2023-10-27 09:04:48
Fueling economic growth requires both empowering existing businesses in Wilmington and supporting new entrepreneurs. Brown says for years local businesses have been overlooked and lacked the attention they need to thrive.
“We’ve seen how the economy has changed and many of those manufacturing powder mills have gone out of business and these industrial areas have sat without the attention, the curation, and investment needed for businesses to prosper,” he said.
The investment plans include residential and commercial real estate, entrepreneurship spaces, hospitality, entertainment, and financial services. Those plans seem very similar to development that’s been added at the Riverfront over the past three decades.
“Over the last 30 years, we’ve seen the investment on the Wilmington Riverfront and how that has been a revitalization to the city of Wilmington, but we also want to share that prosperity,” Brown said. “I firmly believe that investment and prosperity is not mutually exclusive. We can do both, and we can do both well.”
The effort includes recruiting businesses in other parts of his district too, from the 7th Street peninsula, Todds Lane, 30th Street, and Governor Printz Boulevard.
“We’re also layering that with addressing food deserts and banking deserts by being able to bring bank institutions [and] recruiting grocers,” he said. “We’re investing in our neighborhoods. We’re improving the housing stock of our neighborhood so that our housing stock is livable and desirable.”
“Change is always good,” said Charles Dawkins, a 74-year-old retiree who has lived in Wilmington for more than 50 years. “Because [when] the community grows, the country grows, too.”
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