It’s been a while so I’m thinking. Randomly, that is.
Big Board!
- Hey! Who all went to the big VIR race this weekend? Yeah, me neither.
- The Danville Braves are finished for home games this regular season. They may get into the playoffs and that would mean up to four more home games. I went to one and that’s sad.
- The Register & Bee seems to think that there’s something odd with the City of Danville using credit cards for purchasing. Um. No. It’s one of the best ways to track purchasing down to the employee level. I’ve got a very strong feeling that once you take out Ben Hairfield’s apparent fraudulent spending, you’ll find it’s a system that works quite well. What’s very odd is the exact opposite policy for the Danville school system. They’ve only got one card and it’s in the name of the superintendent.
- It looks like the Register & Bee has dropped their paywall. I wonder if it’s only temporary?
- I’ve been holding off doing an article about Friday’s “Stand With Ferguson” rally because I wanted the KKK story to die. Sadly, that story shows no signs of dying.
- If you go down to Riverside Plaza in Danville, you can see the old Mason’s snack bar advertising in the windows of what used to be the Dan River Grand Prix.
- Man, the owners of that Dan River Grand Prix sure got the hell out of Danville once they closed.
- Anybody remember Fazoli’s?
- Heck, I remember when there was a grocery store with carpeted floors in the Sherwood Shopping Center.
- There appears to be something going on in the dead shopping center on West Main Street. Anybody got anything on that?
- Richard T. Davis. Awesome photographer. Awesome guy.
That’s my RandomThoughts for today. Comments are ready for you!
Out of town Business noticeably down from past years when VIR has had a big event., thankfully locals making up difference!
Not sure what’s going on at the dead shopping center on West Main Street, but I do know they’ve redone the entire parking lot twice this year …. that’s kinda weird for a place that only has 2 small businesses over in the corner.
subsurface water leak resulted in pavement deterioration. Not sure what may have happened if a second repair was required.
I go to Fred Shanks for my engineering information. 😀
Speaking of shopping centers and the Danville Grand Prix….can anyone explain how Riverside Plaza ever got constructed? I know it’s flooded at least 3 times in my lifetime. Maybe I’m wrong, but it appears to be built right on the flood plain. Maybe zoning regulations weren’t what they are today when the structure was built? I can’t imagine the City would allow anyone to build on the flood plain in this day and age.
The R&B pay wall appears to still be active for me.
Just checked. I’m getting through fine without having to break through it.
Is breaking through a pay wall anything like stealing, robbing, or shoplifting?
It’s like saying to the website, no you may not store a tracking cookie on my computer, thanks. There are more sophisticated paywalls, often that will show only an abstract on the first page and the meat of the story on a second linked page.
Random thoughts… just got off the phone with a source that spoke on the Old Piney Forest animal clinic debate. The noise issue just may be less of an issue than previously thought. Maybe if Dr.Smith can provide more information on the sound-proofing he spoke of, it could change the thinking of the opposition. As far as the R&B pay wall, I have a full subscription and is able to sign in on the desktop, but it sends my cellphone around and round in circles. So, when I’m out in the field, I will rely on SC for late breaking news. It’s been reliable thus far.
As with any river, over time and upstream development, the elevation of the flood plain rises. Since 1990, Federal and State regulations have attempted, with some success, mitigating the rate of the increase. Today, the Plaza, if below the 100-year flood plain, could not be built. I have worked numerous times on that center, and I don’t recall right now, whether is above or below, but I’m thinking it is below.
Back in the mid 70’s (I think) Dan River Mills owned a lot of undeveloped land between Riverside Drive and the River. The old softball fields, and other undeveloped property was “permitted” to be filled. That opened up much of the development that now sits in the vicinity of the former Short Sugars…can you say putt-putt and trampolines?
Wow. Thanks so much for the information. I’ve always kind of scratched my head about that. That explains it.
I can remember when a business owner in Riverside Plaza stated that the Sandy River was the reason Riverside Plaza flooded. He thought going up the Sandy River and building a dam that would flood the land of people along the Sandy River would stop the flooding of Riverside Plaza. The Dan River backing up into the Sandy River caused the flooding at Riverside Plaza. Riverside Plaza is in a flood plain and not a 100 year flood plain. I have been in Danville 36 years and have seen the parking lot under water two or three times. The 100 year flood plain is a moving target depending on the amount of water, the width of the river basin and the slope of the banks going away from the river. Not an easy thing to determine until the “100 year flood” gets here.
There is no kennel planned for ***Old Piney Forest Rd***, there is one being discussed on Piney Forest Rd. Piney Forest Rd starts at riverside dr, next to the Highlander.
That part of Piney Forest Rd. has little in common with VROOM VROOM HONK HONK VROOM BAM CRASH VROOM VROOM Piney Forest Rd.
There seems to be a pretty large amount of confusion about the name of that road, almost as though its name has been changed at some point in the past.
Did Ben have a boss or was he just left to his own devices? How can one person be the only one responsible for this mess?
That’s the magic question.
I’m just surprised there were 61 credit cards floating around in one department. The section from Riverside to the end od Central Blvd has been called Old Piney Forest for as long as I can remember. Fred is correct about filling in the areas along the river that has displaced more water then ever. When the river rises to cover the storm drain outlets on the river the water backs out of the drains in Danville Plaza (not Riverside Plaza). Combine that with overflow from Sandy Creek and you have flooding in the center. Interesting what Thomas Road Baptist Church intends to do with the center knowing these problems exist.
I tend to agree that 61 cards is the shocking part. I would think for a department the size of what I think theirs is, there should be probably 1/3 to 1/2 that number of cards. You’d want to be aiming for having enough people who can buy what is necessary while having a manageable number of reports to review. If the card issuer itself is doing something to aggregate the purchasing activity in a report while still maintaining the who bought what accountability, perhaps that is why there are so many cards.
As far as Old Piney Forest, I think the big confusion is that there is actually an “Old Piney Forest” where the mobile homes are.
Pray? 😀
You can call a turd a rose, but it is what it is. Piney Forest Rd starts at Riverside Dr.
Correct! I shall call you Doris today.
A thought from your thought Bruce on Friday’s “Stand With Ferguson” rally. Wouldn’t that be a great mood killer for KKK. They might just pack up and get outta Dodge.
Yeah, I will work on the photos from that today.
“Man, the owners of that Dan River Grand Prix sure got the hell out of Danville once they closed.”
I was a frequent visitor to Dan River Grand Prix, so I like to think that I have a more educated opinion on their business practices than most armchair critics. Having said that, I have no clue why the owners chose Danville. This was a horrible place to open a business that clearly needed the support of the local populace and a customer base capable of understanding fundamental economics. I originally thought their prices were high until I took five minutes to compare them to other like businesses on the East Coast. Not one was cheaper. I knew I was getting the best deal within a three hour radius for that kind of entertainment. Yet, people still came in and complained about the prices.
The owner was right to get out of this town. His ambitions were too high for a place like this. I approve wholeheartedly of his decision even though I really miss having a fun place to go hang out on the evenings.
“If you go down to Riverside Plaza in Danville, you can see the old Mason’s snack bar advertising in the windows of what used to be the Dan River Grand Prix.”
That advertisement was there for several years. From what I understand the owners of DRGP decided to leave it while renovating the building, as it was a cool piece of history.