3rd District Candidate, Leslie Ledogar

leslie-ledogar  The following is a letter to the editor from Democrat candidate for the 3rd District of Sussex County Council, Leslie Ledogar.

In District 3, voters have a clear choice

On Nov. 8, voters will have a clear choice when they go to the polls to select a

new person to represent District 3 on Sussex County Council.

My opponent has had an active career in public service. He has served 11 years on the county Planning & Zoning Commission and 16 years on a state transportation committee.  In his announcement he said, “Two Democratic governors appointed me to this committee [on transportation], so I know a little bit about transportation, which is a pretty big issue.”

            I couldn’t agree more. Transportation is a huge issue.

            But voters have a right to ask, if Mr. Burton has served on a transportation committee for 16 years, what does he have to show for it? More to the point, what do we have to show for it?

            People who lived here all their lives remember when traffic wasn’t a concern, except on summer weekends.  Now it’s every day during the summer and many weekends besides. People who moved here more recently thought they were escaping city life.  Now they find themselves stuck in traffic, just like in the city.  Sometimes they’re stuck in their own neighborhood because they have trouble getting out on Routes 1 or 24.  It’s only getting worse.

So what has my opponent been doing the last 16 years he’s been on this transportation committee?    What has he been doing the last 11 years on Planning & Zoning?  I’m glad that he knows, as he says, “a little bit about transportation,” but we have a right to expect results from our public officials. 

Yes, we’ve grown a lot.  Delaware is a desirable place to live, with its low property taxes and no sales tax, its magnificent beaches and its recreational and cultural opportunities.  But the way Mr. Burton and other officials have handled growth is by treating land use and transportation as separate issues. They’re not. They’re two sides of the same issue. 

            I understand what is happening.  In Delaware, the county is responsible for land use decisions. The state is responsible for roads.  It literally is not the county’s problem to make sure we have the roads and infrastructure necessary to support these new developments.  So, the county reaps the tax rewards of new housing but doesn’t have to worry about paying for roads to accommodate these developments.  When DelDOT and the County point fingers at each other, it’s us, the County residents, who are caught in the middle.

            This happened – somehow – without the county being aware of it.

This past spring, a county councilman toured the Cape Region and made an amazing discovery: Many new homes were being built!  “I’ve never seen so many homes,” he said. “I didn’t know it was this bad.” That is why traffic is so bad. County Council hasn’t been fully aware of what they’ve been approving.

            Mr. Burton has been a part of that approval process for the past 11 years. If he’s elected, all five members of County Council will be from the same party.  To me, that doesn’t sound like the best way forward.  

In his campaign against Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan famously asked, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” If the answer was yes, Reagan said, your choice was obvious. He nodded toward his opponent.  But if your answer was no, he continued, “I could suggest another choice.”

            I, too, am here to suggest another choice.  I also have had an active career in public service, but my career focused on bringing people together to solve problems, not on creating them.  I have experience as an environmental attorney, a forester and as a certified mediator.  I am dedicated to Sussex County and I care deeply about our future.

This is not a campaign about partisanship. We see too much of that in the national elections. This is a campaign about partnerships. Some of you have just moved here. Some families have been here for many generations.  But we all share in interest in protecting the jewel that is Sussex County.

We are all in this together. If you vote for me, I promise to be your voice on Sussex County Council to ensure that the finger pointing ends and the problem solving begins.

 

19 Comments on "3rd District Candidate, Leslie Ledogar"

  1. Boobie says:

    “But voters have a right to ask, if Mr. Burton has served on a transportation committee for 16 years, what does he have to show for it? More to the point, what do we have to show for it?”

    There is a distinct difference between being on an advisory committee and being on a Council with final decision authority. She can’t be that stupid, right? Schaeffer tried the same thing and he failed, too.

    ” I, too, am here to suggest another choice. I also have had an active career in public service, but my career focused on bringing people together to solve problems, not on creating them. ”

    Well, then, if you’ve been so successful bringing people together, “what do we have to show for it?” Because what applies to Burton, applies to you.

    ” I am dedicated to Sussex County and I care deeply about our future.”

    For how long? Burton has clearly proven his decades of dedication. Where are your decades of dedication, since you’re attempting to tear his down?

    “If you vote for me, I promise to be your voice on Sussex County Council to ensure that the finger pointing ends and the problem solving begins.”

    If we want to end the finger pointing, we need to move as far from Joan Deaver as possible, not elect a Deaver clone.

    And please, please, reconcile these two statements:

    “If he’s elected, all five members of County Council will be from the same party. To me, that doesn’t sound like the best way forward.”

    AND

    “This is not a campaign about partisanship.”

    Please.

  2. Creeper says:

    This environmental lawyer from New Jersey is not what Sussex County needs. She clearly does not understand that there are two very different sides and economies in Sussex County. I bet she has never been to Gumboro or Blades.

  3. Anon says:

    P&Z is not an ordinary advisory committee. It conducts long hearings and studies issues thoroughly; its recommendations have lots of weight with the county council. In very few cases does the council disagree with P&Z. P&Z is a big deal. Mr. Burton is trying to get the benefits of experience without bearing any of the blame. It didn’t work for Bob Wheatley when he tried to jump from P&Z to council, and it’s not going to work for Burton.

  4. fightingbluehen says:

    Growth is outpacing the development of transportation infrastructure at this point.

    Maybe past council members can be given a pass (although I don’t necessarily give them one), for not considering the ramifications of development outpacing infrastructure, given that they probably couldn’t have predicted the problems of such rapid growth in our area at the time.

    Times have changed though. They all know the deal now, and they no longer have that pass. The individual names of the people on the Sussex County Council from this point forward can be put on a list and held accountable.

    I personally don’t think an all Republican Sussex County Council is best, or can be trusted to address the current situation.

  5. Boobie says:

    That’s ridiculous. County Council can override P&Z any time they want. The reason they don’t is that most of the time, they both adhere to the code and the comp plan, no matter what the politics of the day are. I’ve heard Burton take full accountability for his voting record. And unlike his unknown opponent who’s not lived here long, he has a full record, so we know exactly what we’re going to get: a councilperson who asks good questions, listens to all sides, and then makes a thoughtful decision within the code and the comp plan. Someone we won’t agree with all of the time, but someone we know has done their homework and knows the history of land use in the county. Sign me up.

    And Bob Wheatley didn’t lose because of his P&Z votes. He was definitely the better candidate. He lost because he ran against a Republican in a Republican area in a Republican, non-presidential election, where a significant turnout effort was made to elect a Republican state senator.

    This one won’t even be close. Burton in a walk.

  6. fightingbluehen says:

    Burton, lingo, Derrickson ,Thompson. Trust me, you don’t want to see any of these names on the Sussex County Council at this particular time.

  7. Frank Knotts says:

    Boobie, I hate to take this thread down a no-outlet dirt road, but since you said this, ” And unlike his unknown opponent who’s not lived here long, he has a full record, so we know exactly what we’re going to get: a councilperson who asks good questions, listens to all sides, and then makes a thoughtful decision within the code and the comp plan. Someone we won’t agree with all of the time, but someone we know has done their homework and knows the history of land use in the county. Sign me up.”
    Might I ask who you will be voting for in the presidential race?

  8. Dave says:

    “given that they probably couldn’t have predicted the problems of such rapid growth in our area at the time.”

    Oh piffle! Everyone, from the State, to UD, to the County predicted significant growth starting at least 10 years up through 2020. Now unless each of those new households were using horse and buggy, that growth translates to vehicles on the road. May Sam Wilson couldn’t predict it, but he can be forgiven because he probably can barely remember to put on his pants before he leaves home. What about the rest of them?

    And to suggest that Burton was powerless on the P&Z is not even worthy of response. Both the council and the P&Z abdicated their responsibilities by approving development without adequate allowance for infrastructure, in the form of impact fees. This not a Republican or Democrat issue, even though the Republicans were the majority through this debacle. Rather it is a critical thinking and strategic issue for people that share a common vision for the county.

    Burton approved this mess. Now we wants me to believe he will clean it up? Why should I believe that? Did he all of a sudden get religion on regulated growth? He has seen the light? Like Wilson he’s travelled the byways and had an awakening? Someone please explain his conversion.

  9. fightingbluehen says:

    In Sam Wilson’s defense, a few years ago while referring to the impact of over development on traffic, he said,” What are we supposed to do, get around in helicopters?”

    That statement indicates to me that even Sam Wilson sees the dilemma that we are heading for.

  10. kavips says:

    As for long term, what Sussex County needs is a moratorium on new building, then a comprehensive guideline for the next 30 years to be developed, which is then carted around the county for hearings and town hall discussions, finally submitting itself for a vote of approval, and then, it becomes bearable.

    You could glance to the north of your state in the Bear -Glasgow corridor to see how that was controlled in the early 2000’s..

  11. Boobie says:

    “Burton, lingo, Derrickson ,Thompson. Trust me, you don’t want to see any of these names on the Sussex County Council at this particular time.”

    Three major developers and one guy who isn’t one. Can’t see the comparison. But nice try.

    “Might I ask who you will be voting for in the presidential race?”

    Frank — Maybe Johnson, maybe McMullin. But I’d vote for Hillary before I’d vote for Trump.

    “Burton approved this mess.”

    No, he didn’t. County Council did. I’ve even watched them vote. It’s kinda neat. You should go.

    “As for long term, what Sussex County needs is a moratorium on new building”

    Pretty sure that’s Ledogar’s position, even if she won’t say it publicly, because it’s a one-way ticket to a Sussex County recession.

  12. Rick says:

    Growth is outpacing the development of transportation infrastructure at this point.

    Is? Try has been, for fifteen or twenty years.

    “Transportation” is code for buses, but let’s face it, the car is king in Sussex. Which is not to say city to city and beach shuttles aren’t important.

    But the real problem is roads. Five Points is a disaster. However, I place most of the blame on the state, not the county.

  13. mouse says:

    We need more rich guys on the Council so other rich guys can benefit. I’m sure that helps average Sussex Countians, especially when multi national home builders throw up high density, over priced, ugly generic plastic homes built by illegals for cheapskate retiree transplants to escape taxes.

  14. mouse says:

    Do any of these guys on the council ever think about what they want this place to look like or what legacy they are going to leave? I mean how about something a little less like the base plastic asphalt example in NCC

  15. Frank Knotts says:

    Thank you Bobbie, then we agree about Clinton and Trump at least.

  16. mouse says:

    unlimited growth is the modus of the cancer cell and it’s here in Sussex County

  17. mouse says:

    Sussex county has no skin in the game for the infrastructure needs they create by allowing every 2 bit multinational real estate LLC development company to rape and pillage at will. The real estate mafia is extracting wealth from Sussex County and not contributing to it, save a few parasitic cabals. The endless beige plastic generic ugly high density housing developments are unaffordable to almost everyone who lives and works in Sussex County and they create pollution, runoff, destroy forests that clean ground water and protect the inland bays and fuel endless needs for infrastructure while the developer parasites run out the door with few or any responsibility and hires every illegal he can and provides nothing of value to the existing population !!!

  18. Rick says:

    The population of the United States, Delaware and Sussex Country are increasing. It stands to reason that people need a place to live. Increasing population, increasing development.

    Mouse, maybe you would prefer a plague or a nuclear holacaust to thin the population?

    Or maybe you should move to the periphery of Baxter State Park? No development there.

  19. Thischick says:

    And comment of the year goes to!!! RICK!! That is hysterical…people who are anti growth are living in some kind of fairy tale land, not rooted in reality….we need smart growth moving west which is what Burton wants and is qualified to make happen.We need someone capable of solving the issues that come along with growth. Leslie has not lived here long enough to even remotely know what she is talking about. She has lived here for ike 2 years or something. The fact that she is even running is absurd.

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