Thinking of moving to Danville, VA (Gretna: relocating, health, rating)

[sissy77]

most of the reason the city area looks as it does is because most of those houses were rented out and the owners and the renters do not care .The renters just lived there and thats it .The crime got worse as children having children increased there .I have seen in the emergency room of Danville Hospital 16 year olds with 2 kids and another on the way and all they think of is there cell phones and they are required to turn them off and they cannot text .Too bad .You go down there and all you see is children with no adult supervision at all .All the children seem to be is a paycheck and they suddenly find out that paycheck is not as big as there moms and grandmothers paycheck was .One girl in the hospital was complaining because she wanted more money from welfare and a bigger section 8 apartment and she was 20 with 4 kids SO SAD .There she sits gold jewelry dripping from her neck and ears an expensive large HP laptop (better than the one I have )designer jeans expensive shoes and will not go into the tats she had on her neck arms and legs .She has a new cell phone in her hands and I happen to notice it is not a cheap one either and she is texting .OH well We are paying for all this so I guess she deserves it .OH and 1 of her kids has a cell phone and he is almost 7 she says and he needs it .For what I don't know .

[sprdave32]

Originally Posted by djkooldown

Danville does have alot of restaurants. Main reason it has alot of OBESITY!!! that's why, when you have a town with an outrageous amount of obesity you have FOOOD!!! everywhere. Same as with "Christians" (Religious People) When you have alot of religion you have alot of pointless Churches...
DANVILLE IS FALLING OUT!!! IT SUCKS!!! There is nothing to do but goto Church, Eat, and Shop... there is no adult nightlife or any high class of anything. I'm sorry.... I hate danville... but there is one good thing about it... The Maternity Ward... My son was born in Danville Regional Medical Center December 31... Everyone in L&D were great the nurses were nice and the facility was very secure. Although the meals are not the greatest. it's ok it's danville there's food everywhere!


This message is not here to affend anyone nor does it. It's just stating facts I do apologize for the inconvience of sasying that but it needs to be said.

Given your inability to communicate and obvious lack of vision, I'm sorry to hear that you've managed to reproduce. Collinsville ...really!?

[Dan_in_DC]

And now, in January of 2013, here's yet another post, #53 in this thread that began in June of 2007, because I have a question for all of y'all.

Having just read through the entire thread, I couldn't help but notice that there seems to be widely divergent opinions here as to whether or not Danville is a fit place to live.

My wife and I have visited Danville several times in recent years, looking at real estate. And after much thought and consideration, have selected Danville as one of several possible "best choices" for a place to live when we finally leave the DC area and move farther southward.

But what seems a little confusing from what we've read in this thread (and in several other similar threads we've read here) is that many native current and former Danvillains posting here seem to have an ongoing love-hate relationship with the city.

Seems that many people posting in this thread want to either:
a. Wax nostalgic about the disappearance of the Danville of the past, which they remember so fondly ... while despising what it has become now; or

b. Praise Danville to the high heavens if it happens to suit their fancy at the moment, and then a few months later condemn Danville to the depths of hell because something may have changed in Danville ... or maybe they found somewhere else they like better; or

c. Blame external factors beyond their control (or probably anyone else's in the immediate Danville area) for the "decline" of Danville, and sit around poormouthing, bitching and moaning, and blaming Danville's plight on such uncontrollable events as ...

... [1] the outsourcing of jobs to our enemies overseas ;

... [2] those evil politicians who won whatever election it was and then didn't do whatever they promised to do and should have been doing ;

... [3] how Danville could have been so much better today if only the Confederacy hadn't lost that stupid war ; or

... [4] those evil Communists who caused all that damned global warming.

What the hell is wrong with you people? Don't y'all have anything positive to say or do? Or have those evil Danville demons stolen your brains too?

Now, stop that! Just relax for a minute or two. Maybe get yourself a cup of sassafras tea, or a glass of pomegranate juice ... or a water glass full of moonshine if it makes you feel better. Sip it slowly, and try to bring yourself down from the ceiling a bit.

And then THINK real hard: Is there maybe something that you can say or do today that will help to make Danville a little bit better tomorrow?

If each of us does that every day, it's amazing how quickly things really can get better.

Dan

[Dan Villian]

Can someone please tell me the difference of the way people act on northside and southside? Which has nicer people and less ghettos? Compare and contrast please.

[success1327]

I moved to Danville from Washington, Dc and I love it. So quiet and reserved. I love waking up to the birds churping, crickets and omg the Deer are simply beautiful. The best thing about living in a small town is visiting a big city when I fell clostrophobic. no we dont have night life but thats ok with me. thats what big city visiting is for. Its a great town to live when you simply need to slow down.

[Dmx3105]

I've lived in Danville Virginia all of my life and it honestly sucks. As far as people go it is full of gothic white kids and ghetto blacks. The people who live in the surrounding are are mostly just backwoods rednecks. And if you are looking for an area with racial harmony go somewhere far far away. In Danville the blacks discretely hate the the whites and the whites hate them in return. It's been this way for ages, with danville being the confederacy's last Capitol and home to a major riot during the civil rights movement. Not long ago there was a huge controversy over the confederate flag flying over the last confederate Capitol. It's gotten to the point now that whites are a small minority here so in Danville schools they are severely mistreated by black students. I have heard stories of white kids being picked on unless they adopted black culture. Being called racial slurs and treated extremely poorly. And if you think the school system will do anything about it you are dead wrong. The schools here are the worst in Southside Va. They have had kids to fire guns during class, whole classes refuse to do work, people threaten to kill teachers, bring drugs to school and sell drugs, promote gang activity and incite gang violence. Recently they closed down some schools and many kids in different gangs they formed were put together in Boner Middle School and it has been a nightmare. There was also an instance where some students at GW high threatened to go on a "purge" and kill teachers and classmates. But, in many ways the schools are a reflection of the city. Crime here is just as bad and it is common news to hear about robberies and shootings. Before you move here take a ride down North Main Street and you will rethink your decision. We do rank number 9 in the most dangerous cities in Virginia after all. Also, the water is not safe to drink. There have been several spills into the Dan river over the years and recently a company accidentally dumped lots of ash into the river. They claim it is safe but there have been several tests conducted that have proven otherwise. Not long ago it had a very odd metallic smell to it so I personally wouldn't drink it. If you are black or white please don't move here. This is a toxic environment. African Americans here are in a very bad position, both socially and economically and you do not want your children growing up around a culture full of gang and criminal influence. Really the only reason most people moved here in the first place was because of the Dan River Mill but now that's just a decaying monument to Danville's ruin. From many areas in Danville you can see the now abounded smoke stacks and feel assured that prosperity is far away. This is my advice to anyone wise enough to listen and check the fact.


Sources:

‘We’ve lost control of the school,’ says longtime Danville teacher - Danville - GoDanRiver.com

Duke Energy Coal Ash Spill Pollutes the Dan River « Appalachian Voices

Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

[Dmx3105]

I would like to clarify that I didn't meant to have a racist tone in my last post. But I cannot stress how horrible race relations are in this city. It's as if you are either one extreme or the other and while some people do enjoy health relationships with other races, here it is rare. I would say the relationship is more "toleration" than working together or moving forward. And I will agree with many people who have posted here saying Danville has an outdated mindset. If you visit here and especially if you live here, it will become clear that this city still seems a few decades behind. As for Pittsylvania county all it has to offer is mainly farming jobs and probably a few positions around Chatham. This area is also slowing down and I personally wouldn't recomend it. While I shouldn't have said most of its residents are "backwoods rednecks" many are certainly very conservative in their beliefs and have some very country ways of doing things. That being said you can decide if that would be right for you. Surprisingly though race relations are 100 times better in the county than in Danville. While they are far from perfect, the county has much better schools and community programs. It also doesn't have a large majority of black or white students so kids generally treat each other well. The schools usually take care of disciplinary problems and it is a good place to get an education. While Dan river high is becoming more like Danville city schools the rest are great. But in my last post about the Danville city schools I don't know if I stressed how horrible they have become. It is a poisonous environment for any student and it would take massive community improvement and major intervention by the state to ever even attempt to fix them. And it's a shame because you have so many students, both black and white with potential and it is just lost. It's espcecially horrible for african American students since there is no incentive to improve our schools or inspire the students, so they are just caught between criminal activity and a failing system. In some ways Danville is the poster child for a broken system that seems impossible to fix. Another major problem you will have if you move here is dropping real estate prices. The houses here are pitifully cheap in many areas and once you buy one, you will be in a spot. With jobs dying and neighborhoods getting worse and more dangerous, you can easily buy a house but it is a pain to sell one. But, that is your decision and I attached a link below showing our city's crime average compared to the national one if you are really serious about buying here. This will be my last post, but I hoped I helped with your decision before you buy here. I would hate for anyone to move here before they realize what they have gotten into.

http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime...-Virginia.html

[RVAbornandbred]

I can only offer a word of caution: I've probably met at least 10 folks who've moved to Richmond from Danville. I have never heard one nice word spoken about Danville. Usually, you hear good and bad things about any place whether it's Dallas or Galax. Danville's one of the few places where it's hard for me to think of a single nice thing said about the area. Almost everyone says, "There are some nice people there, but it's an awful place to live." I don't have any first hand info, but I'd be extremely wary of moving to the area based on the fact that I've never heard anything nice said about it. I'd probably advise anyone thinking of moving to spend at least a week in Danville b/f deciding to move. A week would give you some time to know the area instead of the "Chamber of Commerce" 12 or 24 hour look at a city.

[Blackjava]

This is not a good place to live, to be honest. I used to live there a couple years ago, and there is nothing to do there. Bored and a lot of crimes.

[Westbound and Down]

Danville is grim. Heed what some of the posters here are saying about it...you have been warned.