The Big Pie In The Sky

Well the spinners at city hall have really done it this time. After packaging Coleman Marketplace as the “savior of the region” it turns out that Danvillians again have gotten the short end of the stick. Oh we were all told how good this would be for the area, the jobs it would create in construction, the taxes to be charged, etc. etc. Well as always pay attention to the man behind the curtain. The snake oil salesmen are out in force.

It turns out the center is smaller then originally planned due to engineering missteps. Don’t ever use the term “dirt cheap” because it appears that dirt isn’t cheap. Even after moving tons of dirt off the creek bed behind Lowes it turns out it still wasn’t enough so the project shrunk a little. Next came the “jeez that’s a big rock” incident. It appears that despite engineering studies the whole project sits on solid rock. (Anyone who was around when Piedmont Mall was built could have told you that.) So after using over 2,000 pounds of dynamite the mountain won. The project is now a series of different levels which will require shoppers at Home depot to get into their cars move to the Target level then get in their cars again and move to the Marshalls level and so on. Maybe the next store in there needs to be “Mountain Goats R Us”.

Well as a continuation of the Murphy Law they had to rip out a lot of drain pipe that was installed due to inferior materials. This is not even mentioning the multi-million dollar bridge the was built that is barely two lanes wide. Who made that decision? Hmmm now lets see the traffic dumps out at the light at Hobby Lobby which is only about five cars from the Piedmont Drive light. Can you say huge traffic jam? If you want to get to Piedmont Drive be prepared to wait….and wait…..and wait. This must have been the same engineering firm that designed the new intersection at Boxwood Court that will be half a block from the Parker Road light. So all the extra tax money Coleman will generate will be used up on the extra policemen needed to keep the traffic flowing. Sort of like a raccoon trap, you can get in easy enough you just can’t get out!

But the biggest flaw of the project is the down right lie told to everyone about jobs. Check out the trucks doing the work at Coleman Marketplace. See anyone you know? Probably not, they are all out of the area, not Danville contractors. Now someone has to explain to me how a floor tile and ceiling company from El Paso, TX can bid a Danville job cheaper then a large flooring and ceiling tile company located in Danville! We will never know because Danville companies were not even given the opportunity to bid! Concrete contractors from Warrenton, earth movers from Atlanta, plumbers from North Carolina, and electricians from Greensboro. The list goes on and on. Sure a handful of locals were thrown a bone on some small contracts but the majority of the work is being done by out of area contractors. So much for the philosophy of “keep the money in Danville”. Its flowing out faster then the Dan River.

But the icing on the cake is the decision by the local business mafia, the Chamber of Commerce, to only allow Chamber members to bid on service jobs at the complex when it is completed. For years many small business men in this area have shunned the Chamber due to the fact they have never offered any promotion of the small business man. It is a closed club that wants your dues to complete the agenda that they feel promotes their “mission”. The “mission “seems to be to be the “closed shop” mentality of the 1960’s. I recently ran into several business owners who were not members who felt they have been shut out by the Chamber. Where was the Chamber when all the contracting jobs were going to out of area companies? How many of them are members of the Chamber? Let me tell you…..none! Sounds like they are talking out of both sides of their mouth. Why Coleman Marketplace ever gave them the job of collecting proposals for service work is beyond logic. It appears North American Properties knows nothing about Danville and cares not to find out anything. Oh yeah, by the way, they aren’t a member of the Chamber either………………..

But it will open with all the fanfare like Sam’s Club (who by the way tried to use as many local contractors as possible and allows anyone with the best price to bid on their service work). The people of Danville will flock to see the shiny buildings and those new fangled big city stores. They will beat it to death for six weeks then settle back into their normal routines (back to Walmart). And the city officials will thump their chests and roar about all the $5.85 an hour jobs that Danville has brought (to replace the $12.50 and hour average job lost)to the area. All is good they will roar, all is good.