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danny thompson

Danny Thompson Supports Meeting Change on TV, but not in Chamber. Your take?

by ryan shell on January 21, 2010

Tuesday night, the council took a bit of time to discuss the concept of moving the Speakers from the Floor portion of the meeting from the beginning to the end. During this time members generally took the time to say why the either supported the move or didn’t support the move.

Let’s rewind a bit though.

Earlier in the evening At-Large councilmember Danny Thompson did an interview with WFMY, and it seemed that he supported the move. Take a moment and watch the video below – Thompson’s comments are at the end.

I don’t know what, but something happened during the time this interview was filmed and when he gave his remarks in opposition to the change (both took place in the same day, same evening for that matter). So yes, this means he supported it.

Take a moment and watch (video below) Thompson’s speech on the issue during the council meeting. He says virtually the opposite of what he said to WFMY. I’ve emailed him to ask what provoked the change, but haven’t heard back from him as of the writing of this post.

A change of opinion is perfectly fine, but do think it’s a bit strange for a councilman to support something during a local news interview and then turn around and oppose it hours later? Is this a ploy to appeal to the masses on TV, but to inevitably appeal to a different group when the actual decision is made?

First he told WFMY that “It’s not going to cut anybody out. Let’s see how it goes. Let’s give it a shot.” Then during his opposition speech he talks about his work with the elderly and other groups his business serves and how the change would negatively impact them… did he forget about the previously mentioned groups during the WFMY interview?

As always, I’ll share Thompson’s response when he sends it.

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Development Battle: Has College Hill Hurt Itself?

by ryan shell on December 8, 2009

photoThe College Hill neighborhood is currently fighting a proposed development that residents fear will hurt their neighborhood. The proposed Spring Garden development would be build where the Newman Machine Shop currently resides and calls for 720 apartments (need to clarify this # – residents used “apartments,” but it could be units) that will be geared towards student housing.

I attended the “Save College Hill” meeting last night at 45 – 55 residents opposing the development were in attendance, as was Cyndy Hayworth, whom sits on the Zoning Commission. Neighbors are concerned about things like parking, the sheer size of the proposed development, negative impact on infrastructure (flooding has been an issue – Wafco Mills).

At the meeting neighborhood leaders reported that a protest petition was filed last Thursday and their attorney/State Senator Don Vaughan (seen in photo) also confirmed that fact.

Given that a protest petition has been filed, the council will be required to pass this zoning matter with a super majority vote, which typically means there have to be seven votes in favor. There is a “but” in this scenario though. Since College Hill has hired Don Vaughan as their attorney, his wife and newly elected council member, Nancy Vaughan will not be able to take part in the case.

During the meeting I spoke-up (wanted to make sure they were aware) to touch on how the votes would need to play out if this case eventually went to council. Since Nancy Vaughan will not be able to hear the case the neighborhood only has a total of eight council members to potentially get two “no” votes from.

This very well could be a situation where the protest petition proved to be a useful tool, but the neighborhoods attorney selection could end up costing them the battle.

So how might the votes play out? There’s no telling, but there are some things that might be assumed.

When I asked someone with the neighborhood’s board how their council representative, Zack Matheny, felt about the case he said, “He said that if the neighborhood opposed the development that he would as well.” To be clear, Matheny has not told me that directly so it’s hearsay at this point.

It has been heavily promoted that newly elected council members, Mayor Bill Knight and At-Large member Danny Thompson are conservatives, and at least one person close to Thompson has reported that he is a property rights advocate.

To make the battle even more challenging for College Hill, city staff is supporting the new development – see their write-up here.

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