Maybe Danny Gokey is kind of a big deal and can't be cancelled

Martha O'Bryan needs volunteers via C. McTamaney (click on)

A local blogger seems appalled that Re-elect Karl Dean plans to burn money it doesn't need this weekend on a campaign event just because it can, and he has an idea for authentically supporting the city and a local non-profit:

it feel[s] like another case of folks in the administration having no clear sense of what is happening in the city beyond those things that they are involved in creating. It doesn’t seem like much to have a person in the office who checks the community calendars and keeps the office informed on what is happening in the city. Perhaps Billy Fields, the Office of Neighborhoods Director (someone I like very much) could take that on. But somewhere, somehow, folks are so tunnel visioned that there is little awareness of what’s going on out their own window, let alone throughout the city.

I confess that the entire notion of the rally is a bit unnerving to me. Mayor Dean has all but basically won. There is no viable opposition. So, why hold a campaign rally other than to pat one’s self on the back and to spend a little campaign cash? I don’t need a party from the mayor. I need serious answers to the serious problems we face, and if he really want’s to help he can donate some of that cash to the organizations like Martha O’Bryan that really need them.

So, here’s an idea Mayor Dean. Cancel your event. Encourage everyone to head over to the Taste of Music City Event to help one of the success stories in our city. If you want to give a gift to the citizens, buy a bunch of tickets to the Taste of Music City and hand them out at the gates. That would be a better sign of your commitment to the needs of our city. Don’t lift yourself up — lift up Martha O’Bryan for the excellent work they do.