We’ve started analyzing what happened (and other observations about things) at governmental meetings that we do LIVE! coverage on, so let’s look at what happened at Tuesday night’s Danville City Council meeting.
Let’s start this BreakDown by bringing on a Big Board…
- Poor attendance by Danville citizens at the meeting. Again. That’s sad. The meetings are televised live on River City TV, so that’s another option… but there’s nothing like attending the meeting in person.
- Hey hey! Steven Gould becomes the first school board member that I know of who has attended at a City Council meeting and not only that… he spoke in the public comment session! Let’s see if any city council members come for Thursday’s school board meeting.
- Danville does a good National Night Out event every year. Cardinal Village really puts on a great part of it and it’s worth going to it. It will be their 7th year doing it. I’ll also add that Halifax County puts on a good show every year too. Pittsylvania County? Nothing. They do it at another time in the year which really doesn’t make it National Night Out.
- This isn’t a Thumbs! article, but I’m still giving a Thumbs UP! to Police Chief Philip Broadfoot for being at almost every council meeting and to new Economic Development Director Telly Tucker for going 2 for 2 on meetings so far.
- Almost Free Stuff is a pretty good deal, and grant writing is a big part of making that happen. The fire department gets new turnout gear and only has to pay 10% of the price for it. Not many people understand that grant writing turns into big money.
- Having to apply for a special use permit and paying the fees associated with it is a sad fact of living in the city. The horse boarding request was for a property way out on Westover Drive with the land used for it next to the Sandy River. But hey, it’s the city and all of those rules have to be followed. At least nobody objected to the permit… and why would they? It’s in the middle of nowhere.
- The Coal Ash Spill Is Dead. Deader than disco! None of those doom and gloom crazy environmentalist fear mongering stories ever came close to being true. I’m also glad that the latest “arsenic blisters” attempt was stomped down. People will hopefully learn a lesson from this hysteria attempt.
- The council members who were “going to make sure Duke Energy pays for the damage they’ve caused” has nothing left to yell about anymore. The city’s hired gun attorney will make sure that happens and that’s that. Gary Miller’s “ticking time bomb” was defused by the speakers last night.
- Buddy Rawley, you were WAY too quiet at the meeting. 😀
Now to other observations…
- Downtown Danville is doing great with the revitalization, but it sure was dead on Tuesday night. Ugh.
- Main Street Coffee Emporium has succeeded with their business closing at 3:30 PM, but I’d love to eat supper there before a city council meeting.
- Dell’anno’s Pizza Kitchen’s food is delicious and their happy hour prices are awesome. It’s just too bad that the clerks haven’t rang up the food at those prices the last three times I’ve been there. Sigh.
- Finally, somebody’s been doing something in the old Register & Bee building as I’ve noticed tables and workbenches that have moved from week to week.
And that’s a BreakDown and more of Tuesday night’s action. More coming up on SouthsideCentral!
“Almost free stuff” is not free. This money is the federal government sending taxpayer money (and some borrowed money from China) back to the city. Of course the city has to write a grant to beg the federal government to give us out money back. Grant writing requires man-hours to write the grant and someone in DC to read the grant and make a decision both of which requires more expense of our tax dollars to pay the people who write and read.
You’re right. Unfortunately, it’s how the game is played.
Buddy Rawley was so quiet because there were no women who work for him there he could yell at like he did my wife when she worked for him.
That is hilarious
Yes, it’s funny, but many folks thought Buddy Rawley was exactly right considering what he was yelling about!
and you know what it was how
Better yet Wilson, first why don’t you explain who you are, then why don’t you tell us exactly what you think you know about this and how professional it is for the VP of a University to yell at a female employee. I will be glad to counter anything you present with my side based on facts not conjecture
Maybe I went too far, and if so i apologize. I just remember how widespread the talk was about the incident, especially after you got involved. So, maybe i don’t know the full story. There were plenty of stories to pick from! (Implicit in your comment is that you think it would be okay for him to yell at a MALE employee, and I really don’t think you mean to convey that. Just a friendly tip.)
Wilson, I appreciate the response, I did get involved because he did yell at my wife after not holding up his promises he made to her before she ever came to Averett.There were many thing that were agreed on before she gave up her job at DCC and he did not hold up to them like he said he would when he assured her it would not be a problem. He was well aware of all the issues. I did get involved by writing him a letter and letting him know he was not the man he was at DCC and he clearly was not a man that could be trusted at his word.He chose to yell at my wife on 2 separate occasions about a medical issue some women get that is not of their choosing.He knew about this and still assured her it would not be a problem. After the second meeting where he yelled at her and all but let her know she was not going to last she resigned due to the stress and complete disrespect and unprofessionalism he showed.This is the VP of the university yelling at an employee because she used up her medical leave for a medical issue he knew about before she went to work there.
Continued ————-There are other issues there that I will not get into that here. I will tell you my wife apologized to him b e-mail after their first meeting when he yelled at her thinking she may have done something to provoke him but not knowing what at that point only to be yelled at a month later for using all her medical leave looking for some relief for chronic pain he knew about. He has never shown any responsibility for anything that happened knowing he went against someone else’s wishes that got her there to begin with.So yes I did get involved and wrote a letter and sent it to a few people to let them know there are 2 sides to this story and he is responsible for our family having gone through a lot of difficulty and still are on some issues like insurance because of him.I will never regret standing up for my wife who has never yelled at me in 27 years of marriage and I surely will not stand by and let someone yell at my wife and not respond. He owes her an apology to her face the way he yelled at her to her face. It has been months and he has had plenty of time but nothing. If you are willing to let me know who you are I will be more than happy to tell you the whole story first hand not rumors.
Well there we have it ,,,,,,,,,,, someone (Wilson)willing to come here basically anonymously and talk about how Buddy Rawley the VP of Averett University was right in yelling at a female employee for medical issues he knew about when he hired her and then implying I was saying it would be OK for Budd Rawley to yell at a man. I personally think it shows a lack of respect,professionalism,and a huge flaw of any person especially a man who is the VP of a university to yell at any employee much less a female who had told him in complete detail some very personal issues before taking the job.She was up front so there would be no miscommunication or misunderstandings before giving up state health insurance coverage.He basically made sure she got the job against others.The promises that were made and not kept are just some of the issues. I wonder if he would yell at Tiffany Franks like he did my wife????Hey Wilson still waiting to talk to you when you are willing to state who you are.You gave me a tip so I will return the favor, Heres a tip for you,,, protecting someone with a complete disregard for others and only cares about what is best for themselves and their agenda and for them to be an elected official only continues to keep these kind of people in charge of everyone else.Their egos and self absorbed mentality of themselves is all they care about not you or anyone else.
I missed your detailed reporting as it was happening at the meeting. Please share what Steven Gould said at the meeting. I hoped that spoke of the need for the Council and School Board to work on improving the schools and to set a vision for our schools and how it should be implemented. I hope he invited them to attend meetings and work sessions. How about filling us in. Oh, and Bruce, without controls on where and for what tax dollars go for, you end up with spending without sufficient detailed information on whether or not it is “good” spending–like giving money to business that does not follow through with what is agreed to leaving others to repay the money given (by others I mean the rest of us). Grants require pretty detailed and thought out information.
I don’t bother to go to city counsel meetings anymore because when the citizens were fighting Lifepoint we got no support from the council. Quoting one of councilmen I spoke with he said ” I am damn sick and tired of hearing about Lifepoint”. I should go back but it is just the same old bullshit good ol boy and Campbell run city. I wish I could get what my house is worth so I could leave this mess…but I can’t so I just don’t participate.
City Council couldn’t do anything about Lifepoint from the beginning. They’re a private company and council has no authority over them. Not many people understood that.
The five men that got permission to sell the public hospital from a Ben davenport crony in Richmond kept it a secret to the bitter end because city council should have had public referendum to bring it to vote because the hospital wS paid for by private donations. Linwood wright kept the roads hot to Washington to make sure they couldn’t get sued. We had 3300 signatures in the petition to stop the sale no one in Danville / Pitts co elected to Richmond would help us. There is much more to this story and the circumstances than the answer you sent me
It doesn’t work that way. The control of the hospital was in the hands of the board of directors. City Council had no authority to order a public referendum on something like that. Local elected boards simply can’t do that.
The only remedy that citizens would have would have been to file a civil lawsuit asking for a judge to stop the sale, but there’s no legal grounds for that. That lawsuit would have been tossed immediately.
I know exactly where you’re coming from and I think the whole deal was done poorly in secret… but there was no way to legally stop it from happening.
City Council is not anywhere close to an omnipotent ruling body. They can only enact laws that the state allows them to. They can’t enact laws that are more stringent than the same state statutes. Very few people understand the Dillon Rule and it restricts local elected bodies.
Come on, folks….you’re all missing the point. Bruce is right about City Council’s actual powers, but Council could have been a bully pulpit for the widespread citizen rage over what was done to us by the notorious five. As for “Still Mad,” none of it was Lifepoint’s fault…..we were all sold down the river when Lifepoint was on the bank fishing! And just look for those guys have done with our hospital money–idiocy after idiocy and, finally, sponsoring a Weight Watchers campaign. Ugh.
I understand that you get what you vote for, but, City Council represents the City of Danville. So, is it possible they could learn the difference between FISCAL and PHYSICAL, VEXING and VETTING, and PARCEL and PARTIAL?
Not a chance, Nicole. Did you read the comments from local school teachers during the recent unpleasantness surrounding the firing of school boss Newsome?
Not only are you very knowledgable, you are also very humorous! I do enjoy your blog.
Thanks for the kind words. You’re going to see even more on SouthsideCentral as we move along in the year. It’s readers like you that give me the motivation to work hard on the whole thing.
Are you not answering my question Bruce? I use my real name and no response. Still mad is, I guess, still mad and gets a reply! Ha Ha Is Nicole implying that Danville City Council members do not properly use the words she highlights? And, in a comment above I see “…just the same old bullshit good ol boy and Campbell run city”. Some how “good ol boy” and “Campbell” don’t seem to fit together!
Do you listen to City Council during the meetings? When a member says “physical year” when referring to the budget instead of fiscal, “vexing a company” when they mean vetting a company, and a “partial of land” instead of parcel of land it reflects directly on all of us. We need a literate Council if we want to present ourselves as a literate city.