Tuesday Evening’s (Oct 7th) Danville City Council meeting was before a packed house with lots of complaints. But no complaint rang out louder that Mayor Rickey Williams, Jr’s and Alderwoman Tricia Teague’s against each other during “Items of Information” time at the end.
In a nutshell, Teague’s call for the formation of a Violence Prevention Task Force, during a Council meeting where Williams was not present; included some comments from Teague about “not enough being done” after such tragedies as the shooting death of Aniyah Davis; that led to a major response from Williams the following week during a Danville Police swearing in ceremony.
At that time, Williams used very strong language; stating that any alderman not siding with the police “should be ashamed.” Tuesday night was Teague’s highly critical response to Williams while both were at the City Council table. Teague stated that she used the word “we” numerous times in what she said that night about who is at fault, and that the mayor was trying to “fabricate a fight” between her and the Police Department. When Williams was able to respond a few minutes later, he stated that Teague had “backtracked” on some of her comments; before launching his own statement that the main problem leading to youth violence is a major lack of “proper home training.”
2nd Picture: Police Chief Christopher Yates listens to intense discussion between Mayor Williams and Alderwoman Teague.
As far as “is a new special task force needed” goes; the mayor said there already is such a task force, put together by the Survivor Resource Center, which happens to have their next meeting on October 16th at Noon, in the Police Training Center on East Voorhees Street. But Jamie Nightlinger from Project Success spoke during public comment and said; she’s on that task force, and they do not do enough. She said more is needed than just occasional special events.
AUDIO: But they throw a “Hoops Against Violence” event, and they throw a wave event in Fair Oaks. And both of those events are great for the community, but there is no intervention/street outreach piece, which is what the CVVIP grant is actually for.
Teague stated that perhaps that’s a sign a new task force should be tried.
AUDIO: We have to do everything we possibly can to make sure that these situations don’t continue to happen in our city; that one child is too many.
Mayor Williams, on the other hand, said that instead of “reinventing the wheel,” those that want change should go to that next SRC Task Force meeting and suggest it.
AUDIO: We have an avenue in order for us to do that, and we should use that avenue. And I hope that they will all go and attend; and if they’re not satisfied with the results, for them to work together to change them.
The other major topic during the meeting’s “Items of Information” was the possibility of significant money being removed from the Danville Public Library’s portion of the tax levy; as talks on the new levy and budget are just around the corner.
