We rip off ESPN’s “Pardon The Interruption” features less than the Register & Bee rips off SouthsideCentral articles… but hey, at least we give credit for the inspiration. Hee Hee. Let’s get it started.
It’s been about three months since we pulled the chalkboard out of the closet. Let’s see what our writers are forcing me to predict today.
FIVE?! Five items? We’ve never had five items on the chalkboard! It’s always been four! Fine. Let’s get to work.
“A natural gas power plant will be built and be operating in Pittsylvania County in the next ten years.”
The natural gas supply is there, that’s for sure. The land is there in the Brosville area. But where’s the money? American Municipal Power has the motivation and need to build more non-coal power plants, and Danville is a big participant in AMP. The talk is around there, but the clock is ticking if we’re talking about 10 years. As long as natural gas remains a cheap energy supply, the potential is there. It’s going to take a lot of Other People’s Money. I even believe there’s a chance of a public/private partnership to put something like this together. If the board said in the next 25 years, I’d say 25%. But since the board says 10 years, I’ll lock in a 4% answer. NEXT!
“The Danville Braves rookie league baseball team will still be playing in Danville in the next five years.”
It’s hard to believe that it’s been around 20 years since the Danville Braves came to town from Pulaski. They started in a top of the line stadium (for rookie-league baseball level) and packed the stands every night. Now, the stadium is still acceptable especially if you compare it to the rest of the Appalachian League, but it’s due for renovations. The city has those renovations in their capital improvement plan so that works out. It’s hard to see another city/town make a bid to move the franchise since Danville still is one of the biggest cities in the league. The Atlanta Braves are strong and the local management is stable. The attendance is middling but not bad enough to worry about. I’m pretty confident that the Danville Braves are going to be around. 91% confident. NEXT!
“Stanley Jones will still be Danville School Superintendent in five years.”
Ah hah. I see what our writers did there. When Stanley Jones takes over in a few months, he’ll have a four-year contract (that’s the maximum allowed under state law). The school board was smart in working out this new contract and it works for Jones as well. I like what I’ve seen from Jones and I think he’s the perfect match for the school system. I didn’t think those things about Ed Newsome. If Jones does the kind of job that I believe he will do, he may be looking for a better position at the end of his contract. He’s got potential but I want to believe he’ll be in Danville for a long time. As for five years out, I’ll say 87%. NEXT!
“The Halifax County Board of Supervisors new tiebreaker position will actually have to cast a vote in the next five years.”
By the time the newly-created position is elected and takes office, the idiotic logjam of the Halifax County Board of Supervisors will be broken by the new people on the board. Henry County had a tiebreaker position on their board and he voted only twice before the position was eliminated. Most Board of Supervisors votes are non-controversial and there hadn’t been a 4-4 tie in Halifax County since the board went to eight people. The tiebreaker position will probably be eliminated in the 2020 redistricting so there’s a pretty high chance this is just a safety play in case the board becomes dysfunctional again. That’s doubtful, but then again it is Halifax County. I’ll lock in a 12% chance that the tiebreaker person is ever called on.
That’s it. Let’s take a look at the board. What? Dammit, we have a fifth item. Fine… NEXT!
“The population of Danville will increase in the 2020 census.”
If Danville is “doing the right things”, this should finally happen and reverse a trend. It’s mostly on the shoulders of economic development, though. Get the businesses, people will come. That’s been shown with the hospital’s and Averett’s efforts so far. The housing study shows that there’s a good potential for this to happen. Can the new arrivals and births overcome the death rate? I think that this will happen, but I’m hedging my prediction a little and saying 64%.
NOW that’s it. We’re done. Let’s take a look at the final OddsMakers chalkboard.
Orange chalk? Nice. This edition of OddsMakers is 100% over! We’ve got more coming up on SouthsideCentral.
5%
99%
less than 1%
50%
15%