Preservationist responds to my frustrations with Metro Action Commission's opposition to protecting Fehr School

David Price with Historic Nashville, Inc. comments on a previous post:

Hi Mike, thanks for your attention to the Fehr School. As a board member of Historic Nashville (and chair of our Nashville 9 committee), I can tell you our organization fully supports the landmarking of the school and your efforts to draw attention to it. I spoke with Tim Walker of the Metro Historical Commission and wanted to share some information that I hope you will find reassuring.

Cynthia Croom may be opposed to the proposed landmark ordinance so she can be free to make changes to the building, but the MAC is almost entirely Federally funded. That means that if it were to use Federal money for renovations or additions it would be subject to a review process under Section 106 of the NHPA (http://www.achp.gov/106summary.html). This process aims to find ways for Federal undertakings to avoid adverse effects on historic properties. In plain words, it would not allow the MAC to just go and make any changes it wants to whenever it wants to. Read more at the link above.

On top of this, if I am not mistaken the MAC is planning to relocate at some point in the near future. When that happens, the councilperson and the MHC will likely be able to landmark the property without opposition.

Lastly, it is also my understanding that the surrounding neighborhood is pursuing a conservation zoning overlay, which would include the school building (and regulate exterior changes) despite the MAC's opposition.

HNI is happy that Salemtown and the Fehr school have you watching out for their best interests, and hope that this info helps.

The most most hopeful news is that there is a federal review process in place to protect historic properties like Fehr School. However, what is unclear: what triggers it. Not many people remember the background of Fehr and it has no plaque or nationally recognized designation. I intend to follow up at the federal level and see if the federal government would allow changes without red flags going off.

On a second note, MAC has already relocated. North Nashville Head Start is the sole occupant of Fehr School, and as far as I know there are no announced plans to relocate it. So, to the best of my understanding, MAC will be in control of the building indefinitely.

Finally, I do not believe that conservation zoning necessarily applies to entire neighborhoods, given the somewhat complex consent process. I attended an informational meeting on conservation zoning Monday night in Salemtown. I directly asked the Metro planner speaking at the meeting, yes or no: can a Metro agency occupying a historic building automatically opt out of conservation zoning for their building even if the neighborhood supports it? She really did not answer my question, but said that Metro agencies generally are agreeable to conservation initiatives. In fact, she had already told us that blocks and streets could be cut out of conservation rezoning to facilitate passage of the rezoning legislation. It seems to me that if a Metro agency caused enough of a ruckus it could leverage an opt-out, especially Metro Action, which has intervened to stop Salemtown improvement projects having little to do with the Fehr building in the past. I think it is noteworthy that the planner did not come right out and say, "No. They cannot opt out".

MAC Director Cynthia Croom has expressed opposition to conserving the Fehr building. She has stopped other local improvement projects dead in their tracks without warning. She would not even compromise on Fehr preservation with the district council member. So, why would she not avail herself of future opportunities to exclude Fehr from conservation zoning?

Fehr School: Nashville's civil rights history vs. the Metro Action Commission

Last week I spoke with my council member about progress to a rezoning measure that would preserve the historic facade of Salemtown's Fehr school. Erica Gilmore met with a Historical Commission representative, Cynthia Croom from the Metro Action Commission and lawyers representing each of the parties. Metro Action controls the Fehr property, which currently houses North Nashville Head Start. Apparently Ms. Croom dug in her heels and refused to lend MAC support for a historic overlay for the former public school building saying that her department needs to be free to make any changes to the exterior that the federal government requires of them.

So, the side backing down was the CM and the Historical Commission, which support an overlay for the endangered building. A council lawyer is supposed to be working on an ordinance. CM Gilmore told me that the proposed ordinance would protect the historic facade in the case Metro Action ever relinquishes control of the school building.

However and in the mean time, Metro Action would be allowed to make any alteration to the building's exterior that strikes them as necessary. If they want to re-orient the front of the building away from 5th to 4th and brick up the current entrance they can. If they want to punch a hole in the brick wall to add a utility room, HVAC handling room, or a dining hall they would not be restricted by ordinance. If they want to build a new facade over the old one to front the sidewalk they could. They can do whatever they want to the old building.

In my one-on-one discussions with Cynthia Croom in the past she reacted with what seemed to me to be profound allergies to the idea of rezoning to protect the historical qualities of the building from the unforgiving and arbitrary designs of the federal government. She did not express any openness to working toward a win-win with those of us in Nashville trying to protect this important landmark. Instead, she made it clear that she was unwilling to bend to any possibilities other than those decorating her own turf.

So, I was not surprised to learn from Erica Gilmore that Ms. Croom is still unwaveringly opposed to protecting the building from radical alteration. My support of preserving history has nothing to do with not wanting a federal program like Head Start in my neighborhood. I think it is wonderful that kids from families of modest means are continuing to use a living museum. However, I don't believe that Metro Action should be allowed to do whatever it wants to the front of the building to justify the drive for more federal revenues.

In the end, if the MAC Executive Director wants to ignore the sacred civil rights history of Fehr School and demo the entire facade she can do so. She can prepare budget proposals that could bury the memorial to the brave Salemtown children who desegregated the school in the name of caring for Head Start kids now. I tend to be a pragmatist about Metro ordinances. However, protecting the Fehr School building beginning at some indefinite future date when Metro Action moves Head Start to another place seems to me like legislation without any teeth since any alteration is permitted to MAC, including the more extreme forms that would render the ordinance silly once it becomes enforceable because of the lack of any history to protect.

PHOTO: Metro Action Commission's move out day at Salemtown's Fehr School Building

Photo credit: Donna Keeney

Metro Action makes big move from Salemtown this week

After years of broken promises, Metro is finally moving the Metro Action Commission's administrative and assistance offices to facilities Downtown that can properly accommodate the large number of people seeking utility bill assistance. With MAC's Head Start programs remaining, I'm counting this move as the Fehr School building reverting back to at least a derivative form of its original educative purpose. And now we need to work hard to preserve it.

Bon voyage, Metro Action, and thank you for being responsive to Salemtown when we asked you to help us keep the neighborhood cleaner on those high volume clientele days. It has been an uneasy relationship at times, but we part as friends and wish you the best:

Metro Action closes Wednesday to prepare for move to new location
Agency Director believes new space will allow better convenience and service delivery to customers

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – On Wednesday the majority of the offices and services housed at the main office of the Metropolitan Action Commission (1624 5th Avenue North), will close its doors in preparation for the relocation to its new office located closer to downtown Nashville.

Metro Action will move from its current location in North Nashville to the Clifford Allen Building, located at 800 2nd Avenue North. The agency will be closed from Wednesday, August 24 through Friday, August 26 to accommodate the relocation.

“We out grew our current location years ago due to the large volume of customers we serve and the need for better handicap accessibility and improved adult education classrooms and training space,” said Cynthia Croom, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Action Commission.

Metro General Services began a complete renovation of the 34,798 square foot Clifford Allen Building last year. Metro Action will occupy 20,275 square feet of the building. The Metro Action office features ample on-site parking, larger waiting room space for customers, enhanced Adult Education classrooms equipped with advanced audio-visual capabilities, a computer lab for on-site trainings and a wheel-chair accessible front entrance.

The agency believes the building will enhance their ability to serve the more than 200 customers they serve daily.

“Our new location more than satisfies the needs of our customers and provides greater convenience to other social and human services related agencies that are available nearby,” said Croom.

The agency will share the Clifford Allen Building with Metro Social Services, which also provides services to citizens with low incomes. The local Department of Human Services office, which also provides assistance, is adjacent to the new location.

Metro Action will re-open to the public on Monday, August 29 at the new location.

HT: Freddie O'Connell

Salemtown's Fehr School is nominated for the "Nashville Nine"

Last year after I publicly wondered how Salemtown's historic Fehr School building could be left off the Nashville Nine list of endangered properties, the president of Historic Nashville, Inc encouraged me to nominate it this year. Today I followed his suggestion and here is how I answered their questions:

If this site is endangered, what is the nature of threat?

The Fehr School is currently being used by the Metro Action Commission for government assistance, and there are plans that have been discussed with the Salemtown neighborhood association for renovations and alterations to the 87-year-old building. Under the previous Mayor plans were discussed with the association for selling to private developers. In both cases preservation has not been given priority.

Neighborhood leaders are concerned that drastic renovations or alterations could compromise the historic character and integrity of the building.


What is the historical significance of the site?

Besides being almost 100 years old, the Fehr School building was at the center of the Nashville Movement to desegregate public schools 60 years ago. In September 1957 the building was surrounded by segregationist protesters who formed gauntlets against African American families who walked their children to school to help desegregate Nashville Schools. Fehr School also survived segregationist bomb threats.


Documentation?

Historical research has been archived on the events at Fehr School. A summary of the research can be found at these links:

http://bit.ly/rsWqsD

http://bit.ly/qJBNpI


Is there a community commitment or affinity group for saving the site? Are there long-term goals for the site? Briefly state the goals, if they exist.

Salemtown Neighbors has started a petition to try to leverage historical protections for the building.


What is the threat to this property?

Redevelopment and/or "re-purposing" to reorient the building away from the street and away from its educational context. Tear-down seems more remote, but there is nothing stopping demolition as things stand. Given Nashville's tear-down proclivities, we should do everything possible to shield Fehr against them.


How could the threat be eliminated (more money, change of ownership, education, etc.)?

Historic zoning to protect the facade. Rededicating the building to educational purposes. Re-framing Fehr as a living museum to the Civil Rights Movement.


What effect placement on the endangered list have to this property? Does the property owner support listing?

Few people outside of North Nashville's older African American community and Civil Rights historians know of Fehr School's legacy. Bringing more attention to it will bring more support for preserving it.

Metro Action officials told the Salemtown association at a summer meeting that they supported placing the building on the Historic Registry.

Please join me in spreading the word and maximizing attention on preserving the Fehr School building for the historical treasure that is. It is a monument to one of Nashville's most significant eras.

We should move both carefully and with conviction on the question of Salemtown's Fehr School

The planned exit of the Metro Action Commission out of historic Fehr School on 5th Avenue in Salemtown has been moved back once again, this time from June to August. The building has never been suitable to dispensing to large groups of people in need of federal aid to pay utility bills, and it was a strain on MAC staff, clients (many of whom lined up in freezing cold and broiling hot temps), and the neighborhood, which was sometimes trashed by the crush of clients. Moreover, the promises to move MAC to more realistic digs elsewhere have gone unrealized for years.

MAC client lines

Even though we are facing another delay, at least the Metro gears seem to be moving this time and MAC is talking seriously about the move when they attend Salemtown association meetings each month. So, the next item on the agenda for Salemtown is to make sure that the Fehr School Building, which was one of the foci of Nashville's famous civil rights history does not undergo any radical structural changes. Salemtown Neighbors has already approved an initiative for a petition to protect the old school. And at our June business meeting MAC mentioned that the building is already protected as historic property, including a plaque that will be posted. They told the association that the historic 5th Avenue side will not be altered, but that a 4th Avenue entrance will be created.

I conducted a search of the federal and state registers for the preservation designation that MAC talked about, but I could not find any record of it. I followed up with MAC officials who told me that someone in Metro General Services had told them. MAC also conjectured that the historical register for Fehr may still be in progress. They also told me that they would follow up to confirm and then get back to me. That was over two weeks ago, and I have yet to receive any confirmation.

About the same time, CM Erica Gilmore responded to Salemtown queries about Fehr by promising her support for historic preservation of the school building and she notified Tim Walker at the Metro Historical Commission. This was excellent news and we hope that CM Gilmore is vigorously pursuing this, although we have not heard back from her yet either.

Another wrinkle in these events is mention in yesterday's Tennessean that some Germantown parents, disgruntled by recent redistricting that knocked them out of wildly popular Eakin Elementary's bailiwick in West Nashville are now spying Fehr as an alternative to sending the kids to one of several other options in around the North End area (full disclosure: our 7-year-old attends Jones Paideia Magnet, one of those options):

Some Germantown residents hoped the city would consider converting the Metro Action Commission building at 1624 Fifth Ave. N. into a magnet school when a portion of the agency relocates downtown next month. But many of the agency’s departments, including one of its Head Start locations, will remain there.

[School board member Ed] Kindall says he’s open to discussing the issues with concerned parents and advises neighborhood groups to come up with a plan and make a recommendation to the Metro School Board.

For years on this blog I have advocated the preservation and the re-purposing of Fehr for education. But let's keep first things are first. We need to make sure that this living museum to school desegregation is historically protected from drastic alterations to the exterior and from the wrecking ball. Getting it on the historic register ought to be the number one goal now. Despite being a vigorous advocate of re-purposing the building as a school over the years, I frankly worry that if these Germantown parents move too fast it will be flipped into a privatized charter school or an objectionable group like Stand for Children will sweep in and take power away from the community in determining the educational needs of our children.

As someone who has been pushing for these changes at Fehr for 6 years, I would encourage the community to move a step-at-a-time on the building. Let's leverage protection, and then discuss re-purposing as a public school, including making sure that Head Start (which will stay at Fehr and is after all an education program) will continue to be welcome in our area. Salemtown is Fehr School's home, and we are one of the more economically and racially diverse neighborhoods in the North End. We should commit ourselves to the goal of converting Fehr into a place that invites diversity, remains open to all, and honors its history of desegregation. It should not become a shelter for mostly white, middle class gentrifiers with kids.

That's cold: caught burglar breaks into Metro Action/Head Start classroom, steals computer

A message forwarded to the Salemtown elist from MAC official Cynthia Croom:

We had a break in [at the Fehr School building in Salemtown last night] and I am glad to say the individual was apprehended. It appears he took one of our classroom computers that we utilize for the [at-risk] children. The alarm system picked up the break in and Metro was dispatched.

A long time coming and going

MAC's new home come June

After listening to the Director of Metro General Services tell the Mayor during budget hearings last week that the administration of the Metro Action Commission would be moving from their long-time Salemtown home at the historic, but service-delivery-challenged Fehr School building, I grew concerned. My worry was that Metro might be splitting the executives and keeping the services here, which would not solve the problems that MAC and Salemtown have had with dumping utility assistance delivery to needy families in a small school building with inadequate parking.

Salemtown frustrations with neighborhood-based social services continue to be misplaced on Metro Action

There can be no doubt that with increases in federal aid for utilities and rent to help more people who have lost jobs in this recession, tensions between neighbors and Metro Action (corner of 5th Av N and Garfield in Salemtown) are on the rise. Salemtown residents are frustrated with large numbers of outsiders driving in from as far away as the suburbs, lining up as early as 3:00a, playing loud music, leaving trash, and sometimes even urinating in yards.

Metro Action is shoehorned into an 86-year-old elementary school building with Head Start, an education and nutrition program for low-income children and their parents. It has no parking for its clients and sits on residential-scale streets that cannot accommodate its high-volume service. The building deserves to be both the school it was meant to be and a museum to the local Civil Rights Movement. But providing assistance for thousands of clients from all over Davidson County outstrips smaller scale good that it could be doing (a stand alone Head Start for starters).

Metro Action had been slated to move to larger, more accessible facility for the past seven years. However, Mayor Karl Dean first strung along MA leaders by setting a moving date, and then a few months later he reversed course completely and moved someone else into Howard School Building offices that the MA leaders had even advised on design. So, as frustrated as we in Salemtown are with the collateral indignities of constricted government service, we are wrong to blame Metro Action. If we are honest about solving the problem, then the Mayor's Office is the responsible party for these unacceptable conditions.

I emphasized this to my neighbors at our last association meeting as some were once again venting at Metro Action officials who attend our meetings. The association moved to form a committee to explore ways to help Metro Action achieve their goal to get a proper facility. As I told the group, I believe a committee is a waste of time. Metro Action would not be in Salemtown if the Mayor did not want it here. We do not need a committee that Metro can use to continue to stall. We need direct action on the Mayor's Office that demands accountability and makes breaking of past promises uncomfortable for the Mayor.

There is one reason why Metro Action keeps getting stiffed and ignored by Mayor Karl Dean: it serves poor and working class people. If Metro Action were the Convention Center Authority, it would get everything it requires by hook or by crook. The same year Mayor Dean was requiring Metro departments to cut their budgets 10%, he rationalized spending millions per year building the new convention center calling it "our own economic stimulus." If Metro Action were dedicated to benefiting the wealthier business community, Mayor Dean would give it exactly the facility it needs.

Despite the clarity about exactly where the buck stops, some continue to aim at the easy target, Metro Action. In interviews with the Tennessean after the Salemtown Neighbors' gripe session, none of the Metro Action critics mentioned the fact that the Mayor is the final arbiter of what happens with Metro Action's facility. Likewise, no one--not Metro Action staff, their clients or the neighbors who live around the facility--is going get any relief until scrutiny and the pointed comments are brought to bear on Mayor Karl Dean.

Interruption in Streetscrape Project Ends

Yesterday evening's meeting between MAC, MDHA, CM Erica Gilmore, Salemtown leaders, and (to my surprise) the Mayor's Office of Neighborhoods turned out to be much more productive than I thought it would going in.

Metro Action Executive Director Cynthia Croom told the group first of all that she was withdrawing the agency's request to MDHA to remove some of the traffic calming elements in the streetscape project. That concession seemed to produce a collective sense of relief among the 9 or 10 neighbors attending, because it was the one non-negotiable point for which we were willing to go to the mat defending. For me the other issues constituting sources of conflict are more long-term and were not going to be resolved last night. Also, MDHA assured us that the 3-week delay in construction was not costing any block grant money.

Ms. Croom also said that it was not her intention in her May 23 letter to communicate that the MAC kitchen facility was going to be built at the Fehr school building. In fact, her intention was exactly the opposite; so, she cleared up any confusion that I had about any new additions at the Salemtown site. The Mayor's representative, Scott Wallace (MOON), encouraged residents to continue to give feedback to the Mayor about their expectations for the long-term conditions of the Fehr school building.

The only issue that remained unresolved was how to deal with the excess litter on those days when MAC clients utilize the building. Ms. Croom expressed a strong sense that MAC service workers not have to travel far off the school building property to pick up litter. She told the group that they have put trash cans out, but those trash cans were stolen. The group asked CM Gilmore to contact Public Works and see if they could provide trash cans outside MAC that are bolted to the ground.

For her part, Ms. Gilmore ably refereed the meeting, and while she vocalized her support for Metro Action because of their service to many of the clients in District 19, she also emphasized the need for fairness from both sides in the dispute. Not only does Erica Gilmore deserve praise for going farther beyond anything her predecessor, Ludye Wallace, ever did for this community, but I would say that she played a significant role in the two sides coming to a mutual understanding. I walked out of the meeting feeling better about supporting the Metro Action Commission than I did while walking in. Consequently, I sent an e-mail to CM Gilmore withdrawing my council public hearing objection to MAC's kitchen expansion as an expression of that support.

UPDATE:  A neighbor writes to tell me that I neglected to mention another unresolved dispute between Salemtown residents and MAC is the problem of the latter taking up a chunk of street parking in a neighborhood with few driveways or garages. That reminds me that I also forgot to mention that CM Gilmore suggested assigning streetside reserved parking for residents and told us that she would explore the possibility with Public Works.

And on the Question of Whether Metro Action Makes Salemtown a Trashy Place

MAC's Director bristled at my contention to CM Erica Gilmore that some MAC clients consistently used Salemtown as their own personal garbage can and urinal:

We believe it is not reasonable to expect us to clean the streets in our neighborhood because it is assumed that every deviant who urinates on a sidewalk or who throws trash from their cars is a customer of this agency or that the actions of every person who comes to our building is our responsibility. So yes it is correct that we believe the streets are to be cleaned by public works in the same way we believe that if it is suspected that one of these individuals vandalized a home that the police would be called and not us. We did agree that we would post signs in our buildings asking our customers to help keep our community clean by throwing trash in a trash receptacle and not on the street.

I was actually not assuming anything about "every deviant," but just the ones whom I witnessed parking on the street, dumping trash out of cars, and then walking up and standing in the line of MAC clients that often snakes out the door and down the sidewalk on 5th Avenue. And in a couple of cases where I watched "deviants" exposing themselves in public to urinate, they were passengers in cars of clients who went up to stand in line to get utility bill assistance.

I'll grant that in neither case did I stalk the MAC clients into the building to verify that they were actually standing in line to receive assistance. However, it seems reasonable to deduce that these particular deviants were MAC deviants, rather than drive-by litterers and urinators. The drive-by deviants usually use the alleys, anyway.

One Salemtown neighbor reinforced my perceptions in a reply to Director Croom:

I am aware that the occasional potato chip bag or candy wrapper that ends up on the street or in my yard are from patrons (mainly kids) of the store located at 7th and [Garfield]. However, any McDonalds, Subway, or KFC bags are from MAC customers, as these locations are too far away for walkers to bring them into the neighborhood just to dispose of them on 5th Avenue directly in front of MAC. It is not a coincidence that none of these fast food bags “appear” over a weekend when MAC is not open. This trash also includes diapers thrown from MAC customer cars, which is not something I enjoy cleaning up. The fact is, the majority of MAC customers do not respect the neighborhood.

Obviously, our neighborhood watch includes detailed attention to the brand of litter on 5th Avenue and Ms. Croom underestimates our ability to discern between garden-variety "deviants" and MAC "deviants."

The same neighbor also challenged Cynthia Croom to find any trash receptacles that her clients could actually use:

where are the trash receptacles that are also referred by Ms. Croom to address the issue? There are no trash receptacles on 5th Avenue at this time. None have been noted on the MAC property either outside of the main entrance or directly inside the building. And, how realistic is it that people who are too idle to get out of their car while waiting for their friends/family to receive services at MAC would actually use trash receptacles? Obtaining trash receptacles was actually supposed to be part of the grant, but were removed when the project became over budget and cuts had to be made. The addition of these trash receptacles was an attempt on the CAC’s part to try to address the trash from people walking in the neighborhood, in addition to the MAC customer trash situation, but, unfortunately, this will not be seen to fruition through the grant.

Indeed, MAC references to trash receptacles seems deceptive in the absence actual trash receptacles. And the last time I checked after Ms. Croom's letter went out, there were no MAC signs encouraging clients to use receptacles that don't exist.

I don't know whether we will be getting into these trashy issues in our meeting with MAC tonight but the record of MAC's impact on the quality of life in Salemtown needs to be set straight. MAC does not provide adequate litter disposal and restroom facilities to accommodate the high-client traffic, perhaps even forcing some who would not otherwise break the law to be deviant. They need to move to a facility large enough to provide these amenities to their clients.

If Salemtown's Old School Building is the "Central Kitchen," Why Would the Mayor Upgrade Anywhere Else?

More indications from Metro Action Commission exec Cynthia Croom's May 23 letter to CM Erica Gilmore that the Mayor's Capital Improvement Plan already assumes Salemtown as the "improvement" site even though his bill seems noncommittal:

Given that [the Fehr school] building is also the location of our central kitchen that prepares over 4500 meals daily to go to the seven other Head Start location, we try to assure that all the food trucks (8) we own remain in the back as well as the buses that pick-up and drop off children that are housed at this location (6) remain to the rear of the building.

I just don't see how Metro can build a new kitchen at Fehr school and keep other social services housed in Salemtown without making 5th and Garfield a major choke point (don't forget that Metro Water Services at 3rd and Garfield uses Garfield as a primary entrance and exit point). And there is still the matter of the impact of design and placement of a new facility at the historical structure.

Gilmore Tells Council that She May Amend Mayor's Capital Improvement Plan

A few of us who could make time showed up last minute at last night's council meeting to oppose the Mayor's plan to commit $2.1 million to a Head Start kitchen that a Metro Action exec suggested could be added to a Salemtown school building. In my remarks during a public hearing on the bill I told council members that we were confused by mixed messages that the kitchen could go anywhere and that the kitchen would expand MAC's facility in Salemtown, which has already been the source of neighborhood problems. I also pointed to the small facility's civil rights history as a center of local school desegregation. Many here believe that neighbors should be consulted before granting what would essentially be a zoning variance for altering an old building that cannot not effectively handle the high volume of social service clients who drive in from other parts of the county for utility bill assistance.

I gathered from the council action on the bill after the public hearing that it is headed back to committee for more work. CM Erica Gilmore, who received e-mail from several Salemtown residents on the Mayor's Plan, told the Council that she may bring an amendment on the Head Start kitchen provision.

MOON Cat on the MAC Move

Brady Banks at the Mayor's Office of Neighborhoods (MOON) responded to my request for more info on why the long-planned move of the Metro Action Commission was cancelled in favor of another department. MOON left me a voice mail at 4:00 on my home phone last Friday with the message that I had until 5:00 (MOON's closing) to call back for the info, but after that Brady would be on a week-long vacation.  I got home last Friday and retrieved the message at 6:00. That's a bad MOON rising.

I already said that I wasn't expecting much from MOON given the Mayor's anemic leadership on neighborhoods. And I'm not expecting to see Brady or any other MOON cat at tonight's meeting between Salemtown leaders, MAC, MDHA and MC Erica Gilmore, even though the decision in the Mayor's Office to reverse a previous decision to end MAC's occupation of Salemtown's Fehr school building seems to be a cause of neighborhood turmoil.

Deep Thought

Did MDHA inform the Salemtown streetscape architects at Ragan Smith that they ordered the construction company to halt work on the federally-funded project for several weeks in May and June because Metro Action objected?

Another Salemtowner Tries to Enlist the Help of the Mayor's Office in Stopping Metro Action Roadblocks to the Streetscape

One of my more engaged neighbors, Jenni Leeds, forwarded me the following e-mail she wrote to Mayor Karl Dean in the wake of the costly delay to the federally-funded Salemtown streetscape project:

Dear Mayor Dean:

 

I enjoyed meeting you last year on your visit to ________________ for an informal meet and greet with office tenants. I am a Dean supporter, voted for you, and I work for __________, who participated in your campaign.

 

As a former resident of the 12South neighborhood (as a renter), I experienced first-hand the benefits of your sidewalk improvement project. The roots of a large tree in front of the house I rented had severely damaged the sidewalk and made it impassable in an area where many children played and mothers passed by with baby strollers. Within a few months of your taking office, our sidewalk was repoured and is now safe and enjoyed by many on Cedar Lane.

 

Last month, ______and I took a leap of faith and decided to become homeowners in Salemtown. Due to low interest rates, the tax incentive, and our great luck in finding a new-construction foreclosure, we were able to purchase our dream house. As new homeowners in an up-and-coming area of town, we have made it a priority to do our part helping Salemtown grow into a safer, established neighborhood. 

 

At our first Salemtown Neighbors Neighborhood Association (SNNA) meeting, we learned about:

 

·         Ongoing problems with the Metro Action Commission facility - visitors parking in privately owned lots without permission, refusal to take responsibility for trash generated by their visitors, etc.

 

·         Delays and lost funding of the Streetscape Project due to the misplacement of our application by Public Works and subsequent mismanagement of our federal block grant by MDHA.

 

Although it is an understatement to say that many SNNA members are frustrated by the loss of funding and missing design elements of the original plan, we were happy to see construction beginning on new traffic-calming bulbs a few weeks ago.

 

Today, I learned of two issues that I hope you will address:

 

1. MDHA has halted construction on the traffic bulbs approved for 5^th Ave. N. between Garfield and Hume upon request of the Metro Action Commission. This request was made after no representative of MAC voiced concern(or participated in any way) during the three-year Streetscape Project planning process or the Metro Council meeting at which funding for the plan was authorized. In effect, the MAC is holding up our project in the hopes of making changes to the approved plan to retain the use of three street parking spaces. I find it strange that it is permissible for MDHA to stop work on a federally funded, approved project in deference to the wishes of the MAC staff.
   
   Metro Council Member Erica Gilmore has scheduled a conflict resolution meeting for Salemtown leaders and MAC staffers at East Nashville's MDHA on June 3 at 3:00 p.m. [changed to June 3 at 5:30 at Metro Action in Salemtown]. I know that Ms. Gilmore was encouraged to invite a representative of your office to attend this meeting. If an invitation is extended, I hope you will accept.

 

 

2. I read with great concern, a post from The Enclave, in which MAC’s Cynthia Groom is quoted. She asserts that your office made the decision not to move the MAC office to a less residential area with more available parking, and that their promised new facilities were provided to another Metro department. If this is true, are there plans for the relocation of the MAC facilities to a location that fits their needs?

 

Although I am concerned about this situation in my neighborhood, I do appreciate the good work you have done and continue to do every day for the citizens of Nashville. I hope you will take the time to consider these issues and determine if your office can assist in resolving them.

 

I look forward to receiving your reply.

 

Best regards,

 

Jennifer L. Leeds

UPDATE: Letter edited for content on request.

BREAKING ALERT: Building Expansion for Metro Action Up for Public Hearing TONIGHT

The Mayor's Capital Improvement Plan is up for public hearing at 6:30 tonight. I did not know it had implications for Salemtown until 11:00 this morning. In fact, the Salemtown neighborhood did not know until about that time.

The implications (as communicated by CM Erica Gilmore) involve Karl Dean's intention to expand a Head Start kitchen:

As a prefatory comment, the Capital Improvements Budget (CIB) is simply a planning document, and does not in and of itself appropriate any funds. That being said, the CIB does include a new project for a $2,155,000 "New Head Start Kitchen", but does not specify the location. The funding source would be proposed general obligation bonds. The funding for this project is included as part of the Mayor's capital spending plan, which is the subject matter of Resolution No. RS2009-746. Both the CIB and the Mayor's capital spending plan are scheduled for final reading next Tuesday. The only opportunity for the public to speak regarding this project would be tonight's public hearing on the CIB.

Contrast the point above that the plan does not specify a location with a portion of Metro Action executive Cythnia Croom's letter from a week ago that clearly indicates that the new kitchen would benefit the MAC facility in Salemtown:

We were scheduled to move [Downtown] last August and the date was changed at that time to March of this year. Six months ago we learned that not only would we not be moving but that the designated location had been given to another department. At this point only our new kitchen facility has been placed in the budget for approval by Council. If this passes and is built, we believe we will see some relief to the parking situation as well as to the delivery traffic as all of those functions will move to a new location.

It does not take a long, stark line to connect the dots between the Mayor's typical noncommittal plans and the MAC Director's slip of inside information. In my opinion you can put the facility expansion in the Salemtown column, which will increase chances that MAC will be our congesting and callous neighbor for a good long time with the building of the kitchen.

And yet, no one from the Mayor's Office of Neighborhoods bothered to tell us anything about the plans or get any feedback from those who are affected daily by unexpanded MAC operations. CM Gilmore did not seem to know anything about the Mayor's plan herself; her answers came from an e-mail from someone else that she forwarded to me.

I've spent the better part of my afternoon trying to see if I could get a quorum of Salemtown Neighbors together to write a quick statement to be read in public hearing today. I believe the bylaws are against a shoot-from-the-hip response, so it is up to those of us who have the luxury of making time in busy schedules and who can find last-minute babysitters for the kids to show up tonight and ask the council to walk slowly on the Mayor's Plan until we can be better informed about what it means for Salemtown.

We should have never been put in this position. Someone at some level of Metro government should have been more transparent about the Mayor's plans for Metro Action and for the Salemtown neighborhood.

Salemtown Neighbors Speaks Out for Unconditional Completion of Federally-funded Streetscape Plan

The letter sent to MDHA, CM Erica Gilmore, Metro Action, and the Mayor's Office from the President of Salemtown Neighbors in support of the neighborhood's citizen advisory committee:

As the association representing the neighborhood that was the recipient of a community development block grant a few years ago, the Salemtown Neighbors Neighborhood Association voted unanimously last night to support the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) that was convened to work with MDHA in creating a plan for implementation of the grant as the CAC pursues completion of the original plan.

CAC members, many of whom are also association members, provided regular updates to our neighbors on the progress being made in applying the grant, and our neighbors have been enthusiastic supporters of the streetscape improvements. It was with some surprise that we learned that implementation had been halted by a stakeholder that, for a variety of reasons, had not been a full participant in the planning process of the grant.

I have been impressed that Councilwoman Gilmore, who represents our neighborhood in its entirety, has sought to involve stakeholders in the process of understanding a variety of Metro departments and agencies. Similarly, I have been impressed that MDHA so successfully brought together property owners thoroughly representative of our neighborhood as participants in the CAC. Most recently, New Level Community Development Corporation, a project of Mt. Zion, brought together a number of stakeholders at the MDHA training facility, which is located approximately 6 blocks from the Metro Action Commission (MAC). We have welcomed Ms. Gilmore; Mr. Banks; officers from Central Precinct; representatives of Codes, Planning, Public Works, and MNPS into our neighborhood.

Considering the level of community organizing taking place just within Salemtown, frequently in partnership with various agencies in Metro, it's striking to me that MAC could not have been aware of the CAC/MDHA planning process across three years.

Bearing that in mind, it's even more striking to me that MDHA would let a stakeholder previously absent from 3 years of planning a project that is now well into implementation halt the implementation wholesale, especially toward the tail end of a project that has seen no shortage of preventable delays and cost overruns and when it was well within MDHA's power to identify Metro agencies falling within the boundaries of the area affected by the plan. I'm now left to wonder whether an individual homeowner could have accomplished the same feat if mere bureaucracy had prevented successful delivery of meeting notices to the correct mailbox of a property whose immediately adjacent public right of way would be affected.

I do regret that the Metro Action Commission (MAC) has not been more directly involved in either the CAC process or our neighborhood association. I look forward to rectifying that in the near future for as long as MAC is a neighbor.

In the short term, I look forward to a resolution Wednesday evening that results in the completion of our block grant as originally planned with the full support of the Salemtown Neighbors Neighborhood Association.

Best regards.

--
Freddie O'Connell
President, Salemtown Neighbors

Salemtown Neighborhood Association Votes Unanimously to Oppose Any Changes to Streetscape Plan

Salemtown Neighbors voted unanimously at their Monday night business meeting to have President Freddie O'Connell write a letter of unqualified support for the Salemtown streetscape project, while rejecting any late changes demanded by the Metro Action Commission. The letter will be brought to Wednesday's meeting between neighborhood advisory committee members and MAC staffers. The meeting is sponsored by CM Erica Gilmore and MDHA as a "conflict resolution" session. The association is taking a clear, unequivocal stance that there is no compromise on the original design for the Salemtown streetscape. Let's hope that is strong enough for both CM Gilmore and MDHA to support us in order to complete the traffic calming installation on 5th Avenue that MAC interrupted and MDHA delayed.

Metro Action Executive Defends Interruption and Alteration of Salemtown Streetscape Project; Blames Others for Lack of Knowledge

Responding to my e-mail to Council Member Erica Gilmore protesting the 11th-hour wrench her department has thrown into the Salemtown streetscape works, MAC Executive Director Cynthia Croom writes:

It is correct that we requested a temporary suspension of the work (one week) that was being done in front of our building, not for the reasons stated but because we simply had no idea what was happening. We learned of the street scrapes on Tuesday, May 13th .... We asked if we could have until the following Monday to understand what was going on and to attempt to request any adjustment as this was going to reduce available space for parking on the street in front of our building and we needed to see what impact this would have. We were told at that time that we had been sent notices for the past few years. We asked that they check to see who the notices might have gone to in our building. It was then that they discovered that we were never sent notices but that the notices had been sent to the Metro 222 building to a department in that location. It was possibly not forwarded to us as we were scheduled to move from our current property. Nevertheless, we made no request that a permanent halt to this project take place. We did ask that the streetscapes in front of our building not be added because we are a little more worried that this could create more traffic concerns for our neighbors as we have small deliveries made to the front of our building because the back stairs are steep and cannot accommodate deliveries to the upstairs without an increased possibility of injury. We were told that our neighbors would have to agree to that request.

Every day that our streetscape project is delayed eats up more block grant money. This is a clear example of one department, Metro Action, holding a federally-funded project hostage at the last minute because of the failures of either MDHA or the interoffice mailing system to deliver notices for over three years that Salemtown had a block grant and a construction project. It is not as if federal block grants are private matters or that the Salemtown grant was not publicized a year ago by another Metro agency, when it came up on the Metro Council agenda for approval.

This project as originally scheduled should have started a year ago and I'm beginning to wonder whether it will ever be complete as originally recommended by the elected neighborhood committee members. MDHA is now using this as a pretense to hold another meeting with the neighbors (further delay), and CM Gilmore has responded that she would like to bring the two sides together to reach a consensus (even further delay). I can't help but see these extra meetings as once again accommodating MAC's special interests that they should have communicated earlier. And the admission above that the Executive Director intends to last-minute cherry-pick certain elements of the streetscape--which was already approved by a consensus of neighborhood leaders--is bad faith on her part.

I mean, come on; if Metro Action was truly engaged with Salemtown to begin with would the mere misdelivery of a mailer have stopped them from knowing about the project and participating accordingly?