Tennessean Reporter Picks Up Light Emitting Tygard Story

A story on CM Charlie Tygard's attempts to authorize LED signs for a church, which was reported first here on Enclave, was picked up this afternoon by Tennessean reporter Michael Cass at the Metro Dispatch blog.

Interestingly enough, Cass also suggests (without drawing) parallels between the influence of Nashville sign baron Bobby Joslin in Metro Government and CM Tygard's initiative in the same post. Of Joslin he writes:

A reception will be held for recently retired Metro Codes official Rick Shepherd on Tuesday. This is noteworthy only because it will be held at Joslin Sign Co., the business owned by politically active Nashville sign-maker Bobby Joslin, who has unsuccessfully pushed to get Metro's laws changed to allow for more electronic signs on certain roads. Shepherd was the city's chief zoning examiner, responsible for the department that issued building and sign permits.

But Joslin, while noting that his company obtained more Metro permits last year than almost any other firm, said he wasn't looking to reward Shepherd or anyone else at Codes. He said he had never lobbied Shepherd for a permit.

"More than anything, he's an old friend," Joslin said. "He's been a common-sense guy as long as I've known him. I hate that he's leaving. Some of these tree-huggers just about drove the poor boy crazy."

No wonder Codes is one of the least liked Metro services. The chief zoning examiner appears to be in thick with with a local power broker who pushes uncontrolled growth over sustained infrastructure. Even if the parallel isn't directly drawn between Joslin and Tygard it would seem to fit.