Local Media/Metro Council Darling, Daron Hall, Fires Immigration Attorney for Not Advising Him in the Fashion the Sheriff Wished

What does the Davidson Co. Sheriff want? A committee of advisors or a goon squad of yes-men (and women)?

TIF Archipelago

Over at the Nashville Charrette, bzorch wonders about the fallout of Metro Council's approval of the Bellevue Mall TIF :

So the Mall is getting their TIF. I am sure it was reported last week, but it was in the Tennessean article yesterday about TIF financing. The Mall has agreed to build a library for the city in the development. There was no mention of the public space. The TIF is contingent on financing. This may be hard to come by. Especially since many stores are slowing expansion plans. I know there were a few articles written recently that talked about the Council members were beginning to look at their districts for TIF if Bellevue can get it. Is this going to start a trend? Is the entire County going to need to be broken up into TIF districts?

Just Revenue Without the Green

Wouldn't be great to pick up a Nashville paper one day and read about a new MetroCenter car dealership that is one of only a handful in the country certified green? Wouldn't it be great if MetroCenter competed with North Texas to have the most eco-dealerships?

Antioch Neighborhood's Opposition Race Based?

P.J. Tobia reports that a largely white Antioch neighborhood may have shown ethnic prejudice in opposing the rezoning request of a Hispanic congregation. Reportedly, Council Member Jim Hodge has been leading the neighborhood's charge at the Board of Zoning Appeals, which denied the rezoning request.

One neighbor said she cultivates wildlife and the new church would take out blue jays, robins, and butterflies. I have blue jays, robins, and butterflies all over my small garden, which sits in the middle of a high density, urban neighborhood, so I find this Antioch woman's argument lame on the wildlife score. In fact, if she ever needs more robins, she's welcome to come catch mine. I don't like they way they gorge on my night crawlers.

Is Gary Odom Going to Build a Bridge to May Town Center?

Michael Cass points to some rather interesting connections with a big Tennessee bridge-building company, the State House Majority Leader, and the May Town Center proposal. Democrat Gary Odom laughed at the suggestion, but we'll see whether he, Bell and Associates, and the May family might be laughing all the way to the bank.

At the risk of being further accused by a local party wonk of assuming that those who disagree with me must be bought off by big corporations, I would argue that we should be questioning Odom's acceptance of Bell and Associates largess and the possible sweetheart deals that they get in the future, including state approval to build a bridge to Bells Bend to support MTC. Or we can just pretend at our own peril that there is no connection between campaign funding and sweetheart deals that lead to the systematic destruction of greenspace and local communities.

Downtown Anemia

Condo towers or ghost towns gated communities?

Anything But Fair

According to Rob Robinson, it's time for the state fair to go. I agree and I think the old fair grounds would be a great place for a mixed-use, high-density corporate campus.

Crafton to Lash Out against the Weaker Segments of Our Community Again Tonight

The Metro Council member who once brought a fee-cutting bill that would have benefitted him professionally, is tonight bringing a fee-raising bill that would punish English-challenged immigrants and put them at a distinct disadvantage if an interpreter is not available to them. Once again, Eric Crafton seems to be set on micromanaging Metro government, making service delivery more difficult for minority groups of Nashvillians, and keeping the right-wing lightning rod issue of immigration on local radar.

Tonight's Another Tuesday Night Metro Council Night

The "Cat Herd" meets tonight: head 'em up and move 'em out.

Bigless Rich Commandeers the Memory and Music of Cash to Serve His Own Selfish Interests

Rosanne Cash gives John Rich his comeuppance for tasteless violation of the memory of her father. Maybe Rich should stick to doing what he seems to do best: imposing on his Love Circle neighbors and hanging with Kid Rock at local strip clubs.

How Much Longer Is This Guy Going To Get a Megaphone?

Southcomm reporter extends his personal war in print against neighborhoods, the Planning Commission, and anyone else who stands in the way of his obsessed mission to whip popular opinion against true conservation of Bells Bend and for sprawl and uneven, car-culture growth.

Rex Puts on White Coat, Goes Double Blind, and Accuses Commissioners of Not Being "Empirical"

Richard Lawson surfaced again this week in all the chicken-hearted pseudonymity of "Rex and the City" accusing the Planning Commission with making its Bells Bend decision based on economic development rather than land use reasoning. The Chatterbox failed to mention that the entire case made against the Scottsboro/Bells Bend neighborhood plan and for the Planning Department's alternative (which would all but assured wins for May Town Center) used economic development as the lure for Planning to vote their way.

So, it's perfectly fine in Lawson's mind for Tony Giarrantana to use economic development in arguments to the Commission for killing the neighborhood plan and allowing sprawl on the Bend, but it is illegitimate for the Commission to defer the alternative on the same grounds? Sounds to me like the pro-development reporter arbitrarily cherry picks the reasoning to serve his situation. The logic is also tortured by the reporter's failure to stipulate precisely where land use ends and economic development begins; perhaps, that's a shifting goal line, too. The whole idea that a biased journalist makes appeals to the paid-for "empiricism" used to justify growth without recourse to community character or to truly independent study is itself hilarious.

Barefoot Biking on the Levee

One of the great public resources we have here in the North End is the Cumberland River Greenway that sits on top of the levee that keeps the Cumberland out of MetroCenter when it swells. Kate O' availed herself of that resource on this fine weekend.

G-town's Madison Square is Full

Joel B. over at the Madison Square Homeowners Association blog reported last week that, for the first time since its opening, all of the MS units are full. Their guidelines limit renters to 30% of the total 18 units. That limit had already been reached at the beginning of August.

CM Blogs Open Letter to Constitutents on Bells Bend Development

CM Emily Evans acknowledges that some of her constituents were present at the Planning Commission meeting tonight as she was, and she wants them to understand what her obligations as their elected representative are:

Since the May Town project, which proposes to host about 40,000 people during the work day, would be about 3 miles from my district, I think I have two obligations in this debate. First, I need to ask as many questions as I can with the goal of seeing that the concerns of my constituents are addressed. Second, I need to keep an open mind as those answers unfold and reserve judgement on the project until all the facts, such as they are, come in.

That second one may be particularly challenging, given her observation that many seemed solid with the "Bells Bendians."

Fight the Hijackers

Enclave commenter and President of the Donelson-Hermitage Neighborhood Association, Susan Floyd, treats tonight's Bells Bend victory as Reveille:

As a neighbor who watched the SubArea 14 Plan Update for our community hijacked before its adoption in 2004 in order for a huge non-conforming development to be approved, I can identify with the struggle that the Bells Bend neighbors have been battling. I applaud the efforts of the residents of Bells Bend who have worked so hard to protect the vision for their community.

Citizens from neighborhoods across Nashville should stand up for the residents of Bells Bend, and for any neighborhood whose SubArea Plan is threatened by development that destroys the vision of the people who actually live in the community.

As residents of Nashville, we cannot wait until the bulldozer is at our own back door before we ourselves take action. When one SubArea Plan is compromised, all of our Plans are in danger. What happens to one of us, impacts all of us.

Remember, resident citizens have to fight battles like this to protect the vision for our communities on a regular basis. Residents have to win the battle every time. Developers only have to win once.

If you have not already done so, make your voice heard to the powers that be. As neighbors, we stand stronger when we stand together!

Shady's Back

There was Eric Crafton on tonight's news hauling in the signed cards of the 12,000 least enlightened, knee-jerk-fear-lashing Nashvillians in the city. Guess who's back acting like a super hero? Both stirring and surfing the xenophobia by making some ridiculous analogy to "getting out and helping pull the wagon rather than riding in it." This from a guy who enjoys the perks and power of being a politician. Maybe he can get out and help pull the wagon himself, instead of pondering which office he's going to run for next or pandering to the ill will that tends to rear up in the human soul while ramping up votes.

It's not a stretch to see the hatred underpinning Nashville "English First." A national organization whose leadership has racial hatred hemmed into its undergarments is now taking some credit for Crafton's local handiwork. My guess is if the mainstream media would actually do its job and turn over some stones to find the sources of Crafton's money and popular support, we would probably see trails leading to anti-Hispanic and anti-black groups like the Council of Conservative Citizens. Eric Crafton chooses to keep his funding sources secret. I wonder what he's got to hide?

CRIME ALERT: Police Have Surveillance Photo of North End HVAC Thieves

Police released the following two-week-old photo of the theft of an HVAC unit at 1504 Arthur Avenue:


Police encourage Salemtown, Germantown, and Hope Gardens to be on the look-out for the following:

The vehicle appears to be a 1997-2002 Ford Expedition, White in color. The trailer is approx. 16 foot long (car hauler type). The trailer is dual axle, and on the passenger side, it has a white rim tire and a black rim tire. The two suspects are both male-blacks.

According to the Salemtown e-list, on Saturday, an HVAC was stolen from a house near the intersection of 6th and Garfield. In that incident a witness watched one white man and one black man load a large HVAC into a white Ford Explorer at about 6:30 in the morning. The unit had been secured at the house by a metal cage.

Police report that 4 HVACs have been stolen in north Nashville in the past 3 weeks. They encourage anyone with information to call Detective Rick Mavity at 862-4284 or send him an email at rick.mavity@nashville.gov.

Tennessean Investigates Pavers on the Road to Hell

Michael Cass explores all of the good intentions behind sprawling on to Bells Bend including the May family's unreliable guarantees that development will both begin and end with May Town Center.

If conserving most of Bells Bend is a good thing, why is conserving all of it not the best thing? Or to put it another way, if Metro allows bridges and developments to happen on part of Bells Bend now, what's to keep future developers from asking Metro for future exceptions to the conservation zoning the Mays intend for the green spaces now?

May Town Place looks like the first nibble in a sustained line of death-by-nibbles. Money is not the savior. Airtight, ironclad conservation restrictions are.

Beautiful Weekend to Visit Bells Bend Park

In a recent comment over at Urban Planet, a May Town supporter suggested that more people needed to be visiting Bells Bend Park and that allowing the urban-density May Town development would increase visitors. He was only correct that more people should visit the park. So, I got my family up this morning, we stopped and had breakfast at Muddea's Chicken and Waffles, and drove out to the park. I came back with a few photos.











I can tell you this right off: the commenter was wrong about the park being idle and the parking lot being empty. In fact, there were a few cars in the lot while we were there and including us, we counted 8 visitors (and 4 dogs) either at the Nature Center or on the trails. We were very pleased to find the Nature Center open today, and the very helpful staffers told us that the numbers of park visitors were increasing as time went by and as temperatures moderated.

The commenter was also wrong in saying that lower numbers of visitors justified sprawling on Bells Bend and building a bridge so that more people can get there. That means that the park only exists for the convenience of larger numbers of more undisciplined people. If folks want to see the wonder of a remote green space and they are willing to act on their own self-initiative, why do we need to risk spoiling its beauty and its character by putting a second downtown and ensuing traffic gridlock right next to it?

While the Nature Center is closed on Sundays, it is open every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (and on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons). They have fun Saturday events scheduled for kids of all ages the rest of the month of August, including a Summer Wildflower Hike on Aug. 30 (9-10 a.m.--for more details e-mail bellsbend@nashville.gov). You should do yourself a favor and visit Bells Bend Park one of these weekends. We should all support this environmental gem.