Mayor's green public-private arrangement in limbo?

Curiously, over 2 months ago the blogger for the public-private partnership between Metro Nashville and The Land Trust for Tennessee teased us into expecting an open space plan by the end of January.

Paying one part-time Bredesenista burns a lot of Metro snow-plow weeks

East Nashville community leader Catherine McTamaney works the math on how much Mayor Karl Dean's $64,000 hiring of recently unemployed state administrator Jim Fyke -- once with Governor Bredesen -- costs Davidson County in actual services.

Blogger responds to the Dean administration's rather nebulous and problematic hire in challenging budget times

Nashville's women's health news blogger, Rachel Walden, would like an explanation from Mayor Karl Dean's office on their decision to throw $60,000 at former Bredesen Parks Commissioner Jim Fyke based on vague rationales:

The Finance Director is quoted in the article saying things that make it explicitly clear that this was not an existing job opening, one with clearly defined responsibilities and needed qualifications, that other people were able to compete for.

“We’ll assign him projects as they arise on a case basis.” Because they were “just talking” (hello, good ole boy network), and thought he could help.

You know who actually knows what they’re supposed to do and could use more money? Who would just love to have somebody around to do whatever needed doing, or at least the $60,000 a year?

The Nashville Public Library.

Or the Metro Department of Health.

Or schools, or any number of other departments with real missions to help real people. Real services that people of Nashville need and deserve, in department that struggle to do everything that needs doing with the limited-and-being-cut funds available.

Interesting that over a year ago Tennessean columnist and Dean supporter Gail Kerr telegraphed the idea of Metro government re-hiring Fyke to the newspaper's expansive readership.

While Rachel does not want to go too hard on Fyke himself but focus on Mayor Dean and his Finance duputy, Rich Riebeling, Fyke does not have an uncheckered rep here at Enclave. How could he in good conscience take that much money when year-after-year Metro departments are asked to slash their budgets?