Leaders in this northeast Brandywine Hundred town recognize that the upcoming election for president of the Claymont Community Coalition is a pivotal moment in the town’s political aspirations.
“We have to stop being so complacent and start to move,” coalition member Dee Whildin said. “We have to get our elected officials more involved. They have to see our points view and come to a meeting of common minds as to what’s best for Claymont.”
Claymont is at a crossroads with its revitalization, Claymont Renaissance Development Corp. Executive Director Brett Saddler said.
“Residents are seeing some improvement in the community but believe that we have not received the kind of support from Dover and Washington that would make Claymont more attractive to both families and business investment,” Saddler said. “A new generation of leaders from some of Claymont’s largest sub-divisions [i.e. Ashbourne Hills, Radnor Green, Northridge and Stockdale] have recognized this and have put forth ideas on how the coalition could effectively lobby on behalf of our nearly 17,000 residents.”
Babak Golgolab and Carl Colantuono each seek to replace the late George Lossé, who founded the coalition 17 years ago. Both believe the coalition can grow and become more of a potent voice for this historically blue-collar town that has attracted more upper middle class residents in recent years as part of the renaissance.
Lossé served as coalition president until two weeks before his death in July. He was known as the unofficial mayor of Claymont. As Lossé’s health waned, he appointed Golgolab as vice president to preside over meetings in his absence.
Both Golgolab and Colantuono have significant civic experience, but each man seeks to distinguish himself in this race.
“Since I was chosen to be the vice president in January, I attended every single meeting –seven of them,” Golgolab said. “Carl showed up in January and I don’t think I saw him again until July. I have no aspirations to be in the political arena. That’s a big distinction between Carl and I.”
Golgolab was referring to Colantuono’s losses to former Rep. Wayne Smith (R-Clair Manor) in 2006 and New Castle County Councilman John Cartier (D-Brandywine Hundred East) in 2008.
But Colantuono has a record of civic leadership that he says clearly distinguishes himself from Golgolab, including a term as president of the Council of Civic Organizations of Brandywine Hundred (CCOBH).
“In my volunteer and community work I have risen to positions of trust and leadership,” Colantuono said. “My work on behave of Claymont goes a long way back. I had hopes of growing more active with the CCC some time ago but I felt that George was happy that I didn’t press my style of leadership and that I gave him room to run the show as he saw fit. He and I compared notes regularly at Claymont DRAC (Design Review Advisory Committee) meetings on which we both served.
“That was then and this is now. I believe I have something to offer and I will leave it to the members to decide who will provide the most effective leadership.”
One of the central tenets of this campaign is how to handle coalition membership in the future. As it stands, the bylaws allow anyone living in Claymont, working in Claymont or interested in Claymont to become voting members for a $5 fee.
“There was a movement before George passed away to update the bylaws and I would like to continue along that,” Golgolab said. “If there are updates needed, then we will take the steps we need to make to change the bylaws.”
Colantuono called the rules of membership “shortsighted.”
“As one of the 14 empowered to vote, I’m going to encourage other members to not accept non-civic groups,” Colantuono said. “We may be better off as a civic umbrella group; they only allow groups to join. Take everybody who wants to join but have voting restricted to voting blocks. If you get one vote and a guy from lower Delaware has a vote, how does that make me want to stay and play? Anybody can put down $5 and outrank Radnor Green.”
The CCC has been in transition for a while and Lossé did a good job of keeping the coalition together, Golgolab said. But at this point the coalition needs to go back to its original mission of attracting more members and working with civic associations to provide a single voice for Claymont, he said.
But the coalition has actually been moving away from that mission, Colantuono said.
“I saw a very small group getting smaller and smaller and the agenda was not wide enough to include others,” Colantuono said. “There are 14 members. There should be 114 members. They need to have organizational growth and I have that experience. I came forward and it really wasn’t a welcoming place.”
There has been membership from the various representatives from civic associations, Golgolab said. But membership has been limited because of the level of interest. Namely, different civic associations come and go; new ones are formed and old ones disband.
“My goal is to bring all the civic associations back together,” Golgolab said. “A group is only as strong as its members. Working with various civic association and leaders, I’m going to try to get the coalition strong again and provide a single voice.”
Neither Saddler nor Whildin have made a commitment to either candidate.
“I want to hear more from Babak and Carl,” Whildin said. “It’s not fair to make a judgment call before finding out what they’re all about. I don’t want this to be a power struggle.”
