Statements by David L. Anderson
833 statements from meeting recordings, newest meeting first.
Machine transcript. Statements are matched to this official by machine and can be wrong. Check the recording.
Nov 24, 2025, Regular Council Meeting
Uh, so let's support Toys for Tots, uh, now. You don't have to wait till then. Start Please support them now and go all the way through, and also, of course, the Salvation Army does a fine job in in that area as well.
Play from 53:53Nov 24, 2025, Regular Council Meeting
And and that's, um And, uh And I'd like to encourage, uh, uh, people to show up tomorrow for, uh, some very important ordinances, including, uh, pedestrian safety. I want to thank the hundreds of people who have expressed their support because this community understands that that we have a real problem in this community. And it's not just a Dover problem, it's all over, uh, Delaware. But we have to start here in our community in Dover and protect people, protect lives.
Play from 54:04Nov 24, 2025, Regular Council Meeting
Yeah, so, uh, make sure to tune in, and I I want to thank each and every person who who's, uh, contacted me, everyone who's on social media, on the news stories, and Nextdoor, and and who have signed petitions. Uh, it is vital to this community that we take a stand and we do something that's right for all of our citizens to stop people from getting hurt, to stop people from getting harassed, and to, uh, restore a sense of, uh, community.
Play from 55:10Nov 24, 2025, Regular Council Meeting
Uh, once we do that, we are we are going to be in better shape because you know that this city is one of the most compassionate, uh, around. We've invested over the last 5 years literally millions of dollars in housing and trying to help the homeless, and we've
Play from 55:41Nov 24, 2025, Regular Council Meeting
gotten such a good reputation that people are coming from all over to us. Um we are we are literally uh becoming a victim of our own success. And so, um when er so when you go into a shelter and you ask people, um one of the reasons they come here as opposed to where they stayed is because they believe that there are resources here. And I think we don't have enough resources, but it is um a testament to the compassion of this community, and we're going to keep investing in affordable housing, we're going to keep investing in transitional housing, and we're going to keep supporting our shelters because that is the right thing to do. I yield, Mr. President.
Play from 55:41Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Play from 17:58Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
Thank you. Um, this has been uh... I I um, I, with all due respect, uh, I believe that a motion to remove from consent agenda is valid with a single member because that, a consent agenda is something that requires unanimous consent. Um, so the motion um that uh the council made, I believe, uh as a point of order is a proper one.
Play from 20:43Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
If we do want to vote, I we'd vote in favor because I believe on principle, even though I...
Play from 21:19Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
Yes.
Play from 25:56Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
I yield.
Play from 26:31Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
Uh we we...
Play from 27:05Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh the way we I'm going to make a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended, cuz what usually happens is individual members will ask for items to be removed, and then what happens is Council then the whole votes on the proposed amended agenda. And uh if there are no other items, at this time, I move that we approve the consent agenda as amended.
Play from 27:10Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
Yes.
Play from 27:50Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
Yes.
Play from 53:53Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
Thank you, Council President. We have, uh, uh I think addressed a number of important issues and, and some misconceptions about, uh, the proposal, uh, one being that it's unnecessary because of, uh, state law. I think that was it, uh, addressed pretty well. For one, uh, you don't want to take and have people, uh, the first response be a state law that is sort of vague and not as consistent, number one. But two, uh, you the state law engages people into the criminal justice system before that becomes necessary. And that's something that we're trying to avoid. But we're trying to get, uh, two pieces. One is, uh, get people into services. And two, have an accountability piece because there's a lot of people that unless you do both, are never going to get the help. I've worked in some of these spaces for years, uh, especially helping people who've been homeless, and I can tell you that there's, uh, two sides to that. There's the people who, uh, just need a quick hand-off, and then there's the people who have many, many underlying problems. And until it's uh, quite frankly, you they have to be moved some-
Play from 1:45:20Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
time to where it's more convenient for them to, when to get help than not. But to me, this ordinance is very simple, if you look at it and look how it's drafted. It's a very consistent ordinance to just make sure people aren't in danger, that they aren't, for instance, in the medians, in places where it can be danger. If they're on the sidewalk, it's no problem. If they're, uh, the ordinance is set up so not to ban panhandling. There's no intention of that. Uh, that, to me, banning panhandling per se, uh, is something that would be problematic. I even opposed, if you go on the record in the past, a, uh, proposal to ban panhandling, because I, I mean, I believe that, in and of itself, it is a method of speech. And I don't believe in, uh, quite frankly, I'm a constitutionalist. And I, being a constitutionalist, I do not favor infringing on people's constitutional rights, and I stand against that. Now, what I also believe is that just like, uh, that people have a constitutional right to safe travel. I believe that people have, that the government has the duty to protect life. I believe the government has the duty to protect property. That's also in the Constitution. That is our
Play from 1:46:59Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
not our preference, that is our duty. Our duty under the Constitution, our duty under the law. And if the chief, uh, said we, um, we have to have a mechanism to open that up and have any authority to deal with it. That's why we have something that our attorney has done very well with, um, when it comes to, uh, the crafting to make sure that the constitutional interests are balanced, to make sure that it's something that is that is strong and something that will be that is not onerous to people. I know that there is, uh, some people disagree with the idea of accountability being an an element, but I think it's essential. And if we don't, more people are going to be hurt, and possibly people will die. I'd rather deal with a couple people's criticisms than deal with people dying. I was on a call, and it it was, uh, dealing with pedestrian safety, and it had to do with, uh, the pedestrian safety in this area, in the market mall and and the like, and I and it's something that has to stop. It's something that if we're going to be responsible, we need to make sure it happens, because it's not compassionate to close your eyes to people getting hurt. Now, if someone wants to take and have that activity, um,
Play from 1:48:46Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
they're allowed to go there to protect that right that they have. It it's just that there's something that the courts would call it, a time, place, and manner restriction. That's very common, and that's something that is uh necessary for people who need that's something that's necessary. I mean, in a median, for instance, right now in the City of Dover, you're not allowed to put a political sign. Why? Because it could be a danger to the person putting it there, and it could be a danger to the person who is uh It could be a danger to the person putting it there and and it's considered a distraction in that location to drivers. And a political sign is one is basically one of the highest uncontested levels of of protected speech. And if you're telling me that a political sign that's this that's this big uh is a distraction, how can somebody walking and nearly falling into the road not be a problem and not be a safety issue? And where where if you look in the totality of what the City of Dover actually allows in those spaces. You're not allowed to park there because it it could be a distraction, it could block the view. You're not allowed to uh have signs. You're not allowed to hitchhike, and a whole host of things that you're not allowed to do there, this is just
Play from 1:50:33Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
um being consistent uh so that people can understand what the law is instead of having to guess it. It's just protecting people in in a way that's consistent with everything else. That's the idea behind it. It's nothing to do with anything else but safety. And uh and it's um and I want to thank uh Councilman Lewis for uh bringing up a number of questions, uh because people absolutely need to hear the answers and understand them for themselves. Uh, we the city of Dover is the place that is a compassionate place. We, as you hear, we're at working on workforce development initiatives. We have initiatives to where we help fund uh kitchens to feed people who are hungry. We've uh we put hundreds of thousands of dollars into affordable housing initiatives, uh senior housing. We've we're working on other items besides. We we've had put money aside to uh do more for those who are unsheltered. Um, the city of Dover uh, in fact, uh then-Councilman, now Mayor Christiansen, Councilman Taylor, and I uh worked to make sure to bring the mental health uh component into the the Dover Police Department. I mean, this this is stuff we've done first, not last. Now you what you did, as we saw in a extensive report with the quality of
Play from 1:52:20Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
life support, you have to have an enforcement component, an accountability component, in order to make the others work. I yield, Mr. President.
Play from 1:54:07Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
Mr. President, um, I move that we, as uh, we have recommended before, that we refer this uh, uh back to committee. And I would like to encourage, by the way, uh everyone that we've gotten a number of people on both sides of this issue, and I would encourage people to continue communicating, because your communication will make things a better ordinance. And I want you to communicate this so that when the committee develops it, we have the best version that has the most support from the most people, because that's uh, I think that's the best outcome. Give your input. Uh, I move that we refer this back to committee uh, Mr. President, as recommended.
Play from 1:54:38Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
if they want to address this specifically, should we open it up to the public now and get that over with?
Play from 1:55:54Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
Got it. Okay. Now I I have no issue personally with um if these people are signed up for this particular issue, since we're going to hear them anyway. I I have no I personally I have no issue with that. Why don't we make a motion to keep moving on.
Play from 1:56:22Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
I I yield.
Play from 1:56:42Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
Yeah, but we can have, we hold
Play from 1:59:26Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
I think I think first of all we have a motion on the floor. Just a point of order, I think first of all we have a motion on the floor. I don't know if we got a second, but if we didn't, then it would fail, then it would be back open.
Play from 2:03:27Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
Yes.
Play from 2:05:14Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
Yeah, thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. President. And I this this particular ordinance is allowing the City of Dover to strictly enforce the traffic laws
Play from 3:05:12Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
in residential districts. Only residential districts. We're not trying to create speed traps, we're not trying to uh have diverted officers to Route 13 or or 1 or anywhere, but but what this is all about is making sure that proper stopping distances are being adhered to, giving the tools then when we're actually enforcing the law um in an area that the police officers have the ability to strictly enforce them. Uh that that's something that's required under state law if you're going to do it or else you're you're stuck with uh enforcement uh basically 11 miles above the speed limit. It's uh one step. Uh I don't think it's the uh the total solution, but it's just one piece of the solution uh when it comes to speeding in our neighborhoods. Um the There are There is an amendment that is uh proposed for consideration um which we'll not take up tonight. However, I do want uh Dr. Sudler to know that that's currently under legal review. So uh if it checks out with legal review, um I have no problem with it being a friendly amendment and incorporating it in. If it uh If there is uh a glitch to part of it, we should then we'll have that conversation. I Uh unless Chief Johnson has something to add, I I yield back, Mr. President.
Play from 3:05:27Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
Probation Office uh which is at 511 North Parkway in Dover, and November 15th at the Blue Hen Conference Center on Bay Road. Uh and that will be at 10:00 a.m. Uh and and of course uh you can go to the
Play from 3:10:48Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
Thank you, Mr. President. Of course, Happy Veterans Day to all who served. And I'd like to point out that there's people who may need, the couple, which anybody can. Food bank, you know, the mobile food bank will be in Dover on November 14th at 9:00 a.m. at the Dover
Play from 3:11:02Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
uh uh you can go and check that out online as well. Uh the truck travels to the communities to serve families directly near their home, is filled with non-perishables, fresh produce, dairy, beverages, and other refrigerated food items as well as personal products when available. Simply bring proof of Delaware residency, you register on site, you don't have to pre-register, and they will fill your car if you have one, or you can take one, pick stuff up.
Play from 3:11:08Nov 10, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting
Uh proof of Delaware residency can include a lot of things including valid driver's license, state ID, a bill with your name and address etc. So um um that is um uh November 14th and 15th. Thank you, Mr. President.
Play from 3:11:42