May 20, 2005 - SPEAK Out

LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth

SPEAK Out

I want to personally inform you that after much thought and deliberation, I will not be seeking re-election as city commissioner this year. At this particular time, I have chosen to focus on family concerns that need my attention. As many of you know, when I was elected to local office, my son Brendan was also born. Since then it has been a wonderful few years, filled with lots of great challenges and joy. At first, Brendan was living in Houston, Texas, and I commuted there quite often. Now, Brendan has moved to the Washington, D.C. area, and I feel I must take advantage of this time with him.

I have taken my elected office responsibilities very seriously and am proud of what I have accomplished during my term. I have lobbied to improve building regulation efforts by increasing the Building and Licensing Department staff, preserved Lake Gerar by installing aerators to improve water quality, encouraged recreational opportunities and decreased traffic congestion by adding more bike racks throughout town, and introduced a measure that supported statewide efforts to guard against discrimination based on sexual orientation. In an effort to build consensus, I reached out to members of the community and other authorities to address important quality of life issues involving the proliferation of geese on Lake Gerar, managing and removing obscene graffiti and loitering in city public restrooms, conflict growing from the enforcement of noise ordinances in our commercial district, and community concern over efforts to limit dog recreation opportunities on our boardwalk.

I am also proud of the vision and thinking I brought to the decision-making processes. I championed the final Streetscape Phase III Option as I discovered that the other alternatives placed businesses at a disadvantage, by limiting parking during construction. I was also able to see that the city would be able to purchase the much more desirable in-town Wilmington Trust property, which can be used to alleviate city office congestion, by reconsidering the sale of a less desirable out-of-town canal property we owned. I also determined that the proposed rezoning of the school property would cause problems in obtaining state approval of our Comprehensive Development Plan. The agreed upon compromise took the shape of an earlier suggestion I proposed preserving the old school building, a part of Rehoboth history.

Another issue near and dear to me has been my work as Chair of the Animal Issues Committee. This committee reached beyond animal welfare and control, as we updated and corrected the entire section of animal code. It demonstrated that it is possible to successfully use the committee process to address complicated and city-wide important concerns without polarizing the community. This has broader implications as the city moves to rewrite the equally complicated and important residential building code. If updating code can be done with an emotionally charged issue such as animal welfare and control, then updating residential building code, which is highly emotional as well, can also be carried out successfully.

I plan to remain involved in the community through my work with the Rehoboth Beach Historical Society, Rehoboth Beach Homeowner's Association, Rehoboth Beach Entrance Improvement Panel, CAMP Rehoboth, and other organizations.

I want to thank all the individuals I have worked with, as well as the other members of the board of commissioners. Together, we have truly tackled some major issues for the city and created a better community for all residents. I thank you for your generous support and for giving me the opportunity to serve you and all the residents of the City of Rehoboth Beach.

Have a safe and fun summer.

Sincerely, Mark Aguirre

Letters should be sent to CAMP Rehoboth, 39 Baltimore Ave., Rehoboth, DE 19971, or e-mail: editor@camprehoboth.com.

LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 15, No. 5 May 20, 2005