Kudos to the Fair Water Fee Fourteen and curses to the rest

A week ago today Jason Holleman and Emily Evans made a admirable effort to amend inequities in Metro Water billing out of the Mayor's rate increases to no avail. 24 council members voted with Mayor Dean to insist that big businesses, which generate more stormwater run-off, actually pay less for the greater strain they put on the system than the rest of us peons who maintain pervious lawns that soak up more stormwater and save the system added stress.

But Holleman and Evans also had the support of 12 other council members who vote "Aye" to the fair fee amendment:

• Jerry Maynard
• Frank Harrison
• Walter Hunt
• Mike Jameson
• Karen Bennett
• Bruce Stanley
• Phil Claiborne
• Sandra Moore
• Erica Gilmore
• Eric Crafton
• Vivian Wilhoite
• Bo Mitchell

Two big disappointments among the 24 who voted with Mayor Dean against fairness were self-styled progressives Erik Cole and Megan Barry.

Speaking of the latter, at-Large CM Barry ran her 2007 campaign on a platform of reforming Metro governance, and as a result, she won the largest number of votes of at-Large candidates in the September 2007 run-off. The closest at-Large candidate whom she out-paced was Charlie Tygard, who has since placed himself at the center of several publicized council battles. Most of the high expectations I had when CM Barry was running have yet to be realized. She has not stepped up boldly to lead as I thought she would after 18 months in office.

I am particularly concerned that last Tuesday she did not see the priority of supporting an equitable system of paying for stormwater run-off. It seems that she has left it up to other progressives to lead on municipal issues that affect average Nashvillians. I am disillusioned and disappointed in her, not that one person's frustration with a council member amounts to a hill of beans in Nashville politics. But there sure as hell is nothing wrong with expressing dissatisfaction at unrealized promise.