Dover holds a special election Tuesday to fill a city council vacancy created by Tanner Polce’sresignation.
Two candidates vie for the opportunity to represent West Dover. The winner will fill the seat through next May when Polce would have been up for re-election.
William Garfinkle is a retired lifelong government employee. Garfinkle has served on citizens advisory committees, worked as the state magistrate and also formed the state welfare fraud unit.
His opponent, Gerald Rocha, landed in Dover through the air force base. Rocha now works at the United Way after discovering his love of community outreach.
Both candidates brought up important issues related to Dover and what they want to see done. One topic that brought both to an agreement was a revitalization of the downtown and midtown. Both Garfinkle and Rocha saw a huge lack of parking in the area, vacant shops, and now vitality or life.
Garfinkle's Solution was a combination of more parking, specifically a parking garage, but more importantly an anchor building in the district.
He says if midtown Dover had a large office building they could attract other businesses such as restaurants, cafes and more offices to breath life into the district.
Garfinkle points to the Carvel State Office Building in downtown Wilmington, saying it was designed as an anchor to attract more offices and business into the area.
Rocha thinks an investment in the arts is what’s needed to bring people back to downtown.
He looks to his hometown of Riverhead, New York on Long Island and Chester, Pennsylvania for inspiration of an investment in the arts helping to revitalize the downtown area.
Both candidates also agreed that public safety was something that needed to be addressed in West Dover. Garfinkle says “Public safety is probably number one. We need proactive patrols out here.”
Rocha says he’s noticed a lot more crime in the area than in the past. He’s lived here for 22 years.
“If we don’t address those issues, they could definitely get worse. A lot of that is gonna come from working with our youth. And providing our youth and equipping our youth with the tools that they need to graduate from high school and go onto a higher level of academics.”
Registered voters in Dover’s 1st district can vote in the special election on Tuesday, August 18th from 7am to 8pm. Voting will take place at the Elks Lodge at 200 S Saulsbury Rd, Dover, DE 19904.
Voters that requested an absentee ballot will also need to return their ballot to the department of elections by 8pm on election day.
