WICHITA — Two new groups are forming in Delano to further progress and cohesiveness in the area.
For a number of years, there have been a number of groups working toward those goals. There’s a historical group, a neighborhood association, a group of clergy members and, until a couple of years ago, a business association.
There’s long been talk about the need for a larger group — a community development corporation.
“Everybody was kind of waiting for . . . the other group to do it,” says Karen Cravens, president of the Delano Neighborhood Association. “There’s been a lot of individual interest (and) energy.”
She’s now spearheading the formation of the corporation “to get everybody on the same page and give them a flag to rally under basically.”
That’s spurring the reorganization of a business association.
This week, Jason Dilts of ROK ICT was named interim president, though the group is still forming.
Dilts, who also is a freelance writer for The Wichita Eagle, says the purpose is “to highlight the unique flavor and characteristics of Delano, specifically as it relates to businesses.”
For instance, if a business is relocating, Dilts wants there to be someone to say, “Hey, here’s Delano. . . . This could be a good fit for you.”
The next neighborhood meeting is Nov. 17 at 6:30 p.m. at West Side Christian Church at 1819 W. Douglas. There will be discussions about advancing the groups.
Dilts has high hopes.
“Delano’s a good example of what a community can do if they pool all their resources and work together.”
3 Comments
I just noticed I now have my own Have You Heard tag. Ha! (I’m so easily amused.)
And yeah, “provisional” president is probably the term they should use. We all knew “interim” wasn’t quite right but at the time couldn’t put a finger on it.
The provisional bit is a chicken-egg thing: they’ll have an elected board, but they can’t hold official elections until they get filed with the State of Kansas. And the State requires at least two board members to file. (Susan Bane of ChiART is the provisional secretary/treasurer.)
The DBA is a good thing aside from the CDC, because the DNA has apparently been the only go-to organization for things like the Board of Zoning Appeals’ parking issues, and that really calls for some business input. I’d been working on keeping some of the key business owners alerted to those issues (Twist, Hatman, etc.) but that’s kind of outside the DNA’s scope.
And that scope issue was part of the impetus for the CDC: a critter that spans business *and* residential concerns. We’re a “mixed-use neighborhood”… you can’t always separate the two. That, and we’ve done enough complaining that we don’t have adequate grocery store availability. We’re ready to *do* something about it.
KarenInDelano –
Tag — you’re it!
Carrie
Karen – tag again! Good move – congratulations. I hope to see it succeed in moving Delano forward. Unlike “WaterWalk” Historic Delano IS a key to the success of downtown.
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