I love economic development spin. Actually, I love to expose economic development spin and mock the hell out of it.
Here’s the press release from Danville’s Office of Economic Development…
A Thai restaurant has started renovations to a building on North Main Street adjacent to the Historic North Theater in Danville. Results from a recent dining survey from the Office of Economic Development were instrumental in researching and recruiting this new business.
The restaurant, Moon River Thai, expects to be operating within six weeks at 629 North Main Street. Parichat Mongkhonkham, owner, plans to be open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, with catering services for special events and business meetings, and eventually offer a breakfast menu.
Mongkhonkham, who along with her sister, Palinda, has operated four award-winning Thai restaurants, will serve Thai food and partner with the Historic North Theater to create special events. Customers can expect to be entertained by Thai and jazz music, plus Hollywood soundtracks and standards. Patrons of the Historic North Theatre can enjoy dinner and drinks before the show, and live music and drinks after the show, plus drinks and appetizers at intermission.
“We see the growth of the North Theater area as an arts district with unlimited potential, and we would be foolish not to want to be a part of it,” said Dan Doby, Mongkhonkham’s business advisor.
Mongkhonkham and Doby chose the name Moon River Thai to coincide with the “Hollywood” theme of the Historic North Theatre and its bed and breakfast. Owners of both the restaurant and the Historic North Theatre are eager to open the doors to this new restaurant and invite customers to experience the venue.
“We feel that the addition of Moon River Thai will help spur development along North Main Hill,” said Corrie Teague, project manager for the Office of Economic Development. “This restaurant, along with the incredible variety of events that take place at the Historic North Theatre, will draw citizens and visitors to this historic area of the city.”
In an effort to expand the dining options in Danville, the Office of Economic Development asked citizens to give their cuisine preferences in a survey. The results of the survey expressed a need for a Thai or Greek restaurant.
“As we work to bring more businesses to the River District and North Main Hill, we wanted to be sure we were catering to the desires of our citizens,” said Teague. “In conjunction with data on Danville’s current dining options, we were able to utilize these survey results to market to potential restaurateurs.”
“Every single person — from inspectors, city employees, local citizens, to contractors — has been incredibly open and supportive,” said Doby. “We have never seen such a tight-knit group of people, and they really mean it when they say they want you to be a part of their city.”
The location of a new restaurant on North Main Hill coincides with the establishment of a Tourism Zone designation. The new Tourism Zone covers the River District and crosses the Dan River to North Main all the way to W Thomas Street. The Office of Economic Development is in the process of developing an incentive program for this area. In the meantime, this project qualified for a $50,000 grant.
You’re allowed to laugh at the last-sentence mention of the $50,000 in free money that I’m sure had absolutely nothing to do with this decision.
Once the results were released, a local chiropractor, Maggie Ashworth, took the initiative to connect a restaurant she found in Burlington, N.C., to Danville.
“This is a great story of folks that live in the community really being enthusiastic about the developments taking place,” Teague said. After visiting a Burlington Thai restaurant owned by Mongkhonkham, Ashworth connected her to Councilman Lee Vogler. Vogler helped them reach out to the office of economic development.
Maggie Ashworth & Lee Vogler should be working in Danville’s Economic Development office. Let’s see what they can do with the Berry Hill Mega Park now. Hell, let’s send them to China.
Oh yeah, WSET’s hard-hitting news coverage swallowed the press release whole. No surprise there.
This is the most pathetic city in America. $50K grant for one restaurant??????? This is an all-time low for the City of Danville. Find me another city in the state that would pay that kind of grant for a restaurant. The City Council should all be removed for malfeasance for this one. I think a petition may just be in order.
Imagine if you were another restaurant owner in the City who didn’t receive a dime from the City. How would you feel? It’s one thing to throw this money at a business that isn’t a competitor to an already existing business. But this would make Caligula blush…….
On the positive side, we’re getting a non-chain restaurant that doesn’t have the ubiquitous “country kitchen” in the name.
I understand that grants from city and the foundation are based on the number of jobs created and the overall financial contribution such a business would bring to the community. I struggle to think that the new Thai restaurant (while a welcome addition to the city’s line up of mediocre restaurants) will not create any meaningful jobs beyond low paying servers, etc. The restaurant will be operated by the owners themselves…there will not be any decent jobs created. Further, go back and check the date on the city’s ‘poll’ of restaurants people would like to see….and then check Vogler’s own newsfeeds dating, not only first promoting ”some big news coming to North Danville” and then he and is own family members ”voting for a Thai restaurant…when fact is, the restaurant was already planning to come here BEFORE the poll. The poll was being conducted and Thai responses loaded in an effort to push the owners over the edge to come here after conversations started. Take for example the first line promoting the restaurant poll…”would you like to see a Thai restaurant?”….That my friend is the real spin you didn’t see….and now, Vogler will use this as his big contribution to the city’s economic development. Purely self-serving politics.
Considering all the recent debacles with the Economic Development Dept, or rather the Economic Prevention Dept., I think it is time to hold Mr. Wright, members of council and others accountable.
I think the amount of the grant would be justifiable if this actually cemented the North as a destination and led to revitalization of that community. The problem is that it’s not even remotely on the map. We’re supposed to be working on the River District now right? How about staying on message?
Speaking of that, the VC location is very primed for somebody to bring in a restaurant IF indeed the rest of the development in the area sticks. I am hoping for a burrito joint personally, and I’d certainly like to hope it wouldn’t need any money thrown at it.
I’ll also say I think Lee Vogler’s motives are a lot more pure than your comment seems to suggest. He’s still young, and I think he is clearly enamored with the VCU downtown area of Richmond. It would be really cool if The North and this restaurant could bring that type of vibe to North Main. It won’t.
Lee Vogler is going above and beyond his duties of City Council to try and find new businesses (in this case, a type of restaurant that’s nowhere within 40 miles of Danville) for the city and some people are taking shots at him? Unreal. I’d much rather have a councilman like him who is one of the most proactive I’ve ever seen than someone who simply occupies a chair for 4 years. And if because of his work it elevates him, politically speaking, who cares? He wants to see Danville improve. So do I. He seems to be working pretty hard to make it happen.
And as far as the survey goes, you’re only slightly correct. Yes, the last go-round of polls he promoted may have been to help show this particular business that people wanted Thai but I seem to recall Lee talking about a Thai restaurant going all the way back to 2010 when he was doing the Moving Danville Forward page. A lot of people wanted this. He helped make it happen. I’m thankful for it.
Lee Vogler is on his way to becoming a career politician, and that’s OK, especially if Danville is the beneficiary of his dream….My point is that a quest such as his should be watched closely to ensure decisions and actions are made for right reason and with the city as the priority. Driving $50k grants to open a small restaurant do not bring financial gains to the city.
Regarding development on North Main….we can agree to disagree….I can see some things happening there. We need N Main develop in parallel with River District as I see them serving different needs and any development is good for the city. I will am excited for the Thai restaurant and will patronize it regularly that is for sure.
North theate area as an arts district? since when was the slummiest part of the city an “arts” district.
How much of grant will Dan Doby stick in his pocket? What is his role? Why does a successful restaurant operator deserve tax dollars from the meals tax of other restaurants ? What is the mortality rate of mom and pop operators? If restaurant is not successful the burden will probably fall totally on Ms Mongkhonkhan , maybe not the successful restaurateur MR Doby. If they want to be here the grant should be a loan with personal guarantees . I can hear the conversation now, “you want believe what Danville gave me .” How many restaurateurs have gone out of business owing meals taxes . Are there any outstanding meals taxes on books now ? How many business licenses have been issued in the past five years and how many failed. Will meals tax office give up these numbers ?The typical restaurant nets less than 5%.The city will collect 6% of her gross sales and if she fails she will still owe the 6%.The city will also collect the BPOL tax, utility fees, personal property taxes ,health inspection fee ,etc . The city with one of highest meals taxes in nation is incentivesed to go into the restaurant business . The city will quickly recoup their investment while the odds are that the restaurant will close leaving the operator with much debt .This grant is a good example of crony capitalism and how tax policy affects the economy . There must be many restaurants struggling to make expenses while the city subsidizes their competitor and the restaurant cannibalizes their employees .More and more the role of the individual is to serve the government rather than government serving the people .
I’ve found out that Dan Doby closed the “Dan Thia Jazz Bistro” in High Point NC and opened another version of it in Burlington. I’m working on that angle.
You’re a true asset to this region. It’s unbelievable to me that the Register and Bee is either lazy or doesn’t want its readers to know the story. 50K of taxpayer money to a restaurant is news. I’ve started to get the word out that it’s 50K to a restaurant. One local restaurant owner was completely floored, he “didn’t read a word about it in the paper.” Anyway, I think this Council is in for a rude awakening in 2016. Small business owners throughout town are sick of all this money being flushed away on out of town entities and the City does nothing to help them out. They don’t want the help. They’d just prefer that the City doesn’t subsidize competitors and other businesses.
In fairness the newspaper did report the $50,000 grant. They just buried it in the middle of the article if I recall correctly.
I seem to recall Bronx Boy got a nice deal to come here and left if I’m not mistaken owing meals taxes (or else they were at least delinquent at one point). I think we perhaps never got to the bottom of whether Cibo got money and if they did whether the pizza shop version got more money.
I re-read the R&B article. Mr. Smallwood is correct, it is mentioned in the body of the article, but you could easily pass over it, as I did the first time.
Imagine you’re Main Street Coffee Emporium. I’ve gotten their coffee before, and I think it’s good. Can’t say I’ve ever eaten there. But to my knowledge, they’ve never received a penny from the City. Why in the world would the City be subsidizing their competitors? Or what about the guy at the Religious Book Store? He’s been there for years. I doubt he ever got any free money. It just infuriates me that the City is giving money to restaurants. How is this good policy and fiscal discipline? What about the R&B itself? Another quasi-downtown business that hasn’t gotten a cent.