Not So Clean and Neat between Zoning and Any Other Vote

Last week Tony G's number one media booster Richard Lawson responded to one of my tweets questioning the rightness of counting the votes of parcels instead of the votes of voters in deciding the popularity of the idea of May Town Center. He counter me by asserting that zoning contests should be scored by parcels (thus, giving some individuals more than one vote) instead of by individuals.

Let's assume for a second that I don't take issue with Richard's argument (although I do). Even if I don't take issue with the idea of voting by parcel, expect to carry it out exclusively is still naive hooey. The MTC development team is now touting the support they get from CM Lonell Matthews, who was elected (we hope) by one-person-one-vote. CM Matthews will eventually carry the zoning request to Metro Council for introduction, which is populated by members who were elected and continue to be influenced (we hope) by one-person-one-vote.

Zoning votes cannot be strictly hived off from the liberal democratic process were majorities are not defined by parcels owned by a minority in the Bells Bend community. If they were, they would not be subject to popularly elected bodies. If they were, Tony G's team would not have turned out large numbers of bodies at two Planning Commission public hearings or prompted Bordeaux residents to write specific council members asking for their votes. If they were, MTC developers would not have dropped $50,000 for push pollers. Each of these occasions belies the need for MTC to get the support of a majority of people in Bells Bend at its environs.

So, it is disingenuous for Tony G to keep referring to a poll of parcels as they only way he can show that a majority of Bells Benders support MTC. It was obtuse for Richard to defend the poll of parcels as the only one that should count in this momentous decision Nashville leaders face.