Transportation!

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TEDxWilmington, with support from AAA, is holding perhaps the first TEDxSalon in the world dedicated exclusively to exploring the future transportation on Tuesday, October 17th from 1-5 PM. 

The theme of this TEDxWilmington Salon is, “Who’s in the Driver’s Seat? The Transformation of Transportation.” 

Wilmington, Delaware is the perfect location for this event on transportation. In addition to being the home of AAA Mid-Atlantic’s headquarters, Delaware is where the world’s first divided highway was being constructed more than 100 years ago and the Delaware Department of Transportation is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

This event will enlighten, entertain, and inspire everyone from daily commuters to transportation engineers to car designers to software developers as we explore the many aspects of the future of transportation. 

This Salon will have two sessions and several speakers in each session.

Get your tickets! 

Join Women Bike Wilmington's First Ride this Saturday!

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Bike Wilmington member Sarah Lester from West Side Grows Together was inspired by similar groups in other cities to launch an informal women’s bike ride/ ride series.  Sarah’s goal is to get more women out riding in Wilmington and socializing together.  As such, she is organizing the first event of the group this Saturday, September 23rd at 11 AM. 

It includes a 10 mile loop beginning and ending at De La Coeur on Lovering Avenue, ending with an afternoon coffee or pastry.  As for now, the group is called Women Bike Wilmington but Sarah is working on a more creative name, which she will be glad to share on Saturday!

 

Win FREE Tickets to Every Show at The Queen from October 1st-December 31st, 2017

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The Queen is giving away an entire year’s worth of tickets! Enter for your chance to win 2 tickets to every show between October 1, 2017 – December 31, 2018! This includes Breaking Benjamin, Third Eye Blind, Regina Spektor (yes, even though her show is SOLD OUT), Cheap Trick & more!

Click here to enter! 

Post by Julia Mason of Enthusiasm Lab

Wilmington is Becoming More Business Friendly: City Launches New 10-Day Sewer/Water Plans Review Process

Wilmington, DE New 10 day water reviews plan process.

News Release from The City of Wilmington:

Mayor Purzycki tosses out the City’s average 60-day review turnaround timeline; says this is the start of reforming the City’s permitting and inspection process.

Vowing to make the City more friendly and efficient for business development projects that help the City grow, Mayor Mike Purzycki and Acting Public Works Commissioner Kelly Williams today announced a new, expedited process for the review and approval of water and sewer development plans. The Mayor said the revised review process will mean the approval process will take approximately 10 days instead of the current 60 days or more. Purzycki and Williams stressed that the 10-day review will be just as thorough as the current process, just faster.

“City government has to operate more efficiently and quickly when it comes to reviewing development plans and issuing permits,” said Mayor Purzycki. “There are about two dozen or so larger-scale development projects that come to the City annually for review. When they come our way, it’s the City’s duty to review them thoroughly and then pass judgement. These projects can mean jobs and revenue for the City, so the last thing we should do it unnecessarily delay the review process.” Purzycki said City government should be assisting and guiding these projects to completion, not being a hindrance as has happened in the past. “We are beginning to change the mindset within government and are about to reform the entire permitting and inspections process to make it more efficient and fair to everyone including businesses and residents.”

Acting Public Works Commissioner Williams said the City has contracted with the Wilmington-based engineering firm of RK&K to perform engineering and environmental reviews whenever the City’s current review process, which is housed in the Public Works Department, becomes overloaded or backed-up on projects. The City will pay RK&K $50,000 annually to keep the plans review process on a 10-day turnaround schedule. The Mayor said the new review process is in place and ready to receive proposals.

Purzycki, who has an extensive business and development background, said many of the reforms he is planning for the permitting, inspections and plans review processes come from the frustration he and others experienced in dealing with the City in the past. “There is a more efficient way to handle plans reviews and other services we provide to citizens,” said the Mayor. “Most encouraging is that many of our own employees who do this work every day are helping us figure out how to do things better. That’s because they are being asked for their ideas and solutions and that can make a world of difference in any type of operation.”

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