Still No Response from Senator Thelma Harper or Representative Mary Pruitt

Two weeks ago today I sent my elected officials in the General Assembly, Senator Harper and Representative Pruitt, a letter asking for their response on making Bicentennial Mall a safer state park in the wake of the rape of a Germantown woman by a homeless man there. On Monday--still not having received a response from either--I contacted their offices by phone to ask about receipt of my letter.

Ms. Harper's assistant told me that she did not know whether the Senator had seen my letter, but that someone from her advisory staff would call me that afternoon to let me know. I still have not received a phone call from anyone in Ms. Harper's office. Ms. Pruitt's staff contact told me that she had no record of my letter, which I sent by e-mail. So, I forwarded a copy of the letter again yesterday. Soon afterwards I received confirmation of receipt of the letter and a promise to give it to Ms. Pruitt.

I understand that things can happen, but I'm bummed about the long delay in receiving acknowledgement of my letter in both offices. I am really disappointed in Thelma Harper's staff, who seem to fail to keep their word that they will follow-up when they say they will. I will continue to post on whatever response, or lack thereof, I get.

Thelma and Me, the Sequel

History repeats itself as I have once again waited a month with no response to a letter I wrote to State Senator Thelma Harper on the lack of overnight security at Bicentennial Mall State Park. They don't have the excuse this time that they didn't get the letter, because I have e-mail confirmation from Senator Harper's assistant the day I sent it that they did receive it.

Here is something like the fourth letter that I have written about state park security to Thelma Harper (and all I have to show for it is one phone call response in November and hollow promises of quick follow-up and communication):

- - Click on image to enlarge. - -

If you would like to help this cause out, please send your own request for action to provide the park with overnight security to Thelma Harper (sen.thelma.harper@legislature.state.tn.us).

Thelma and Me

State Senator Thelma Harper continues to totally ignore my letter and follow-up phone calls to her office regarding overnight security at Bicentennial Mall. So I just sent her the following e-mail (along with a voice mail via phone):

Dear Senator Harper,

I sent the attached letter to you concerning Bicentennial Mall Safety over a month ago, and your staff has not replied. I also have called your office to follow-up on three different days since I wrote the letter. The first time time I called was Monday, October 22, and I was promised that a staff member would return my call that same day. My call was not returned. On Monday, October 29, I called a second time and I was told that the staff member who was to follow up with me had been out of the office but that person would eventually get back to me. Your office assistant did not take my phone number during that call, saying that "it was already on file." I have waited two more weeks with no response before making two phone calls to your office today. One at around 9:30 a.m. and just now at 4:30 p.m. At both times an actual person did not pick up the phone. Instead, I got a recording and the option to leave a message, which I did at 4:30 p.m.

It appears to me that your office does not care to reply to my feedback on crime on state property in your district. It appears to me that your office does not care to acknowledge one of your own constituents. I consider this issue valid enough for a proper response and I am having a hard time understanding why I cannot even seem to reach an actual staff person during normal working hours today. Please reply to this e-mail. If I don't hear something from you soon, then I intend to take a day off of work to come sit in your office until someone speaks to me about this issue.

Sincerely,
Mike Byrd

Senator Harper is about to dethrone former Metro Council Member Ludye Wallace as the most unresponsive elected official with whom I have dealt.

Spring is Mostly Gone and Still No Word on Bicentennial Mall Security Improvements

We are less than a month away from the summer solstice, and there has been no news on any state plan to provide new security measures for Bicentennial Mall in the wake of a rape there last fall. So, I penned another letter this morning to State Senator Thelma Harper, who originally assured me that changes were coming last November and who told WSMV that changes were coming this Spring.

The following letter joins the half dozen I've already sent her in the past 9 months (click on image to enlarge):



Germantown officers have been told that changes are coming next fall, but I have not been able to get Senator Harper's office to confirm that, and I have not a clue as to why the G-town leadership should take that information on its face given that no commitment made so far has been honored by the state.

Happy Summer Solstice!

According to the calendar the summer solstice came at 1 minute before midnight last night, which means that spring is officially over. And if you are concerned about the state taking measures to prevent crime at Bicentennial Mall and supporting North End residents (unlike the leadership of Historic Germantown, Inc.), then you know that the passing of spring signals that we are two seasons and two of State Senator Thelma Harper's broken promises past pledged changes at Bicentennial Mall State Park that might prevent crime, both day and night.

I plan on writing Senator Harper another letter before Midsummer's Night on Tuesday, but it bears marking this day, and praying that HGI President, Stacy Mosley, is being truthful in saying that the pledged changes are coming in the fall and that we need to put our faith in her. She has put HGI's credibility on the line with Senator Harper's on that score. If the state fails to produce in the fall like it has in the spring and last winter, HGI's leadership looks either gullible or intimidated or overprotective of state officials.

Historic Germantown, Inc. Chooses Not to Circulate Petition Favoring Increased Mall Security

As I'm gearing up to write my fourth or fifth letter to State Senator Thelma Harper (in as many months with no responses) on the lack of Bicentennial Mall security, I received word Wednesday night that Historic Germantown, Inc. has chosen not to sign the petition that Freddie O'Connell wrote and Salemtown Neighbors approved in February. You can read the petition here, and see for yourself that there's little controversial, radical, or inflammatory about it, so Germantown's rebuff is a riddler.

They reportedly have inside information that hasn't been communicated to Salemtown leaders that emergency call boxes--which is one thing we have been asking for since State Parks Commissioner Jim Fyke scoffed at the suggestion when I brought it up to him by phone in November--are coming in 4 to 6 months. Should we accept this news, then we must also accept that what was the scornworthy suggestion of a lone malcontent on November 5, 2007 will be implemented by the State of Tennessee next fall; and so, Germantown seems to be declaring victory without having to commit troops.

Nonetheless, the string of unfulfilled state promises gets stretched farther:

1. State Senator Thelma Harper phones about a brokered deal to come at the end of November.
2. Senator Harper tells a Channel 4 reporter that we will see changes "in the spring."
3. Germantown leaders say that changes, specifically kiosks, are coming in the fall.

Given the string of unrealized promises on top of the unwillingness of state officials to communicate with Salemtown leaders, why should we believe that next fall is going to be any different than last November or this spring? In the meantime, it looks like the North End is not going to hang together on the issue of increased park security; that makes me wonder whether we'll watch each other's back on other issues in the future.

Harper Watch

Yesterday I called State Senator Thelma Harper's office asking why I have gotten no return phone calls from office staffers. A week ago Monday I was promised a return phone call within a few hours regarding a letter I sent to Sen. Harper weeks ago on Bicentennial Mall safety. The person I spoke with yesterday told me that some staff had been out of the office and unable to get back with me, but that they eventually would.

Just as she said "thank you" and started to get off the phone, I asked, "Does the staff need my phone number?" She replied, "We have it on file." I thought to myself, "Sure you do. You have been on stand-by expecting a call from this particular constituent any minute, so you know his phone number is on file without actually having to check." I will continue to wait to see if any staff member walks over to the file, pulls my phone number out, and gets back to me.

After a Week, No Word from State Senator Thelma Harper on Bicentennial Mall Security

Last week I sent Senator Thelma Harper a letter asking for an update on changes that she promised were coming for Bicentennial Mall security. Since receiving a confirmation from her Executive Assistant a week ago, I have heard nothing else from the Senator about this important issue.

Bicentennial Mall Security Follow-up: Letter to State Senator Thelma Harper

Click on letter to enlarge:


I will keep you posted on any response.

Bicentennial Mall Safety: A Reply from Pruitt; An Unproductive Phone Call from the State Park Commissioner

After weeks of waiting, I finally heard back from my State Representative, Mary Pruitt, about my concerns over safety at Bicentennial Mall in the wake of a September rape. She said that she asked Park Commissioner Jim Fyke to call me with his suggestions on how the State was going to respond. She also said that she had been working on this issue with other government officials.

When Mr. Fyke called me he seemed to have no suggestions or ideas for doing anything differently, which to my surprise was a response consistent with his Tennessean editorial a few weeks ago. While he asked me what I thought his office should do, the phone call quickly degenerated into me throwing out ideas so that he could shoot them down. I don't know if the Commissioner shoots skeet, but I felt like a clay pigeon at every turn.

His main reason for rebuffing any suggestion that the State should do more to enhance overnight security (you'll remember that the park is unattended and unmonitored from 11:30 pm to 7:00 am) was that if they have to supply one park with preventative services or resources, then they have to do so for every park in the state.

I argued that his unwillingness to do anything to help prevent crime on the Mall puts neighbors like me in greater danger if, for instance, I happen to be driving through the park on my way home at 2:00 in the morning, break down there, and then cut across the Mall to reach a public phone on Rosa Parks Blvd. (formerly 8th Av). He maintained that if I was assaulted in the scenario it was the responsibility of the Metro Police to respond since my car was on the street. I had to repeat to him the part about short-cutting across the Mall to reach a pay phone.

When I pointed out that no changes mean that the Bicentennial Mall would be considered an unsafe no-man's land in the early morning hours, he snapped, "Our parks are safe!" I shot back that they weren't safe in the case of the woman who got raped, which itself gives me second thoughts about even risking driving through it after midnight. He responded that this was only 1 rape in the last 10 years. I replied, "So, what are you saying? That it was statistically insignificant?" he denied saying that the rape was insignificant.

I asked him how many people would have to be raped before the problem became significant enough to warrant a change in overnight security measures. He told me that as far as he knew I was the only one who had concerns about overnight security at Bicentennial Mall. He said that no one else was complaining to him about it, so others must be satisfied with park management. I wondered out loud whether he would be as hesitant to change if the rape victim had been a relative or friend of his.

One of the things that I tried to iterate to Mr. Fyke was that I did not believe that staffing rangers all night at the park was necessarily the answer. I suggested a phone kiosk or security camera as a couple of ideas that came immediately to my mind. (I had to explain to him what I meant by an "emergency kiosk," which seems odd to me given that he is the professional vested with the security of our public spaces). He took two shots at the kiosk. First, he asked rhetorically, "And what if the phone gets continually ripped out." The answer seemed pretty self-evident to me: "You replace it." I asked, "When a police officer gets killed in the line of duty, do we sit around and ask what we should do next? Don't we hire another police officer to replace the deceased one?" Geez. Is it any harder to repair vandalism?

Second, he asked, "So, are we supposed to put phones in big parks like Warner, too?" I suggested to him that hopefully he works with the neighbors around Warner to come up with the best solutions to fit their particular concerns in their unique context rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach to security. If I would have had the presence of mind through my frustration I would have asked him rhetorically, "Does Warner have a fountain monument to Tennessee Rivers that kids can play in exactly like Bicentennial Mall does? Why not, if every service has to be the same in each park?"

The one other argument that I remember Mr. Fyke making was the Metro Parks don't so have the preventative services that I was asking of his department. I countered that I know first hand that there are a number of residents who live around Morgan Park who keep an eye on it and--through the Neighborhood Watches--act as an extension of the police. I told him that Bicentennial Mall had no established neighborhoods that came close to its edges, and thus, the state did not have the same security luxuries that the Metro Police do around many Metro Parks. I find it absolutely unconscionable that we have urban parks that are not being watched or secured in some way in the middle of the night.

Mr. Fyke practically ended the phone call by saying that he was keeping his word to Ms. Pruitt to call me and that he would reply to her that "we had talked" just as he promised her that we would. That came across to me as patronizing just as his Tennessean editorial had come off as cavalier. It was clear to me that "after 40 years working in parks" he has already made up his mind about the conditions of the parks in his charge and he was never seriously entertaining the notion of considering any other perspective that changed the status quo.

That exchange could have gone better. I will follow up with Rep. Pruitt and I continue to wait for Senator Thelma Harper's staff to respond after a letter and a couple of follow-up phone calls.


UPDATE: Commenter CMcT asks below that I post contact numbers so that folks can show the state that a few more people than myself are concerned about Bicentennial Mall safety.

Those numbers are: Jim Fyke (Parks Commissioner)--(615) 532-0109; State Senator Thelma Harper--(615) 741-2453; State Representative Mary Pruitt--(615) 741-3853


UPDATE: CatMac finds the new "open-closed" signs are unlit and post the erroneous hours. Your tax dollars at work.

Dedicated to State Senator Thelma Harper: "I Might As Well Go Up and Talk to a Wall"

Because I cannot get a reply to my letter and follow-up phone calls to my State Senator, I am reminded of a popular song from my college daze that I dedicate to her office's unresponsiveness:

Park Safety and Bicentennial Mall Rape on the Tennessean's Editorial Page

Tennessean editors finally speak out about the Bicentennial Mall rape in September and they issue a milquetoast call on the state to find more resources to "maintain security" at the parks. Their most creative idea is to post signs that warn people that the park is considered a "day-use" park only. I would think that emergency kiosks and security cameras would be a better bare minimum if the state does not have the resources to increase ranger presence in the park.

The editors also publish two comments by Park Directors. One is from Metro Director, Roy Wilson, which seems a waste of space since Bicentennial Mall security has nothing to do with Metro Parks.

The other opinion is from State Parks Commissioner, Jim Fyke, who writes in broad generalities and in a promotional style about park security. He never deals specifically with conditions at Bicentennial Mall, choosing instead to trumpet Parks System Awards and park rangers who have first response training. But a thousand gold medals would be little solace to a woman fending off a rapist, and the fact that a park ranger saved a boy from a snake bite somewhere else in Tennessee will not protect the life of pedestrians who might find themselves crossing Bicentennial Mall after midnight or before 7:00 in the morning. His entire response seems like a cavalier exercise in minimizing safety in the North End.

On a related subject, I still have not received a reply from either State House Representative Mary Pruitt or State Senator Thelma Harper on what they plan to do to fund increased park safety. I wrote them a letter a week ago.

Not About to Go Away

As long as State Senator Thelma Harper's office ignores my requests for information on the state's plans to increase security at Bicentennial Mall State Park, my little Irish streak of persistence only grows. And since St. Patty's day is almost upon us, the virtues of persistence are extolled by writing her another letter in order to inform her of the latest sex-related crime at Bicentennial Mall, which occurred this time in broad daylight (click on to enlarge):




UPDATE: And moreover, what she said!

Taking Some Action on the Conditions of a State Park

In the wake of September's Bicentennial Mall rape of a local resident, I sent the following letter to State House Representative Mary Pruitt (Dist. 58) and State Senator Thelma Harper (Dist. 19) encouraging their response on the issue of park security:

I am a resident of your district and a local writer who keeps a weblog on subjects of interest to North Nashville neighborhoods.

I was troubled to read news of the assault and rape of one of my neighbors on state property during the early morning hours of September 18. The entire incident reportedly lasted two hours at the Bicentennial Mall amphitheater. Even more confusing to me was the news reported in the October 5 Tennessean that the State of Tennessee ends patrols of the Mall before midnight and does not begin them again for seven hours, after the sun comes up.

Some argue that the victim should not have been walking in the Capitol Hill/Bicentennial Mall area at 2:00 a.m. because it is not safe. Do you believe that any part of your district, particularly the land owned by the state itself should be assumed to be unsafe at any time of the day or the night? I would argue that it is totally unacceptable to assume that we should stay completely away from accessible state lands at any time simply out of fear.

The state should be providing an adequate police force, surveillance array and emergency kiosks to prevent these crimes from happening. And in no case should victims of crime that occur on public Tennessee property be re-victimized by claims that they should never have been there in the first place.

So, I am asking you to use your leadership and your influence to make Bicentennial Mall a safe place for its neighbors at all times of the day and night. The state should not be ending patrols in the dark or starting those seven hours later after sunrise. The Metro Police Department should not have sole responsibility for patrolling that area. The State needs to pursue every available option with a reasonable amount of speed to secure Bicentennial Mall at night.

I hope that you will take initiative to see that these things happen. I look forward to your reply, which I will publish on my weblog for the community to see.

Thank you for your service.

Sincerely,

Mike Byrd (a.k.a., S-townMike)

I hope that you will take some time to contact your elected officials and prompt them to work harder to mandate safer conditions on Tennessee's public lands.