Palin Would Not Be Governor If Not for Community Organizers

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities.

- - Sarah Palin, GOP convention speech

One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.

- - Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Sarah Palin's attack on community organizers shows that she has no clue about the exacting job requirements of community organizers. Worse, she has no clue about her own debts to the history of community organizing in America, which stretches back to the 19th Century.

One of the most important books in the history of social movements is Robert Fisher's Let the People Decide. In that book Fisher traces the genealogy of community organizing from the 1880's, and if Gov. Palin knew that history she would see that the privilege she enjoys in serving in a high state office and her chance to be placed on a major party's presidential ticket is due in no small part to community organizers who started fighting for national women's suffrage in 1920 and a 2nd wave of organizers in the 1960's and 1970's who demanded equal rights for women.

But she owes what she has to an even larger cloud of organizers. The legacy of community organizers includes prominent women focused on various types of communities. Jane Addams started the first settlement houses that provided day care for working mothers and education for all ages of people at the bottom of the pecking order. Dorothy Day, mother of the Catholic Worker Movement, advocated for women's rights, ran hospitality houses for the dispossessed in urban slums and opposed the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

Sarah Palin's children owe the existence of the leisure time to join their mother in Minneapolis to community organizers like Mother Jones, who organized children working in mills and mines in the early 20th Century to leverage change from a Republican administration that otherwise ignored the ills of child labor. The tiny contingent of African American delegates applauding Ms. Palin attacks enjoyed the right of traveling to Minneapolis via desegregated interstate travel thanks to Rosa Parks, who learned the art of civil disobedience right here in Tennessee at the Highlander Folk School from a community organizer, Myles Horton (who also trained Martin Luther King, Jr.).

You see, so much of Sarah Palin's public life would have been erased had it not been for the thankless work of an unbroken line of community organizers (both remembered and forgotten). But she had no thanks in her snide and sophomoric denigration of community organizing. She expressed prideful and pompous disdain for her forebearers as if she earned the privileges of public service all by herself (thus confirming the perception that Republican leaders get born on third base and assume they hit triples). And her previous life as a beauty pageant contestant, TV desk reporter, and hockey mom never afforded her the opportunity to stand in the shoes of people who work night and day (including weekends) for modest pay to serve their community by organizing it.

Worst of all, she abdicated her responsibility as a public servant to retell the story of American progress as her own story. For the sake of personal gain and her own portfolio, Sarah Palin attempted to poison the perception of Americans who may know community organizing even less than she does. The story of America since the late 19th Century is the story of immigrants being "Americanized," women getting the vote and breaking through vocational glass ceilings, African Americans finally enjoying the basic civil rights to which they were entitled ages ago, Latinos fighting for the full fruits of their labors, children being freed from sweat shops to go to school and to play (and, in Bristol Palin's case, freed to have their own children), and neighborhoods leveraging a place at the table of decision makers. Community organizers are the central protagonists in that story, even if Sarah Palin doesn't really understand or acknowledge that.

Here's One for the New Metro Council Sign Task Force to Chew On

One huge reason that Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors recently appointed a sign task force was because of the controversy stirred up by Charlie Tygard's attempt to allow various non-profits in neighborhood areas to have distracting business-type LED signs.

One of the things the task force should look into--beyond the visually disruptive and potentially collision-causing hazards of large LED billboards anywhere in Nashville--is the possible carcinogenic effects of the main element of light-emitting diodes, gallium arsenide.

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.

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.

City of New Orleans Issues Building Permit to Family and then Demolishes Their New Home

Big Easy codes officials promise public hearing before demo, but demo anyway. It looks like a violation of a federal consent degree intended to protect residents against quick city tear-downs.

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!

Planning Director Rejects Blog's Claim That He is Giving Up Planning's Alternative

Rick Bernhardt rejected Matt Pulle's conjecture that his scheduled NY trip with several Bells Bend residents to a rural conservation retreat signals a softening of his support of Planning's alternative high-density vision for rural Bells Bend:

I am sorry to disappoint Mr. Pulle. The staff recommendation has been published, is sound and will not fundamentally change. I believe that the staff recommended policies are the best and most appropriate means to balance the long-term environmental and economic interests of the entire community. However, the final decision on the future of this area will be made by the Planning Commission and the Metro Council. Regardless of the decision, the opportunity to learn from the Adirondack Institute and apply the lessons learned there to this situation or other areas in Davidson County is appropriate. The goal of preserving the Scottsboro-Bells Bend corridor is important and at the core of the policies of the plan amendment.

Is there really balance in a proposal that claims to conserve 900 acres, a huge swath of which is floodplain and would not be even if it weren't conserved? That's protection from convenience rather than bold, yet balanced environmentalism.

Lawson Gets in Touch with His Inner Joan Baez

Almost predictably, Southcomm's May-Town-Center-apologist-on-staff is giving voice to 30 shadowed Benders whom he insinuates were arbitrarily excluded from the public hearing on Planning's alternative (which would have paved the way for the May Town Center development). So, I guess we're supposed to conclude that all of those MTC opponents who arrived early, claimed a spot on the agenda, and spoke in favor of the neighborhood plan don't count because the a few others lacked initiative to "come from the shadows" and get there first.

Planning Commission Passes Bells Bend Neighborhood Plan w/o MTC-Friendly Alternative

Commissioners support Bells Bend neighborhood by passing their plan and indefinitely deferring the Planning Department's alternative, which would have allowed bridges and urban developments to sprawl across the Bend.

This is exactly they way the Commission should have voted: in support of the neighborhood with a grow-slow approach to development. Erring on the side of caution, environmental sensitivity, and local determination was the wise course.

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.

Double Standard at Metro Parks?

While Metro Parks is having meetings with more affluent West End Nashvillians on plans for an ampitheatre and nature trails for Richland Park, less affluent North End's Morgan Park still waits for completion of a long-promised multi-purpose field, a greenway spur, and a playground.

That last one is particularly galling: kids have been playing in the park for about a year now without a playground. Moreover, the Parks Department seems to have broken its promise to install a playground by Summer 2008. School started Monday, which means that Morgan Park Community Center is now off its summer hours. Summer has come and gone with no meetings since February and no communication with North End neighborhoods.

To add insult to injury, three of four large security flood lights that illumine the historic portion of the Morgan Park Community Center have been burned out for weeks, leaving a part of the park more vulnerable to vandalism at night.

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.

California Attempts to Fight Back against Tagging

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed a bill sponored by the City of Los Angeles representing an attempt to clean up graffiti and punish taggers:

The new law requires a person convicted of tagging to clean up his or her mess. It makes clear that cleanup must be part of the sentence, unless the judge finds that it would be dangerous. Where appropriate, the offender could be required to keep the damaged property free of graffiti for up to a year.

The hardest part is going to be catching taggers in the act. If they can catch and convict, then this sounds like a fair start. However, the cleaning has to happen soon afterwards to have the effect of preventing other tags.

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.

Demand for Subsidized Suburban Housing Outstripping Supply

The tectonic shifts in economic stratification of suburban neighborhoods assisted by federal Section 8 subsidies are challenging conventional wisdom:

Sociologists have long claimed that leaving behind high-crime, low-employment neighborhoods for the middle-class suburbs buoys the fortunes of impoverished tenants. An article in the July/August edition of The Atlantic Monthly, however, cited findings by researchers at the University of Memphis that crime in Memphis appeared to migrate with voucher recipients. More broadly, a 2006 Georgia Institute of Technology study found that every time a neighborhood experienced three foreclosures per 100 owner-occupied properties in a year, violent crime increased by approximately 7 percent.

Suburban Migrants Make U-turn

Transportation in the Washington, DC area is trending away from auto culture and suburban flight. "The people are leading the revolution" to urbanized mass transit hubs that link jobs with population centers in places like Tyson's Corner (a community at the heart of Tom Wolfe's 1991 book, Edge Cities). Meanwhile, in Denver, a Republican Mayor is being called a "Socialist" for rejecting sprawl and embracing the idea of light rail mass transit for his suburban community.

The 300K Developers' Friend in the Mayor's Office

Michael Cass seems to do an effective job at grasping concerns that community leaders have expressed about Mayor Dean.

It's past concern for me. It's more like regretting my vote for Karl Dean, and I'm not sure that I can vote for him next time around with his exclusive commitments to over-growth, public schools, and crime prevention. (The crime prevention leg seems rather weak given that the beginning of his term was marked by a significant theft at the offices of the election commission that occurred because of a nonfunctioning alarm, computer protocol problems, and a reproachable security company. And I haven't noticed a drop in crime in my community during his term). Seriously, besides style, what has been the difference between the way Karl Dean has governed and the way that Bob Clement said he would?

All I've ever expected is balance, but seen little of it coming from this Executive. And when Mayor Dean tells a reporter that he is committed to balance, I don't see it. I never expected a clone of Purcell or a guy committed to installing sidewalks at breakneck pace. It just would have been nice to have a Mayor who could include neighborhood advocates in leadership positions in his administration. It would have been nice to see him commit to an Office of Neighborhoods rather than "refine" it. It would have been nice to know that once and a while the Mayor would govern as if growth and development are not restricted to economics and private structures, but also pertain to community and infrastructure.

Would New Council Noise Ordinance Help or Hinder Neighborhoods Burdened with Nuisance Noise?

It looks like a resolution to be introduced on first reading by Eric Crafton, Jim Gotto and Anna Page will do away with decibel level limits in the noise code and prohibit any noise (except in the central and commercial core zonings) that is "plainly audible" from the nearest residential property.  Ostensibly, this would seem to simplify matters, since people don't generally own decibel meters, but I would like to hear more discussion.  Would this code change aid or constrain neighborhoods dealing with unruly noise issues?

Was MetroCenter Also Once Proposed as the "Biggest Opportunity" in Nashville's History?

In a blog post related to McNeely Pigott & Fox public relations firm, Tennessean reporter Michael Cass seems to repeat the local media mantra concerning the "opportunity" of torpedoing the Scottsboro/Bells Bend neighborhood plan in favor of handing land over to a speculator name Tony Giarratana to build a "second downtown" called "May Town Center."

No word from Cass on the risk that present opportunities to ignore conservation on parts of Bells Bend might constitute a slippery slope down to future opportunities to ignore conservation on other parts of Bells Bend that the MTC team arbitrarily promises will be protected according to the alternate concept of the moment.  There is only opportunity, which is pretty much Tony G.'s script.  Oh, journalistic objectivity, thou art fleeting and rare.