Betsy Price July 12, 2022 Culture, Headlines

Lelane Rossouw Bancroft shows off her ‘Rockford Water Tower’ in the Trolley Square utility box mural project. (Photo by Nathan Field)

Sungmin Bobyak expected that painting a ladybug mural on a utility box near the Trolley Square fountain plaza would be a solitary experience.

Drivers honked and yelled compliments out of their windows as they drove by. People who were walking by stopped to talk, some thanking her profusely for creating the public artwork.

“I thought I would go there and I would pretty much be ignored. I’d just do my thing and leave,” Bobyak said. “It was so much more about community than I thought it would be.”

That sense of community is exactly what organizers want to enhance.

Her ladybug mural is one of 18 organized by Wilmington City Councilman Nathan Field and the Delaware Avenue Community Association.

The artwork on the utility boxes range from a pair of gold eyes staring at you out of a abstract painting by James Wyatt to a portrait of nearby Rockford Tower by Lelane Rossouw Bancroft to a Gogh Trolley Square incorporating bits of Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night by Karen Yarnall.

This map shows the locations of all the Trolley Square utility box murals.

“Our goal is to grow Wilmington as a creative and artistic capitol, to add some new creative energy and to kind of increase excitement about living and working in Trolley Square and in the broader city of Wilmington,” Field said.

He got the idea after seeing it done in other cities and states and thought it was perfect for Trolley.

Trolley Square is a little over a mile west of the center of Wilmington. While many people associate it with young people who live to live nearby so they can walk to bars and restaurants, there’s a thriving community of all ages there.

“We’re so much more than a bar scene,” said Lisa Johnson, president of the civic association. “I think we’re more calm and collected, a place to come to relax and have fun.”

Field and Johnson sought help from experts before launching the project.

Tina Betz, director of Wilmington’s Office of Cultural Affairs, embraced the project and offered advice about strategic planning and pitfalls to avoid. Delaware Art Museum Executive Director Molly Giordano and Curator Margaret Winslow also offered advice and helped put together a call for artists when the time came.

“That’s been a big factor in how the project has gone smoothly,” Field said.

First, the group needed to get permission from Delmarva Power Co. to paint its boxes. Narrowing down where they wanted them required traveling the streets and paying attention to where the boxes were.

Now Johnson has her own peculiar brand of radar: utility-box-dar.

“Before I started this project, I knew they existed but paid no attention to them,” she said. “Now I can’t drive down the street without seeing utility boxes everywhere.”

Christian Kanienberg with his ‘Vintage Image’ entry in the Trolley Square utility box mural project.

To pay for the project, Field and Johnson received a grant from Betz and the city and donations from Incyte Corp., Capano Residential and Tsonias Management for a budget of about $20,000.

When the association put out calls for artists, the board was surprised to get 130 responses for the 18 slots. The board members decided to make the judging blind, looking only at the suggested designs.

When they whittled it down to the 18, they were pleased to see that most of the artists lived in Trolley or close by. The artists were paid $800 to $1,000 each, including a stipend for supplies.

Bobyak became a wait-list success story. She didn’t make the top 18, but moved up when an artist had to back out.

She chose ladybugs because she likes them, her daughter always loved them, the ladybug is Delaware’s State Insect and the Ladybug Festival is in Wilmington, she said.

Bobyak thinks she spent about 40 hours painting the box in four and one-half days.

A fine-arts major in college, she usually works in smaller sizes, painting portraits of dogs, among other things. Utility boxes are large canvases for her.

Remi Poindexter paints his ‘Bubble Gum Machine’ in the Trolley Square utility box mural project.

Remi Poindexter of Newark also was surprised at how long it took to create his Delaware Avenue bubblegum machine.

“I thought it was gonna take a lot less time,” he said. “I ended up spending two weeks on it, but wow. It was pretty fun coming every day, though.

He can normally be found finishing his PhD in fine arts at the City University of New York. He’s home for the summer staying with his parents in Newark, where his mom is a French teacher at the University of Delaware.

“I love finding out all these little stories about the artists,” Johnson said.

Poindexter got bachelor degrees in fine arts and Spanish at the University of Delaware, but jumped start into the CUNY PhD program, which he says has “been a lot.”

The artist normally would be found painting 10-by-12-inch landscapes in White Clay Creek State Park, when he’s not working on his thesis on depictions of the French Caribbean in the 19th Century.

He and his partner, Katie Yost, both submitted designs and both were chosen.

His ‘Bubble Gum Machine’ is at the intersection of Delaware Avenue and Rodney. Her Secret Garden is about a block down at Delaware and North Broom.

Poindexter said he studied the shape of the utility boxes.

“I really wanted to think of something that would use the shape of the box,” he said. “Then the little slot on it reminded me of a vending machine slot, so I decided to do that.”

Field likes that it also serves as a landmark.

“You know, instead of somebody saying. “Meet me at the intersection of Delaware Avenue and Rodney,” they might say, ‘Meet me at the bubblegum machine,'” Field said. “That’s kind of what we’re aiming for.”

Bobyak said she did get a few self-appointed neighborhood watch officers questioning her legitimacy.

“They seemed to think I was just randomly painting,” she said.

But enthusiasm far outweighed suspicion, and Bobyak said she wouldn’t hesitate to do a similar project.

“It was so much more about the community and making it a little bit brighter, happier environment for people who live there and who works there,” she said.

Betsy Price is a Wilmington freelance writer who has 40 years of experience, including 15 at The News Journal in Delaware.

It has been a banner year for Delaware Technical Community College’s softball team. The team finished the 2021 season as champions of Region 19 and the Mid-Atlantic District, competed in the 2021 NJCAA Division II National Softball Tournament, and won just the second national tournament game in program history.    All of those accomplishments wouldn’t have been possible without some dynamic players. Recently, eight of the team’s 18 players were named to the NJCAA Region 19 All-Region teams. In addition, freshman pitcher Lauren Smith, a graduate of Snow Hill High School, was named Region 19 Pitcher of the Year for her undefeated season in region play, and Guy Wilkins was named Region 19 Coach of the Year for guiding the team to its success.   “I was happy these eight received all-region honors,” Wilkins said. “This is the most we’ve had since I’ve been head coach and it was well deserved.   “They all had great work ethic at practice and would do the extra things.”   First team honors went to Smith and fellow freshmen Macey Myers, Logan Walls, and Colleen Cosbey. Smith, the team’s starting pitcher, finished the year 10-1 with a 2.99 ERA. Myers, a graduate of Milford High School, led the nation in batting average for much of the season, and finished the year with a .494 average with 9 home runs and 44 RBI. Walls, a graduate of Delmar High School, batted leadoff with a .392 average, 19 RBI, and 4 stolen bases. Cosbey, a graduate of Sussex Tech High School, batted .377 with 21 RBI and made a lot of great plays in left field throughout the season.   Second team honors went to sophomores Kaylie Moore, Sydney Tyndall, Paige Lynch, and freshman Kelsey Kormanik. Moore, a graduate of Colonel Richardson High School, played a strong starting shortstop while batting .412 with 35 hits and 14 RBI. Tyndall, a graduate of Delmar High School, batted .387 with 24 hits and 21 RBI. Lynch, a graduate of Delmar High School, batted .309 with 11 RBI while making great plays in centerfield. Kormanik, a graduate of Sussex Tech High School, was one of the team’s primary catchers while batting .291.   Wilkins led the team to a 19-6 record (including the postseason), while winning his 100th game at Delaware Tech in April. For the season, Delaware Tech finished with a .388 team batting average with 238 runs scored, and 32 home runs. Jason Burlew Public Relations Manager Delaware Tech Owens Campus For more information on Delaware Tech Athletics, visit dtcc.edu/athletics or follow dtccathletics on Instagram.   -30- Delaware Tech — the First State’s only community college — offers academic, technical, community education, and workforce development comprising more than 100 associate degree, diploma and certificate programs. The College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.  Delaware Tech has four campuses across Delaware in Georgetown, Dover, Stanton and Wilmington. For more information about Delaware Tech, visit www.dtcc.edu.

The Delaware Lottery will offer another night for a Powerball drawing.   Delawareans looking to strike it big will soon have one additional chance per week to try their luck at the Powerball.  Powerball will add an additional drawing every Monday night at 10:59 p.m. beginning Aug. 23, 2021, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association.  Currently, Powerball drawings are held on Wednesday and Saturday nights at 10:59 p.m. “Since we launched Powerball in Delaware in 1992, players have had the opportunity to play for very big jackpots,” said Vernon Kirk, Director of the Delaware Lottery. “We are excited to add a third drawing and offer our players an additional chance to win big.” The additional drawing will not change the game’s cash prizes, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association. The odds will also remain the same — with 69 numbers and 26 possible Powerball numbers. The Powerball Product Group said in a press release that adding the Monday Powerball drawing will result in larger, faster-growing jackpots. The group also expects to see an increase in the number of cash prizes and jackpots awarded on an annual basis. Players will be able to watch Monday Powerball drawings live online at Powerball.com with a new live stream feature that launched earlier this summer. Monday Powerball drawings will also be broadcast live by participating television stations. Powerball is also introducing a new add-on feature called Double Play, which will give players in select jurisdictions another chance to match their Powerball numbers in a separate drawing with a top cash prize of $10 million. Delaware is not one of the 13 jurisdictions in which Double Play will be available, though the Powerball Product Group notes that additional jurisdictions will soon be added.  Powerball is played in 45 states, Washington D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.  

Construction will begin soon on infrastructure such as roads and creation of a 3,500 waterfront path to mirror West.

Six First State students each won a $100 cash prize in a state digital mapping competition with projects on Delaware’s poultry industry, estuaries, snow geese and more. The ESRI 2022 ArcGIS U.S. School Competition is an event for middle and high school students to create and present interactive mapping projects using ESRI software.  The Delawareans who competed developed a digital map or StoryMap that showcases facts and features unique to the First State. “I enjoyed exploring the students’ projects and am impressed at the level of skill they already have at this young age,” Education Secretary Mark Holodick said. The competition gives students a chance to practice real-world skills in both an enjoyable and a meaningful way, said Deputy Secretary of Education Christine Alois in a press release.  Here are the winners. Click on their names to be linked to their digital maps. Eric Lewis, a seventh grade homeschool student, landed first place in the middle school competition for his project on the state’s estuaries.  An estuary is an enclosed coastal body of water with at least one stream or river flowing into it, connected to a sea.  In his project, Lewis explained their economic value and the habitats that benefit from them, such as horseshoe crabs.  Natalie Lewis, a sophomore at Caesar Rodney High School, took home first place for the high school competition. She created a digital map explaining the importance of broilers to poultry farms and how broilers serve as a symbolic catalyst for the economic success of the poultry industry.  Alejandro Lobo, a senior at Newark High School, landed in second place for the high school event. He also designed a digital map of Delaware’s poultry industry, starting with the historical beginnings of it and also mapping out where the chicken farms are across the state and how they are distanced from areas with high populations of people.  Wendy Santana Medina, a junior at Newark High School, finished third in the high school competition for her digital map of the history of peach farms in Delaware. In her project, she details the “peach boom” of the 19th century and some of the historic houses that popularized peach farms.  Recommended: Delaware students make several Top 10 lists at healthcare conference Mariam Samake, a junior at Newark High School, won an honorable mention with her project on Delaware’s state bug, the Ladybug.  It detailed the different types of Ladybugs and provided facts such as their birthing and flying patterns.  Naina Sharma, a senior at Newark High School, received an honorable mention for her creation on Snow Geese in Delaware.  Her digital map explained the species’ migration pattern, and also included some fun facts like the goslings can trek long journeys and walk up to 50 miles.  Past winning entries from Delaware students along with more information on the competition is available here.   Jarek Rutz can be reached by email at [email protected]  or by phone at (215) 450-9982. Follow him on Twitter @jarekrutz and on LinkedIn.

A bill to recognize certain rights of Delawareans facing homelessness failed in the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday after municipalities and landlords expressed concerns about potential unintended consequences. House Bill 235’s stated purpose is to ensure all individuals, regardless of housing status, have equal opportunity to live in decent, safe, sanitary, and healthful accommodations and enjoy equality of opportunities. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Sean Lynn, D-Dover, would have created a process for the State Human Relations Commission and the Division of Human Relations to investigate complaints of discriminatory treatment. The proposal would prevent landlords from considering an applicant’s housing status in determining whether to accept them as a tenant.  It would also allow unhoused people to live in a motor vehicle or recreational vehicle, provided the vehicle is legally parked on public property. The bill would allow them to vote, register to vote, and receive documentation necessary to prove their identity without discrimination due to their housing status.  Debra Burgos, president of the Delaware Apartment Association, said the proposal would make it difficult for landlords to determine applicants’ ability to pay rent and take care of their rental units. It could also invite litigation if an applicant was denied and incorrectly claimed their housing status was the basis for the denial, she said. Burgos also expressed concern that by allowing unsheltered people to live in their vehicles, current residents could be made to feel unsafe or uncomfortable if those vehicles were parked on public property near their homes. Eugene Dvornick, town manager with the Town of Georgetown, said he worried the legislation could impose a financial burden on municipalities as they would have to invest more in public safety and sanitation services. “There are some creative concepts out there to deal with homeless situations that can provide safe and secure sheltering, individualized wraparound services, and to keep the homeless population and the existing community where they live, work and eventually be successful and ultimately lead to solutions for homelessness,” Dvornick said. Proponents said the bill was an essential first step to recognizing the homelessness crisis Delaware faces.  Prior to the pandemic, Delaware had an estimated 1,165 people experiencing homelessness on any given day, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Those individuals and families are sleeping on streets, in cars, abandoned buildings, emergency shelters, and transitional housing programs.  According to Housing Alliance Delaware, which estimates the number of unsheltered people at more than 3,000 at any given time, one of every four people experiencing homelessness is a child under the age of 18.  Those figures likely only represent a fraction of the actual number, proponents said, because many of them live in places where they cannot be counted. So long as the state fails to propose meaningful solutions to address the problem, protections against discrimination must be guaranteed to protect the rights of the unhoused, they said. “I think that we can all agree that local governments have an issue with homelessness,” Lynn said. “I think we need to wrap our arms around the issue and stop walking away from it and address it.” The bill failed with three representatives voting yes, two voting no, three absent and two not voting. After the vote, Burgos said the bill’s failure was a victory for both landlords and tenants, whose rents would go up to mitigate the financial impact she believes the bill would have had. “This bill was just one on top of many that would negatively impact landlords and our ability to provide safe and affordable housing,” she said. “Many landlords have decided to sell their homes and properties and just be done with it because the long-term forecast is very uncertain. It’s very scary if this is your livelihood.”

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