In places like Southside, struggling to bring in new business, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, is focusing on ways to help drive more jobs.

Warner, D-Virginia, visited Averett University on Friday afternoon to give updates on the happenings in Washington and hear concerns from residents.

“If you look at new U.S. jobs, 80 percent are created by start-up firms,” said Warner. The problems are finding the talent and getting access to capital.

Warner said some things are already in motion to help. On the federal level, new legislation for crowd sourcing has been passed to provide early capital to people who want to invest in places like Southside.

An unavoidable focus for Warner’s discussion was the looming deficit.

“Anyone that tells you we can fix this problem with a Democrats-only or Republicans-only solution is not telling the truth,” said Warner, who has made a name for himself for his bi-partisan efforts in Congress, including the “gang of six.”

Warner has been an advocate for finding common ground with both parties to find a way for pay down the country’s debts. On Friday he seemed confident this could be done.

Danville City Manger Joe King, a nonpartisan official, praised Warner for those types of efforts. But King and James Snead, the Dan River representative on the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors, asked Warner what he could do for the progress on the Berry Hill industrial mega park.

Many regional leaders have complained about the rules and regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers halting the mega park’s progression — even asking for a business to be guaranteed in place before the project moves forward.

King said the lead permitting agency for the project is the Army Corps of Engineers and while area leaders do not want to sidestep regulations, “we need a policy interpretation that industrial parks are by their very nature speculated.”

Warner agreed these rules and regulations can exist without taking too much time, especially when economic growth is so crucial. He said the highway bill helped to change some of the process and he would try to help “guide” the EPA through some of this.

But the overall economic situation of the country was the most cause for concern at the meeting.

“The most important thing to deal with is the deficit and the debt,” said Charles Majors, the chairman of American National Bank and Trust Co. “It’s got to be done … there is just so much uncertainty …"