(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

“This is not gonna be your mom and pop’s Aliquippa.”

Those words, from Aliquippa mayor Dwan B. Walker, exemplified the vision of the town as he wants to see it over the next several years…a stark contrast to previous iterations of Aliquippa. He shared these thoughts with Matt Drzik on the March 11 edition of A.M. Beaver County, his first visit to the Beaver County Radio studios.

Mayor Walker feels that the best changes are yet to come for the city, but that significant progress has been made: “We are moving the city forward, and I’m grateful for that. It’s time to move the city forward. It’s time for it not to be always talked about in the news about different things…yes, different things happen in Aliquippa, but not to the rate that when we do something wrong it’s always ‘everyone is set back it happened in Aliquippa.’ Get out of that mentality.”

Walker, who has been mayor of the city since 2012, touted the improvements that have been made during his decade in office: “Downtown is getting better. We’ve got more entrepreneurs investing in Aliquippa downtown…we need more entrepreneurs, and we need more people with that spirit of ‘want to’ rather than ‘gimme’ to come in and help us out.”

To watch the full interview with Mayor Walker, click on the Facebook feed below!