Rehabilitating Brady Banks: a question I would definitely ask Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors if she ever decided to run for Mayor

Could you explain how it shows responsible leadership on your part to appoint to the position of Chair of the Metro Council Human Relations Committee a man who was arrested for and who admitted soliciting prostitution near my neighborhood and even closer to 3 Metro public schools in the same year?

Burn notice

A disaster that had been waiting to happen:

Multiple emergency units responded to a large structure fire Thursday evening in East Nashville that sent one person to an area hospital.

The fully-involved fire was reported before 8 p.m. at an abandoned fire hall near the intersection of Gallatin Road and Douglas Avenue.

The building itself has been vacant since 1989, but it had been recently deeded to a non-profit organization called NEON, affiliated with former Metro Councilwoman Pam Murray ....

The district's Metro Councilman, Scott Davis, says Murray is the vice president of NEON, and she had planned to use the building for an art center.

The seeds of destruction of a venerable old building were planted years ago by Metro Council.

Another year of prosaic Nashville Neighborhood Defense Fund endorsements

Apparently the NNDF lobby group founded by former CM John Summers has decided to kiss the mayoral ring this year and give Karl Dean their endorsement rather than rocking the boat. And outside of their Burkley Allen endorsement, there really is not much in this slate that is inspired. The Mayor and Vice Mayor tabs leave me underwhelmed. Even NNDF's "urge" to the Mayor seems insipid even as it is devoid of any realism about this administration:

Tennessean ramps up the "rant" again about CM Hollin, insinuates that he could be punished when he cannot be

Tennessean headline on Hollin story. And it was all yellow.

Yesterday the editors at the Tennessean changed their original headline on CM Jamie Hollin's tongue-lashing of CMs Jim Gotto and Phil Claiborne from "rant" to "curses at", which seems to me closer to the idea of journalistic objectivity. This morning, they are back to sensationalizing the story like those kids you may remember from elementary school who would not just watch a fight, but would run up and down yelling "Fight! Fight!" to pull more kids into the audience as if they were aspiring promoters.

Service to courthouse over service to community

Like Dukakis riding a tank

When Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors ran for her post in 2007 she swore to voters that she knew "how to make the Metro Council work better for all of us." Over her tenure in the last four years she's spent more time making Metro Council work better for Rich Riebeling.

Among other examples of her confined governing focus is her draconian treatment of the Industrial Development Board a couple of years ago on behalf of Courthouse autocrats like Riebeling, who himself has shown little tolerance for people who don't go his way:

Green Hills neighborhood leader's dispatch on double standards during last Tuesday night's Fairground public hearing

Charlotte Cooper sent me the following message the day after she went to the Courthouse to observe Metro Council consideration of the Mayor's Fairgrounds plan. She pointed out some important and unbalanced power dynamics that I missed from my live-blogging perspective while watching it on Metro 3.

Charlotte is a long-time advocate for her Green Hills neighborhood, so she is attuned to local politics and offers a simultaneously significant and troubling point-of-view:

I was in attendance, in the council chamber. One thing I did not see in your "live blog" was how the red shirt [opponents of Mayor's plan] speakers were treated. The yellow shirts [supporters of Mayor's plan] were allowed to line up their speakers in any fashion they wanted. When it was time for the opponents (red shirts) to speak [Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors] announced a change in lining up - starting with the back row of the chamber.

Photo credit: CM Jamie Hollin

It was pointed out neighbors of the Fairgrounds were lined up in the hall to speak, but VM Neighbors said no, security had requested they start with the back row and work their way up. So who runs the public hearing - VM or security? By the time we got half way up the rows, Save My Fairgrounds leadership knew we had the votes to win with the [Jason] Holleman amendment [to remove Mayor's prohibition against racing], so they asked that we close down the public hearing and get on with the voting. Most of the individuals who did speak were racers, but rest assured there were many others (including a number of neighbors) who had perspectives for saving all of the Fairgrounds other than just the racing perspective. I really hate that the members and public did not get to hear us, but if the public hearing had gone on for another hour or two, we ran the risk that one or two council members might have left before the vote, taking their vote with them.

I just wanted you to have the facts; I expect there will be spin about the number of "red shirt" speakers versus "yellow shirt" speakers.

Regardless of how the results of this public hearing are spun into dominant narratives by the Mayor's supporters or by the Dean-friendly local media, contrasting perspectives like Charlotte's still need to be publicized and passed on for the sake of fact-checking the narrative. There were a significant number of Davidson County neighborhood leaders attending to speak against the Mayor's plan, despite the spin that the Mayor is supporting the neighborhoods with his Fairgrounds plan.

This prospect will not please Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors at all

One of a large throng of red-clad Fairgrounds supporters packing the pews at last night's Metro Council meeting even without any opportunity for public input: "We’ll be here the next meeting and the next and on and on until we get some common sense going on around here." If that is true then it will be the most formidable community organizing mobilization against Mayor Karl Dean since he took office.

From NewsChannel5:



Despite the fact that both local newspapers were live-tweeting last night's meeting, neither one observed the scope of the community turnout, nor did print beat reporters refer to it in hard copy this morning.

She's the best political blogger in Nashville, too

Thank goodness for the prospect of lots of beer at Germantown's Oktoberfest this weekend to help drown out the annual rumpity-rumpus that is the Nashville Scene's "Best of Nashville: Politics and Media Portion." But they do get high marks for one blog-worthy pick via Jeff Woods:

Emily Evans watches out for taxpayers by asking tough questions of people in power. She took the lead in criticizing Mayor Karl Dean's financing plan for the new convention center, calling it a "riverboat gamble." She fought for a fairer stormwater fee system, one that didn't let big run-off producers like Opry Mills and Wal-Mart off the hook. She lost both battles, and her persistence has rankled some colleagues, who accuse her of grandstanding for publicity. Of the convention center debate, the council member from Hillwood says, "This was a policy debate, not an election. ... I still disagree with the policy, but I hope it's successful."

What Jeff fails to mention is that her diligence and persistence probably cost her a spot on the right-hand side of Diane Neighbors' throne with the sheep who were appointed to powerful council committee spots this year. And what about the time the "progressive" Mayor's Office sent out a booty call to Eagle Forum for a neo-conservative candidate to run against the insolent West Nashville CM?

I haven't always agreed with CM Evans and I thought she was flat out wrong on a couple of issues, but I have enthusiastically documented here her loyal opposition in the fight to try and leverage spots for all of us at the Mayor's table when the pie is divvied.

Another privatization horror story: subsidized neighborhood organization allows historic building to ruin

Chickens continue to come home to roost from the Metro Council's year-long spending spree on non-profits of several years ago. At the time CMs flipped collected delinquent property taxes into their own windfall slush funds, which they misleadingly called "infrastructure" funds, and earmarked most of the money for private organizations. (I have exhaustively documented their outlays and organized the posts under the label "2006-07 Infrastructure Funds").

One of the patrons who garnered a lion's share from those funds was East Nashville's NEON, which has failed to follow through on a commitment to convert a historic firehouse into a community center and provide after-school and art programs:

Instead, the 80-year-old brick building on Gallatin Avenue has become a makeshift homeless camp inside and out with broken windows, discarded cigarette butts, piles of 40-ounce malt liquor bottles, blankets and garbage littering the property.

The building has sunk into disrepair under the care of North Edgefield Organized Neighbors, a nonprofit organization that has received more than $189,000 in grant funding from Metro since the 2005-06 budget year.

East Nashville community leaders say attempts to reach NEON regarding the firehouse have been unsuccessful, leaving the future of the would-be community center in doubt. The listed phone number for NEON has been disconnected, and the organization's offices on Meridian Street also appear to be inactive.

Not only did NEON benefit from the 06-07 property tax windfall, but they also received $56,666 directly and $28,333 indirectly to be spent on their art program from Metro General Funds with a resolution co-sponsored by former CM Pam Murray and current Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors.

We are continuing to see how the 05-07 free market model of Metro Council patronage of non-profit organizations under the auspices of public "infrastructure" failed us. A historic building in East Nashville is now little beyond blight, and the community there has no programs to show for all of the money Metro mislaid NEON's way.

Time will tell if Mayor Karl Dean's more patrician model of selecting a fewer number of associations to accept General Funds will cure the abuses. I'm skeptical of both old and new attempts to privatize services and programs by paying local non-profits tax dollars that could more effectively be spent on Metro services already provided.

How many more park community center programs could have been developed with the $200,000 wasted on a non-profit?

Vice Mayor won't send council serious studies on Music City Center for all of the PR filling inboxes

It's been several days since Mayor Karl Dean with flourish and fanfare brought the Omni Hotel proposal for the new convention center to public attention. Even so, the Metro Council members cannot get even obtain a copy of the hotel study themselves, as if they will not eventually have to approve the proposal themselves.

Meanwhile, Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors and Executive Director of the Nashville Convention Center Charles Starks have been teaming up to push pro-convention center PR fluff via e-mail for over two months. Some of the titles of the Music City Center spin:

From: "Starks, Charles (NCC)"
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 07:00:17 -0500
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Today's Tennessean

Good morning,

I wanted to share the following article from this morning's Tennessean with you.

Gail Kerr: Country Music Hall of Fame is big winner in Omni hotel deal

From: dianen01@sprint.blackberry.net
Date: August 26, 2010 3:51:59 PM CDT
To: Council Members
Subject: Fw: On-line Business Journal Article from today
Reply-To: dianen01@sprint.blackberry.net

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

From: "Starks, Charles (NCC)"
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:28:39 -0500
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: On-line Business Journal Article from today

Good afternoon,

I wanted to share the following on-line from the Business Journal this afternoon with you.

Thursday, August 26, 2010, 7:57am CDT | Modified: Thursday, August 26, 2010, 1:20pm

Rowling steps down from Gaylord board

Nashville Business Journal

....

Charles L. Starks | Executive Director
Nashville Convention Center | 601 Commerce Street | Nashville | TN | 37203-3724
P:615-742-2002 | F:615-742-2104
charles.starks@nashville.gov | www.nashvilleconventionctr.com

350,000 sf exhibit space | 18,000 sf junior ballroom
57,500 sf ballroom | 57 meeting rooms

Click here to check out the construction webcam!

From: dianen01@sprint.blackberry.net
Date: August 26, 2010 3:51:27 PM CDT
To: Council Members
Subject: Fw: Nashville Business Journal Article
Reply-To: dianen01@sprint.blackberry.net

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

From: "Starks, Charles (NCC)"
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:24:43 -0500
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Nashville Business Journal Article

Good afternoon,

I wanted to share the following Medical Trade Center article that appeared in last week's Business Journal.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Nashville may get later start in race for Medical Trade Center

Daugherty: Medical mart still on track to open in 2013
Nashville Business Journal - by Brandon Gee Staff Writer

From: dianen01@sprint.blackberry.net
Date: August 26, 2010 3:50:45 PM CDT
To: Council Members
Subject: Fw: Someone has sent you a message from nashvillecitypaper.com
Reply-To: dianen01@sprint.blackberry.net

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

From: "Diane"
Sender: webmaster@nashvillecitypaper.com
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:34:34 -0500
To:
ReplyTo: "Diane"
Subject: Someone has sent you a message from nashvillecitypaper.com

Message from sender:

FYI


Published on Nashville City Paper: Nashville's Online Source for Daily News (http://nashvillecitypaper.com)

Music City Center leaders reach out to Hispanic construction workers

By sphillips
Created 08/26/2010 - 10:09am

Vice Mayor Neighbors seems to be playing an advocacy role of communications liaison from the convention center effort to Metro Council rather than being an official independent of the process. And the media, unwittingly or not, continues to be the public relations arm of Music City Center.

Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors' campaign contributors list

Mike Peden forwarded me the following list, which is relevant to reflection on the Vice Mayor's committee appointments, assuming that candidates for office have commitments to big money that they don't have to regular constituents:

• William Hostetler – Real Estate Developer
• Ronald Samuels – CEO, Avenue Bank
• Maeve McConville – Accountant
• John Dean – no address, employer, or occupation listed on disclosure, but he gave $1000
• Nathan Ridley – Attorney – Bradley, Arant, Boult, Cummings LLP
• Van Pond Jr – Architect
• George Anderson – CEO, Synaxis
• Kenneth Blackburn II – ATT
• Robert Joslin – Owner, Joslin Sign Company
• James Earle III – President, PC Telecom
• Peter Heidenreich – Lobbyist, Hall Strategies
• David Cooley – Lobbyist, Cooley Public Strategies
• Byron Trauger – Attorney
• Betty Anderson – Attorney, Betty Anderson Consulting
• Jeffrey Lynch – Financial Advisor
• M.D. Goetz Jr – Commissioner Department of Finance and Administration
• David Fox Jr – Consultant, McNeely Piggot Fox
• David Miles – Consultant, McNeely Piggot Fox
• John Rayburn – CPA, Rayburn, Bates, Fitzgerald
• Jane Alvis – Consultant, Alvis Company
• Ronald Gobbell – Owner, Gobbell Hayes Partners
• Lee Barfield II – Attorney, Bass Berry Simms
• Beth Fortune – Lobbyist, Vanderbilt University

There are some major stakeholders and players in Music City Center construction on that list. I see two sign industry big wigs, Bobby Joslin and Jane Alvis, both of whom stand to profit from contracts related to Music City Center construction.

Another thing to keep in mind when you look at this list is that Diane Neighbors has been brought up on ethics complaints by community leaders because of an unethical head fake or two in service to business and developer interests.

Any other thoughts on this list?

Is that a Metro budget committee or a "Friends of Karl Dean" committee?

Yesterday Diane Neighbors announced council committee appointments for the coming year. Consistent with her appointments of committee chairpeople, none of the seats on the highly coveted and most influential budget and finance committee went to any outspoken critics of Karl Dean's elephantine and titanic Music City Center construction project. The new members are a mayoral soft touch:

Barry, Megan, Chair
Baker, Buddy
Bennett, Karen
Cole, Erik
Craddock, Michael
Forkum, Jim
Garrett, Tim
Hodge, Jim
Langster, Edith Taylor
Maynard, Jerry
Moore, Sandra
Page, Anna
Ryman, Rip
Steine, Ronnie
Tygard, Charlie

Save one, all of these CMs expressed unqualified support for Mayor Dean's plan to obligate the General Fund (thus risking money to pay for anything from sidewalk repair to police protection) to subsidize convention center construction for the tourism special interests. While CM Craddock eventually voted against the plan, he has this project both ways: he joined 6 others appointed to this committee to block MCC critic and Downtown CM Mike Jameson from slowing down the convention center approval process in the wake of Mayor's McNeely Pigott & Fox/news-media-spin fiasco.

Given that this slate looks remarkably like a "Friends of Karl Dean" committee, I would say that Diane Neighbors has guaranteed the Mayor a smooth ride to re-election. It should be an elegant machine. Local wonks in the news media can no longer compare Metro Council to a cat herd. Neither can they compare it to a deliberative body that considers dissent of the minority.

Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors hands almost all of this year's Metro Council committee chairs to convention center kowtows

Diane Neighbors, Karl Dean's Metro Council hammer, sent the list of her Metro Council committee chair appointments to the local news media today. Here is the list of non-boat-rockers:

Budget and Finance -- Megan Barry
Charter Revision -- Randy Foster
Codes, Fair, and Farmers Market -- Vivian Wilhoite
Convention and Tourism -- Rip Ryman
Education -- Erica Gilmore
Federal Grants Review -- Frank Harrison
Health, Hospitals and Social Services -- Jim Forkum
Parks, Library, and Recreation and Public Entertainment Facility -- Jerry Maynard
Personnel-Public Information-Human Relations-Housing -- Parker Toler
Public Safety-Beer and Regulated Beverages -- Edith Taylor Langster
Public Works -- Jim Hodge
Rules-Confirmations-Public Elections -- Greg Adkins
Transportation and Aviation -- Anna Page

All but one of these committee chairs voted yes to Mayor Karl Dean's convention center project. Looking at this list could make one wonder whether the Vice Mayor believes administration critics have the ability to lead Metro Council. Particularly noteworthy is CM Barry's appointment to the Mayor's little resolution compressor, the Council Budget and Finance Committee.

It is not just that Ms. Barry uncritically supported the Music City Center. There has been very little coming from the Mayor's Office that Megan Barry has not promoted. Along with CM Ronnie Steine, she represents the path of least resistance to Karl Dean.

Whether the foolhardy, imminently floodable placement of the West Police Precinct or the Mayor's inequitable levy of new stormwater fees favoring those who generate the most runoff or the laughable, symbolic "living wage" initiative that helped fourteen out of thousands of Metro employees, Megan Barry has uncritically carried Karl Dean's water. Now she's reaping the benefit of controlling council's most powerful committee on the Mayor's behalf.

With this bunch of kowtow committee chairs, expect more of the same inconsequential deference from Metro Council that we've grown used to for the last 3 years. Few rivals, challengers, or interrogators in the bunch. No room for independent or unflinching honesty since they will be too busy grooming their political fortunes while riding Karl Dean's coattails.

UPDATE: local Democratic Party booster Sean Braisted suggests I'm seeing black helicopters or a shooter on the grassy knoll rather than being a chastened realist about how local government works or how Megan Barry's actual service has not matched her campaign posture of being an independent voice on Metro Council. Sean's already got personal investment in fighting for certain partisans, so much of what he blogs about local Metro watchdogs like me who value independence have to be read through a Davidson-Democrat-oriented lens.

I commented a response on Sean's blog, but the reply-to-end-all-replies to Sean and other Barry boosters is, "Let's see if CM Barry finally finds her own voice as chair of the Budget and Finance committee or whether she will be as CM Steine was: an intercom for the Mayor's Office. Let's see see if she can bring herself to critique Dean policies publicly that are actually somewhat less than progressive. Or let's just see if she continues to advocate the Dean Machine line even when it is not progressive and even as she ducks accountability for her regressive votes."

The ongoing problem of the Morgan Park water feature going featureless

City Parks blog has a prescription for successful parks that applies to a relatively news feature at Morgan Park:

For city parks to be successful, they need great water features. Yet it takes money to maintain them, and neglecting such facilities can make a real negative impression on visitors and residents.

A fountain installed last year at Morgan Park--later than originally planned--worked well for the October 2009 opening ceremony, attended by council members, Vice Mayor, and German dignitaries. It functioned normally for a few weeks after that.

Then as time passed the water flowed or it didn't. If Metro kept the level high enough, the street-side spigots would issue water. When they didn't water failed to issue forth. After a while the water level would drop more and water would stop flowing down the channel adjoining the park trail. Periodically someone would increase the water level and every part of the thing flowed. But more times it didn't.

The feature has been working less and less lately. I cannot remember the last time water dropped out of the street-side spigots.

I'm not going to call the Morgan Park fountain great. So, maybe it wouldn't have left a positive impression on park visitors and residents even if it had operated well. However, it is not clear that Metro ever gave it a fighting chance. Many times it limps along with slapdash that makes a negative impression on this resident. I would consider Metro's upkeep and maintenance of the feature to border on neglect. Metro put the feature in on its own initiative and it should take more initiative in keeping the water flowing.

Lately, a homeless man has taken up residence on the benches at the bottom basin. The trash can overflows with meal rubbish, including single serving cereal boxes, yogurt cups, and coke cans. Parks should increase its trash pick-up with the new resident so that the overflowing garbage does not match the negativity of a poorly functioning fountain.

Rule change takes Metro Council a step away from the community rabble, social protest, and democratic process

After a Tennessean local beat writer announced via Twitter that rules were being considered to muffle the people's mezzanine area outside of Metro Council chambers on council meeting nights, I e-mailed the Metro Clerk with the following questions:

I am curious as to what past events precipitated the change in council rules to limit citizen events in the Courthouse and to disallow broadcasts from those events? Could you please e-mail me the minutes from the executive committee meeting where these rule changes are being considered? Who is sponsoring this rules change? Am I correct in concluding that the media will no longer be allowed to broadcast citizen views of pending council action from inside the Courthouse if these rules are approved? Is it fair to say that the media would be limited to live broadcasting only council member opinions on council meeting nights given that the mezzanine would be off limits?

The Metro Clerk responded thusly:

No Council rules have been amended to disallow broadcasts or limit citizen events on Council meeting nights. The discussion that occurred was focused on activities on the 2nd floor mezzanine of the Courthouse, which is the space between the Metropolitan Clerk's Office/Council Chamber on the east end of the Historic Courthouse and the Council Office on the west end of the floor on the second floor .... The purpose of the discussion was to address safety, security, and disruption factors in that second floor area.

Inasmuch as the acoustics in that space are improved only minimally with amplification and loud amplification (such as used for tax sales) can be very distracting, it was recommended that no amplification be allowed at any time in the mezzanine area. Further, on Council meeting nights, because the Council convenes 30 minutes in advance of its start time for Councilmember announcements , it was recommended that all such events on the mezzanine conclude at least 30 minutes prior to the Council meeting start time.

There was no suggestion that interviews, either with the public or Councilmembers, could not occur in the Metropolitan Courthouse. Whether or not it would be beneficial to have a convenient, designated area for interviews was mentioned, but more thought will be given to this idea before any recommendation is considered.

Live broadcast of radio or television programs from within the Courthouse, during the progress of a Council meeting was discussed. Again, this was not referring to interviews, but to live broadcasts of programs. The Sheriff, who now oversees Courthouse security, will be drafting a policy regarding this, from the standpoint of safety and security issues, as there has been concern about the crowded area on the east end of the mezzanine, including the space at the top of a long flight of marble stairs where traffic backs up , both before and during Council meetings. To my knowledge, no policy has yet been issued.

The group that assembled for this discussion was persons involved with the Council and with Courthouse safety and security. Among those present were Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors, Council attorney Jon Cooper, Sheriff Daron Hall, Metropolitan Clerk Marilyn Swing, representatives of Metro3, and support staff. The meeting was convened at this time because of the concerns stated and so that policies could be considered and, if necessary, put in place before any specific requests for future event scheduling are received.

In an interview with the Tennessean this morning Vice Mayor Neighbors, who I suspected of being the force behind these control measures the minute I learned of the news, indicated that the rest of us need to be "more respectful of the meetings in progress." As if the meetings have nothing to do with the rest of us.

Live broadcasting or organized efforts to influence council action in public space outside of the narrow lens of Metro 3 and the compulsory strictures of council hearing podiums do not impinge upon any civic process outside of Ms. Neighbors own draconian control issues. There are plenty of measures for safety and security in the mezzanine stairwell to consider without empowering Sheriff Daron Hall to cordon off "free speech" zones far away from the Metro machine.

Enclave's 5th Annual Best and Worst Metro Services: The Highlights and Lowlights of 2009

Another year past, another list of high achievers and low sliders:

• January
  • Council highlight: CM Mike Jameson challenged beer industry lobbyists to provide solutions for "better" law enforcement, given that the top 10 intoxication offenders had been arrested a whopping 1,350 times. Big brewski was baffled but still brassy.
  • Council highlight: CMs acknowledged police assertions that safety issues were more important than some fabricated right of club owners to blast bad karaoke as far down Broadway as sound would travel. Drunk Barry Manilow wannabes were pissed.
  • Public Works lowlight: This one's a holdover that should have made the 2008 list of shame, except that MDHA did not divulge the bad news until January. The federally-funded Salemtown streetscape plan was already making the torturous route through MPW's approval process late last fall, when someone there lost the designs for 2 or 3 months. Doh!
  • Mayor's Office lowlight: Karl Dean proposes that all Metro services be cut 10% as the discussion of a new convention center is starting to heat up.
  • Metro Legal lowlight: Courthouse lawyers bend to a former county Republican Party chair and refuse to release English Only's donor list, based on the farfetched and unfair notion that EO donors could be the subject of threats if publicized. Once we found out that EO had received 90% funding from a group in Virginia, Metro Legal was hard pressed to explain how an organization could suffer bodily harm.
• February
  • Metro Police highlight: Chief Ronal Serpas confronts red-state Tennessee over why it lets convicted rapists go free over and over. In the meantime, officers tell Salemtown that burglaries in the area dropped from 10 in January to 0 in February.
  • Metro Sheriff lowlight: another 2008 holdover. We learn that Daron Hall met with a white supremacist group in late 2008 and we find out that he is doomed to make the mistakes of the past, given that he confused them with a Republican group.
  • Metro Council lowlight: LED signs rear their ugly mugs in almost exactly the same form as they were previously deferred and CM Michael Craddock nudges the door open for them a little by spot-zoning an LED in the name of Jesus and all that's holy.
• March
  • Highlights? We don't need no stinkin' highlight.
  • Mayor's Office lowlight: Dean's goon squad twists council arms to rubber stamp his regressive stormwater fee scheme while using the recession as an excuse to cut fat cats with more black top breaks while the rest of us with permeable yardage pay more.
  • Metro Council lowlight: if dealing with the last council was like herding cats, dealing with this one is like punching kittens. CMs cave to Karl Dean. They defeat Jason Holleman's amendment that would have equitably distributed higher water fees. 14 CMs cutting against the grain is not enough as progressives like Erik Cole and Megan Barry pony up to the Mayor's pander bar. Ms. Barry rationalizes her vote afterwards by saying she was keeping a promise to the Mayor even though voters put her into office. Yeah, and let them eat cake.
  • Mayor's Office lowlight: The two river banks that the Riverfront Development Plan brought together, Karl Dean put asunder. With the recession again his pretext, Karl Dean suggests that he may delay planned and public-informed East Bank development and focus instead on the Downtown side. In the wake of predictable community blowback, Dean bobs and weaves before acting like starting with the East Bank was his plan all along.
  • Metro Council lowlight: even though legal opinions indicate that spot-zoning a tiny sliver of property for a private Christian school's LED sign would open the door to spot-zoning elsewhere, CMs approve the spot-zone.
  • Planning Department lowlight: Planning ties its own hands by letting securities expire. Due to software and staff shortages as well as communications snafus, Planning renders itself powerless to force developers to finish stalled projects.
  • Metro Council lowlight: abandoning a cause she once championed, CM Megan Barry, bails on LED sign opponents and votes with CM Charlie Tygard in support of the LED sign task force's proposal to allow signs in neighborhoods.
• April
  • Metro government highlight: a dismal March finally ends.
  • Mayor's Office lowlight: Karl Dean markets campaign on the expensive wavy box decorated like a cliche of the music industry even as he tells police they're in for budget cuts.
  • Metro Council lowlight: Instead, they should have just declared that God only hears the prayers of Protestant fundamentalists.
  • Metro Parks lowlight: Yeah, right, Roy Wilson. Sure they will.
• May
  • Metro Council highlight: Jason Holleman attempts to fast track stronger regulation--any regulation--of the expanding use of LED signage.
  • Mayor's Office highlight: Karl Dean puts development of the East Bank back at the top of the priorities list in the Riverfront Development Plan, right where the public wanted it.
  • MDHA highlight: after a year's delay in construction of the Salemtown streetscape, surveyors finally arrive in the 'hood.
  • Metro Action commission lowlight: no sooner does streetscape construction start than MAC derails it with MDHA approval. MAC doesn't help its reputation with Salemtown by refusing a request by an adjacent property owner to work a parking and insurance agreement for MAC clients illegally parking on his land.
  • Mayor's Office lowlight: Karl Dean reneges on a longstanding plan to move Metro Action out of Salemtown's Fehr School building to a facility suited to handle its high volume clientèle.
  • MDHA lowlight: the one where I learned that MDHA operates like a local shadow government; portents of things to come at a larger scale later.
  • Mayor's Office lowlight: Karl Dean signs on with a parochial deity, only afterwards to pull a Daron Hall by pleading ignorance.
  • Metro Council lowlight: Pam Murray. Need I say more?
  • Metro Codes lowlight: The officials who are supposed to respond to complaints about squatters in empty building failed to respond to numerous complaints by Germantown residents about squatters in a local warehouse, which eventually caught fire and burned.
• June
  • Metro Planning highlight: in a shocker the Planning Commission does not give the May Town Center proposal enough votes for approval, and Planning recommends disapproval to the Metro Council. They redeemed a lowlight Planning staff that had recommended inexplicably paving over Bells Bend.
  • No lowlight: the defeat of May Town Center in Planning made the rest of June all good.
• July
  • Metro Parks lowlight: Roy Wilson breaks his word on Morgan Park, yet again.
  • Metro Parks highlight: Curt Garrigan meets with Salemtown, apologizes for unrealized promises on Morgan Park upgrades and provides a definite timeline for completion.
  • Metro Planning lowlight: planners, welcome to the doghouse again. The community-informed West Nashville Plan bumped by possible May Town do-over.
• August
  • All of this month's lowlights are Mayor's Office lowlights with a little help from MDHA and McNeely, Pigott, and Fox: Karl Dean's convention center PR budget runs almost $400,000 over its $75,000 budget. His convention center hotel budget runs over $200,000 over budget. However, not to fear, since state law authorizes the Mayor to raid school funds to pay for expanding costs, even as his 2009 budget cuts help eradicate school music programs. And if you want to attend a Mayor's Night Out event to convey your concerns? You have to wait until after the event is held to find out where and when it is.
• September
  • Metro Council lowlight: Vice Mayor Diane "Hammer the" Neighbors reserves leadership positions on council committees for commerce-friendly, growth-focused, developer-blinded CMs
  • Mayor's Office highlight: Karl Dean parlays political capital into win on non-discrimination ordinance for gay and lesbian Metro employees, placating progressives who favor social issues.
  • Mayor's Office lowlight: Dean staffers cozy up to right-wing organization Eagle Forum in an attempt to unseat a progressive CM who simply asks too many questions.
• October
  • Metro Council highlight: CM Megan Barry decides to rejoin the effort to defeat LED signage even though earlier in 2009 she voted with a task force to allow LEDs in neighborhoods. Since neighborhood leaders went on without her and leveraged a check on the LED bill, she's got a lot to prove. She'll have her chance in 2010.
• November
  • Metro Police highlights: officers tell Salemtown that the Central Precinct leads others with a 16% crime reduction.
  • Metro Police lowlights: Chief Ronal Serpas gets surly with West Nashville leaders who have concerns about purchase of a former car dealership for the new precinct headquarters.
  • Public Works lowlight: One year after misplacing designs for the Salemtown streetscape, MPW once again is caught dragging its feet on the project.
  • Mayor's Office lowlight: the exit of the Office of Neighborhoods Director Brady Banks hardly makes a ripple.
  • Metro Council lowlight: CM Sam Coleman, reacting to the defeat of permitting guns in Metro Parks, moves to allow guns in rural parks and on exurban greenways, where they are probably needed even less.
• December
  • Metro Nashville Public Schools lowlight: They need new roofs and there is no money in the Mayor's budget to pay for them. But Karl Dean's solution for education? Building new charter schools: more roofs in our future to go without repair.
  • Metro Finance lowlight: Rich Riebeling dismisses with a smile questions about which cuts are coming to Metro services in 2010 to pay for the convention center.

Based on my count the strongest performers among the Metro service providers were were Metro Police and the Metro Planning Commission (which came through on behalf of the Bells Bend/Scottsboro community in June and which seemed to take seriously neighborhood backlash against LED signage). Bringing up the rear were MDHA, Public Works, and the Mayor's Office. Perennial bottom-feeder Metro Council lagged somewhere in between in 2009.

May year 2010 be a better one for service delivery to the Nashville community. We still deserve better.

Iron Maiden

Sheesh. Where does the Vice Mayor get off?

When the Tennessee State University radio personality and self-proclaimed “independent voice of the people” first emailed the Council to invite members to discuss the proposed $585 million convention center, Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors denied the request, saying those matters couldn’t be discussed before the project’s finance plan was unveiled.

“As you may be aware, a request was made that meetings not be held to discuss the proposed convention center until the legislation has been filed,” Neighbors wrote in an email. “Until then, we do not have the details.”

Can you think of any other Metro service that council members could not discuss before the financing was in place in June? Libraries? Parks? Sidewalks? Transit? Since she became Vice Mayor, Ms. Neighbors has micromanaged debate of issues in council chambers. She seems to be willing to try to extend her iron fist to debate outside the chambers, too.

Neighbors vs Neighbors vs Seniors?

So, Nina Cardona writes about this new Livability Task Force chaired by Diane Neighbors, who will be recommending zoning changes to make neighborhoods more livable for seniors, but not without some controversy:

The task force is recommending measures to make it easier for seniors to either remain in their homes or downsize without leaving their current communities. It set a goal of implementing zoning changes to allow a mixed-use developments and infill in a variety of housing sizes. Several parts of the city have a history of neighbors organizing to fight attempts to allow more dense housing developments of the sort proposed by the task force.

Sounds like Cardona is reporting on a noble effort except for what she leaves out. Generational diversity in neighborhoods is a good thing, but she neglects to acknowledge that organized neighbors are not some monolith preparing knee-jerk opposition to higher density. Neighborhoods face a planning and rezoning environment that tends to look like a free-for-all where developers enjoy a distinct advantage. Developers enter looking for exceptions and special conditions that will allow them the highest density possible because highest density equals most profits, and serving seniors matters little in the equation. They also demand the least resistance, and that generally means ignoring neighborhood feedback.

And speaking of developers, Cardona also fails to mention that Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors is married to a developer who stands to gain from more mixed-use, high-density developments. How is the task force prepared to protect balance between recreation/lifestyle consumers of all ages and older residents on fixed incomes in higher-density developments? Is the task force prepared to insure that developers won't use their recommendation as a way to drain communities of their character while they suck profits out? Did Cardona interview any neighborhood leaders the same way she interviewed Diane Neighbors (setting the Vice Mayor up in an adversarial role with neighbors while posing her the advocate for seniors)?

Diane Neighbors: Metro Council's Version of "The Hammer"

The Vice Mayor announced committee appointments last week and some unsubstantiated buzz I hear is that Diane Neighbors punished critics of the Mayor's convention center plan, like Mike Jameson and Emily Evans, by not assigning them to chair committees during the next year. Check the list of Ms. Neighbors' appointments and see if there is anyone who has dared to raise a single objection to the proposed Music City Center:

Budget & Finance Ronnie Steine
Charter Revision Darren Jernigan
Codes, Fair, & Farmers Market Rip Ryman
Convention, Tourism & Public Entertainment Facilities Erik Cole
Education Kristine LaLonde
Federal Grants Review Sandra Moore
Health, Hospitals, & Social Services Charlie Tygard
Parks, Library, & Recreation Lonnell Matthews
Personnel, Public Info-Human Relations-Housing Phil Claiborne
Public Safety-Beer & Regulated Beverages Buddy Baker
Public Works Walter Hunt
Rules-Confirmations-Public Elections Anna Page
Transportation & Aviation Bo Mitchell

In fact, one of the Mayor's biggest cheerleaders, CM Steine has the plum appointment to Budget & Finance. Mayor Karl Dean should be elated by the prospect of acquiescience to his capital designs from this years Budget & Finance bunch:

• Megan Barry
• Erik Cole
• Michael Craddock
• Jim Forkum
• Tim Garrett
• Jason Holleman
• Jerry Maynard
• Sean McGuire
• Anna Page
• Rip Ryman
• Parker Toler
• Charlie Tygard

Half of that group (bolded names) signed the letter prompting the end of any further critical questioning of the PR/MDHA fiasco that temporarily slowed the roughshod momentum of the Mayor's finance team. I can barely imagine 1 or maybe 2 others daring to take any oppositional stance toward the Mayor regardless of all of the unanswered questions that remain. They collectively look whipped.

The Vice Mayor--who is married to a developer--also appointed a planning committee that seems to lean in the same pro-developer direction that the last committee did:

• Karen Bennett
• Sam Coleman
• Eric Crafton
• Duane Dominy
• Robert Duvall
• Jim Gotto
• Jim Hodge
• Darren Jernigan
• Kristine LaLonde
• Bo Mitchell
• Pam Murray
• Carter Todd
• Vivian Wilhoite

That committee, vested with important decisions that will affect zoning and growth in our neighborhoods, seems to sway more regressive to me. I suspect it will be dominated by the conservative bloc. Maybe we will be entertained by watching Murray and Bennett continue to tear into each other at a personal level. Indeed, we may need something to laugh at to keep from crying.

Worst of all, the only member running for the Chair appointment (decided by Council) is Jim Gotto, who just completed two years in the position that included support for May Town Center sprawl in Bells Bend, for commercial LED billboards in residential neighborhoods, for developers' fee-cuts to enable unexacting changes in controversial specific plans, and for a large commercial chain development run by a law-breaking, union-harassing company to replace a church in Sylvan Park. With no progressive likely to run against him, it looks like we're stuck with at least 2 more years of fighting Metro Council and Metro Planning to protect neighborhoods against overgrowth, blight, and sprawl.

Thanks, Diane Neighbors, for nothing. A tool used to forge for a Mayor is no less a weapon for pounding those beyond his inner sanctum.

Another MDHA Embarrassment at the Homelessness Commission

MDHA's Homelessness Commission Director has been put on 90-day probation by the commission for awarding a computer security contract without publicizing it to other companies. The Tennessean reports that Commission Chair Erik Cole admitted that the governing body--which includes former Vice Mayor Howard Gentry, current Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors, and MDHA Director Phil Ryan--failed to carefully supervise staff.