We haven’t had much on South Boston’s new Comprehensive Plan proposal which impacts the Riverdale corridor leading into the town, but we do want to publish this letter from Andy Rice. We’ll have more on this plan proposal and the potential impacts in the next few days. Let’s take a look at what Andy has to say…<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nThe Honorable Carroll Thackston, Mayor
\n2705 North Main Street
\nSouth Boston, Virginia 24592<\/p>\nDear Mayor Thackston:<\/p>\n
The town\u2019s 2030 Comprehensive Plan is seriously flawed and must be revised before your council adopts it. The plan\u2019s vision for Riverdale is not conducive to the town\u2019s long range prosperity and it has no support in the community. Riverdale landowners, Riverdale business owners, and citizens from all over Halifax County have spoken out against it while no one outside of the Planning Commission, the Town Manager, or Hill Studios has publicly spoken to support it. Our founding fathers envisioned a government that served the people, but that edict has somehow been forgotten in the development of this Comprehensive Plan.<\/p>\n
Encouraging existing businesses to vacate the town, whether they relocate in the County or simply cease to exist, is a terrible message to send to anyone contemplating going into business in South Boston. Removing these businesses and cleaning up the area is being touted as a way to attract new businesses and industries to the area. The beauty of a wetlands park is supposed to attract them, but isn\u2019t it possible that they may question why the area with the highest traffic count in the county is devoid of any retail establishments?<\/p>\n
How much revenue do the Riverdale merchants generate for South Boston via the myriad of taxes they pay? If they relocate to the county or close their doors, the town\u2019s tax base will shrink and it will shift more tax burden on every citizen and remaining business in South Boston. How many of us can afford that?<\/p>\n
The Riverdale business owners have tried to be included in the plan revisions, spending hours with town officials trying to work out a compromise. However, none of their suggestions have shown up in the long term plan. As a fellow business owner, it is alarming to see others treated this way and it is frightening to think that the town may turn their attention to other areas. Who decides what is ugly and what is attractive? Is that one of the responsibilities of government or should we let people do as they please as long as their properties meet the current code?<\/p>\n
Building a wetlands park will only serve to overextend the town\u2019s maintenance department. When the Dan floods and washes away the proposed benches, trails, and plantings, it will be up to the town to repair and replace these things. It could also overextend the police department by creating a large area that would have to be patrolled on foot. I cannot imagine why something so broad would be put into a plan when our entire nation\u2019s economy is uncertain. Balancing budgets, both government and personal, is going to be difficult for at least the next several years and this park is an expense that we cannot afford.<\/p>\n
Everyone understands the issue with Riverdale\u2019s appearance. I am confident that by working with landowners, a solution can be reached that does not include removing merchants and turning the area into a wetlands park. If the town would install new sidewalks, provide street lights; and remove the overhead utilities while the land owners clean up and improve the appearance of their businesses, it would make the area seem new, fresh, and clean.<\/p>\n
In conclusion, I am asking you and the council to reject the 2030 Comprehensive Plan until it is revised to show the existing Riverdale businesses are left alone to continue employing people, and contributing to South Boston and Halifax County\u2019s economies.. The Plan, as it is currently written, is not right for South Boston now or in the future. The road to economic growth is not paved with the removal of existing businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cBuild it and they will come\u201d was an interesting concept for the Hollywood movie Field of Dreams, but it would prove to be yet another expensive blunder for our beloved community.<\/p>\n
Sincerely,
\nAndy Rice\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We haven’t had much on South Boston’s new Comprehensive Plan proposal which impacts the Riverdale corridor leading into the town, but we do want to publish this letter from Andy Rice. We’ll have more on this plan proposal and the potential impacts in the next few days. Let’s take a look at what Andy has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20,28,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newscentral","category-politicscentral","category-south-boston","odd"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pwqFk-1ye","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6017,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2009\/12\/22\/mayor-carroll-thackstons-reply-to-andy-rices-letter\/","url_meta":{"origin":5966,"position":0},"title":"Mayor Carroll Thackston’s reply to Andy Rice’s letter","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"December 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"We're heading back to the Town of South Boston's proposed Comprehensive Plan. Mayor Carroll Thackston has issued his reply to Andy Rice's letter. December 22, 2009 Mr. Andy Rice Rice & Sons, Inc. 4 Edmunds Street South Boston, VA 24592 Dear Andy: Thank you for your letter of December 10th\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "NewsCentral"","block_context":{"text":"NewsCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/newscentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5982,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2009\/12\/14\/barry-tucks-speech-to-the-south-boston-town-council\/","url_meta":{"origin":5966,"position":1},"title":"Barry Tuck’s speech to the South Boston Town Council","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"December 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Tonight, the Town of South Boston held their own public comment section about the proposed 2030 Comprehensive Plan. Barry Tuck made a speech and he wants to share it with our readers. Dear members of the Town Council, Town Manager Ted Daniels and Respective Mayor, Carroll Thackston As the 2030\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "NewsCentral"","block_context":{"text":"NewsCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/newscentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4255,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2009\/06\/16\/threadspotting-now-we-know-why-riverdale-floods-all-the-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":5966,"position":2},"title":"ThreadSpotting: Now we know why Riverdale floods all the time.","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"June 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I'll be damned. Or is that Riverdale? HalifaxTalk: South Boston Planning Commission (Granny's post) I'll admit, she does have a few good ideas but let's get to the bottom section to explain it all... BOTTOM LINE -------WHEN THE GOOD LORD DECIDES IT IS GOING TO FLOOD IN RIVERDALE, NO ONE\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "HumorCentral"","block_context":{"text":"HumorCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/humorcentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5093,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2009\/08\/22\/south-boston-town-council-agenda-for-824\/","url_meta":{"origin":5966,"position":3},"title":"South Boston Town Council Agenda for 8\/24","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"August 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"What's on tap for the South Boston Town Council's work session on Monday evening? The meeting starts at 5:45 PM. I. COUNCIL PUBLIC HEARING on AMENDMENT TO TOWN CODE - FLOOD HAZARD OVERLAY DISTRICT Adjourn II. CURRENT ISSUES COMMITTEE [Bryant, Chairman, Thompson and Morris] 1. JOYCE ENGINEERING REPORT ON LANDFILL\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "PoliticsCentral"","block_context":{"text":"PoliticsCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/politicscentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22197,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2016\/04\/22\/happy-trails-the-shop\/","url_meta":{"origin":5966,"position":4},"title":"Happy Trails, “The Shop”!","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"April 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Town of South Boston is getting into the blight removal business. One of the first buildings you see entering the town will soon be flattened... and good riddance to it. Here's the announcement that we got from the Town of South Boston today: Town Manager Tom Raab announced today\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "NewsCentral"","block_context":{"text":"NewsCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/newscentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/pVwAUd5.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/pVwAUd5.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/pVwAUd5.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/pVwAUd5.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5361,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2009\/09\/20\/smart-fortwo-car-ever-seen-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":5966,"position":5},"title":"Smart ForTwo car. Ever seen one?","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"September 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"It's great to see a car like this for sale and you can buy one at Riverdale Auto Sales (South Boston, VA)! Here's some views of the Smart car. According to Bunny Propst (owner of Riverside Auto Sales)... I drove it around last Wednesday and thoroughly enjoyed it. The only\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "BusinessCentral"","block_context":{"text":"BusinessCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/businesscentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5966\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}