Exploring Open Data in Wilmington

A group of programmers, coders, and government officials are coming together to see how much we can improve Wilmington with open data.

Tuesday evening, Wilmington's Economic Development Director, Jeff Flynn, spoke to more than 30 people at 1313 Innovation about how they could work with the city to review and analyze data that could be used to better plan for the city's future.

This is a concept that's being tried around the world with great success. Here's just a few articles to check out:

How Open Data is Transforming City Life

3 Cities Using Open Data in Creative Ways to Solve Problems

5 reasons why good governments should embrace open data

Delaware can become a national leader on open data

It's exciting to see what we can accomplish by working together!

Marty

Downtown Wilmington is the place for co-working

The News Journal recently published a great article about our co-working spaces in Downtown Wilmington.

Here's some excerpts:

“It’s affordable, reliable and more conducive than teleconferencing on Skype,” partner Miguel Zakharia said. “It also allows us to be part of this really cool atmosphere. It feels like one big family over there.”

The largest co-working space in Wilmington, 1313 Innovation is about to get even bigger as demand for shared workspace grows among young entrepreneurs.

The 2-year-old tech-focused workspace on the ground floor of the Hercules Plaza Building opened a new wing in December and soon will begin work on a third addition.

...

Steven Roettger and Wes Garnett were among the first to see co-working’s potential in Delaware.

After meeting at a financial planning firm, the duo had just started the marketing firm Verge in 2008 when they read an article about this new office space model taking shape in San Francisco, Philadelphia and New York.

“As business owners just getting started, we were finding it hard to meet other people like us in Delaware,” Roettger said. “Our first reaction was this is exactly what we were looking for – a way to tap into the creative and tech community.”

Click here to see the entire article.

Downtown Wilmington is all about innovation, collaboration, and creating exciting new things - if you haven't already experienced this in Wilmington, come on down and see for yourself.

Marty

More People Coming to Live in Downtown Wilmington

The new Market Street Village apartments are now open - and they are impressive!

More and more people are discovering how nice it is to live, work, and play in Downtown Wilmington - if you want to learn more about living in these new properties, click here.

Marty

Wilmington Inspires Students

I am so impressed with the men and women who live and work in Wilmington.

WDEL and the News Journal just reported a story about how officials with the city of Wilmington and Bank of America helped provide school supplies and personal notes of encouragement to more than 100 students who attend after-school programs at the William Hicks Anderson Community Center.

Click Here for the complete story with video from WDEL

Click Here for the story from the News Journal

This is a great way to start our New Year!

Marty

Continuing Commitment

Last week we took a good look at all that has been accomplished in 2015 - now we're in 2016 and it's time to look ahead.

Personally, I'm not too big on New Year's Resolutions - I believe in seizing opportunities for improvement all year around.

I also believe in continuing commitment.

With that in mind, we at Downtown Visions commit to the following in 2016:

• We will continue working with all of our Downtown Businesses to help grow our economy
• We will continue working with all of our Downtown Residents to make our city an even better place to live
• We will continue working with all of our Downtown Visitors to ensure their visit is enjoyable and productive
• We will continue to keep our streets in Downtown clean and safe
• We will continue to work with local artists, musicians, and vendors to keep our city lively and entertaining
• We will continue to collaborate with individuals, organizations, and businesses to make Downtown Wilmington a destination for people to visit, grow a business, and enjoy a great urban lifestyle

There's a lot of great plans for Downtown Wilmington this year, from new residential units to new businesses to new dining and entertainment options. We'll continue to have special events morning, noon, and night - weekdays, weekends, and holidays. 

I look forward to continuing to work with all of you throughout 2016!

Marty