Despite certain journalists' misuse, "stomp" refers to what you do with your foot; either to hurt, to emphasize or to dance. "Stump" refers to what politicians do when they campaign. The dying art of writing seems already grimly reaped from among professional journalists.
I continue to defend the "North End" moniker for the area between Downtown, the north loop of I-65 and the river to developers who are inclined to call it "Uptown." You can see their defense of "Uptown" for yourself, but my contention is that we are one of the few Nashville residential areas that is clearly bounded and cut off from sprawl, much like the North End in Boston, which is hemmed in on three sides by water. I argue that our geographic boundaries make us much more like Bean Town's enclave than it does Chicago's, Manhattan's, or Houston's "Uptowns."
Corker also stopped in Wilson County, just east of Nashville, to support an elementary school that faces a lawsuit for allowing a group called Praying Parents to meet there.
"I think any school would be so pleased to have parents who gather once a month - not in the presence of students - praying to give the faculty and students strength and guidance," Corker said.
"We all know the strength that comes from prayer; I pray 10-12 times a day on the campaign trail," Corker said.
The flaws with Charter Amendment 3 are more serious than you note. The Mayor proposed a selection method for the auditor that would have provided insulation from the political process; the Council amended it so that THEY are the ones who choose the auditor, and stacked the committee so they have more votes. This new auditor will be beholden to the political whims of the Council -- and is anyone happy about that? Watch for a Council Member Near You to be handed the auditor position sometime soon if this passes, as political payback.Now I regret my vote. We do indeed need to keep our eye on how council members line up on the audit committee and who lands the auditor position.
We believe that there's a biblical standard that is set in the Word [a.k.a., Bible], that the gay and lesbian lifestyle is not condoned or encouraged in the Word of God.The problem with this point of view is that Ms. Jacobs, who seems to embrace the Bible as authoritative, is in fact only pulling out certain scriptures to use on her behalf, while ignoring others that do not serve her.
How would we know this? Because first of all she is a woman in the role of a pastor at Trinity Family Church. The Bible she claims to embrace includes the following:
I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite deceived, fell into transgression. [St. Paul]So, her very position in her church shows that she ignores some scripture in favor of others.
We also know of her selective use of scripture when she tells News 2 about her church's vision:
Our vision of our church is how to successfully train and teach people to live successfully in their generation.The overwhelming bulk of scripture says nothing about success and more times than not addresses the way that the poor and other social outcasts are treated. In fact, the New Testament tends to characterize success as the path to hell (for example: "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to get into heaven"; and from St. James: "Come now,you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you"). Again, by emphasizing success, this pastor is ignoring large portions of the Bible that consider such accentuation to be perverted.
Here are some other Bible teachings that conservatives tend to ignore:
If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not deal with them as a creditor; you shall not exact interest from them. [Exodus]
Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. [Jesus]
Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none. [John the Baptist]
Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property.[Leviticus, which is the same book that religious conservatives like the Columbia pastor quote to condemn interaction with gays and lesbians]
Germantown Partners will be present at a [Wednesday, November 1st, 5:30 p.m.] meeting with the neighborhood to discuss their project at the northwest corner of 5th and Monroe. The architects on the project from Bauer Askew Architecture will be there to present thr project. They will also discuss the details of their current request for variances on that lot.
The Germantown Neighborhood Association will be holding a [Monday, October 30th, 6:00 p.m.] meeting with the developers who are planning the project at the corner of 4th & Monroe. All neighbors are invited.Germantown has down the model for developers meeting with neighbors as they plan their projects.
The developers, Joey Smith and Randy Chastain, have refined the architecture and will present their schematics to the neighborhood.
He also let go unchallenged her definition of gay and lesbian orientation as a "lifestyle," as if being attracted to the same sex was more like choosing between ski boats and less like being subject to hormonal and emotional drives.
Local musician Claire Small's latest CD is showcased in Watkins College of Art & Design's student catalog. We already knew the music to be awesome, but it is the art on the CD that is mentioned as "award-winning."
If ACLU lawyers are really in it for the money as some allege, then I would assume that they are all sporting the latest obscene mutation of cellphones, priced at nearly $1,300. Don't want to expend that infinitesimal amount of energy opening your phone? This one has a tiny motor that will open it for you; just what an ACLU lawyer needs after a taxing day of persecuting Wilson Co. Christians.
I was unable to attend tonight's third Riverfront Develop-ment Forum, but News-Channel5 carried the important news that the plans include a fountain in the river itself to draw people to the Cumberland, as well as the expansion of Riverfront Park and an "urban forest" on the East Bank. News 2 and Channel 4 News ignored the meeting on their 10:00 broadcasts, choosing instead to run with information about a manatee in the Mississippi River, which I suppose might loosely count as a story on some kind of development on a riverfront somewhere.
We lost our nice little backyard view of the Werthan Lofts water tower today to the North End building boom. It really pulled the yard together.
One of the plans for the development of the Neuhoff Complex in East Germantown includes establishing an "International Center for Living Watersheds." According to the Neil M. Denari Architects:The mission of the Water Center is to educate the public about how the precious element of water is collected, used, and often wasted in our contemporary world. Founded by the Cumberland River Compact and sited at the Neuhoff Development north of downtown Nashville, the H2O Center is a living model reflecting the scapes of both the natural and built environments. As a visitors and educational center, the programs include exhibition spaces, a 100 seat lecture hall, offices, a riverfront caf�library [café/library?], and a store for selling merchandise related to the phenomena of water and urban ecologies.
But most importantly, the green roof and it soft undulating geometry literally captures rain water to irrigate the rooftop plant material and to channel water into various pools and small wetland ponds. The low profile building allows the visitor to reflect on the runoff, recycling, reclamation, and consumption of water. Even during dry times, the building circulates both gray and clean water around the interior and exterior spaces, creating a descriptive process of how water moves and is collected.
Net neutrality's proverbial David--to AT&T's Goliath of privileging net traffic that pays them more money--may have one more rock up its sling if Democrats take back the U.S. House of Representatives in November. Two Democratic advocates for net neutrality--Rep. John Dingell and Rep. Ed Markey--stand to chair the committees insuring the existence of a public Internet free from corporate regulation by a cadre of suits that includes the guys in the Batman Building. The Republican-controlled Congress has bowed to the communications industry's corporate lobbyists (our own Democratic Representative, Jim Cooper, also caved to AT&T and Comcast). So, a Democratic Congress may breathe fresh air into protecting net neutrality. The bad news is that AT&T has already been lobbying state legislatures hard to get free of franchise rules that would have bolstered net neutrality. So, more work will have to be done to find a way to bar corporations from regulating what we consume online.
Meanwhile, Salemtown/MetroCenter has found itself in Starbucks Nation (or should that be "Starbucks Salon"?), with a local branch about to open at the corner of 8th Av. and Dominican). Can you feel high culture coming? It's hard for me to object to a Wi-Fi hotspot close by.
Is Salemtown getting its own set of "Painted Ladies," more modest than the ostentatious Queen Annes of Alamo Square? Salemtown seems to be breaking out of the neutral-color mode it's been in for the last couple of years, and some new builds seem to be decking out in spectacular fashion. Let's hope this trend holds.
Last night this school district voted an eight and a half percent raise for the Director of Schools. That’s all the teachers want.
- -MNEA President Jamye Merritt to the Nashville City Paper
While the social conservatives are trying to promote teach-to-test incentives for teachers in order to erode public education, Pedro Garcia's pay raise looks more like a bid by local business community leaders to encourage a corporate model in which salary and job security is scaled up at the top and a few throw-them-a-bone incentives scatter along the bottom of the education food chain. The social conservatives erode public education; the corporate conservatives erode institutional fairness. It's a one-two punch, and further proof that if the teachers do not have a union, then no one else will represent their interests when the School Board divides the pie.
This morning's City Paper brings word of violence involving Kurdish gangs (but whom is NCP reporter Jared Allen assuming are the traditional gangs? The Jets and the Sharks? Cue music: "When you're a Jet you're a top cat in town ...").Taking up one's cross refers specifically to Rome's instrument of intimidation and execution. It reminds us again that following Jesus' liberating way puts us on a collision course with oppressive regimes and institutions, which will resort to any means necessary to crush resistance. By voluntarily and deliberately facing the prospect of death, one is freed from its power as a deterrent. "Just as one must learn the art of killing in the training for violence," taught Gandhi, "so one must learn the art of dying in the training for non-violence" [Engaging the Powers, 1992].Religious conservatives who bemoan the government taking their tax dollars or who gnash their teeth that public school teachers cannot lead their classes in Evangelical Protestant prayers can only be judged to be speaking metaphorically about being threatened by government. The literal threat of the government taking our inalienable rights and detaining and torturing is now on top of those citizens who oppose the Bush Administration (even on Christian grounds).
Thanks to Jim Creason, Jeremy Gearheart, Will Franks, Jeff Morgan and whoever else organized last night's wine and cheese meet-up at Mad Platter for inviting neighborhood types like me to meet and greet the principals in the development of the Clayton on 6th. We continue to be impressed here that the Clayton team seems to understand the import of involving neighborhood leadership in the promotion of their developments.
I also had the privilege of a good chat with Lynn, the urban designer of the Clayton, who claims to know nothing about blogging, even as she is about to launch her own blog with the assistance of the Tennessean on emerging East Nashville architecture. I will link her blog when I get more details on that new effort.
This is the first time I've had trouble finding a place to park since I moved to Salemtown. No complaints, though.
This morning I got up early and dug my 1 liter Paulaner Oktoberfest beer stein out its year-long hibernation and walked down to Morgan Park. While dawn is too early to drink beer (no cracks from the peanut gallery about it never being too early to drink beer!), I did want to welcome this day in the very place where Germantown's great festive ode to the German imbibing tradition began: on hollowed ground that 100 years ago was Nashville's Beer Garden. Morgan Park was founded in 1909 after the city's Park Board purchased Germantown resident Frederick Laitenberger's German Beer Garden, which had occupied the site for some time. 
In a place where 100 years ago people were imbibing, forgetting their troubles and generally celebrating life, I wanted to welcome this day with an empty stein, anticipating the fullness yet to come.
We didn't have any problems finding out that we could not park on the grass when we attended TACA (and to be honest, whenever I've parked on the grass for events in the past, I knew that I was taking a risk of getting towed, even as everyone else was doing it; but I accepted the risk). Parks did put signs up, so the charge that they made "no effort" is exaggerated. But if Metro gets in the habit of reimbursing people for ignorance of the laws, then I reserve my right to complain in the future when they do not notify me personally of any changes that cost me money.
The sparse and skeleton-like playground features sit a mere stones-throw from the granite, stainless steel and bamboo custom finishes of Morgan Park Place.
The combination slide & jungle gym looks to be Jetsons-era.
Not exactly Dragon Park.
I think that this is supposed to be a sandbox. It looks more like a trash-burning pit.
Histrionics, exaggerations, and braying political proclamations [of bloggers] are signs of overwhelming self-importance and an easy way to ruin a thirst for knowledge.
- - Reporter Jason Shawhan, who could have just as easily been describing a couple of past Nashville Scene articles I've read
... and as if judging the "Best of Nashville" was not itself a braying exercise in self-importance. Excuse me while I button the flap in my pajama bottoms.The proper operation of democratic government requires ... that members of the metropolitan council in the exercise of their official functions be independent, impartial, and responsible only to the people of Nashville and Davidson County.
- - The Code of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County
And yet, Council Member Jim Gotto is introducing two bills next week that contravene state immigration laws in hopes of lobbying Tennessee's General Assembly to change its laws:Gotto acknowledged these limitations [that his bills if passed cannot be enforced] but said he hoped the measures would still spark dialogue and put public pressure on the state legislature [to change their laws].So, rather than introducing bills based on his legislative responsibilities in Nashville and Davidson County, Jim Gotto is resorting to what we might call "legislative activism," i.e., attempting to use his seat of power to influence the public into lobbying state legislators to follow his own political agenda.
