On August 21st, I filed as a candidate for election in Dewey Beach. I created this blog to have a place where people and voters in Dewey can come and learn about my views and positions.
Just to get things started, my campaign for Commissioner and my platform is based on these key issues:
- Full openness and transparency in Dewey government - much improvement is needed here.
- Property owners who rent pay an inordinate share of the town costs. The businesses, and in particular the big bars should pay their fair share as they cost the town hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in public safety, policing and code enforcement.
- Our property values are eroding due to Dewey's reputation as an "anything goes" place. We need to take strong and immediate action to reverse this trend.
- The property owners in Dewey are not represented by the current Council members. In fact, its hard to understand whose interests the current Commissioners represent. We need to change that right away -- and if elected I'll work for you!
On a personal note, my wife Trish and I live in Spring Mount, PA (a suburb of Philadelphia) and we have grown kids and a granddaughter -- Scarlet (age 6). We spend a great deal of time in Dewey in the off season, and like many of you, we love bringing our dog Josie to the beach. Unlike some, we actually come to Dewey throughout the winter as well and think that the town is beautiful all seasons of the year.
We've owned our property on Swedes St. in Dewey since 2007 and I've been active in various committees and community organizations the entire time. In the early days I was on the Policy Committee and briefly the IT Committee, and participated in two Town Manager Search Committees. More recently I served for two years on the Dewey Budget & Finance Committee and have been a board member of the Civic League since 2012.
Both Trish and I have been frequent participants in the Beautification Days sponsored by the Civic League, and I also help administer the website for the Civic League. I'm also a recent member of CPD, and have long been a strong supporter of the 35 foot height limit in Dewey.
Professionally, I've had a 30+ year career in healthcare and technology businesses and am currently CEO of Otovation, a medical device company that I founded in 2004 and is located in King of Prussia, PA. I have a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Ursinus College, and have been working on a Master's degree in Psychology at Harvard for the last several years.
I hope to meet many of you in the days to come leading up to the election on Sept. 20th, and will work hard to fairly and diligently represent the property owners of Dewey Beach.
My contact information is below, and I welcome your comments and questions and will do my best to respond to each and every one.
Cell: (610) 613-5600 Email: dave@dave4dewey.org
Call or write and let me know what you think about how things are going in Dewey these days. I'd love to hear from you.
Thanks for your support, and I promise to do my very best to give Dewey property owners the representation you deserve!
Dave
Dave -
ReplyDeleteYou refer to "eroding property values"; could you elaborate on this point? In particular, when do you believe property values began to drop, and what event was the cause?
/John
John Curran
20 McKinley St
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJohn:
ReplyDeleteSorry to not reply sooner to your question. There are oceanfront townhouses and condos that have been on the market in the $500,000 to $600,000 range for a year or more. That would never happen in neighboring Rehoboth. The area in general has made a decent recovery from the 2009-2011 real estate crash, so we're talking apples to apples here in today's market conditions.
Dewey's property values are lower than surrounding beach communities, largely because of the town's reputation. There are lots of families who would never consider owning in Dewey because of the drunk and disorderly culture and reputation it has. The Mayor and others have been on a campaign telling everyone how family friendly Dewey is, but a town isn't family friendly just because people say it is.
This is a complicated matter, and I would be happy to discuss this with you on the phone and share more information in support of my views. My number is 610-613-5600 and feel to call me at any reasonable time.
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ReplyDeleteDave -
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, the town of Dewey Beach has not made as quick a recovery from the 2009-2010 crash, and much of that is because of the significant proportion of land lease properties (particularly in northern streets) which are now within the period where financing becomes extremely difficult.
Dewey Beach's "Way of Life" reputation has been in place for many decades, it is not a recent development, and this means that investors have encountered any circumstances that they should have been expecting.
Dewey Beach actually has made remarkable progress in becoming family friendly; you don't have hundreds of families out on the beach every Monday for no reason, and I am encountering more and more families in my morning walks on McKinley Street; many of these parents citing the dog-friendly beach policy as well as the _benefit_ of being able themselves to "let loose" one evening of their vacation with some live music and entertainment.
I understand the CPD mantra about property values, but please recognize that in any market where many properties coming on the market and can only be sold for cash or investment purposes (due to inability to realistically finance land-lease properties within mortgage term) you will have property values which correspond to the seasonal rental values remaining on the land-lease and not a $1 more. This may be uncomfortable for those who wish it otherwise, but it has nothing to do with Dewey Beaches long standing community and everything to do with the uncertainty that the town faces as a whole as a result of the coming expirations.
/John
John Curran
20 McKinley Street
Hi John:
ReplyDeleteI don't disagree that the short remaining life of some land leases in Rehoboth by the Sea doesn't help this situation, but it is still the case that there are dozens of properties listed for sale in Dewey (other than RBtS) that are at a very low and reasonable asking price and they've been on the market for some time.
You're also right that Dewey's party town reputation isn't something that's happened lately, but what's changed is that drunk and disorderly behavior is raging in town at an unacceptable level. Witness the mass exodus from North Beach on Tuesday nights following $1 drink night. I've also been hearing from people I've spoken with recently that the number of inebriated people who regularly go to the beach to swim after a happy hour is causing difficulties and it is only a matter of time before a serious event will occur.
I'm not suggesting that we eliminate all the fun and party from town, just that we should be sending a clear signal as to what's acceptable behavior and what isn't. The current Council has not done anything substantive to address this issue.
If I am elected, I will, by taking a more serious approach at how to solve the public safety and public image problems that are plaguing Dewey.
I would be happy to speak with you further on this. You can reach me at 610-613-5600 most anytime -- within reason.
Dave -
ReplyDeleteMaking sure that very clear expectations are set for acceptable behavior is an excellent idea and quite worthy of pursuing. We should not have circumstances where those leaving the bars are causing late night disturbances or entering others property (such events presently occur on occasion and must stop.) We want everyone in Dewey Beach to be safe and secure in their personal and property.
It is worth noting, however, that the vast majority of patrons returning in the evening are not causing disturbances, and are not even visible to the typical property renter. The most significant damage to Dewey beach's reputation recently doesn't appear to be from the unfortunate public safety incidents, but from several ill-conceived suggestions for "rolling jails" that managed to put Dewey Beach in the national television spotlight for days... I certainly see how that would give any family pause before coming to our town.
Such missteps are why it would be helpful for you to be clearer in your public platform about the "strong and immediate action" to intend to initiate - as it is, it is impossible to tell what you intend, and our community probably can't survive having more damage to its reputation by poorly considered and rash actions. If what you are considering is focused on actual improvement of public safety, working in cooperation with our local authorities, that would be very helpful for the voters to know.
Thanks!
/John
John Curran
20 McKinley St