As promised, here is my speech that I made at Tuesday night’s Danville City Council meeting.
Greetings,
I come before City Council tonight to express my opinion on the current water taste issue. I believe that the City of Danville has badly mismanaged this issue and as a result, has lost control of the message that the public is getting. Recent statements by members of council have only clouded the message even more.
I’ll start with Sherman Saunders’ remarks from last Tuesday, where he said he was looking for Tim Kaine’s help and his advice because Kaine had dealt with an algae problem as mayor. Saunders was quoted as saying that he had a meeting with Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality and Chris Collins from Senator Kaine’s office sat in. I am disappointed that the media wasn’t notified of that meeting nor that the city’s own media department and public information office has even mentioned that meeting.
Mayor Saunders also said he was attempting to contact the White House on this issue. Sadly, Danville has a lot of people with low information rationality that actually believe that Tim Kaine and Barack Obama can actually accomplish things regarding a water taste issue in Danville. I am not one of those people, and I consider Saunders’ statements to be false promises and bluster at best. After making that statement one week ago tonight, Mayor Saunders has not reached out to the media nor to the water customers with a follow-up on his endeavors nor with his meeting with DEQ.
Next, I will address Vice Mayor Gary Miller’s embarrassing river trip expedition last week. I’ve already published a blistering editorial against Miller’s attempt to look like he was the Chief Crusader trying to solve the problem, but I’ll recap some of my problems with it for the council members and the citizens that haven’t read it yet.
First, Gary Miller only notified Register & Bee reporter Denice Thibodeau and she was the only one to accompany Miller up the riverbank. While there’s nothing wrong with that, I believe Miller knew that he would not be asked any challenging questions by her… and that turned out to be correct.
Second, Miller observed no visible signs of algae and declared that to be of interest. There have been no visible signs of algae detected by anyone in this second round of water taste issues.
Third, Miller collected “samples” of river water and a “substance that he believed to be coal ash” and will have them tested. I certainly hope that in the spirit of full disclosure that Gary Miller will issue a statement of those test results to the public and the media so that we can push the information out.
Finally and most damaging, Miller brought up the specter of coal ash contamination with absolutely no scientific justification at all. I strongly feel it is highly irresponsible for Miller (or any city official) to even approach conflating coal ash issues with the water taste concerns with no indications. Miller was quoted as saying “This never happened before the coal ash spill, so you have to wonder.”
No, Dr. Miller. You can use logic and rational thinking. You can think that if this problem is now being detected in the Smith River (that has never had any coal ash contamination), that coal ash contamination wouldn’t be the cause of this algae bloom. As a former microbiologist, you should know the usual causes of algae blooms. Coal ash isn’t one of them. “So you have to wonder” is a phrase that makes low information people justify forming and believing conspiracy theories that are being spread. It leads people to state at the mall food court that “The water is poisonous”. I heard that last week and immediately corrected the person.
Miller’s lone wolf river trip was made even more morally repugnant to me when he told council members that he would be out of town on business and unable to attend the funeral of a council member’s relative… while he was floating up the river on his own agenda.
Just yesterday, Dr. Miller approached Lt. Governor Ralph Northam and asked if he could assist on the water taste issue. At best, Northam could make a phone call to DEQ and they would tell him that they’re doing the best that they can on this issue. These kinds of actions make Miller look like a lone wolf and the sole person trying to make things right. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The city has dropped the ball and as I said before, has lost control of the message to the public. I firmly believe that the city needs to recapture control of the dialog in the same way that the police department is trained to stop a brewing riot.
First, you put on a strong show of force. In this case, that calls for a daily media and public briefing on the city’s website saying what happened today, test results, and any other information that the city can put together. Tell the truth as brutal and honest as you can. The answer of “We don’t know, but we continue to work on the issue” is highly acceptable, especially in the face of throwing out conjecture. I personally know that the water treatment plant is pumping out “non-stinky” water right now. Most citizens don’t know that.
Second, just as the police department is trained to take out the leaders of a brewing riot, the city must directly challenge and factcheck any and all rumors that are circulating out in the community. The public is hearing and repeating rumors and outright false statements. It will not be pretty to say “This is completely wrong and here’s why”, but I feel it will be necessary to regain full control of the message.
The city needs to form a task force and make sure that all officials put out a unified message that is factually correct. When Gary Miller said “If you’ve got some kind of cancer and are on chemo, you should probably drink bottled water”, that was factually correct… but it should have been said as medical advice on Day #1. On Day #30, people who don’t think for themselves turned that into “Gary Miller says the water is dangerous”.
Finally, City Council needs to make things right with the customers who are paying for water that tastes bad and is borderline undrinkable due to taste. I strongly urge Council to add an open discussion about possible remedies to tonight’s business session agenda so that water customers can see directly some of the ideas that could be floated out. Barring that, at least discuss this issue in tonight’s work session and immediately issue a press release with a transcript of what was discussed.
I hope my words tonight hit hard with all nine members of council… and with the citizens and water customers of Danville.
hard hitting
Wow.
Wow good? Wow bad?
Wow…good, clear thinking. Stop it…we are not used to that.
Thats all fine and dandy Bruce but you too are stating incorrect information on the Coal ash spill. You directly stated to someone,”There are no Toxins” (2/2/15)when I believe there have been many reports on a number of toxins in the Coal ash. You believe that since how ever many trillion gallons of water you can make your calculator come up with that that makes the water clean and coal she free again. FALSE—– The water before the intake now is more polluted than before the spill and the system is cleaning it to be safe to consume.(at least everyone hopes so”. As far as Dr Miller and his trip up the river,,,At least he is trying to do something and putting some effort in doing something. You clearly are bothered that you were not asked to go on the boat ride. It could be that some are getting tired of your badgering and criticism of their efforts that never meet your standards.You are correct that the city needs to be more transparent and informative but you gain no respect or credit by being a badgering blogger who seems to try to get credibility by putting others down on their efforts.
Criticizing the Critic…but, they did this with Socrates, too, for being a ”trouble-maker”. I would not be so hard on Bruce, when you analyze what he was saying.
Its not a criticism it’s an observation,
Look again, friend: “You clearly are bothered that you were not asked to go on the boat ride. It could be that some are getting tired of your badgering and criticism of their efforts that never meet your standards.You are correct that the city needs to be more transparent and informative but you gain no respect or credit by being a badgering blogger who seems to try to get credibility by putting others down on their efforts.” In any real definition of the word, that is criticism. Lighten up, what do you say?
I stand by, its an “observation” to this statement by him and other from the past.
Berkeley, Berkeley…you may be wealthy and have folks afraid to correct you, but the English language does not allow for you to strike out at folks and say that it was not what it was…here is only one definition of criticism: “noun
1. the act of passing judgment as to the merits of anything.
2. the act of passing severe judgment; censure; faultfinding.
3. the act or art of analyzing and evaluating or judging the quality of a literary or artistic work, musical performance, art exhibit, dramatic production, etc.”
Fess up, friend. It is not the end of the world.
First off my finances have nothing to do with this and no one is afraid to correct me. Now that you want to go to this level how about you being grown up enough and let everyone know who you are instead of hiding behind some anonymous name.Its easy to make statements when no one knows who you are.
observation |ˌäbzərˈvāSHən|
noun
1 the action or process of observing something or someone carefully or in order to gain information:
I’m glad to see criticism of my work. I love to respond to it. Let’s get to work. First I’ll clarify the “There are no toxins” statement. There are no toxins that are in excess of acceptable standards. The untreated river waters returned back under the arsenic threshold within 7 days of the spill. The treated water that comes out of the plant has never been above any federal or state threshold. You not only have the city monitoring the finished product, you have the state and the federal systems doing so as well. If anything was dangerous in any possible form, somebody would hit the Big Red Button and shut it down quite quickly as you’ve seen in places like West Virginia.
As for being clearly bothered about not being invited, that’s simply not true. I have stated my case where I believe that Gary Miller is trying to market himself as the Chief Crusader to solve this problem, and that’s just not his role at all.
If people get tired of my directly confronting style, they are free to read other non-controversial sources that are out there.
I’m not saying that the river is “clean”. I’m saying that there is no noticeable difference from before the coal ash spill to after the coal ash spill. If you can
If the state and federal authorities test the water, why would you make a misleading statement, like at least everyone hopes so?
Simply put your the type of person misleading others, Bruce speaks of.
Do you even understand the testing process?
The role state and federal agencies play in allowing consumers to drink treated water?
I doubt that you do.
..and I don’t want no park in the school!!!
What I see is gross incompetence on a departmental level. I completely understand why the horrid water came through once, but there is absolutely no excuse for its presence much less its duration the second time around. We are led to believe (I think correctly) that activated charcoal fixes the problem. Why has a problem endured for so long when there is a simple solution in treatment?
Getting to what is wrong with the river is important, and it does sound like it starts with the Smith. That is secondary to Danville providing properly treated water to its citizens.
Here’s what I believe happened based on the information that I have seen and heard. I believe that once the “Big Green Blob” passed the water treatment plant intake, the city assumed that the problem was over and stopped the carbon filtration. It was a common sense thought, but nobody thought to smell and taste test what the finished product was. Days later, the stinky water has completely filled up the water system again. The water is being filtered through carbon again, and the treatment plant is pumping out non-stinky water… but it’s going to take up to 20+ days for the stinky water to go all the way through Danville’s water system.
That seems entirely likely and yet not acceptable in any way.
I have heard the same. They thought that once the algae passed through, the water would be fine.
I appreciate your speech and also this blog to keep us informed and on our toes. As to not give in to hysteria or the heard mentality. Knowledge is power.
Thanks for the kind words. It means a lot.
You did a great job regardless.
The water issue is unfortunate but not a safety issue and hopefully it will work itself out soon.
SouthsideCentral continues to address issues others do not or do not do so completely. With that said, the Register & Bee is doing good work these days, especially on the economic development front. It was not long ago the media simply accepted the City PR bullshit. And I do not really blame the City admin in that they are doing the best they can but are basically a bunch of good folks merely steering the ship. We are missing decisive leader. Maybe when Gwaltyney retires from IALR, we can recruit him back to the City. And while I get the City Council are part timers, wow are they bad. Talk about a lack of leadership.
IALR (and Danville) would be much better of with a goat in charge, rather than Jerry Gwaltney. At the very least, a goat would be much less likely to fall asleep during important meetings
By the way, Gary Miller is still a goober. Leave the river evaluation to the experts. I took chemistry in school but you will not find me riding down the river looking for funny smells.
Article read another way: Bruce won’t be getting a Christmas card from Saunders or Miller this year.
Your suggestion that the city should have issued daily updates is excellent. They really should hire you as public information officer.
the nasty water rebate is fine but NOT all residents will benefit. people who rent and whose landlords pay the water bill won’t get NOTHING !! Yet, we get and have the SAME nasty water as those who will get a rebate. I hope CITY COUNCIL memebers read this. what will I get???? NO more money in my pocket. will my landlord reduce my monthly rent??? HELL NAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. If all residents can not benefit then drown the rebate idea-NOT FAIR
That’s a good point.
[…] is well known for being highly critical of city activities that I find objectionable. As an example, I was the only person to speak in front of Danville City Council about the city’… That is just one example out of many stands that I have taken against governmental positions that I […]