Dover hears concerns for immigrant community
Shane Gunnoe said work will begin soon on two new housing projects in Dover.
A group of area people attended the Dover Council meeting Feb. 3 to voice their concern for the local immigrant community.
A group using the name Forever Forward has partnered with Puentes, a group that provides help to immigrants and has been in existence for several years. The groups would like to see positive change for immigrants in the community.
Dover resident Grayson Bowers spoke on their behalf, beginning by noting Bible verses where God has commanded his followers to rescue others from the hand of the oppressor in Jeremiah 22:3.
“In Leviticus 19:33 we're told when a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native born. Love them as yourself,” Bowers said. “I could go on and on, the verses of God commanding us to love immigrants as ourselves. Overwhelmingly, the Bible urges compassion and humanity.
“Over the past couple of weeks, we've seen orders come down from the current administration, making it clear that they intend to inflict maximum anguish on our immigrant community. We saw this during the administration's first term when we saw family separations. The cruelty is the point.”
The group is concerned U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has now been given clearance to raid schools, hospitals and churches and each individual U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office has been given a quota of 75 arrests per day.
“For those who say it's only the criminals they are sending, the last plane we sent out loaded with immigrants contained zero criminals,” Bowers said. “It did contain two pregnant women and 20 children, all of whom were shackled for the duration of that flight.
“Last week in Milwaukee, we saw a grandmother, her daughter and her 3-year-old grandson, all U.S. citizens from Puerto Rico, arrested and sent to a detention center for the crime of speaking Spanish in a department store.”
Another concern is the use of military bases, including Guantanamo, as detention centers.
“No one I know voted for concentration camps,” Bowers said. “This transcends politics. It comes down to pure humanity and morality. There's going to be people arrested, in prison, whose only crime is trying to find a better and safer life for their families.”
Those in attendance would like to continue the dialogue with council.
“There are groups here that are willing to work with you and offer guidance for simple steps that will go a long way,” Bowers said.
In his mayor’s report, Shane Gunnoe commented on two new housing developments in the city.
“A groundbreaking and site work is planned to begin for Crimson Cove later this week, and the developer has informed me that roughly half the lots are already spoken for,” Gunnoe said. “We expect demolition and site work on Iron Avenue for the Iron 24 townhomes to hopefully begin later this month as well.”
With the extremely cold weather, Dover’s Light Plant has done well with the city’s power needs.
“I'm happy to report that Jan. 22, with power in our region likely at its peak need for the year, our plant ran at optimal performance and generated 100% of the community’s need,” Gunnoe said. “By generating all our own power during these peak events, we not only save residents money by not buying power at elevated costs, but we also received significant credits against future capacity and transmission costs.”
The city continues to work toward their downtown public safety and administration facilities renovation projects. Some office furniture and office equipment was included in the purchase of the former First Federal building and can be reused by city offices. Public parking signs will be installed in the parking area to provide additional parking for those visiting the downtown or Memorial Hall.
Design planning for the future City Hall and renovation of the additional fire station spaces are nearly complete.
In legislation council approved Resolution 2-25 authorizing the distribution of bed tax money in the amount of $5,000 to Reeves Museum for advertisement and promotion of the museum.
Ordinance 2-25 was approved to remove the residency requirement for city employees. The ordinance was seen as a way to increase the hiring radius for the police department.
Emergency Ordinance 7-25 was approved after the rules were suspended. The ordinance adds $45,000 to the budget of the East 20th Street project to cover some unexpected work on the project.
The next Dover Council meeting will be Feb. 17 in council chambers, 121 E. Second St., Dover.