Wilmington Mayor Pat Haley is a lifelong resident of the city he leads.
His family settled there in the 1840s and Haley has served as the city’s sheriff, held a seat on the city council, and served as mayor for more than a year.
For WYSO’s City Mayor Series, Jerry Kenney talked with Haley about how the city has progressed since DHL closed its Wilmington operation in 2009, leaving thousands in the small community without jobs.
This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Mayor Pat Haley: I became a commissioner after that happened, but I was in on the recovery, and one of the things that we did, we worked closely with the state, and they gave us leads. And this is a very attractive area because we're right in the middle of Dayton since I had Columbus. So it made it handy, and as time went on, recruitment went on. They found it to their liking, and then they located here, and it's just been growing ever since.
Right now, we're on the cusp of development. We have a couple of big companies coming in — we think, you never know until the ink dries.
But we have that, and also there's a development out on the east side of town, on Rombach Avenue that is being developed. Kettering Hospital is building a new hospital here. They're going to break the ground in the next few months. It's a good thing. We have good hospital here now, Clinton Memorial, but there's enough room for two. We're big enough to handle two facilities.
And so out in that area, I think there's a Dunkin' Donuts coming. There's a Waffle House, Starbucks, about seven or eight fast food things. Not that that's going to bring a lot of jobs, but what it does, it gives the citizens options. And I think what it also says is that people have faith in the town that there's potential for growth.
We're not going to be a big city. We're never going to be, and I don't think a lot people want us to be. But on the other hand, it's a pleasant place to be. And I grew up here, our family goes back to the 1840s. And a lot of natives live here and like it that way.
Jerry Kenney: Driving into town, Wilmington looks still very quaint. It looks like you've held on to the old architecture, the city's origins, seems well-preserved here and very nice and clean, I must say, as well. So how do you balance development with that preservation?
Haley: It's interesting you ask that because one of the things you always hear in government, 'we need more houses, we need more house, we need more houses,' and we do, but we've had an expansion we've had two subdivisions just being developed. We also look like we might get about 500 more, but we're careful. We don't want to put them where they don't fit, we want them to blend in with the community and so the planning commission, the zoning commission, they consider that when these proposals are brought to their attention. And they have turned down some of them because they really weren't the proper place for what they wanted to do. And the developers look at it from an economic standpoint, obviously, but the council said no to them because of exactly what you're talking about.
"Because when I was young, wherever you went, you knew everybody in the town."
I've been here all my life, and this is just a unique town to those of us who grew up here. Like everywhere else, life has changed. We face some of the same challenges that the big cities have, and it's relative. We have the same crimes; we don't have as many. We don't the traffic issues that they have in some of bigger towns. You can be across Wilmington in 10 minutes, so we don' have many traffic jams. We like to keep it that way. And so it's a trade-off. We don't have hundreds of restaurants to pick from, so we adjust to that. And at one time, it's changed a little bit now, we've had a lot of people move in, which is good, but at one time you knew about everybody in town, people I went to school with are still around, fortunately, most of them. So it's just a good place to be. I wouldn't call it a Mayberry. It's maybe a little different, but it's not far off.
Because when I was young, wherever you went, you knew everybody in the town. They knew you, they knew your family. If they didn't know me, they know my brothers, or they knew my parents - 'Oh, you're Bob's son,' or whatever. That atmosphere still exists here to a point, which is a good thing.
Kenney: A lot of cities are developing downtown tourists or visitor centers with restaurants and places for folks to come down and be a part of city life. Do you have that here?
Haley: We do. We have some draws. The Murphy Theater, I don't know if you're familiar with it, but it's been here, they celebrated their 100th year a couple years ago, and that goes all the way back to Vaudeville times. Actually, it's more active now than it used to be. The new director, he's done well. I believe he has a show business history. We have a show here just about every weekend of some type, and some draw more than others. But on Saturday nights, you can't find a place to park. And so we support that. You know, like anything, there's always growing pains, but we've worked through those. And the Murphy's done well. We just ate over at a nice hotel, The General Denver has been here almost 100 years.
"We have a lot irons in the fire and that's one of my priorities is to keep the downtown active. And so far, so good."
During the summertime — and it'll get started pretty soon — we have a lot of downtown events, dwn on Sugar Tree Street, and sometimes we'll close Main Street. In front of the theater, and there'll be a theme, a lot of music every weekend, and that's a big draw. Hundreds, if not even sometimes thousands of people come downtown to enjoy themselves. And it's a throwback because, we live in a time of social media, and so you're a little bit removed from that personal connection. So it's fun to go down there, put your lawn chair out, sit by people, catch up, visit, have a little something to drink or a hot dog. And that happens every weekend. And so it's one of those places that people look forward to. So we spend a lot of effort, and the city does spend money for our downtown. We want to see that expand and it's been working pretty well.
We have a lot irons in the fire and that's one of my priorities is to keep the downtown active. And so far, so good.
