Dickert floats 'Riverview' as new name for inner city

Dating back to the campaign, Mayor John Dickert has said he doesn't like referring to central city neighborhoods as "Census Tracts 1-5." The term is generally used to mean Racine's inner city and includes about a quarter of the city's total residents. (See an example of its use here.)

Dickert is floating a new title for the inner city: The"Riverview" area. He gives two reasons for rebranding the inner city:

1. The highly technical term creates a "horrible connotation" for the area. If you think about, most suburban subdivisions have a poetic name like "Pheasant Run" or "Campbell Woods." They create a more pleasing feel than the bureaucratic "Census Tracts 1-5" that's come to signify the inner city.

2. It's stuck in the past. Dickert said he's trying to energize the entire city. Part of that, he said, will come from cutting ties with old ways of thinking.

"We have to talk about the positive things Racine offers and not all of the negativity," Dickert said. "We have to start building people's hope in Racine."

Dickert and his wife, Teresa Dickert, are spreading the name with a volunteer work session in Riverside Park on June 27 at 9 a.m. Volunteers will focus on a 30- to 40-foot embankment between the bike path and Kinzie Avenue.

They're recruiting neighborhood residents to help with the work and inviting anyone in the community to help out. If you'd like to sign-up, call the mayor's office at (262) 636-9111.