​What residents are asking the City to do before starting demolition:

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• Prioritize our community's health

The City of Wilmington has discovered hazardous chemicals including mercury, cobalt, and benzo(a)pyrene in the soils of the Rodney Reservoir. The City wants to move forward with demolition in January anyway–without cleaning up the contamination. Demolition would take four months during which the hazardous chemicals that are currently bound up in the soil could be released in dust or water-run off.  Governor Carney and DNREC–the state’s version of the EPA–need to enforce existing state laws and require the City to clean up hazardous chemicals before starting demolition.

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• Complete the design for the new park and commit to building it.

Starting demolition before completing the community design process wastes resources and leaves the site in limbo. The City has not yet committed or pledged funds to build a park after demolition.