Council Member Ryman Withdraws Challenged Ordinance

Two weeks ago during Public Hearing, one of Rip Ryman's constituents challenged him to withdraw a zoning change bill that would have allowed an assisted living facility in her neighborhood based on her claim that he told her he would if even one person opposed it. Tonight CM Ryman withdrew the bill on third reading.

The Hobbsian Quotient

According to a local mainstream daily for whom State Republican Communications Director Bill Hobbs has reportedly done some work in the past on web redesign (which, by the way, leaves a lot to be desired):

When asked how he can maintain the separation in the public’s eye between being the state GOP’s top party spokesman and having a blog that mainly opines on Tennessee politics, Hobbs gave a simple response: “When I’m working, I’m working and when I’m not, I’m not.”

Let's slow this spin down. Bill Hobbs is employed by the Republicans, which means that when he communicates for them he works. Bill Hobbs blogs on behalf of conservative causes on his personal blog as a source of income, which means that when he communicates for himself he works.

So when is he not working when he blogs?

Tonight's Another Tuesday Night Metro Council Night

The "Cat Herd" meets tonight: head 'em up and move 'em out.

Neighborhood Kids Forced to Crawl Under Trains to Catch the School Bus

If you have not done so yet, you should read P. J. Tobia's piece in last week's Nashville Scene on a South Nashville neighborhood association's fight for accountability from the CSX Corporation, which parks its trains across the one road leading in and out of the community. CSX has caused some fairly deadly problems, according to Tobia's report.

21 Council Members Co-Sponsor Request for Senate to Pass Pro-Union Legislation

The Employee Free Choice Act, which would allow employees to form a union based on a majority of signed cards rather than an employer-favored secret ballot, has passed the U.S. House (Tennessee's Democratic delegation voted for it; the Republicans all voted against it), but it is hung up in the U.S. Senate, where it will probably die for lack of votes to end debate. The White House has already said that it will veto the bill should the Senate pass it.

Nonetheless, Metro Council is sending a request to U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker to vote for the Employee Fee Choice Act, which would also stiffen penalties for violating worker freedoms.

Here are the co-sponsors:

Rip Ryman
Lonnell Matthews
Vivian Wilhoite
Edith Taylor Langster
Darren Jernigan
Jerry Maynard
Walter Hunt
Bo Mitchell
Mike Jameson
Greg Adkins
Buddy Baker
Sean McGuire
Sam Coleman
Jason Holleman
Lonnell Matthews
Sandra Moore
Erik Cole
Frank Harrison
Megan Barry
Parker Toler
Erica Gilmore

While tomorrow night's resolution is memorializing and without the teeth to force Congress to do anything, it is a noble gesture in light of the alarming stories like this one:

The Resolutions Most Likely to Evoke a Sermon on Sexual Abstinence from Eric Crafton at Tomorrow Night's Council Meeting

Will Mr. Crafton shoot for the hat-trick by promoting sexual abstinence on this bill tomorrow night following his pattern on two other occasions in 2007 in response to Council votes on AIDS/STD programs? I'll wager that he goes 3-for-3 and that he wastes more Council time on chasing culture-war rabbits.


UPDATE: And then, there were 4.

Freddie Fails to Fulfill the Fantasies

TPM has the stark comparison between wishful thinking and harsh reality about Freddie Thompson in the mainstream television media:

Was taking credit for the Homeland Security bill like saying he invented the internet?

Perhaps Showing that the Preds Deal Is an Inordinate Risk Favored at the Extremes?

Now they are scolding the business community itself:

One would think pushing for hockey ticket sales might also see this group and other downtown advocates talking about the upside to seeing a pro sports team in town with local ownership.

I will leave aside the irony of an anonymous column that bemoans the high number of anonymous sources to the story.

CP Analysis Offers Mayor Incentive to Offer Incentives

City Paper Reporter Richard Lawson seems to be quarter-horsing the publication's coverage of city politics through the livery; only he's narrowly focused on the pro-no-holds-barred-growth chute.

Last week we he was cheerleading untrammelled pursuit of the Nashville Predators without respect to the impact on Metro services. This week he's tying an albatross around the highly successful, yet balanced Purcell administration and he's greasing up the Dean Administration machinery for hands-off development to match the Preds deal.

Lawson quotes the mainstream media's analogue to the blogosphere's anonymous commenters--unnamed "observers," "real estate circles," and "former officials"--to suggest that, despite finishing in the top tier of economically advantaged cities, former Mayor Purcell was a closet failure at growth. In sum, Mayor Purcell's economic success had nothing to do with his economic policies. And yet, he makes observations that contradict everything else he writes this morning.

First, he writes:

The headquarters [of several corporations] came to Nashville without incentives, in a sense proving they aren't always necessary to attract companies.

So, what's the problem? That not all corporations chose Nashville? Is it realistic to expect that all corporations will come to Nashville? And is it wise to give the ones who want more incentives than naturally provided just to have them here creating black holes that suck the resources out of our communities?

Second, Lawson goes on to say that other corporations went to Williamson county because they wanted the suburbs, and still others went for totally unexplained reasons. I don't understand. How are these proof of some Purcell "slow walk," which seems to be the reporter's main allegation?

And this seeming anti-infrastructure analysis is once again plagued with the kind of obfuscation that hung over last week's Preds analysis. Please parse this multi-double-negative gem for me:

There's no telling how many prospects never showed because of the lack of incentives from the city. Nashville's economic developers may not know what lists they didn't appear on as consultants compiled information on cities.

Why does the pro-growth side always intimidate by throwing the unknown in people's faces or otherwise confusing them? Oooo, the no-telling-never. We may not know how many lists we did not appear on? Well, we also do not know whether they were not compiled or not uncompiled. But then again we do not know whether Nashville would have ranked so high had Bill Purcell not governed as he did. Double negatives cut both ways (nor neither way).

In the final analysis, CP analysis is increasingly showing itself to be unabashedly pro-development to the detriment of pro-infrastructure and balanced growth. It seems that Master Lawson would have Metro open the spigots and offer all relocating corporations the kind of sweetheart deals he favored for the Predators; even at times where we do not need them. Honestly, if we finished numero uno in multiple economic development rankings under a Mayor who constrained himself in order to pay for more unsexy, but necessary projects around the city, how much higher can we rise? Number 1+++? And can we ever be at least number 1 with crumbling sidewalks?

What may look good from the business end of the economic revolver is not always the best way to run a city of neighborhoods.

Sending a Frist Hack(er) to Teach Democracy in Iraq

I wonder if the local mainstream-media political bloggers are going to pay attention to this one: an adviser to former Senator Bill Frist who was fired for hacking into Democrats' computers has been sent to Baghdad to teach democracy to the Iraqi legislature.


UPDATE: Only one M-squared poli-blogger has paid attention to the hacker-in-Iraq story so far.

Not a Hard Choice Between Old School or Sanitized Sesame Street

The NY Times heralds the release of the "Sesame Street: Old School" DVD, but laments the loss of its grit:

People on “Sesame Street” had limited possibilities and fixed identities, and (the best part) you weren’t expected to change much. The harshness of existence was a given, and no one was proposing that numbers and letters would lead you “out” of your inner city to Elysian suburbs. Instead, “Sesame Street” suggested that learning might merely make our days more bearable, more interesting, funnier. It encouraged us, above all, to be nice to our neighbors and to cultivate the safer pleasures that take the edge off — taking baths, eating cookies, reading. Don’t tell the kids.

To expose my kid to mind-numbing "Tickle Me Elmo" or to Stevie Wonder's "Superstition"? I would be Superstitious every time:

And I wouldn't mind her watching Oscar the Grouch say "Right on!" and "Far out!" to Johnny Cash Trash singing "Nasty Dan." But then again, I am of the generation warped by the earlier versions of Sesame Street.

Media Wimps Out on Analysis of Preds Deal

From the Tennessean's breathless waste of time--in the form of the Preds countdown to (a false) deadline--to the City Paper's community-scolding, obfuscating "analysis" on why spending exponentially more on professional sport is just as good as building greenways, the local media has not taken the gloves off and pinned the details of the new Predator's deal against the glass.

We know why the CP won't do it: because their ownership is enmeshed with Predators' ownership. But this morning's Tennessean editorial is a fluffy ode to achieving the ends of keeping the Preds without any hard look at the costs of the means to get there. It's all good to the Tennessean editors, who could plausibly be angling for increased access to luxury suite space.

But at least the deal is done and we don't have to listen to any more hysterics or limp fawning beyond that which the local sports media typically gives the Preds (or the Titans, for that matter). And now the Predators can continue to fail to fill their stands in peace. The Mayor was the major hurdle. The rest of the process is window dressing.

But I am left with a question: have you bought your Predator's season tickets yet? If you support this deal in talk, Davidson County hockey fan (or are they indeed pretty much all from Williamson County?), then it's time to walk that walk.

We're stuck with the bills now, and those of us who opposed giving in and giving more than before are looking to you fan(anatic)s to pull your optimistic share of this load by buying tickets; lots and lots of tickets. And please don't stop until the Predators' lawyers start pushing in a couple of years to get the team out of this contract. Only at that point where they once again try to stampede their herd fan base by threatening to pack their pucks and leave should you stop buying tickets as fast as they can print them.

Germantown Breakfast

This morning Historic Germantown was kind enough to include me in one of their breakfast meetings to honor its volunteers and to discuss their streetscape plans. Here are several things I learned:

• The historic fire station on 4th Avenue in Germantown has been bought by the Nashville Neighborhood Alliance, and it will be their new home. Germantown's association had hoped to purchase the station for its own meeting space, but they ended up referring NNA.
• The November 13 Community Meeting hosted by Erica Gilmore to discuss Germantown's Historic Overlay was standing room only. While there were a few opponents of the overlay there, the overwhelming majority supported the proposal. Major opponents, developers Andre LeQuire (Germantown Partners) and Skip Lawrence (Lawrence Brothers) were out of town. I listened to concerns expressed that Council Member Gilmore should have deferred the overlay proposal for a definite number of meetings rather than indefinitely, which can often signify a death sentence for bills. Besides last Tuesday's meeting, Ms. Gilmore had attended 3 of 5 community meetings in the past year. The relatively uncontroversial bill looks headed for the Planning Commission next.
• Historic Germantown is working with Friends of the Nashville Farmers Market to co-ordinate future events at the Market.
• Germantown is working with Metro School Board Member George Thompson on consolidating their neighborhood into one cluster. Currently, families south of Monroe St. send their children to Eakin Elementary (Hillsboro cluster) and families north of Monroe St. send their children to Brookmeade (Hillwood cluster).
• Some Germantown Streetscape plans have met with resistance in Metro Public Works. Historic Germantown wants to replace street surface at the curbs where people park with a pervious surface for improved water run-off and soil saturation. Public Works reportedly wants them to heat stamp the existing impervious surface with decorative features rather than replacing parking surfaces altogether. A major element in the street scape plans includes planting new indigenous and heat-resistant trees along all of their thoroughfares. They also seem to be getting some foot-dragging from TDOT with plans to line the median on Rosa Parks Boulevard (formerly 8th Avenue) with trees.
• That there is an interest in coordinating work with Hope Gardens and Salemtown neighborhood associations on projects of mutual interest.

A Call from Senator Harper

State Senator Thelma Harper and I finally spoke by phone this morning about my concerns about overnight security at Bicentennial Mall. She told me that they were valid concerns and that no one, including women, should have to fear walking on state property at any time of the day or night. She told me that she was working with State Representative Mary Pruitt, the Parks Commission, and Metro Police on a solution and that we should expect to hear about it this week.

She mentioned the specific possibility that Metro might increase overnight police patrols on the streets around the Mall. I expressed the concern that the police patrols in the neighborhoods not suffer because of being stretched to include the Mall. She said that she did not believe that they would.

She added the incidental that my phone debate with Commissioner Jim Fyke left him "very agitated" and that he found me to be "antagonistic." I indicated politely to her that there were at least two sides to every story, but I kept my interpretation that I was merely being assertive with Commissioner Fyke to myself. I thanked her for her support and I came away from the phone chat feeling better about her commitment to preventing crime here than I had before. I look forward to seeing the details of the new solution.

Other Preliminary Projects in the Block Grant

While the project with the most immediate design impact involves the ID and street signs that I posted on yesterday, another project that we discussed Tuesday night that is at an even more preliminary stage is the installment of traffic calming measures, including traffic bulbs at corners, road-narrowing striping on 7th and on 4th, and cross-walk nodes with stamped, decorative elements. The designs are at a highly conceptual stage and they still have yet to be broached with Public Works, who have absolute rule over them. At issue are both slowing speeding traffic down and encouraging bypass routes of large commercial and construction trucks to Werthan and to East Germantown's cement plant around rather than through Salemtown.

Last in sequence and yet to come (because of the higher expense) is consideration of new street lighting elements at a few places around Salemtown.

Coming to Their Senses?

According to this morning's LA Times, the base is slipping:

One-third of evangelicals under 30 ... [told an evangelical research firm] that they were embarrassed to call themselves believers."

They're tired of the hard-edged politics that the Christian right has practiced in the last couple of generations," said John C. Green, senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. "They see all this division, all this anger, without a lot to show for it."

I love the smell of moderation in the morning.

Cooper Votes Against Linking War Funding to Withdrawal Timetable

Tennessee Blue Dog Democratic Congressman Jim Cooper joined 14 other House Democrats in voting against legislation linking $50 billion in funding for Iraq and Afghanistan wars to requirements that President Bush start bringing troops home within 30 days and complete troop withdrawal a little over a year from now.

What is wrong with declaring victory in Iraq and setting a timetable to bring the troops home so that the Iraqis will assume responsibility for their own mess? Our soldiers need to stop being played by this administration as stooges for private contractors and security companies like Blackwater.

HT: TPM

UPDATE: Look! Roadside bomb incidents are down. So, why can't we tug on those congressional purse strings to motivate the President to declare victory and to start bringing troops out of Iraq?

The Mayor's Offer to the Predators in a Nutshell

From NashPo:

The Mayor is willing to support a proposal which provides $3,000,000 in new resources [to the Nashville Predators] for a total of over $6,700,000 per year for five years for the operation of the arena, plus incentive payments [50% of Metro revenues] for improved performance through the efforts of the local ownership group. In exchange, we have merely requested that the local owners commit to playing hockey in Nashville for at least three years and, should their efforts be unsuccessful, reimburse the Metropolitan Government for the additional funding it provided.

It wasn't too long ago that Metro Council was full of sound and fury over funding the construction of the Symphony Hall to the tune of $5 million over 4 years (Council Member Charlie Tygard even wanted to earmark some of that money for his covetous dream of a new Bellevue Library). If this hockey agreement takes wing, I'll be curious to see how much drama we will see in Metro Council over the considerably higher cost of just convincing a hockey club to stay vs. building new public libraries (I cannot say I've ever heard of a local symphony orchestra threatening to move to another city if they do not get management fees, rent reductions, and performance incentives).

What does the Nashville Symphony have to do with the Nashville Predators? Not much, except that the pro-owners-group City Paper drew an analogy a couple of days ago between public money spent on hockey and that spent on building the Symphony Hall. But it really is an apples and oranges comparison in that the arena was funded many years ago and the Metro spending that we talk about now is extra revenues and modifications to existing contracts for the Predators. All the Symphony was getting was money to build a hall for crying out loud; it was a step-child deal compared to this fight to woo the Predators back into the bed we've made for them over and over again.

How would Nashville respond if the Symphony came back asking for re-negotiations and more money with the threat of leaving? With demands that they commit to stay 3 more years? I seriously doubt it.

Public School Opponent Addresses Cussing with Forked Tongue

First watch this video:

Outspoken public education opponent Kay Brooks defends the questioner:

Apparently, this crossed the line for some. Because McCain responded that it was an excellent question it proves that he hates women. Please. The question is valid. It could have been worded more elegantly but this is politics.

But earlier this year, Ms. Brooks took pains to warn her readers about "a profanity" in a Scene article:

The Nashville Scene is an adult publication. If you click on the link above there is no telling what sort of advertisement you'll get to see. Also there is one profanity in the piece.

Cussing is just "politics" in Clinton-hating circles, but if it comes from the Scene, it warrants a warning? The f-bomb is practically buried in the text of the Scene's long article, but almost immediately after the reader clicks on Kay Brooks' link to the YouTube video, "bitch" hits you in the face in bold letters followed a few seconds later by its clearly audible articulation.

And in fairness to the subject of the Scene article, the context of the "one profanity" is the politics between the school superintendent and an opponent. What entitles the earlier set of politics to excuse and what relegates the latter to disclaimer?

CatMac Swipes Back at Mall Manager's Lukewarm Response

The author of A Little Simplification received the same stodgy e-mail today from Bicentennial Mall Manager Mike Cole that LiberFreddio did.

She replied (and how!):

While I appreciate the effort to say SOMETHING, to provide SOME response to the many emails i know your offices have received about the reckless lack of overnight security in Bicentennial Park, the "official" response below is, indeed, no response at all. Respectfully, a regurgitation of irrelevant policy is neither helpful nor reassuring. Indeed, the only "misunderstanding" it has clarified is my apparently naive hope that the Commissioner's office would stop ignoring this issue.

Point by point, the response below indicates a resistance to assume responsibility for OVERNIGHT security in the park. No one is arguing that there is insufficient security there during the day. But the two-hour long, unobserved rape of a local resident did not occur during the day. It didn't occur during an educational program for children. It didn't occur on a well-lit path. It occurred OVERNIGHT in a part of the park that could not be seen by drive-by officers. None of the clarifications offered in the response address that.

I am grateful that the agency is "exploring possibilities" and willing to "entertain the idea" of citizen-run security. I hope any of the agencies involved in protecting Nashville's citizens will offer more specifics and a precise timeframe for when the response will include some action. Back to basics: Who will do what when to make sure that the park is safe overnight?

That is the way to hold bureaucrats responsible: demand specifics and a timeframe for securing the park. And it sure as hell didn't hurt to point to the idiocy of appealing to children's programming by day when the place is open to crimes by night.

LiberFreddio Gets Gubernatorial Responses on Mall Security; Although They are Lukewarm

Liberadio's and Salemtown's Freddie O'Connell got two responses from a previous letter requesting that State Government increase security at Bicentennial Mall. One was the standard bureaucratic two-step from Governor Phil Bredesen's office:

From: phil.bredesen@state.tn.us
Date: November 14, 2007 9:11:46 AM CST
To: tfo@alumni.brown.edu
Subject: Responding to your message
Dear Thomas,
Thank you for writing and sharing your concerns. Your comments were greatly appreciated, and I will be sure to forward your message to the Department of Environment and Conservation for review and response.
Again, thank you for taking the time to write. I hope to hear from you again on other matters of importance to you.
Warmest regards,
Phil Bredesen

The other was the smallest of stodgy steps forward from the Bicentennial Mall Manager:

From: Ask TNStateParks <Ask.TNStateParks@state.tn.us>
Date: November 14, 2007 9:17:36 AM CST
To: "Thomas F. O'Connell" <tfo@alumni.brown.edu>
Subject: Re: Public Safety in the Bicentennial Mall

We appreciate the interest in security at the Bicentennial Mall State
Park and would like to take this opportunity to provide some facts
regarding the security and operation of the park. We hope this
information will help clear up any misunderstandings that exist relative to the amount of security provided routinely by our staff at
Bicentennial Mall State Park.

1) Our staff of six, including the manager, provides security solely
at this park from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., seven days a week (the staff also provides historic and educational programming for groups, including school children and the general public).
2) Bicentennial Mall, Long Hunter and Radnor State Parks are the only parks in Nashville that have commissioned officers assigned solely to a specific park site.
3) Significant dollars have been spent recently to upgrade and assure excellent lighting in Bicentennial Mall, especially on the sidewalks inside and immediately adjacent to the park on 6th and 7th Avenues.
4) We will explore the possibility of placing emergency security *call boxes* at the park in the near future. (However, it should be noted that up until about three years ago, a public telephone was located at the site, but removed due to the extreme numbers of false alarm 911 calls received by Metro Emergency Communication Center operators. These 911 calls were *free* to the user).
5) We will also provide improved signage at the park relative to closing hours, safety reminders, etc.
6) We certainly would entertain the idea of starting a Park Watch Organization if so desired by the immediate neighbors.

In closing, we are further committed to improving the communication between our Park Ranger staff and the Metro Police Precinct responsible for this area of the city. We would hope to create a move cohesive working relationship for the betterment of all concerned.

Mike Cole, Bicentennial Mall Park Manager, may be reached by e-mail at
Michael.C.Cole@state.tn.us or by phone at 741-5280.

Wait a minute. Back up to #2. Only 3 parks in Nashville have commissioned officers? What about Park Commissioner Jim Fyke's argument to me almost two weeks ago that if we put certain security devices in some parks, we have to put them in all?! By the Commissioner's own expressed logic, Bicentennial Mall should not have any commissioned officers at all unless all of the other parks can have them, too! Or was I just being strung along two weeks ago? Hmm.

Next, let's be real clear about what Mr. Cole is promising; he is not promising more security measures like "call boxes." He is promising to study them. Why do I hear "death by committee" in that commitment? Probably because I would assume that someone somewhere in state government has probably already done some studying of security issues in state parks, including the viability of "call boxes." Isn't such a thing what we pay them for?

Finally, notice that he puts the onus for Park security right back on the neighborhoods, despite the fact that no houses that I know of actually touch the Park's edges. What is he suggesting that we do? Form patrol units to walk around Bicentennial Mall at 2:00 in the morning blocks from our homes? And who is going to walk around Bicentennial Mall at 2:00 a.m. with so many people telling us that people in the park at that time deserved to be raped or assaulted? Which of us is going to leave the relative safety of our homes to walk around a park with new signs warning people that the park is closed overnight effectively making it open to criminals overnight with no more security than a bunch of us walking through it? This guy can't be serious.

Thelma and Me

State Senator Thelma Harper continues to totally ignore my letter and follow-up phone calls to her office regarding overnight security at Bicentennial Mall. So I just sent her the following e-mail (along with a voice mail via phone):

Dear Senator Harper,

I sent the attached letter to you concerning Bicentennial Mall Safety over a month ago, and your staff has not replied. I also have called your office to follow-up on three different days since I wrote the letter. The first time time I called was Monday, October 22, and I was promised that a staff member would return my call that same day. My call was not returned. On Monday, October 29, I called a second time and I was told that the staff member who was to follow up with me had been out of the office but that person would eventually get back to me. Your office assistant did not take my phone number during that call, saying that "it was already on file." I have waited two more weeks with no response before making two phone calls to your office today. One at around 9:30 a.m. and just now at 4:30 p.m. At both times an actual person did not pick up the phone. Instead, I got a recording and the option to leave a message, which I did at 4:30 p.m.

It appears to me that your office does not care to reply to my feedback on crime on state property in your district. It appears to me that your office does not care to acknowledge one of your own constituents. I consider this issue valid enough for a proper response and I am having a hard time understanding why I cannot even seem to reach an actual staff person during normal working hours today. Please reply to this e-mail. If I don't hear something from you soon, then I intend to take a day off of work to come sit in your office until someone speaks to me about this issue.

Sincerely,
Mike Byrd

Senator Harper is about to dethrone former Metro Council Member Ludye Wallace as the most unresponsive elected official with whom I have dealt.

Architect Shows Salemtown Concepts for Streetscape Signs

The Salemtown residents advising MDHA on a $580,000 block grant for the neighborhood finally got to see a glimpse of what their future street scape might look like last night. Designers and engineers on the streetscape team introduced their first concepts to the group, which has been meeting for over two years to formulate the ideas feeding those concepts.

Traffic calming elements for various streets and intersections were considered, but perhaps the most dramatic improvements discussed were various concepts for neighborhood identity Signs and new period-looking street signs. Below I posted pictures of each concept. In each sketch, the ID sign concept appears on the left with the complimentary street name sign on the right. The ID signs would be placed at various well-trafficked nodes around the neighborhood.

In my opinion this is the best design; its stipped-down, industrial look (square post, 10' tall, 4" wide, rust-colored) has a distinctly urban feel and its vertical orientation with the chunk-iron letters jutting laterally from the post have a unique look that captures the industrial past of our neighborhood. I asked the architect whether she knew of any other neighborhoods with signs like this in Nashville. She told us that she did not, which I think is a plus. I used to think that the East End wrought iron signs were the most attractive and unique neighborhood ID signs. After seeing this design, I think the East End would be unseated if we went in this direction. There is a great picture in the sketches of what the sign could look like at 5th and Hume. I could not reproduce it clearly, but it is attractive. More practically, of all of the designs we were shown last night this stands the least chance of being tagged with graffiti.

The virtue of this design is that it captures the vertical orientation in a neighborhood that does not spread out. The blue color is striking and the arched top is classy. The architect included a 3-dimensional cotton boll design at the top, harkening to Salemtown's past history history as a neighborhood of Warioto and Werthan Cotton Mill workers. That's a cool feature. What makes this design less attractive to me is that it seems to have a rather conventional, nearly suburban design. I've seen signs like it in lots of places (including shopping centers), and it doesn't have that industrial feel of the first one. Also, this sign is much more prone to getting tagged and vandalized than a more minimalist design. We asked the architect to bring back a variation of this that was more scaled back. The group also asked her to transpose the cotton boll on to the rust-color pole in the design above.

This design with a wrap-around name plate is shorter than the first two and it is obviously more horizontally and less vertically oriented. While it is more unconventional than my #2, its lack of that industrial, urban feel is its primary drawback in my mind. The cotton boll is present, but the scrolling effect doesn't really fit the feel of this downtown-proximate neighborhood, in my opinion. I like the design, just not enough in the context that it is intended to supplant either my #1 or my #2. I also have concerns that the sheet metal name plate would be readily vandalized.


This is another great design that I just don't see working in Salemtown. The banner look is classic. The banner-sign would be sheet metal and it would depict a old picture of Werthan above the Salemtown name. My only real objection to it is that it would be one of the more damaged of all the signs in a short period of time. I watch the teens around the neighborhood pass by traffic signs and jump up and slap them or bounce balls off of them as they walk by. The banner-sign looks too much like a hoops backboard for the kids to resist the temptation. It just doesn't fit practically, in my opinion. It also lacks that industrial feel.

The advisory group asked the architect to to come back with variations of the first two concepts for consideration at our December meeting.

Any thoughts on these sign concepts?

Veto Override Helped New Orleans Masses with Their Stormwater Control Issues

The barely impugned congressional override of President Bush's veto of the Water Resources Redevelopment Act will help Gulf Coast residents reclaim and protect their communities from stormwater issues. According to Facing South:

The first congressional veto override in President Bush's seven-year term is especially welcome news in Louisiana, which is set to receive almost 30 percent of the $23 billion allotted by the Water Resources Development Act.

According to an analysis published in today's New Orleans Times-Picayune, the legislation gives the state $6.9 billion -- including $1.9 billion for Louisiana coastal restoration projects and $986 million for hurricane protection work. The measure also includes money for closing the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet and for creating a Coastal Louisiana Ecosystem Protection and Restoration Task Force, among other things.

But maybe the New Orleans masses are not demanding floodwater control. Maybe they believe like the Tennessee Republican Party's Communications Director that stormwater can resolve itself. And maybe untoppable levees will someday simply spring from the arses of Army Corps engineers.

"Lazy" Freddie Down on Light Trading

WaPo's Politics blog handicaps Fred Thompson's bid for the White House this morning:

[T]he overall trajectory of Thompson's campaign -- as judged via polling -- is downward. It's clear the initial fervor and excitement over the TV-star-turned politician has worn off and voters have not flocked to Thompson as many people expected.

The problem for Thompson is that there isn't an obvious way to turn this narrative around. He is not a flashy campaigner and his fundamental message -- competent conservatism -- isn't the sort of thing that builds a grassroots movement.

I guess last weekend's CMA appearance wasn't the ballast Mr. Thompson had hoped.

Water Has This Republican's Head Spinning

A day after arguing for limited government on stormwater run-off, Tennessee's Republican Mouthpiece, Bill Hobbs argued that Governor Phil Bredesen should expand government to help small communities with their water systems.

If Mr. Hobbs had bothered to attend the same Metro Water meeting that I did perhaps he would have learned that stormwater run-off is the first step in the water treatment process in many Tennessee communities. He also might have seen that how it gets controlled affects both the collection and the cleanliness of a community's water supply. Therefore, calling for upgrades to many Tennessee water systems includes controlling run-off.

But controlling stormwater does not neatly fit his party's storyline against Gov. Bredesen like upgrading some water systems does. Or perhaps this Republican only advocates government expansion that puts his party in the best tactical position to attack Democrats in office.

The real problem with the Governor's response is its condescending tone:

I’ve got to ask people in these communities, you kind of got to step up and do what you’re suppose to do in the Tennessee system of government here, and not just wait until everything falls apart and come saying you’ve got to fix it for me.

It seems to me that--in a situation that calls for responses akin to, "We're all Tennesseans, and we're all in this together"--the Governor talks about the communities that he is governing as if they are aliens or outlanders.


UPDATE: There is one more reply that Bill Hobbs made to my post on stormwater run-off that I will not let slide by. He commented to VV:

As far as I can recall, the masses were not demanding that stormwater be controlled.

He must not be able to recall very far:

The marked disparity in public services and infrastructure was a continual complaint in the barrios of San Antonio. Colonia residents suffered due to inadequate storm drains, flooded streets, and, in the worst cases, the loss of property. Residents became landlocked during major storms, unable to travel to work and school or to access emergency services. [Industrial Areas Foundation] ... worked in community whose indigenous leadership increasingly demanded that city government address the crisis of inadequate infrastructure .... IAF activities coalesced on the key issue of annual flooding and the lack of a stormwater drainage system. The convergence of IAF organizing efforts and a nonexistent storm system led to the creation of a new social movement, Community Organized for Political Service (COPS).

I bet that San Antonio is not the only place where the masses identify stormwater run-off issues and perhaps not the only place where masses mobilize their anger about it into social movements.

Two Faces on One Paper

So which is it?

Do they loath high culture? ("Let them eat Brie")

Or do they long for high culture? ("...the clichéd faux neo-Georgian center design..." and "...taupey brown brick....should yield an elegant yet modern structure")

Looks like both.

A Neighborhood Web Forum: Nice in Theory, but Impractical and Perhaps Counterproductive in S-town

While it has only been 6 months since the Salemtown web forum got up and running, my belief is that it is an ineffective tool for communicating between neighbors. The web forum--in which registered members post comments, questions, and responses on various subjects based on increasing levels of security--was a great idea in principle, and it started off strong. But over time it fell into disuse.

And for me that disuse became a self-perpetuating cycle of waning interest that fed further disuse. Just browsing the various topics in the web forum index today indicates to me that the web forum is dying. The bulk of the postings occur in May and June right after the web forum stared. The posts begin dropping drastically in July and tail off farther in August. There are only two September posts and the last one occurred on September 9. So, we've gone two months now without a single post to Salemtown web forum. It seems to be a shell of what it was intended.

Here are the reasons for the forum's fade in my mind:

1. Besides those with computer savvy, people are more reliant on e-mail than on web forums for on-line communications. Web forums are an extra step for which busy people do not feel a need.
2. There are only 25 members; the critical mass of techno-geeks and organizing types needed to make a community web forum operate daily is even smaller. Hence, less of a chance for success.
3. On-line forums amplify the cascading effect of noncommunication: when people stop posting I stop reading and the chances I might post in the future decrease. That's one less poster for others to read; then others stop reading and visiting to find out if there is anything to read. Thus, the web forum drops off the radar as an important source of information.
4. General apathy for communication and work with neighbors (true of every medium).
5. Web forums are rationalized and become a crutch for face-to-face meetings. Then they become a gateway (or backdoor?) toward absence from community.

Number 5 is the counterproductive effect of web forums. I want to expound on that one.

It really does become too easy to be captivated by the technology and to convince ourselves that the on-line community is no different than gathering in the same room (or on the same lawn) face-to-face. And the rationale of convenience kicks in, because why should we ever leave our homes when we can meet on-line?

But so much is lost in interpersonal and nonverbal communications by relying merely on web forums (and on e-mail). There is so much more to see and to hear and to interpret in gatherings intended to define a common purpose that on-line communications are mere shadows of effective conversation, dialogue, and even debate. Those unwritten and unposted dynamics are the lifeblood of groups and organizations. Overused emoticons are a pale and sterile imitation of the bonding and purpose forged in human interaction.

So, my short experience with the Salemtown web forum is that it has not lived up to its promise and I actually judge it to be an obstacle to rather than a tool for facilitating greater community. Perhaps if we had a stronger sense of community and purpose first, then it could have been a significant tool rather than the empty shell it has become.

East Tennessee "Lifestyles"

The famous liberal R. Neal picks up a salacious story from a Texas paper of an East Tennessee defense contractor's employee literally sleeping with an Army Captain and Contracting Officer who allegedly told him, "Give me the money from that contract or don't touch me." Sounds like no bid with lots of bed.

Speaking of lifestyle, developers to our east are bidding to bring Orlando to the Great Smokies by building a 4,500 "lifestyle resort" (and the 1 million square feet of retail space that goes with) next to it. No word if anyone had sex with anyone else to bring this deal about, but I would bet that the developers are jockeying for "incentives" from local, state, and federal governments.

Recommendation to Hope Gardens Association to Leverage Overnight Security in Park

A friend in Hope Gardens tells me that he has recommended to his neighborhood association's Executive Board that they work with other North End groups to encourage the state to do more to secure Bicentennial Mall overnight.

Straw Man Makes CP Analysis a Straw Dog

This is a total exaggeration of the opposition to further subsidizing the most subsidized hockey club in the NHL even as that club cannot turn out enough fans to sell out its matches. Some do oppose subsidizing pro sports altogether; others oppose the degree to which we subsidize pro sports. I am an ardent opponent of the latest attempt to throw money at the Predators, yet I don't oppose financial incentives altogether (as Lawson's hyperbole suggests), and I have supported subsidizing deals with pro teams in the past (case in point: the Nashville Sounds).

This "analysis" makes it sound like the opponents are monolithic high-brow hypocrites who generally hate sports. It amounts to nothing more than the typical bombastic CP editorializing that attempts to oversimplify and to drive wedges. But the CP has a financial interest, given that the publishers are minority Predators owners who stand to gain by such an analysis. That's a detail that Lawson leaves out of his bum rush. You never really expected them to oppose throwing more Metro money at hockey did you?

After the free-love fest for sports teams of the Bredesen years, let's just call Bill Purcell's mayoral terms a market correction that kept more money in the public sector repairing sidewalks and streets. It need not be as irrational as Lawson implies. And if the local hockey club cannot make good on the sweetheart deal it has already been given and cannot even fill up its stands with all of those supporters of sweetheart deals for pro teams, then let them go.

And I would expect no less of the Nashville Symphony. If they don't like their subsidies, then they can move to Kansas City, too.

Conservative Election Pundits Jump the Shark

Or perhaps it could be characterized as grasping at straws.

"Patriotism" of Buying is Waning in Real Estate

On getting your own home:

Nobody knows where we are on the curve .... It could be a little bit cheaper now or it could be getting cheaper for the next five or six years. You really don't know.

Must Adapt to Service the Culture

Assimilated. Resistance proved to be futile. Independence is irrelevant to adaptation to the hive mind.

In the Gutters

It's fall, which means that it is officially gutter cleaning time, which means I have to get out my 30-foot ladder to propel my body up to a high pitched roof in order to protect my home and foundation from damaging rainwater overspills, which means I have to risk falling, being crushed by the ladder, and related major injuries.

Or I'm thinking this year that I should call one of those bonded and insured window-washing outfits that also cleans out gutters.

Or maybe I should just wash the windows myself and get one of these for the gutters. I wonder if they work as well as iRobot claims.

Feedback (other than, "Real men risk a body cast in order slay leaf clogs.") if you please.

"Mr. Mom Duty" is So 1980s

I would never buck against the sheer force of the mommy-blogging phenomenon, but the Tennessean's Official Mommy Blogger is not giving 21st Century Daddy's their due in referring to the "Mr. Mom" stereotype to describe her husband. While it may be exceptional for Mr. Emily Hartley to do some chores that bring up baby, some men-folk have been doing those things consistently for a number of years. Some of us are even stay-at-home-dads who do the primary child-raising, as unsexy as that may seem.

"Mr. Mom" is a quaint, period-piece movie, but it is about as relevant today as Betamax or Gary Collins' unease.


UPDATE: A couple of days ago a Wall Street Journal reporter showed herself to be less regressive in writing about nurturing dads than the Tennessean Mommy Blogger above:

For years, the stay-at-home dad has been treated as a cultural oddity, an ill-at-ease comic hero who can't wait to don pinstripes again and get back to the office.

Interviews with men who stayed home with their children for several years, and are now looking back on it, paint a different picture. While much attention has been paid to at-home mothers who opt out of the corporate rat race for good, many at-home dads are quietly doing the same thing -- finding flexible alternative work. And while the adjustment can be rough, some of these men discover at-home parenting marks a permanent turning point toward better life balance.

And it's not all sexiness:

At-home dads often pay an even higher career price than moms. After dropping out in 2001 for what he thought would be 18 months caring for his son, Eric Sonntag, a former magazine-circulation director, found returning to work so difficult that he had to job-hunt for two years, then take a 20% pay cut. Staying home "set my career back half a decade," says the Forest Hills, N.Y., father. He was "looked at askance" by many hiring managers, he says. When he explained what he had been doing, some asked disdainfully, "What else did you do?"

One reason men get Daddy-tracked, of course, is prejudice. In a 2003 study at Wake Forest University, 242 college students were shown mock personnel files of mothers and fathers who had taken leave for family reasons, plus others who hadn't. Asked how likely each employee was to be a good team player, such as helping co-workers with tasks, the students rated men who had taken leave lower than other employees. Male raters were especially biased, scoring leave-taking dads lower on the likelihood of being punctual and available to work overtime. Taking leave made no difference in how female employees were rated.

Something I've Never Experienced in Salemtown

In over 3 years of living in the North End I've seen quite a bit, but I've never had the pleasure of actually seeing a community meeting with our Metro Council Member. Apparently that is about to change. Recently elected District 19 Council Member Erica Gilmore told me yesterday morning when we passed at Fido that she will be meeting with Salemtown soon to talk about our issues and concerns in District 19. That is a strong-from-the-gate start.

LiberFreddio Writes to State and Local Officials on Behalf of Bicentennial Mall Security

Liberadio's Freddie O'Connell, who is also one of my neighbors, writes his own letter asking that State Parks do more to provide overnight security at Bicentennial Mall. Here is Freddie in his own effective words:

As a new resident and homeowner in Salemtown, with a view almost in site of our state capitol, I'm alarmed at a recent crime (a terrible rape) that occurred in the Bicentennial Mall, and I'm even more alarmed at the response, which seems to be, collectively: too bad.

I'm aware that I moved into the Nashville council district that has the highest rate of violent crime (including rape), and I'm aware that the Bicentennial Mall is also located in this area. I've been delighted to begin participating in the Salemtown Neighbors neighborhood association and have already benefitted from the increased awareness of safety efforts in our area with the help of Metro police who authorize the attendance of a Community Affairs Officer to our meetings. I know our community finds the crime rate unacceptable and continues to look to partner with each other, as well as state and local officials to work to bring the crime rate down.

I also live and share a life with a young woman who attends Meharry Medical College, the principle reason we began looking into residences in the North End. The Bicentennial Mall lies squarely between us and downtown Nashville. It's distressing to think that it could become an after-hours haven for predators who could easily prey on passers-by the urban park in the night. My concern for my girlfriend's safety (and my own) was already somewhat high when we made our decision to move to Salemtown because neither of us own or have regular access to a car. We rely on mass transit and our own bike/ped solutions to get around the city. If we have no safe routes to the heart of our city after sunset, that's a problem.

I never would've guessed that the state response to concerned citizens would involve all sorts of hemming, hawing, and stonewalling when the truth of the matter seems to be: we don't have the resources. Worse, part of the response seems to have been couched in terms of not getting enough complaints. Isn't a single life-shattering crime a complaint implicitly vigorous enough to merit some repsonse?

If, in fact, we don't have the resources, then that should be a straightforward response, even if not a satisfactory one. If, in fact, we don't have the resources to provide any solutions (even emergency kiosks) to the issue of an urban state park not ability to guarantee the safety even of its borders to the metropolitan residents who surround it, then a new question arises: how do we get the resources?

I am sending this to a number of state and city officials in consideration of the unusual nature of this park, which is distinctly urban and open. I gladly await an answer to my question and look forward to participating in a productive discussion about how I can be helpful in working toward an effective answer.

Thanks to all for your time and service.

2007 Elections: Voters Look Bluer and Want Their Services

Stateline has the nationwide round-up on the November 6 elections, which showed Democrats gaining and suggested higher demand for services, but without the bite-the-bullet will to raise taxes to pay for those services. Is this an indication that placing every single tax increase directly in the hands of voters is unrealistic, since generally no one will vote to raise their own taxes to pay for the government services they have come to expect?

That conundrum presents itself here in Nashville, even without an election this week. I attended the Metro Water Services/Metro Council Stormwater Community Meeting a couple of nights ago in MetroCenter. The purpose of the meeting was generally to have Metro Water explain the current state of stormwater services to people and to field questions on their way to a February 2008 report and plan that they are required to submit to Metro Council. While they took notes and offered response on specific problems that people mentioned, my impression of the meetings is that they were not necessarily intended to get strategic ideas on comprehensive stormwater plans. It was mainly intended to be informative and to sober Nashvillians up.

And the information was sobering. Metro Water leaders made it clear that demand for stormwater services has been exponentially outpacing funding for several years, and outstripping demand only continues to trend up. Nashville does not have the luxury of doing nothing because if conditions are allowed to erode (so to speak), then they face federal fines that only compound over time. So, they are forced to improve water run-off conditions, but their back-log grows while they are nickeled-and-dimed by superfluous requirements like having to pay the Tennessee Titans 4 million dollars per year for the next 30 years.

It would be a wonderful world if services like controlling stormwater descended from heaven like manna without a price tag, but such is not our world. One wonders how long we can go on demanding blue services at a red borrow-and-spend clip.

CatMac Contacts the Governor and the Mayor and Others about Bicentennial Mall Security

After getting no where with State Parks, Divine Ms. Mac goes straight to the top--or the tops--writing a letter (which she forwarded to me) to Governor Phil Bredesen, Mayor Karl Dean, and assorted other leaders. Here is an exerpt of the letter I wish I would have written to the Collective Hizzoner:

While I understand the bureaucratic status quo that can be used to
weave the carpet under which the Commissioner's office is sweeping
this event, some very simple conditions make this particular park
unique:

1. Bicentennial park is an expansive green space between a commercial district and a residential one. It is common sense, then, that residents will walk through the park, both in the day and at night.
2. Because the park is designed to be walked through, car-patrols are necessarily limited and inadequate in securing the park.
3. Because the park includes traversing local roads, it is impossible to secure the state-run areas separately from the local ones.
4. Because the park is situated in the district with the highest number of violent crimes last year, it is reasonable to assume that the park is, itself, in a more dangerous context and demanding of special protections.
5. No one, no where, in our parks, our cities, or our state, should be able to be raped for over two hours without someone noticing.

Greenspaces in urban areas are necessary for residential life, for livable conditions and downtown vibrancy. These are all good things, and essential to Nashville's sustainable growth. But urban
greenspaces also require the thoughtful cooperation of state and
local agencies to make sure that they are uniquely responsive to the
challenges of urban siting.

I have been told by the Governor's office that it's up to the
Commissioner to decide whether or not to increase patrols.
I have been told by our local police that the park areas can't be
patrolled on foot because they're state-operated.
I have been told by Commissioner Fyke's office that they lack the
resources to provide overnight patrolling to the parks.
In an exceptionally offensive remark, I have also been told by the
Commissioner's office that I probably wouldn't be all that upset
about this if it didn't happen in my neighborhood.

That logic is reckless, and indicative of a mindset that allows
handing off our collective responsibility to whatever government
agency is "officially" responsible. I urge you, as public officials,
to stop handing off the responsibility to respond and to model,
instead, a government that can, and should, work together to make
sure that our cities, our parks, and most importantly, our residents
are safe.

Amen, sister. Amen.

Parks Commission Gives Another Concerned Citizen a Cold Reception on Bicentennial Mall Security

A Little Simplification tried to exercise a little persuasion with the State Parks Commission about Bicentennial Mall overnight security and got about the same treatment that I got, except this time from a guy far down the command and control ladder. At least I got brushed off by the Big Cheese. The latest surrogate made lots of excuses and blamed anybody else until he got around to admitting that the real issue affecting park security is the lack of revenues to secure Bicentennial Mall at night.

If you have contacted the State Parks or any other government official on this issue and have a story to share, put it to me and I'll put it on Enclave. For those of you concerned about overnight security at state parks who have not contacted a state official to express your concerns: what are you waiting for? They obviously aren't going to make the parks safer after midnight on their own accord. They need some outside encouragement.

If Accessible, Then Open

CatMac is miffed by State Park Commissioner Jim Fyke's dismissive response to expressed concerns about a rape at Bicentennial Mall:

A public park situated in a high crime urban setting requires common sense protection. A public park situated in the district with the highest number of rapes last year demands it. A posted sign that says that the park closes at dark is recklessly insufficient.

If the park is accessible, the park is open. I wonder how many rapes need to occur in the Bicentennial Mall before Mr. Fyke feels they warrant his response?

Last night I updated the post on my telephone exchange with Mr. Fyke with the following contact information should any reader choose to express their concern as well:

Jim Fyke (Parks Commissioner)--(615) 532-0109
State Senator Thelma Harper--(615) 741-2453
State Representative Mary Pruitt--(615) 741-3853

Hillsboro-West End Neighborhood Association Sues Metro

Neighborhood leaders cite concerns that a new teacher training center at Eakin Elementary will increase automobile traffic. They also argue that the plan should have gone to Metro Council for approval before construction started.

Werthan Developer Reports Fire Caused by Lightning

Aaron White, Chief Manager of Phase IV of the Werthan Loft Development tells HistoricGermantown:

As you have probably heard, there was a fire last night in the Phase IV section of Werthan which is under construction. The Fire Department believes the fire was caused by lightning, and because the sprinkler system is not yet operational, it burned for a bit before it was extinguished. It seems that only 2 units have extensive fire damage, with about 10 others sustaining some water damage. So with a total 120 units, the fire was fairly contained and did not affect a majority of the construction site. Any effect on the delivery timeline is still being assessed, but it is possible that most of the units will remain on schedule. The buyers of the 2 damaged units have been notified.

No completed or occupied portions of Werthan were damaged, and had the fire sprinkler system been completed for occupancy, damage would have been minimal.

With delivery of Phase IV, (Delivering February 2008) an operational fire sprinkler will be in place throughout the balance of the unoccupied portions of the building including all of the Phase V. areas.

Wallace and Summers Lurking about Council Tonight

I spotted former District 19 Council Member Ludye Wallace in the gallery during tonight's meeting. I've heard that he has been attending other meetings. He does not seem to want to bow out gracefully. It really is bad form to show up. He needs to give his successor, Erica Gilmore, more respect by staying away for a few months until she gets into the rhythm of being Council Member. He's like a shadow hanging over these proceedings. Someone needs to tell him that absence makes the heart grow fonder.

I also saw former Sylvan Park lightning rod John Summers, who at least had some reason beyond back-slapping to be there: he was speaking in favor of--get this--a car wash rezoning bill. That's right. The same John Summers who assisted in defeating last session's car wash exemption bill was speaking up for the same developer on a different car wash rezoning bill. Mr. Summers said that the car wash developer sat down with residents, and together they came up with an alternative site for building the wash.

However, when Mr. Summers made a reference to the old bill at the microphone, Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors stopped him quick and told him to stay on the bill currently before the session. He argued with her a bit, but he backed down and stayed within his allotted time to speak.

Dedicated to State Senator Thelma Harper: "I Might As Well Go Up and Talk to a Wall"

Because I cannot get a reply to my letter and follow-up phone calls to my State Senator, I am reminded of a popular song from my college daze that I dedicate to her office's unresponsiveness:

Stanley Tries to Represent; Tygard Bullies for Developer

District 14 Council Member Bruce Stanley, who beat controversial former member Harold White, tried to introduce a bill on first reading tonight that would have repealed one of Mr. White's more notorious ordinances that permits the expansion of a one-story office building in a low-level residential neighborhood to a three-story medical center. Mr. Stanley argued that Mr. White did not listen to the "hundreds" of area residents who contacted him during and after the campaign to express the preference that the expansion approval be repealed.

"At-Large" Member Charlie Tygard pulled the bill out for debate against the community and on behalf of the property owner and he--of all people--charged that Mr. Stanley was being unethical for introducing the bill without telling that owner. He also told the Council that Mr. Stanley had not yet had any community meetings on the issue. Mr. Tygard failed to acknowledge that Mr. White's opponents indicated in Public Hearing that he didn't hold any community meetings before the second reading. Mr. Tygard also failed to acknowledge that Mr. White did little to publicize his promised community meeting in May to residents of the affected neighborhood, and then he allegedly broke his promise to get the owner and the affected residents together to compromise by telling the group at the community meeting that no negotiation between the two sides was going to be allowed.

After the Metro Council Advisor told the Council that there was a chance that courts could find in favor of owner if he was significantly vested in the new project, the Council voted to deny Mr. Stanley first reading of his bill (to her credit, District 19 Council Member, Erica Gilmore, voted to approve).

Indeed, it may be too late for the neighborhood to stop this expansion thanks to the last Council's unwillingness to listen to the affected residents and its undeliberated haste to side with Harold White, J.B. Loring, and the Medical Center developer. Sometimes we get screwed by our elected officials and there is not a lot we can do about it. But the actions around Bruce Stanley's attempt to make right a past wrong represent the opening lines of a litmus test I have for this Council.

Are they going to move to reform the unethical actions of the past Councils or will they avoid amelioration altogether? Charlie Tygard made it clear that he intends to be the same development/growth/business-friendly representative he was in the last session. The fact that he would pull this off of the consent agenda when first reading bills usually pass without debate (so that the committees can begin deliberations) shows that he is not going to change, and we cannot expect him to speak up for those of us not in Nashville's commercial elite.

Given the legal complexities of this bill, it would be premature to judge the members on this one vote, but at least some of them seem to have well-intentioned motives: representing all the people in the district or the entire city (the other at-Large Members joined Tygard in voting against) rather than just the special interests. We shall continue to watch to see whether others--outside of Mr. Tygard--will also step up to that line to lead Council to a better way.

BREAKING NEWS: Congress Finally Stands Up to George W. Bush

It is definitely a man-bites-dog story when the House of Representatives votes to override a Bush veto. We'll see if they can sprout any more vertebrae in that tiny backbone of theirs.

Council Member Rip Ryman Challenged by Constituent During Public Hearing

A number of property owners and residents showed up to tonight's Council Public Hearing to speak against a bill that ostensibly would allow an assisted living facility on Old Dickerson Pike if the funding is in place. If it is not in place the zoning could reportedly allow duplexes and multi-family dwellings that opponents argued are out of character for their neighborhood.

The last opponent to be heard said that she went to Mr. Ryman's house on Halloween night in order to speak with him about the zoning change. She also said that Mr. Ryman told her that night that if one person opposed the bill he would not move for approval. She then turned to Mr. Ryman and asked, "Please keep your word."

Mr. Ryman then moved for approval with the explanation that no one has shown up to previous community meetings to oppose the bill and that another community meeting would be held on November 16. Council voted to approve on second reading.

Tonight's Another Tuesday Night Metro Council Night

The "Cat Herd" meets tonight: head 'em up and move 'em out.

Another Way of Saying that the Local Sports Media Usually Gives Him a Pass Instead of Asking Him Tough Questions?

Did I understand the announcer of Sunday's broadcast of the Titans-Panthers game--as it approached its end--to say of Coach Jeff Fisher that he works in a city that is neither large nor small and that he is able to "fly under the radar," thus evading negative press?

My Question: Why Were Private Mining Corporations Ever Allowed to Take Precious Minerals Out of Public Lands for Free?

Congress ends the giveaway of precious metals mined from public lands by private companies. Everybody knows that you don't get something for nothing.

Three Alarm Fire at Werthan Lofts Tonight

The Tennessean is reporting that a three-alarm fire broke out on the second and third floors of the under-construction phase of Werthan Lofts at 8:00 tonight. Firefighters report that it is too early in the investigation to attribute a cause of the blaze. News 2 seemed to suggest at 10:00 that lightning was the cause, but the Tennessean seems to report that construction crews were renovating at the time.

Either one could have plauisbly been the cause, but if it was lightning, I sure don't remember a huge, house-rattling boom during that time period. We've had lightning hit in or close to Salemtown before and it is without a doubt startling and memorable.


UPDATE: Last night's News 2 lede (stamped at 10:48) is up. They erroneously refer to Werthan Lofts as "apartments" in the title.

Blogger Challenges Method of "Dropout Factories" Hopkins Study

This education blogger underscores the flaws in research methods of the widely publicized Johns Hopkins study that, among other conclusions, declared 8 Nashville public schools to be "Dropout Factories." He also links two other bloggers who graduated from declared "Dropout Factories," who respond to the study.

Bicentennial Mall Safety: A Reply from Pruitt; An Unproductive Phone Call from the State Park Commissioner

After weeks of waiting, I finally heard back from my State Representative, Mary Pruitt, about my concerns over safety at Bicentennial Mall in the wake of a September rape. She said that she asked Park Commissioner Jim Fyke to call me with his suggestions on how the State was going to respond. She also said that she had been working on this issue with other government officials.

When Mr. Fyke called me he seemed to have no suggestions or ideas for doing anything differently, which to my surprise was a response consistent with his Tennessean editorial a few weeks ago. While he asked me what I thought his office should do, the phone call quickly degenerated into me throwing out ideas so that he could shoot them down. I don't know if the Commissioner shoots skeet, but I felt like a clay pigeon at every turn.

His main reason for rebuffing any suggestion that the State should do more to enhance overnight security (you'll remember that the park is unattended and unmonitored from 11:30 pm to 7:00 am) was that if they have to supply one park with preventative services or resources, then they have to do so for every park in the state.

I argued that his unwillingness to do anything to help prevent crime on the Mall puts neighbors like me in greater danger if, for instance, I happen to be driving through the park on my way home at 2:00 in the morning, break down there, and then cut across the Mall to reach a public phone on Rosa Parks Blvd. (formerly 8th Av). He maintained that if I was assaulted in the scenario it was the responsibility of the Metro Police to respond since my car was on the street. I had to repeat to him the part about short-cutting across the Mall to reach a pay phone.

When I pointed out that no changes mean that the Bicentennial Mall would be considered an unsafe no-man's land in the early morning hours, he snapped, "Our parks are safe!" I shot back that they weren't safe in the case of the woman who got raped, which itself gives me second thoughts about even risking driving through it after midnight. He responded that this was only 1 rape in the last 10 years. I replied, "So, what are you saying? That it was statistically insignificant?" he denied saying that the rape was insignificant.

I asked him how many people would have to be raped before the problem became significant enough to warrant a change in overnight security measures. He told me that as far as he knew I was the only one who had concerns about overnight security at Bicentennial Mall. He said that no one else was complaining to him about it, so others must be satisfied with park management. I wondered out loud whether he would be as hesitant to change if the rape victim had been a relative or friend of his.

One of the things that I tried to iterate to Mr. Fyke was that I did not believe that staffing rangers all night at the park was necessarily the answer. I suggested a phone kiosk or security camera as a couple of ideas that came immediately to my mind. (I had to explain to him what I meant by an "emergency kiosk," which seems odd to me given that he is the professional vested with the security of our public spaces). He took two shots at the kiosk. First, he asked rhetorically, "And what if the phone gets continually ripped out." The answer seemed pretty self-evident to me: "You replace it." I asked, "When a police officer gets killed in the line of duty, do we sit around and ask what we should do next? Don't we hire another police officer to replace the deceased one?" Geez. Is it any harder to repair vandalism?

Second, he asked, "So, are we supposed to put phones in big parks like Warner, too?" I suggested to him that hopefully he works with the neighbors around Warner to come up with the best solutions to fit their particular concerns in their unique context rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach to security. If I would have had the presence of mind through my frustration I would have asked him rhetorically, "Does Warner have a fountain monument to Tennessee Rivers that kids can play in exactly like Bicentennial Mall does? Why not, if every service has to be the same in each park?"

The one other argument that I remember Mr. Fyke making was the Metro Parks don't so have the preventative services that I was asking of his department. I countered that I know first hand that there are a number of residents who live around Morgan Park who keep an eye on it and--through the Neighborhood Watches--act as an extension of the police. I told him that Bicentennial Mall had no established neighborhoods that came close to its edges, and thus, the state did not have the same security luxuries that the Metro Police do around many Metro Parks. I find it absolutely unconscionable that we have urban parks that are not being watched or secured in some way in the middle of the night.

Mr. Fyke practically ended the phone call by saying that he was keeping his word to Ms. Pruitt to call me and that he would reply to her that "we had talked" just as he promised her that we would. That came across to me as patronizing just as his Tennessean editorial had come off as cavalier. It was clear to me that "after 40 years working in parks" he has already made up his mind about the conditions of the parks in his charge and he was never seriously entertaining the notion of considering any other perspective that changed the status quo.

That exchange could have gone better. I will follow up with Rep. Pruitt and I continue to wait for Senator Thelma Harper's staff to respond after a letter and a couple of follow-up phone calls.


UPDATE: Commenter CMcT asks below that I post contact numbers so that folks can show the state that a few more people than myself are concerned about Bicentennial Mall safety.

Those numbers are: Jim Fyke (Parks Commissioner)--(615) 532-0109; State Senator Thelma Harper--(615) 741-2453; State Representative Mary Pruitt--(615) 741-3853


UPDATE: CatMac finds the new "open-closed" signs are unlit and post the erroneous hours. Your tax dollars at work.

Someone Once Said That the Spring Hill Utopia Could Be a Mirage

Time and the shrinking state budget will tell whether the Spring Hill Mayor is using a little hocus pocus and smoke and mirrors or whether the utopian vision of a land without taxes can ever exist on this side of glory, let alone on the far side of Williamson County.

- - S-townMike (July 2005)

The chickens are coming home to roost for fabled Spring Hill, a proverbial city on a hill for those who mythically argued that its repeal of property taxes are the reason why Nashville is purportedly hemorrhaging people to the Williamson County hinterlands. The Spring Hill mirage stood on a tripod: sales taxes, fees exacted on housing development (taxes by another name?) and state-shared revenues (taxes in name paid by the rest of us). Pressing down on that tripod was rapid and apparently poorly managed growth along with the slowing job market.

One of the events the anti-tax utopians either never saw coming or willfully ignored was the national slowdown in the housing market, which knocked out the development fees and buckled the sales taxes. Now Spring Hill managers are scrambling to figure out how to cut services that are in higher demand thanks to growth instead of finding new revenue streams to pay for them. It looks like Spring Hill is waking up from its dream and becoming more like the real world where the rest of us live.

Nashville Ranks Lower in Categories Residentially Relevant in T+L Survey

In a Travel+Leisure survey of visitors and residents of 25 different cities around the country, Nashville rankings were mixed. The highest Nashville ranking occurred in the "Live Music" feature (only New Orleans and Austin ranked higher). It is no surprise that the lowest Nashville ranking was in the "Ease of Getting Around/Public Transportation" field. Our public transportation is not what it should be. We can argue until the cows come home about whether keeping a professional hockey team would make us more competitive with the truly major cities, but a more dedicated public transportation system that effectively moves large numbers of people around Nashville is much more important for our status than the seasonal presence of a hockey club.

There are other categories involving the everyday qualities of life here where both visitors and residents rank us lower. We do rank higher in "Affordability," trailing only San Antonio, Texas. We rank in the top ten in "Safety," which categorically contradicts another poll. However, we tend to rank lower in residential categories like "Environmental Awareness," "Parks/Public Spaces," "Skylines/Views," "Pedestrian-Friendliness," "Access to Outdoors," and "Notable Neighborhoods." Quality of life is not judged simply by whether or not we can get enough "Live Music" every night. There ought to be more to Nashville than that.

Otherwise, Austin, Texas is looking pretty good. They seem to rival Nashville's strengths without copying its weaknesses (except for the "Public Transportation" feature).

Survival of Those Who Can Afford Health Care Created by the Lord and It Makes Our Country Stronger

It's good to get rid of poor kids by getting rid of SCHIP expansion:

Tracking Earmarks by States and by Sponsors

Sunlight Foundation and Taxpayers for Common Sense have launched an "Earmark Tracking" website that allows the reader to see congressional earmarks by state and by sponsor. The search site welcomes earmark research contributions and comments. The Sunlight Foundation adds the moderate caveat on their website that just because a project is "earmarked" doesn't mean that it is "bad, or wasteful, or a payoff to a political contributor."

Military Bill Earmarks Benefit Corporate Donors

NY Times has the list of top defense companies receiving non-competitive earmarks in the latest defense bill. Two contractors on the list, BAE and ProLogic, are currently under federal investigation. 35 million tax dollars are earmarked to go to these two companies. Earmarks can create conflicts of interests and backroom manipulation of congressional votes.

Hopkins' "Dropout Factory" Study of High Schools May Be Outdated

Metro Nashville Public Schools maintains that the John Hopkins study that concluded that 8 Nashville Schools are "dropout factories" was based on outdated data. WPLN reports that Rutherford County schools also underscored flawed figures leading to the Hopkins conclusions. Both Davidson and Rutherford report improvement in graduation rates in some of the schools mentioned in the Hopkins study.

Ballet from the Bluff

Back from China to Rattle the Neighbors' China

Governor Bredesen's wealthy Oak Hill neighbors have no say about the bunker, but the "blasting will only last two months." Solace is a wonderful thing.

A Couple of Mil Looming on the Horizon

According to the American Prospect:

A report this month from Congress's Joint Economic Committee predicted that by the end of 2008, roughly 2 million homes with subprime mortgages will be foreclosed on.

"One man's torture is another man's CIA-sponsored swim lesson."

Do your kids need to take swim lessons? Based on conservative Rachel Marsden's comments on CNN yesterday, they'd be well taken care of at a CIA-waterboard session:

Sounds like Ms. Marsden hasn't actually gone through a waterboard lesson like this guy has. He calls it "truly horrible ... like you're going to drown." On second thought, don't let them waterboard your kids or anyone else.

Blackwater Knock-off Proximate to Knoxville?

Carole Borges waves a red flag that a $6 million "high-risk, low-profile tactical training center" is being built in East Tennessee.


Blackwater UPDATE: Why do they need smuggled silencers in Iraq?

Mayor Dean's Media Mouthpiece Dishes Up Bureaucratic Malarky

If Karl Dean's Media Spokesperson said what Larry Brinton (via VV) said she said ...

Janel Lacey, the mayor’s media spokeswoman, said she can’t talk about the fundraiser [for money to pay off some of Dean's own campaign debt] because she no longer works for the mayor’s election campaign.

... then she seems to be prevaricating, palming off, and otherwise engaged in some bureaucratic flashdance.

If the various sides of the Dean Administration are not talking to each other now, if they are not embracing accountability in the early stages, then it looks to be a long Mayoral term.