...delatacit?
UPDATE (11/9/04): Not yet.....
Sunday, November 7, 2004
Speak, Computer, Speak!
Saturday, November 6, 2004
So Close...
I love this photo. It is from the November 5 edition of the Cape Gazette. It shows Jud Bennett (left) and two supporters as the final results came in on election night. At that point, the count had him losing his bid to become a member of Sussex County Council by 12 votes. 
Jud Bennett ran for Council from the district we live in, so we've been tracking this race. He's also a former Lewes City Councilman and someone I've dealt with some as a Planning Commissioner. He ran hard, stepping down from City Council and focusing all of his energy on the race. He made growth and planning for growth the main issues of his campaign. He's a Republican, but stayed away from the national and state-level issues of this campaign season, concentrating instead on what seems a major issue in this fast-growing area.
As of this morning, after two recounts, he is three votes behind and facing a decision whether to carry on in the legal realm or concede defeat. Even if he does concede, he can be proud. In Delaware, incumbents almost always win. To come this close against an entrenched and popular councilman is an accomplishment.
There were two other council races in Sussex County. In both of those, the incumbents won handily, but by margins that were closer than one would have expected. In all three races, the challengers spent a great deal of time talking about the need to better plan for growth. I think there is a message here that the Council needs to hear. And, while the voters chose not to turn them out of office, it was very close.
Thursday, November 4, 2004
295 Days Later: A Prius
Today I took delivery of my new 2005 Toyota Prius. This replaces my 2001 Prius, which I traded in at 99,617 miles (if I remember correctly). I am thrilled with this new car.
Of course, I was very happy with my first Prius, which was one of the first to arrive here in Delaware. In that car, I averaged about 48 miles per gallon. It was comfortable, fun to drive, and had enough gee-whiz geekery to satisfy my techie soul.
This car promises to be even more fun. I've only driven about 100 miles in it, so far, but here are some first thoughts.
It's bigger and "stouter" than the 2001 Prius. It is somehow more solid-feeling than the '01. I had heard that this was a bigger more powerful car that got even better mileage. We'll see about the mileage; today was a very wet and windy day, so I would expect lower mileage results. My average today seemed to be about 47 MPG, so I have high hopes.
This car is very comfortable and seems a tad roomier. The girls were pleased with the back seat and reported that they had more room as well. The "Smart Key" is very cool. It's a key fob that I can simply leave in pocket. When I approach the car, the car reads a signal from the key and the door unlocks; when I get in, I can leave the key in my pocket and simply press the "start" button. Very cool.
I had hoped to post a photo, but today was too gray and rainy. I'll take a snapshot when the sun returns and add it in.
I placed the order for this car on January 14, 2004. I took delivery today, November 4. That's 295 days. Or, 10 months and 3 weeks (I think). That's a long wait, but appears to be the norm for ordering the Prius these days. With my first Prius, I think I ordered in November of 2000 and had the car by the end of March 2001.
That earlier version of the Prius was a hit. This version, which was a new redesign starting with the 2004 model is an improvement and it has been very popular. The wait is not likely to shrink. The dealer told me that many folks waiting for their Priuses to come in are getting antsy and a little upset with their dealers. He was grateful that I'd been so patient.
This is a nice treat. It's been a disappointing week otherwise, and I have been looking forward to having this car. Tonight, I'm starting to feel happy again.
Wednesday, November 3, 2004
Tuesday, November 2, 2004
But We Didn't Get an "I Voted" Button!
Karen and I voted this morning. We went at about 10:30 and found relatively short lines. We were in and out fairly quickly and now have the rest of the day to take care of a few errands and await the TV news marathon of tonight, maybe tomorrow, and (heaven forbid) the rest of the month.
We live in Election District 01 of Representative District 37. We're in the Lewes part of the District, which I think was pretty severely gerrymandered after the 2000 Census. Note the long reach from the rural, conservative area south of Georgetown up to grab Lewes and Edgewater Estates -- home, at that time, to Representative John Schroeder, a democrat, who lost his reelection bid in 2002. John lost a close vote to a Georgetown-area Republican fixture, former Georgetown Mayor and Indian River School Board member Joe Booth. But that's another story.
We parked about half a block away from the old Lewes Middle school (now the Ninth Grade Campus of Cape Henlopen High School), where we have voted for most of the last two decades.
As we walked up to the school, a Lewes Fire Company ambulance came up the street, with lights and sirens, and pulled into the driveway. Not a great omen. In the end, however, the lights and siren were cut off and the ambulance turned around and left again. A false alarm? Election-day mischief? Who knows.
We circled around the entrance to avoid the electioneering out front. Joan Deaver -- local activist -- was there; she knows me and so called out to encourage me to vote for Jud Bennett. Jud's running for County Council as a Republican but sounding like a democrat. Elections can be fun. I assured Joan that I planned to vote for someone, but I prefer not to get into details.
Just up the sidewalk, I saw George Elliott, a Lewes retiree who appeared in the "Swift Boat Vets" add attacking John Kerry. I hadn't seen him around much since that all flared up. I had no desire to talk to him today, but I at least have a story to take away from the day.
We voted. For myself, I can say that I voted for some Democrats on our ballot and for some Republicans. Here in Delaware we are generally somewhat bipartisan and we have sent a few good Republicans to Washington and Dover and will continue to do so.
But we didn't get "I Voted" buttons! Oh Well.
We live in Election District 01 of Representative District 37. We're in the Lewes part of the District, which I think was pretty severely gerrymandered after the 2000 Census. Note the long reach from the rural, conservative area south of Georgetown up to grab Lewes and Edgewater Estates -- home, at that time, to Representative John Schroeder, a democrat, who lost his reelection bid in 2002. John lost a close vote to a Georgetown-area Republican fixture, former Georgetown Mayor and Indian River School Board member Joe Booth. But that's another story.
We parked about half a block away from the old Lewes Middle school (now the Ninth Grade Campus of Cape Henlopen High School), where we have voted for most of the last two decades.
As we walked up to the school, a Lewes Fire Company ambulance came up the street, with lights and sirens, and pulled into the driveway. Not a great omen. In the end, however, the lights and siren were cut off and the ambulance turned around and left again. A false alarm? Election-day mischief? Who knows.
We circled around the entrance to avoid the electioneering out front. Joan Deaver -- local activist -- was there; she knows me and so called out to encourage me to vote for Jud Bennett. Jud's running for County Council as a Republican but sounding like a democrat. Elections can be fun. I assured Joan that I planned to vote for someone, but I prefer not to get into details.
Just up the sidewalk, I saw George Elliott, a Lewes retiree who appeared in the "Swift Boat Vets" add attacking John Kerry. I hadn't seen him around much since that all flared up. I had no desire to talk to him today, but I at least have a story to take away from the day.
We voted. For myself, I can say that I voted for some Democrats on our ballot and for some Republicans. Here in Delaware we are generally somewhat bipartisan and we have sent a few good Republicans to Washington and Dover and will continue to do so.
But we didn't get "I Voted" buttons! Oh Well.
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Wow! We're Famous Here in Lil' Ole Lewes
The great city of Lewes, Delaware, is mentioned in a recent edition of the Quad-City Times Newspaper in Milwaukee. Of course, from their perspective, we're just a tiny burg somewhere on the east coast.
The story reports on a recent conference -- Urban Waterfronts 22: Gathering By the Waters -- put on by The Waterfront Center. Officials from Davenport , Iowa, were on hand to try to earn about how to spruce-up their waterfront.
One the case studies presented, apparently, was the story of how Lewes' old Boatyard Property is becoming a canal-front park. The Waterfront Center was, I think, among the consultants on the project. John Mateyko, of Lewes, who worked on this project and continues in a leadership role, appears to have been in Milwaukee for the conference and is quoted in the story. It caught my eye as a member of the Lewes Planning Commission; this story was the first big, controversial issue I faced as a newcomer to the Commission.
Our story, as presented at the conference, is how Lewes' citizenry "managed to outmaneuver a high-powered developer" whose development proposal included "a hotel, parking ramp and commercial space on the town's last remaining large piece of open waterfront." I don't remember a hotel as part of the proposal, I'm thinking it was residential units, but no matter. I also question whether it was the last open waterfront land.
The Planning Commission voted to recommend denial. Council went along with that recommendation and we were all served with papers in a lawsuit.
That is the point at which the lobbying went into high gear. Eventually, the citizen organization collected sufficient pledges from area residents, and from the state government, to allow the city to buy the property and satisfy the property owner, who dropped the suit.
This has been a positive outcome for the City, but I argue that we cannot get into the habit of buying our way out of situations in which projects can legally proceed, but are politically unpopular. This could get very expensive.
The story reports on a recent conference -- Urban Waterfronts 22: Gathering By the Waters -- put on by The Waterfront Center. Officials from Davenport , Iowa, were on hand to try to earn about how to spruce-up their waterfront.
One the case studies presented, apparently, was the story of how Lewes' old Boatyard Property is becoming a canal-front park. The Waterfront Center was, I think, among the consultants on the project. John Mateyko, of Lewes, who worked on this project and continues in a leadership role, appears to have been in Milwaukee for the conference and is quoted in the story. It caught my eye as a member of the Lewes Planning Commission; this story was the first big, controversial issue I faced as a newcomer to the Commission.
Our story, as presented at the conference, is how Lewes' citizenry "managed to outmaneuver a high-powered developer" whose development proposal included "a hotel, parking ramp and commercial space on the town's last remaining large piece of open waterfront." I don't remember a hotel as part of the proposal, I'm thinking it was residential units, but no matter. I also question whether it was the last open waterfront land.
"The developer was a big-league guy in town who knew everyone, and everyone thought his project was politically greased and would go through," Mateyko said. "All that was true, except that it didn't go through."Hmmm. I don't know whether the project was politically greased or not, but it was appropriately zoned, which meant that our only decision point was whether or not to recommend approval of the site plan to City Council. That approval was supposed to be based on whether or not that site plan met all of the technical requirements in our code.
The Planning Commission voted to recommend denial. Council went along with that recommendation and we were all served with papers in a lawsuit.
That is the point at which the lobbying went into high gear. Eventually, the citizen organization collected sufficient pledges from area residents, and from the state government, to allow the city to buy the property and satisfy the property owner, who dropped the suit.
This has been a positive outcome for the City, but I argue that we cannot get into the habit of buying our way out of situations in which projects can legally proceed, but are politically unpopular. This could get very expensive.
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