At Tuesday (January 2nd) evening’s Danville City Council meeting, a familiar topic of late was once again raised. Greg Thatcher lives in the 400 block of Oak Street. For many meetings, he’s talked about a box truck parked by a nearby resident on the street near his house; causing visual problems when backing out of his driveway, and just being a general nuisance. Danville Police say they’ve told the owner to move it, and he has; but not very far at a time. Police Chief Christopher Yates says officers can speak with the owner and they have; but they also must follow city ordinances and be careful of Fourth Amendment rights concerning unreasonable seizures.
Thatcher says local ordinances simply need to be changed, and not just those that apply here.
AUDIO: The ordinances are, I think I did the math, they’re 47 years old. If this community wants to move itself forward, then we’ve got to be willing to make changes. They say they want to take these lots, and they want to build homes on them; and that’s all fine and dandy. But if you can’t fix the existing issues, then how do you expect to move forward?
Police Chief Yates says rather than new laws or big time law enforcement, what should be used to solve something like this is old fashioned communication and empathy between neighbors.
AUDIO: If I thought that where I was parking was upsetting somebody else, I’d have come up with some type of negotiated conclusion where both people were happy. So, hopefully we can work something out. And, if not; we’ll see what kind of enforcement action has to be used. But we don’t want that.
(1st Picture) Oak Street resident Greg Thatcher expresses frustration about the continued parking of a box truck in front of his house. (2nd Picture) Alderman Ed Butler (front left) and Police Chief Christopher Yates (back right) speak during Council meeting about Oak Street issue.
Meanwhile, 1994 DHS graduate Steven White was sworn in during the Council meeting as Danville’s new Director of Mass Transit. He says, sure, he rode the Runaround buses at times during his youth; but he never dreamed he’d be running the city’s mass transit system. White says that during his time as a system logistics specialist since May of 2022, he certainly has realized the most important thing.
Steven White briefly addressed the Danville City Council after being sworn in as the new Director of Mass Transit.
AUDIO: Customer Service. We have to take care of the customer, no matter what. I used to ride it when I lived on the corner of English and Lorraine Streets. So, it’s definitely a challenge; but really excited to get started.
As for retiring director Lisa Beith, whose actual last day was December 31st, she feels good leaving it in Steven White’s hands.
AUDIO: He’s such a smart learner. And, you know, he has experience with budgets and that type of thing. There have been a couple of times he’s finished my sentence for me.
Lisa Beith will be sticking around on a consulting basis until the end of February.
Also at the end of February will be the previously announced retirement of City of Danville Corporation Counsel James Simon. The City of Danville has announced that they are hiring for the positions of Corporation Counsel and Assistant Corporation Counsel.
