We told you what happened at Tuesday’s Danville City Council meeting LIVE!, but let’s do a BreakDown on what really happened.
BreakDown articles are analysis and opinion. They’re served up best on a Big Board!
- Nobody ever attends and no other media covers the committee on Appointments, but they can be interesting. There’s a large shortage of people that have applied to serve on the various city boards and commissions, and that’s sad.
- It’s always great to see Dolores Reynolds and Harold Garrison attending every meeting. More people should attend council meetings, even if you have nothing to say.
- If you’re attending a council meeting because you have something to say, be polite and don’t walk out once your issue has been addressed. GAH!
- I was surprised to see Avon Keen in the audience and wondered if he was going to speak on the Confederate Flag issue. He didn’t speak and left during the recess.
- Duke Energy’s Davis Montgomery simply Gets It. He’s not flustered by any council members that try to bash him. that makes those bashers even madder… and I love it.
- Jerry Dooley, Danville Regional Medical Center’s interim CEO, is a very nice guy. He’s just sitting on the third row and smiling 45 minutes before the meeting starts. I have never been used to seeing the hospital’s CEO without Leslie Smith one step behind him. And of course, she assumed that position 15 minutes later. Heh.
- It’s amazing how certain people are called up to speak first at the public comment section of meetings where there are going to be a lot of speakers.
- Speaker after speaker on the same topic gets boring and boring and boring and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
- My favorite line of the anti-demolition speakers was from Steven Wilson. He said “I operated Luna Technologies until it went bankrupt”. Well, that explains why you don’t operate it anymore.
- Am I the only one that notices that the historic houses on the chopping block get a lot better looking the closer they are to Main Street? Nobody seems to give a damn about the wrecking ball knocking crap houses down on Claiborne Street.
- Even though his speech was good, the guy who moved here from the UK looked like the Michelin Man with his heavy winter coat on.
- Gus Dyer goes in front of the Planning Commission and City Council with all of his real estate venture talks. I’d actually pay attention if he and his real estate ventures WOULD PAY THE OVER $30,000 IN BACK REAL ESTATE TAXES THAT HE OWES THE CITY! Yeah, seriously. Over $30,000.
- It may infuriate a lot of people, but I’m starting to love Cara Burton’s (the director of the museum) attitude. She’s obviously into historical preservation so she spoke to Council. I could feel the cold reaction from the room because she remained silent throughout the Confederate flag issue but it didn’t bother her one bit. Well played.
- I do think that the historic homes should be preserved, but who’s going to pay for them? And why are we being pushed to panic stage now when very little has been done in the past 5 to 7 years?
- Clarke Whitfield is the City Attorney for a reason… he knows the city code. It was amusing to hear Gary Miller try lots of scenarios to push a demolition moratorium idea and then hear Whitfield say no, no and no.
- Thank god for recesses. Thank god for 10 minute recesses that last 20 minutes.
- William Gentry is beginning to own the city. Restaurants, mini-storage buildings and an industry. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that, though. He’s doing it with his own money.
- The council chambers will now have “In God We Trust” displayed. I believe the old version said “In Kevin Liao & GOK We Trust”. How’d that work out?
That’s the BreakDown. We’ve got more coming up on SouthsideCentral!
Gentryville —- •William
I give kudos to the Council for finding a way to express their belief in God in a way that will pass constitutional muster. To me it is still a bit cloying and obvious, but it is lawful unlike the stupidity the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors went with.
Aren’t they still going to be offering a prayer at the beginning of the meeting? I don’t see this as any different than the Board of Supervisors, Danville just hasn’t had anyone challenge the practice and now they have reinforced their beliefs with a sign.
Listen more closely to the words of the prayers.
If persons elected by the people or employed by the government are offering the prayer, it needs to be non-denominational. My understanding (and Mr. Shanks seems to be confirming this) is that Danville is compliant with that expectation.
The other alternative is to farm this out to the community, in which case it is clear the government should not encourage sectarian prayer to happen, but the government also has no role in policing whether sectarian prayer happens in that situation or not. That’s what the recent precedent from the Greece, New York case means.
The only non-denominational prayer is a moment of silence.
I agree with Nicole that the only non-denominational prayer is silence. What are the words of the prayers? Isn’t “In God We Trust” on the wall still Christian speech from a governmental body?
I also agree with you about historic properties. It seems the city’s interest is on Main Street and the Old West End while the other 40,000 residents of the city are neglected. Sharing the wealth in a broader area than the River District and Old West End would benefit an awful lot of residents.
Rachel, “In God We Trust” is not solely Christian speech.My Jewish friends believe in God and Muslims pray to God every day. Look in your purse: Every coin and bill carries that statement. Nichole H , think about that as well. Silence is not the answer.
This is a subject on which you and I will never agree. I don’t disagree with a moment of silence in which each individual may offer up a prayer to his or her God but I do disagree with one person in an elected position offering up a general prayer. And, I do know that many religions pray to God every day but I also know that there are people that do not believe in God and do not pray at all. I would be more amenable to having people from the citizenship offer a prayer or a moment of reflection prior to the meetings rather than a member of Council.
William gentry got a nice grant for the corning project. He added jobs there. He moved them from Goodyear blvd, closed that location and is converting it to a sports arena…indoor soccer, maybe? I don’t remember exactly.
But I think he got a very nice grant…1,000,000 maybe. But he is local and contributing to the community. Good on him. May be prosper and continue to grow. He makes danville better and we need more like him.