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DANVILLE — A member of the Danville City Council is calling for a violence-prevention task force, inspired in part by Tuesday’s presentation by the father of a local, 18-year-old shooting victim.
After the speech by Phil Davis, father of Aniyah Davis, Ward 4 Alderwoman Tricia Teague said she was willing to lead the task force, “because this has gone on way too long.”
In 2018, the city was reeling after more than a dozen gun deaths — many in Ward 4, where Teague lives. She said she remembered having to go around the block to get to church one Sunday because part of English Street had been blocked off as a crime scene after a shooting.
Davis is the second young person to be killed in a shooting at a party at a local park.
“We shouldn’t be having the same conversations over and over,” Teague said. “We can’t sit on our hands and do nothing. It’s all of our children.”
Ward 1 Alderman Ed Butler said the city should be concerned about all people and needs to be more compassionate.
Police Chief Chris Yates said though some people believe gun violence is being ignored, there are 68 officers in his department who would beg to differ.
“There’s a lot of charges and information that we cannot release due to the circumstances,” Yates said. “The difference often in many of these cases, in almost all of these cases, is the willingness of the community and witnesses to come forward and work with us to meet the same goal, which is to make everybody’s life better — whether you’re north, south, east, west; whether you’re White, Black, Hispanic or any other race, it doesn’t matter.”
He said many of the shootings involve large gatherings that contain a small minority of people who don’t care whom they hurt with their “reckless and often evil behavior.”
Yates reiterated that his department is working around the clock to make things better.
In other business, the council tabled action on a grant for the proposed Bresee Bar and Grill in the former Bratland’s Prescription Shop at 8 E. North St. while waiting on changes to some of the language in the agreement.
The Downtown Tax Increment Financing District project has a gap in financing required to make it happen, said Logan Cronk, the city’s community development administrator.
The agreement calls for developers Josh and Deana Turner to receive up to $54,000 from Downtown TIF District funds toward redevelopment of the site, based on about $204,000 in renovation costs.
Cronk said that as it stands, the agreement requires that the lease for the building last until the TIF district expires, which is at least 24 years. Aldermen tabled action to change that timeframe and also clarify that property-tax payments are the owner’s responsibility, not the developer’s.
Cronk said the operational expenses are for items such as a range hood and gas line.
The property’s owner, Ashton Greer, has already received about $61,000 in TIF-district funds as part of two requests in February 2023 and May 2024 for help with a new roof, windows, doors, flooring, bathroom accessibility and other items, Cronk said.
Teague said she’s a proponent of businesses but is concerned about the city putting a lot of money into a single property.
Cronk said other eligible projects that applied for the TIF-district funds also received them at a rate of 50 percent of reimbursement, and there may have been a couple that didn’t meet requirements.
He added that there’s no penalty to a property owner who receives the funds if a business doesn’t open as planned — which is what happened with the previous requests for Greer’s building — or the building is sold, as the work is still completed, which still increases the property’s value.
