Hat tip to an
Enclave reader who pointed me to
NashvilleForAll.com, a website sponsored by local organizations fighting
Eric Crafton's English Only First Now, Tomorrow, and Forever Resolution, which is up for third and final reading on Tuesday. The groups represented on the list are not exactly off-the-scale, doctrinaire liberals: Catholic Charities, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Chamber of Commerce, etc. The list smacks of nonideological, pragmatic moderates who've watched the Metro Council strain good sense to the point of rupture:
We recognize and celebrate English as our common language. We believe fluency in English is a critical pathway to civic engagement, economic success, and full participation in the rich life of our community. We do not, however, support legislation that makes any citizen's language an obstacle to the protection of their rights and the full benefit of their contribution to Nashville.
They point to some obstacles:
Ordinance 1185 would mean MDHA could no longer inform new arrivals of their rights to be free from housing discrimination in Lao or Somali. Public Works could not encourage non-English-speaking schoolchildren to recycle. And Metro Codes' property standards division could no longer promote safe neighborhoods, by explaining how to report codes violations in Spanish.
The site is well-done. They even have a Metro Council
tote board that tells you how members voted on Crafton's
No-Crutch-But-My-Own Bill. I like the fact that the abstainers are highlighted in yellow.
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