Nashville Post failed to verify developer's claims

Last week I referred you to an article by real estate reporter William Williams in the Nashville Post that constituted a friendly little pitch for developer Mike Kenner (MiKen Development), who is seeking Erica Gilmore's support for rezoning for "Salemtown Cottages". On Friday, I pointed out the problem of date change in the following paragraph (correction and emphasis added by me):

Kenner said the next step in the process is an April 10 [has been changed to April 17] community meeting (one has already been held) at Morgan Park Community Center. Metro Councilwoman Erica Gilmore, within whose district the proposed development would sit, is expected to attend.

As of this morning, neither Williams nor Nashville Post editors have corrected the misinformation, which may cause some to assume mistakenly that a meeting is being held tomorrow at Morgan Park.

If that were not irresponsible enough, I just found out that the "community meeting" that Mike Kenner told the Nashville Post "has already been held" was actually a gathering of 8 to 10 people in a home near the proposed rezoning parcels at Morgan Park. There was no general announcement sent out to the Salemtown community (Salemtown Neighbors neighborhood association did not even send anything out). It was announced on the private social network website, Nextdoor, to people who subscribe to Nextdoor (I do not subscribe to Nextdoor, so I did not receive an announcement).

In my opinion, someone either stretched the truth in reporting a community meeting or failed to follow up with others beyond the developer in order to verify that the meeting included the community.

CM Erica Gilmore did not attend that meeting. I requested minutes from the owner of the home where it was held Mike Kenner's Nextdoor communicator and I was told there are no minutes.

No council member. No minutes. No invitation to the entire community.

How does what looks like a small social network meet-up remotely resemble a "community meeting" for informed decision-making? How do we know this was not an attempt to get the developers' supporters organized to begin leveraging rezoning absent honest questions? And how does the Nashville Post (self-described as "Nashville's Premier Business Publication") get away with reporting a "community meeting" where one does not seem to exist? What's to stop me from questioning the legitimacy of this meeting in any future public hearing on Salemtown Cottages after the developer tries to claim to have had it?


UPDATE:  A local Realtor's blog not only transmits the Nashville Post's bogus date for the upcoming community meeting, but also posts a screaming headline and lede that make approval for Mike Kenner's rezoning request seem like a foregone conclusion; the screenshot below:

Really? Why even bother with community meetings?!

Again, I cannot emphasize enough that a proposed "specific plan" invites community feedback and influence more than any other form of rezoning. Easy approval with no changes should not be assumed a foregone conclusion. Approval in 90 days should not be a foregone conclusion, either.


CORRECTION: The Nextdoor subscriber who communicated Mike Kenner's meeting plans emailed to say that I was wrong for placing the meeting at her house above. Instead, she says it was held at Morgan Park Community Center. Consequently, I corrected above with strikethroughs.

If by "redefining" he means "not growing any more waist-high weeds on their vacant lots" then, yes, the developers have redefined Salemtown

Journo William Williams published a puff piece for realtors a few days ago on the new development at 6th and Garfield, and he gushes that developers are "redefining Salemtown". I continue to be skeptical about Mr. Williams' grasp on our neighborhood as I have for years.

The current designs attached to his article do not look much different than those that stirred up controversy last year on the Salemtown Neighbors online discussion group. I do take solace in the fact that, now that the developer has broken ground and is laying foundations, he won't be allowing weeds to grow to ridiculous heights as had been allowed on the property in 2012.