Walmart's Bungling Bundling

I recently made my first and last purchase ever on Walmart.com. After ordering a "bundled" product, I received several components of it, and then about 2 weeks ago I was sent a notice that the final part was "backordered" with no certain date of delivery. So, I didn't waste a lot of time tracking the delivery and instead waited for a signal from Walmart (which never came).

This morning I went back to track it at UPS and I discovered that three times within the last two weeks UPS--each time around 9:30 in the morning--had tried to deliver the final part. To their discredit, UPS sent the item back to Walmart yesterday without notification. Oh, their website says they snail-mailed me a postcard 7 days ago asking them to contact them. That post card will likely come in today or tomorrow's mail. Thanks, UPS!

This morning I wasted an hour of my time on the phone first with UPS, who told me that I would have to contact Walmart, and then with Walmart who basically told me that if UPS couldn't help then there was nothing that they could do. It was all BOHICA, but here is a transcript of the telling part of my debate with someone at Walmart's Mississippi Call Center:

Walmart (as the personification of the utter indifference of existence): "I'm sorry, sir, we can't redeliver the last component in the system because all of these deliveries come in a bundle."

Me (as the shit-out-of-luck consumer): "But the components were delivered to me separately; not in a bundle."

Walmart: "Your contract clearly states that the components will be delivered separately."

Me: "But I thought they were a bundle."

Walmart: "They are, which is why we can't redeliver once UPS returns for lack of delivery."

Me: "But my contract states that they may be delivered separately."

Walmart: "Not when they are in a bundle. We'll be giving you a refund."

I guess I should be thankful for the refund and ownership of some of the parts of a system that won't work without the final component.

Media Finally Dissects Racist Roots of English Only

I blogged on these racist underpinnings in early 2007. Welcome to the party, mainstream media. It didn't seem a huge leap from Crafton to Tanton back when Lord Eric was driving English Only through the Metro Council only to be later vetoed. Why didn't the journalists do some digging to connect the dots before the 12,000 signatures were secured and this thing was allowed to flower poisonous?

Cass's lede isn't getting the same dismissive attitude now from the current Southcomm blogger that I got when he was WKRN blogger. Guess it helps to be in the guild.

And in related news, the Metro lawyers may save us from English Only without a vote being cast. Might the conservative anti-tax referendum charter amendment in 2006 kill the conservative anti-immigrant English Only charter amendment in 2008? That would be karma.

Crafton to Lash Out against the Weaker Segments of Our Community Again Tonight

The Metro Council member who once brought a fee-cutting bill that would have benefitted him professionally, is tonight bringing a fee-raising bill that would punish English-challenged immigrants and put them at a distinct disadvantage if an interpreter is not available to them. Once again, Eric Crafton seems to be set on micromanaging Metro government, making service delivery more difficult for minority groups of Nashvillians, and keeping the right-wing lightning rod issue of immigration on local radar.

Tonight's Another Tuesday Night Metro Council Night

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

Bigless Rich Commandeers the Memory and Music of Cash to Serve His Own Selfish Interests

Rosanne Cash gives John Rich his comeuppance for tasteless violation of the memory of her father. Maybe Rich should stick to doing what he seems to do best: imposing on his Love Circle neighbors and hanging with Kid Rock at local strip clubs.

How Much Longer Is This Guy Going To Get a Megaphone?

Southcomm reporter extends his personal war in print against neighborhoods, the Planning Commission, and anyone else who stands in the way of his obsessed mission to whip popular opinion against true conservation of Bells Bend and for sprawl and uneven, car-culture growth.

Rex Puts on White Coat, Goes Double Blind, and Accuses Commissioners of Not Being "Empirical"

Richard Lawson surfaced again this week in all the chicken-hearted pseudonymity of "Rex and the City" accusing the Planning Commission with making its Bells Bend decision based on economic development rather than land use reasoning. The Chatterbox failed to mention that the entire case made against the Scottsboro/Bells Bend neighborhood plan and for the Planning Department's alternative (which would all but assured wins for May Town Center) used economic development as the lure for Planning to vote their way.

So, it's perfectly fine in Lawson's mind for Tony Giarrantana to use economic development in arguments to the Commission for killing the neighborhood plan and allowing sprawl on the Bend, but it is illegitimate for the Commission to defer the alternative on the same grounds? Sounds to me like the pro-development reporter arbitrarily cherry picks the reasoning to serve his situation. The logic is also tortured by the reporter's failure to stipulate precisely where land use ends and economic development begins; perhaps, that's a shifting goal line, too. The whole idea that a biased journalist makes appeals to the paid-for "empiricism" used to justify growth without recourse to community character or to truly independent study is itself hilarious.

Barefoot Biking on the Levee

One of the great public resources we have here in the North End is the Cumberland River Greenway that sits on top of the levee that keeps the Cumberland out of MetroCenter when it swells. Kate O' availed herself of that resource on this fine weekend.

G-town's Madison Square is Full

Joel B. over at the Madison Square Homeowners Association blog reported last week that, for the first time since its opening, all of the MS units are full. Their guidelines limit renters to 30% of the total 18 units. That limit had already been reached at the beginning of August.

City of New Orleans Issues Building Permit to Family and then Demolishes Their New Home

Big Easy codes officials promise public hearing before demo, but demo anyway. It looks like a violation of a federal consent degree intended to protect residents against quick city tear-downs.

Festival of the Tipsy Raccoon

The Historic Germantown, Inc. website makes it official, with what looks like an interesting mascot. There will be two street festivals in October, but only one will be called "Oktoberfest." One person's "changing dynamics and popular development of the area" is another's schism. It's the closing-one-door-opens-other-ones cliche (which looks like diluting a brand). Who's splitting hairs?

The Tipsy Raccoon Fest is slated to extend across the tracks right up to Salemtown's doorstep, Hume Street. No word on whether someone will don a raccoon mascot costume, scare the S-town kids out of Morgan Park, and assume the name "Tipsy the G-town Raccoon."

Somewhere between Store-Bought Bagels and Prosciutto on Ciabatta Lies My Brand Loyalty

I had the chance to make my first dives into two new coffee places this week, and relative to the java and fare that I can get elsewhere, I found them somewhat lacking.

• Edgehill Studios Cafe in Edgehill Village markets itself as "music row's favorite cafe." It has a good open layout with lots of table space and free wi-fi for surfing and keyboarding. Parking is an adventure at crowded hours. I dropped in to pick up some breakfast between 10:00 and 10:30 only to discover that they had stopped serving breakfast. But wait. This is music row, right? The musicians I've known here are not farmers; they stay up and sleep late, so how can "music row's favorite cafe stop serving breakfast bagels before 10:30? Anyway, I settled for just a bagel and cream cheese, and I was given what looked like a small store-bought bagel and a tiny tin of cream cheese not packed on site. The third strike was that the cafe couldn't make my breve because they were all out of half-and-half. A coffee joint out of half-and-half? That's a gastronomic foul in my book, even with so many drinkers watering (literally) their javas down with skim milk. I bet they keep the hazelnut flavored syrup overstocked. The espresso fell a little flat for me. All of those early-rising musicians can have their favorite Edgehill Studio Cafe.


• Drinkhaus (in Germantown) opened with a lot of hyper-local fanfare here, and so I was looking forward to my first walk to a coffee shop this morning. I'll confess my bias right off and admit that I'm rooting for a neighborhood place in this walkable community to succeed. The place is small-to-cozy but bright and clean. Its size restricts it to a shop either to get coffee and linger at non-peak hours or to get coffee on the go. I was fortunate on both accounts this morning, but Drinkhaus seems to have the potential to feel claustrophobic if a half dozen patrons hit it at once.
  
  The espresso is fair trade, which made buying my double 8 oz. breve a pleasure this morning. What let me down is that even after I called the drink by name the barista asked me what kind of milk I wanted in it. Doh! And she asked me size I wanted. Double-doh! Once I got the drink things got better and it was a fair trade for me as I paid about 35 cents less for it than at other establishments. That average-guy solace was offset by a menu that looks a lot like the aristocratic neighborhood that Germantown is fast becoming: prosciutto with honey and pear on ciabatta (did I spell the Italian correctly?), and no bagels.
  
  The tipping policy is not exactly worker-friendly, either. Even in our check-card-based culture, there is no place for the tip ticket. Customers have to leave cash, which means that customers who tend not to carry cash don't tip even though they may want to. There's really no excuse for not providing a tip line on the bill for the sake of convenience. It ain't right that Starbucks omits a tip line, and it ain't right that Drinkhaus does likewise.
  
  In the final analysis, I will be going back and supporting Drinkhaus, because the concept of fair trade coffee with good flavor in the walkable community is an appealing one. But they haven't yet impressed me enough to pull me away from regular excursions to Crema (my personal favorite, which had attempted to locate in Germantown before Drinkhaus only to be stopped by the neighborhood association's failure to vote to allow commercial development in the same mixed-use building) or to alter my pit stops at Fido or J&J's on the way to work.

CORRECTION: John Horton points out in the comments that it was the Summer Street Lofts homeowners association (not HGI) that was vested with approving commercial use.

Bredesen and I on the Same Side for Once

Phil Bredesen has words about Barack Obama in this morning's NY Times:

"Instead of giving big speeches at big stadiums, he needs to give straight-up 10-word answers to people at Wal-Mart about how he would improve their lives" ....

Mr. Bredesen, of Tennessee, said that while the Democrats had little chance of carrying his state — the Obama camp is sending Mr. Bredesen to campaign in other states — Mr. Obama could still take steps to appeal to undecided Democrats there that might increase his chances elsewhere.

"I would really like to see him do things in Tennessee that would help in other working-class and blue-collar places, like Ohio," Mr. Bredesen said. "Job security and health care are huge here. He needs to come to the aisle of Home Depot and show them that a Harvard graduate — which I am as well — knows how to help them."

I voted for Obama, but I've been clear about the reasons for my ambivalence about him and it has to do with this lack of clarity and the inability to connect on important issues beyond the Iraq War. And it doesn't help when his supporters respond simply by linking the ideas listed on his website. That's not good enough.

Enclave Passes Half-a-Million Pageloads

According to StatCounter, this blog has loaded over 500,000 times in the past 3 1/2 years. Not bad for little hyper-local, focused on neighborhoods and authored by an amateur. Thanks to all who visited!

13,000 Children Abandoned by the United States Government

Of the 90,000 Mexican children deported in 2008, 13,500 of them were dumped across the border but never reconnected with their parents or legal guardians. Many of the children have resort to begging to earn money to get back across to family. And abandonment occurs on both sides of the border: for every three adults deported, one child is left abandoned in the U.S.

Uncle Sam is one cruel bastard to el niños.

English Only is Astroturf, Not Grassroots

Mainstream media finally confirms what (and who) Eric "English Only" Crafton had to hide: of the $20,000 his English First ballot initiative raised, $19,000 came from a national group with nativist, anti-Black and anti-Hispanic ties. Since that represents a cross-section of Republican Party voters, I'm sure the Dave Co. GOP appreciates the help. Crafton was smart to hide those damning ties before he got enough signatures.

Once this appears on the ballot, Crafton doesn't have to mobilize a majority of Davidson County voters to win. He only has to mobilize a majority of the 20-30% of eligible voters who turn out for general elections. English Only is probably going to win with the votes of only a small fraction of the County's total adult population and with the help of mostly tainted outsider money, which Eric Crafton couldn't raise at home. It's going to be a minority exercising mob rule over everyone else.

While Private Defense Contractors Should Make Out Like Bandits in Both Russia and Georgia

The party's over for investors in non-defense foreign industry:

Russia's invasion of neighboring Georgia has resurrected concerns about the geopolitical risks inherent in emerging markets.

But if the morally sawed-off Republicans yell loud enough about their selective grasp of injustices in Eastern Europe we won't notice the market forces driving the latest war and funding their candidates for office.

Do these guys have any short term memory when it comes to overthrowing a government, occupying a capital, knocking over their statues, stacking their prisoners, referring to the horrific level of civilian casualties as the "birth pangs of democracy"?

Georgia Looks Like Blackwater's Next Prospect for War Profits

And the Republicans are doing what they do best: rattling sabers to backmask the bling of their big-time private defense complex donors. Tennessee Republican mouthpiece, Bill Hobbs, is getting into the propoganda act himself, making defense of Georgia more than what it truly is for the GOP: another chance for wartime profiteering and grabbing more political power. His cheap bellicose posturing is just window dressing for their preferential option for the Halliburtons of the world.

What Would Eric Crafton Do?

If he were in charge? Probably deport them. After all, they are obviously spunging off the "Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund," which means that they are "in the wagon instead of getting out to help pull the wagon."

Indication That Dave Co. Dems Intend to Lower the Bar on GOTV against English Only?

The local Democratic blogging version of Bono Vox set himself to lowering expectations about his side's ability (or will?) to try to defeat Eric "English Only" Crafton at the ballot box in November. It's like I was saying earlier: don't expect much help from them in November. They're already conceding and assuming a post-election court fight, proving once again that candidate-driven associations are generally useless on issue-oriented initiatives. And the 21st Century Democratic Party has perfected the art of uselessness.

Commissioner Questions Objectivity of Southcomm Reporter's Impressions of Commission Meeting

Planning Commissioner Stewart Clifton commented thusly on Enclave:

Here is Richard Lawson's article in the Citypaper followed by my slightly different take.
--Stewart Clifton

Planning commission passes on May decision
Deferral leads to different interpretations from backers, opponents
Email Print By Richard Lawson

08-14-2008 7:58 PM —
The Metro Planning Commission tonight approved a detailed community plan for the Bells Bend area but deferred indefinitely its alternative design portion, which basically would encompass the proposed May Town Center.

Opponents saw the vote as a victory and an opportunity to eventually kill the idea, which calls for 550 acres of mixed-use development. Developer Tony Giarratana, the consultant to the May family, said the delay provides more time to answer questions and put to rest misconceptions about the proposal.

Even though the alternative design area doesn’t specify May Town Center, all comments were directed at the proposed $4 billion project, which is still in the rezoning process.

The discourse from the commissioners proved interesting as several seemed to go beyond the role of land-use planning to take on the responsibility of economic development.

Commissioner Hunter Gee, whose day job is director of community planning for architectural firm Looney Ricks Kiss, questioned why corporate campuses need 20 to 30acres.

Janet Miller, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce’s economic development chief, told commissioners in a community planning meeting that companies looking to relocate wanted such campuses.

“This is not a judgment statement — it is neither right or wrong — but corporations have made the choice more often than not to locate into a corporate campus suburban setting — like a Century City office park … much more often than they opt for a downtown or WestEnd/Gulch location,” she said in remarks.

Gee, however, said this should be looking forward instead of backward to Cool Springs as competition. With gas prices and the lure of downtown cultural activities as well as housing, corporate executives opt to live close to where they work, he said.

“So perhaps we find in 20 years that corporate campuses aren’t desirable,” Gee said.

Gee and others noted the need to focus development on existing infrastructure instead of an area where new building is needed.

Former Councilman David Briley, a lawyer representing opponents of May Town Center, after the vote noted that developer Bert Mathews just rezoned 180 acres in Donelson for a mixed-use development named McCrory Creek Business Park.

Briley said Mathews should go first. Asked whether Metro should be favoring one developer’s plan over another, Briley said, “Yes.”


stewartclifton@comcast.net States:
Posted on 8/14/2008 9:12

Interesting, Richard. I was there and my impressions are a tad bit different. It is almost like you intentionally but clumsily strung together several odd items to try to favor one point of view over another. I have no interest in discussing the relative merits of the Maytown proposal but your review of what happened today deserves some response.

Many thoughtful comments were made by councilmembers and Commissioners in well over one hour of discussion. You reported almost none of these. As to this characterizing editorial quote from your article, -- "the discourse from the commissioners proved interesting as several seemed to go beyond the role of land-use planning to take on the responsibility of economic development . . ." -- I would point out that the Maytown proposal has partly been pitched to the Planning Commission and others as economic development and tax revenue heaven. And yes, planning involves evaluating land use considerations but also environmental concerns, sustainability, and evaluations of possibly hyperbolic claims of economic development and tax revenue heaven.

As to who won, of course no one won or lost in terms of the Maytown proposal since the Commission deferred, but surely you know that the Maytown advocates at the last minute specifically and strongly asked that the detailed neighborhood plan be deferred. Not one commissioner favored that suggestion.

As to invoking the Chamber, that seems an odd item to inject today since the Chamber has no position on the proposal and since the statement was not made at the Commission hearing today.

As to your final point, you apparently are trying to tie a lawyer for persons opposing the development to what you apparently think will come across as an unfair favoring of one developer over another. Perhaps your readers would benefit from knowing the following. Yes, the Commission approved the McCrory Creek business park a few months ago. It was essentially zoned for the planned use, while Maytown is not. McCrory had the support of the council and most neighbors and businesses, while Maytown does not. And finally, we have a longstanding principle that already zoned but under-utilized land should be developed before rezoning other land. Not a bad planning principle actually.

God Bless Those Atheists!

Atheists leverage themselves a discount for proof of their "non-belief" during "God & Country Day" at the Wilson County Fair and piss off some evangelical pastors in the process. I'd like to see this blow up into civil unrest between equal numbers of both devout and skeptics on Sunday, but my guess is that the atheists were probably spoiling more for a showdown with Wilson County officials and they probably won't show up in the same numbers as if they had been denied the discount.

Now if the Quakers and Mennonites and some disestablishment Baptists could just motivate Wilson County to keep God & Country separate and distinct rather than encouraging idolatry, then we'd have some potential for evangelical fireworks that I would pay the full entrance fee to watch.

CM Blogs Open Letter to Constitutents on Bells Bend Development

CM Emily Evans acknowledges that some of her constituents were present at the Planning Commission meeting tonight as she was, and she wants them to understand what her obligations as their elected representative are:

Since the May Town project, which proposes to host about 40,000 people during the work day, would be about 3 miles from my district, I think I have two obligations in this debate. First, I need to ask as many questions as I can with the goal of seeing that the concerns of my constituents are addressed. Second, I need to keep an open mind as those answers unfold and reserve judgement on the project until all the facts, such as they are, come in.

That second one may be particularly challenging, given her observation that many seemed solid with the "Bells Bendians."

Fight the Hijackers

Enclave commenter and President of the Donelson-Hermitage Neighborhood Association, Susan Floyd, treats tonight's Bells Bend victory as Reveille:

As a neighbor who watched the SubArea 14 Plan Update for our community hijacked before its adoption in 2004 in order for a huge non-conforming development to be approved, I can identify with the struggle that the Bells Bend neighbors have been battling. I applaud the efforts of the residents of Bells Bend who have worked so hard to protect the vision for their community.

Citizens from neighborhoods across Nashville should stand up for the residents of Bells Bend, and for any neighborhood whose SubArea Plan is threatened by development that destroys the vision of the people who actually live in the community.

As residents of Nashville, we cannot wait until the bulldozer is at our own back door before we ourselves take action. When one SubArea Plan is compromised, all of our Plans are in danger. What happens to one of us, impacts all of us.

Remember, resident citizens have to fight battles like this to protect the vision for our communities on a regular basis. Residents have to win the battle every time. Developers only have to win once.

If you have not already done so, make your voice heard to the powers that be. As neighbors, we stand stronger when we stand together!

Shady's Back

There was Eric Crafton on tonight's news hauling in the signed cards of the 12,000 least enlightened, knee-jerk-fear-lashing Nashvillians in the city. Guess who's back acting like a super hero? Both stirring and surfing the xenophobia by making some ridiculous analogy to "getting out and helping pull the wagon rather than riding in it." This from a guy who enjoys the perks and power of being a politician. Maybe he can get out and help pull the wagon himself, instead of pondering which office he's going to run for next or pandering to the ill will that tends to rear up in the human soul while ramping up votes.

It's not a stretch to see the hatred underpinning Nashville "English First." A national organization whose leadership has racial hatred hemmed into its undergarments is now taking some credit for Crafton's local handiwork. My guess is if the mainstream media would actually do its job and turn over some stones to find the sources of Crafton's money and popular support, we would probably see trails leading to anti-Hispanic and anti-black groups like the Council of Conservative Citizens. Eric Crafton chooses to keep his funding sources secret. I wonder what he's got to hide?

McCain and Ohio Republicans Sued by Celebrity

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jackson Browne is suing John McCain and the Buckeye GOP for using his song "Running on Empty" in an ad without his permission and in a fashion that suggests that Browne, a former John Edwards' supporter, supports McCain.

Planning Director Rejects Blog's Claim That He is Giving Up Planning's Alternative

Rick Bernhardt rejected Matt Pulle's conjecture that his scheduled NY trip with several Bells Bend residents to a rural conservation retreat signals a softening of his support of Planning's alternative high-density vision for rural Bells Bend:

I am sorry to disappoint Mr. Pulle. The staff recommendation has been published, is sound and will not fundamentally change. I believe that the staff recommended policies are the best and most appropriate means to balance the long-term environmental and economic interests of the entire community. However, the final decision on the future of this area will be made by the Planning Commission and the Metro Council. Regardless of the decision, the opportunity to learn from the Adirondack Institute and apply the lessons learned there to this situation or other areas in Davidson County is appropriate. The goal of preserving the Scottsboro-Bells Bend corridor is important and at the core of the policies of the plan amendment.

Is there really balance in a proposal that claims to conserve 900 acres, a huge swath of which is floodplain and would not be even if it weren't conserved? That's protection from convenience rather than bold, yet balanced environmentalism.

Lawson Gets in Touch with His Inner Joan Baez

Almost predictably, Southcomm's May-Town-Center-apologist-on-staff is giving voice to 30 shadowed Benders whom he insinuates were arbitrarily excluded from the public hearing on Planning's alternative (which would have paved the way for the May Town Center development). So, I guess we're supposed to conclude that all of those MTC opponents who arrived early, claimed a spot on the agenda, and spoke in favor of the neighborhood plan don't count because the a few others lacked initiative to "come from the shadows" and get there first.

Planning Commission Passes Bells Bend Neighborhood Plan w/o MTC-Friendly Alternative

Commissioners support Bells Bend neighborhood by passing their plan and indefinitely deferring the Planning Department's alternative, which would have allowed bridges and urban developments to sprawl across the Bend.

This is exactly they way the Commission should have voted: in support of the neighborhood with a grow-slow approach to development. Erring on the side of caution, environmental sensitivity, and local determination was the wise course.

Planning Commissioner Calls for Independent Study of Bells Bend Proposal

Just tuned into the Metro Planning Commission debate on the Planning Department's alternate proposal for development of Scottsboro/Bells Bend that would open the door to May Town Center. Reading from prepared remarks, Commissioner Hunter Gee said that he would vote against the Planning recommendation, and he asked that if the Commission deferred, it should commission independent impact studies to be performed. The Planning Department should have already commissioned these studies. Planner told Commissioner Victor Tyler that impact studies are conducted once the May Town Center developers submit their proposals rather than conducting them during the "larger policy discussions" of Planning's alternate proposal. To me that's the cart-before-the-horse approach.


UPDATE: Commissioner Tyler says he likes the plan, but he thinks it needs more discussion.


UPDATE: Commissioner Stewart Clifton says that the May Town Center developers are asking for a deferral on today's Commission vote.


UPDATE: CM Jim Gotto says that he does not want any Davidson Co. taxpayers to bear any risk for the development. He says that it is a good idea to take more time. Says he doesn't agree with the charge that the developer took over the process. Wants an indefinite deferral and rejects CM Lonell Matthew's call for a year deferral.


UPDATE: Commissioner Phil Ponder calls for adoption of the neighborhood plan (supported by the neighborhood) and for an indefinite deferral on Planning's alternative. Says that there is no I-65 to help May Town Center out like there is with Cool Springs.


UPDATE: Commissioner Judy Cummings disagrees with the claim that Bells Bend is the only development-worthy area. She feels there are other areas that could be redeveloped that would provide places that businesses would want to relocate to. Believes that May Town Center would attract people away from Downtown. She is concerned about the environmental impact. She criticized Metro Planning's unrealistic support of urban development without plans to widen Old Hickory. Supports the neighborhood's plan with an indefinite deferral of Planning's alternative.


UPDATE: Commissioner Tonya Jones calls the alternative "half-baked."


UPDATE: Commissioner Derrick Dalton is not convinced that the alternative plan won't take away from Downtown. No MTC proponents have convinced him otherwise.


UPDATE: Commissioner Andree LeQuire wants to know what its going to cost if the MTC idea does not fly. She moves that the neighborhood plan be adopted and the alternative be deferred indefinitely.

CRIME ALERT: Police Have Surveillance Photo of North End HVAC Thieves

Police released the following two-week-old photo of the theft of an HVAC unit at 1504 Arthur Avenue:


Police encourage Salemtown, Germantown, and Hope Gardens to be on the look-out for the following:

The vehicle appears to be a 1997-2002 Ford Expedition, White in color. The trailer is approx. 16 foot long (car hauler type). The trailer is dual axle, and on the passenger side, it has a white rim tire and a black rim tire. The two suspects are both male-blacks.

According to the Salemtown e-list, on Saturday, an HVAC was stolen from a house near the intersection of 6th and Garfield. In that incident a witness watched one white man and one black man load a large HVAC into a white Ford Explorer at about 6:30 in the morning. The unit had been secured at the house by a metal cage.

Police report that 4 HVACs have been stolen in north Nashville in the past 3 weeks. They encourage anyone with information to call Detective Rick Mavity at 862-4284 or send him an email at rick.mavity@nashville.gov.

Double Standard at Metro Parks?

While Metro Parks is having meetings with more affluent West End Nashvillians on plans for an ampitheatre and nature trails for Richland Park, less affluent North End's Morgan Park still waits for completion of a long-promised multi-purpose field, a greenway spur, and a playground.

That last one is particularly galling: kids have been playing in the park for about a year now without a playground. Moreover, the Parks Department seems to have broken its promise to install a playground by Summer 2008. School started Monday, which means that Morgan Park Community Center is now off its summer hours. Summer has come and gone with no meetings since February and no communication with North End neighborhoods.

To add insult to injury, three of four large security flood lights that illumine the historic portion of the Morgan Park Community Center have been burned out for weeks, leaving a part of the park more vulnerable to vandalism at night.

Suburbia Causes Cool City Soul Searching

Expanding Austin, Texas is feeling a bit alienated from its image:

Does Austin's mythology as a magnetic, uber-cool city ring true with a citizenry that lives largely outside the gravitational pull of its inner core?

PiTW Sees Tennessean Drifting Pro-Ruling Class

Jeff Woods writes:

Speaking of The Tennessean, have you noticed a trend in the coverage lately? First, we are informed, fears of school resegregation are overblown. Then, it turns out that the Mays actually mean well with their plan to pave Bells Bend. What's the next headline? Waller Lansden: Friends of the Environment?

I was charitable toward the Tennessean story this morning, but I can't argue with Woods about the Mays story. If it wasn't fluff, it was too syrupy.

We Interrupt the Uncritical Promotion of Our Own Corporation's Writers to Charge You with Group Think

The Southcomm hive mind frets that bloggers only draw from a limited pool of sources for information. That's quaint.

Tennessean Investigates Pavers on the Road to Hell

Michael Cass explores all of the good intentions behind sprawling on to Bells Bend including the May family's unreliable guarantees that development will both begin and end with May Town Center.

If conserving most of Bells Bend is a good thing, why is conserving all of it not the best thing? Or to put it another way, if Metro allows bridges and developments to happen on part of Bells Bend now, what's to keep future developers from asking Metro for future exceptions to the conservation zoning the Mays intend for the green spaces now?

May Town Place looks like the first nibble in a sustained line of death-by-nibbles. Money is not the savior. Airtight, ironclad conservation restrictions are.

Trillions of Dollars in Sales, Not a Single Cent in Taxes

Two-thirds of U.S. corporations are not paying their fair share of the tax burden: they paid no taxes between 1998 and 2005. During the same period, 68 percent of foreign companies doing business in the U.S. avoided corporate taxes. Now that's "free" trade.

And I'm sure most of the corporates used the savings to pay for lobbyists to the U.S. Congress in order to keep money flowing their way.

Defiance of Tort Reform Logic

Plaintiffs who go to trial in civil lawsuits get less money if than if they had settled out of court. So much for the hysterical propaganda of tort reformers.

Texas Drill Owner-Legislator Calls on New Yorkers to Support More Drilling

Republican Texas legislator goes 1,500 miles away from her constituents to fence support for drilling policies that would line her own pockets.

Restoration Math Could Only Mean Slave Wages

If outsourcing their furniture production to China would lower Restoration Hardware's expenses but not he quality of the product "one bit," then isn't someone in China going to work for slave wages to produce it?

California Attempts to Fight Back against Tagging

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed a bill sponored by the City of Los Angeles representing an attempt to clean up graffiti and punish taggers:

The new law requires a person convicted of tagging to clean up his or her mess. It makes clear that cleanup must be part of the sentence, unless the judge finds that it would be dangerous. Where appropriate, the offender could be required to keep the damaged property free of graffiti for up to a year.

The hardest part is going to be catching taggers in the act. If they can catch and convict, then this sounds like a fair start. However, the cleaning has to happen soon afterwards to have the effect of preventing other tags.

2007 Mortgages Going Bad Faster than 2006 Mortgages

Not a sign that the housing market is going to come out of crisis any time soon.

The Liberal Blogflume

Russ McBee at TennViews provides a thorough blog round-up of Tennessee liberals' week that was:

• 10,000 Monkeys and a Camera: Regarding Edwards ("Perhaps if he had taken a look around once in a while, at all the good people who were helping him up, he might have realized that he didn't get where he was all alone. Then perhaps he wouldn't have felt so much like superman.") and Wordless Wednesday

• Andy Axel: Wires and Wood

• BlountViews: South Blount Utility: Consider bottled drinking water ("A resident in the South Blount Utility District said they got a notice of violation of safe drinking water standards indicating their drinking water was contaminated with high levels of lead.")

• Carole Borges: First Lady aka Miss Buffalo Chip ("It was a touching moment and a lovely display of Republican family values. Cindy blushed of course and looked flattered. You could almost see her already measuring the thongs she will wear in the White House.")

• The Crone Speaks: Racism Thriving?!? ("The very sad thing is, there are people that one wouldn’t readily categorize as being racist in any other situation, that do feel that Obama being president would "end" this country.")

• Cup Of Joe Powell: Davis Not Conceding To Roe ("One thing about Davis - he has consistently blamed Democrats for all the national and regional ills, and now he blames them for not being re-elected. Perhaps there were some cross-over votes, but he simply need look in the mirror to discover the reason for his loss. His inability to accept the outcome of the vote, to accept responsibility for himself, says volumes about his failings.") and Thoughts on Alexander Solzhenitsyn

• Don Williams: Bush puts Double-I brand on the Olympics–Insulting Incoherence ("Taking a stand against China’s big redemptive PR show by declining to attend would’ve been consistent and coherent. But complaining all the way to the show, and even at his reception in China this morning, smacks of incoherency, bad manners and outright hypocrisy.")

• Donkey's Mouth: The Dems Respond

• Enclave: But the tallest candle stick ain't much good without a wick ("Let's set aside the question of whether our expectations have sunk so low that we actually give kudos to politicians for just doing the right thing.")

• Fletch: Elkmont In August and Cool

• KnoxViews: KAG, signing off ("Katie Allison Granju signed off for the last time at Knoxville Talks yesterday. She did a fantastic job creating a great new local media sponsored blog and set the bar high for her successor.") and WBIR declares Bryant winner in Commission 6-A? ("Katie's only been gone one day and look what happens!") and Green Route Alert, Again! ("There is too much money to be made "developing" and paving the state for people who care about sprawl and the ruination of east TN to stay indifferent.") and Technology corridor not working out ("High tech companies aren't going to move to an area that doesn't support education and only graduates people qualified to work in call centers.")

• Lean Left: Send a Message in a Language They Understand ("Glenn Greenwald, along with Jane Hamsher of firedoglake and a variety of other pro-democracy bloggers and activists, is helping establish a new organization dedicated to targeting vulnerable Democratic candidates who work against progressive interests and civil liberties.")

• Left Of The Dial: Olympics Freak ("Only I would be watching judo, badminton, Chinese women lifting weights and some dude trotting around on a horse doing half-circles simultaneously, live from Beijing on a Saturday morning.")

• Left Wing Cracker: An open letter to Nikki Tinker ("How amazing it was to watch as you turned within 48 hours from an attacking Congressional candidate to a national pariah; "Worst Person in the World", indeed. As Vito Corleone once said, how did things ever get so far?")

• Liberadio(!): The Not-So-Veiled Partisanship of Congresswoman Blackburn ("And speaking of honesty, she and her friends standing in the dark in the House chamber might want to stop claiming that off-shore drilling will give us immediate relief from high gas prices. 'Cause it won't.")

• Loose TN Canon: Republicans obstruct vote to lower gas prices ("Once again, the GOP leadership sided with oil profiteers and used their power to help keep oil prices and profits high, while hurting the average American.")

• Nashville for the 21st Century: Election Day Is Here ("If passion alone won elections, it would be a landslide for Tuke this fall should he get the nomination.")

• Newscoma: Grief Brings Out The Best In People ("This is my second funeral in three weeks of people I grew up with. We drove our cars fast, hid out on back roads talking about our future and drank beer bought by those a couple of years older than us in corn fields still smelling of a fresh harvest. We were going to take on the world. We wanted to own it.") and Personal Reflections On Edwards Scandal ("Baby Boomers in politics amaze me. I’m not one of them, but I have to say, they have changed the world. I don’t necessarily mean that as a compliment.") and Advice To The Young 'Uns ("Don't sweat the small stuff. Treat other people the way you want to be treated. Do things you are afraid to do. Don't listen to Bill Hobbs, and eat more fruit.")

• The Pesky Fly: Delusions of Adequacy ("If this is the Chairman's take on the craziest sh_t to come down the pipe since, oh, I don't know, a member of the TNDP Executive Committee accused the Democratic presidential nominee of ties to terrorism, it will be very revealing indeed when Mr. Sasser finally does find something that puts a fire in his belly.")

• Progressive Nashville: Thank heavens for the white kids ("Thank heavens the white kids in Nashville's public schools are doing so well academically. If they weren't, our schools would look much worse.")

• Resonance: CBS News: "Bicycle Mania!" ("The piece discusses the increased interest in bicycling that has accompanied higher gasoline prices. I have noticed more people riding on the roads this summer; unfortunately, a few of them appear to have not yet mastered safety rules on riding with traffic.")

• RoaneViews: My letter from the Roane Alliance ("I have trouble understanding the separation between the Roane Alliance, a County Government function supported by our tax dollars, and the Chamber of Commerce.")

• Russ McBee: Knox County voters fall asleep ("Today's message is simple: all the GOB's have to do is wait long enough, and the voters of this county will forget whatever transgressions may have angered them in the past.") and Justice denied ("To shield itself from public accountability, the White House crafted rules which ignored centuries of legal precedent and tossed aside even the barest semblance of justice in favor of a system automatically tilted toward the prosecution.")

• Sharon Cobb: John Edwards: You're A Piece Of Sh*t ("Politics aside, let me tell you about Elizabeth Edwards.") and Let The Games Begin ("Also, please ask whomever is your choice for President why he bought 5-6 million dollars in advertising during the Olympics, knowing what China is doing in Darfur, Tibet, Berma, and other human and animal rights violations.")

• Silence Isn't Golden: Tyson Caves To...Someone ("Sorry wingnuts, you still lose.")

• Southern Beale: Tyson Plant Revises Holiday Plan AGAIN ("Of course the Malkin-tents are going to claim another victory, but hey, look at it this way: we liberals can snicker at them for defending a holiday with communist/socialist origins founded by the evil labor unions.") and 22 Days & Counting ("Here in Nashville I saw $3.69 at a Pilot station earlier this week. That’s a 40-cent drop from the high of $4.09/gallon back in July. Funny none of the stories about that Republican kabuki theater on offshore oil drilling bothers to mention that.")

• Tennessee Guerilla Women: NBC Says Bill Clinton Will Speak at Convention in Order to Get Media to Shut Up ("Gawd. Can we please get term limits for the pundits?") and Hillary: 18 Million Cracks in the Glass Ceiling (Video)

• TennViews: The ballots are set and we're off to the races ("We've updated the TennViews 08 Candidate Central database to advance the primary winners and set the field for November.") and Volunteer State 39th in Volunteering ("Forty-five percent of volunteering in Tennessean is performed in the religious sector, whereas that number is 63% in Utah. Are Tennesseans heathens or is that just a Mormon thing?")

• Tiny Cat Pants: Like a Coat You Somehow Slip On Without Noticing ("This, this I believe explains the virulent anti-Mexican sentiment here in the South. Who doubts Faulkner, right? And when he says "The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past." don't we believe him?")

• Vibinc: Cashing in at MCS ("In an editorial over a the CA newly installed Superintendent, Kriner Cash lays out his plan to help the districts most at risk students find success. The prescription, 2000 college aged tutors. I have to say, this is a brilliant idea.")

• West Tennessee Liberal: I'm Proud of Memphis ("I'd hate to be an incumbent Republican in two years. It's going to be a bloodbath.")

• WhitesCreek Journal: Yeah! ("The whole world loves Barack Obama. He's really popular. That's why we shouldn't vote for Obama.")

• Women's Health News: HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt Issues Blog Post on Proposed Regulation ("Regardless of intent, the regulation certainly could functionally allow the defining of contraceptives as abortion.") and Lying Liars Who Lie (About Reproductive Health) ("I've come across several blog entries recently that recount stories of women being lied to by their healthcare providers and/or being lectured on the basis of their provider's personal values.")

Are They All the Same to Rex?

I'm going to have to watch the tape of last week's Metro Council debate on the Bellevue TIF--which devolved into incremental suck-ups--again, because the Southcomm snoop dog fingered CM Erica Gilmore as one of guilty parties shamelessly lobbying for TIF funds for development. I'm certain that I would have remembered CM Gilmore, since she is, after all, my representative.

Rex calls out three I do distinctly remember: Sam Coleman, Robert Duvall, and Buddy Baker. The only other CM that I recall lobbying for subsidies for her developers was Pam Murray, whom Rex omits. Rex may be confused by the fact that both CM Gilmore and CM Murray are African American women from north Nashville districts, even though both have very different backgrounds and records on the Council.

It would be one thing for the casual observer to confuse Gilmore and Murray, but for a paper that claims exhaustive coverage to make the mistake is embarrassing. Rex increases the confusion with a rhetorical question that references part of Murray's district but omits any part of Gilmore's:

If Bellevue Mall is blighted and deserves such a favorable tax break deal for a private developer, then what about Nolensville Road or Dickerson Road or the Hickory Hollow Mall area?

Rex is conveniently anonymous, but one can easily surmise that its contributors on council development matters are at least reporter Nate Rau and probably editor Clint Brewer and development chatterhead Richard Lawson.


UPDATE: The online edition has been corrected.

Dumbing Down "Best"

Michael Cass underscores how the 2007 Karl Dean campaign stretched "best effort" to mean "the slightest, half-assed effort." How can a major mayoral candidate have staffers unsure of the occupations of some of Nashville's major players giving him major sums of money?

Who's the Cat Who Won't Cop Out?

Funk icon and native Tennessean Isaac Hayes has passed (born in Covington, died in Memphis).

The "hot buttered soul" has gone on.

Did Bloggers Bail on East End's Tomato Art Fest?

So, I'm surveying the local blogs this weekend for some reviews on yesterday's Tomato Art Fest, because for the first time in 3 or 4 years, we chose an even better option rather than making our way over to join their revelries as usual, and I wanted to see if our loss was great.

But you know what? I can only find one blogger who wrote about the festival, which--though smaller--is hipper and younger than Oktoberfest held over in our part of town.

Did local bloggers choose other activities? Were they not sufficiently impressed? Or am I just not patient enough to wait for the coming Tomato Fest blogstorm?

Don't Tank Me, Bro!

I may have missed my chance to get a shirt that "captures" the true Olympic spirit:

"Free trade" may have already ended sales.

HT: Armchair Generalist

UPDATE: Cafepress shut the shirt down, so the designer is encouraging others to use his design have shirts printed for themselves and then to donate $10 to Amnesty International.

Beautiful Weekend to Visit Bells Bend Park

In a recent comment over at Urban Planet, a May Town supporter suggested that more people needed to be visiting Bells Bend Park and that allowing the urban-density May Town development would increase visitors. He was only correct that more people should visit the park. So, I got my family up this morning, we stopped and had breakfast at Muddea's Chicken and Waffles, and drove out to the park. I came back with a few photos.











I can tell you this right off: the commenter was wrong about the park being idle and the parking lot being empty. In fact, there were a few cars in the lot while we were there and including us, we counted 8 visitors (and 4 dogs) either at the Nature Center or on the trails. We were very pleased to find the Nature Center open today, and the very helpful staffers told us that the numbers of park visitors were increasing as time went by and as temperatures moderated.

The commenter was also wrong in saying that lower numbers of visitors justified sprawling on Bells Bend and building a bridge so that more people can get there. That means that the park only exists for the convenience of larger numbers of more undisciplined people. If folks want to see the wonder of a remote green space and they are willing to act on their own self-initiative, why do we need to risk spoiling its beauty and its character by putting a second downtown and ensuing traffic gridlock right next to it?

While the Nature Center is closed on Sundays, it is open every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (and on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons). They have fun Saturday events scheduled for kids of all ages the rest of the month of August, including a Summer Wildflower Hike on Aug. 30 (9-10 a.m.--for more details e-mail bellsbend@nashville.gov). You should do yourself a favor and visit Bells Bend Park one of these weekends. We should all support this environmental gem.

Demand for Subsidized Suburban Housing Outstripping Supply

The tectonic shifts in economic stratification of suburban neighborhoods assisted by federal Section 8 subsidies are challenging conventional wisdom:

Sociologists have long claimed that leaving behind high-crime, low-employment neighborhoods for the middle-class suburbs buoys the fortunes of impoverished tenants. An article in the July/August edition of The Atlantic Monthly, however, cited findings by researchers at the University of Memphis that crime in Memphis appeared to migrate with voucher recipients. More broadly, a 2006 Georgia Institute of Technology study found that every time a neighborhood experienced three foreclosures per 100 owner-occupied properties in a year, violent crime increased by approximately 7 percent.

One of the Greater English Only Ironies

Last night in his defense of the English Only ballot initiative, CM Eric Crafton pointed to the irony of the fact that English is required language in many foreign countries and across international bodies, but it is not a requirement in America.

What is even more ironic to me is that so many countries respond to globalism by requiring English as a second language and that America does not require any second language, even as Spanish speaking immigrants increase in numbers. Don't Europeans have a competitive edge precisely because they engage and assimilate foreign languages rather than outlawing them? If we really want to follow the Europeans*, shouldn't learning a second language be compulsory in America?

__________
*Take CM Crafton's argument with a grain of salt; he tends to say contradictory things about following the international community.

Because They Want Credit for Their Editorials

Southcomm has an editorial today critical of both the Mayor's Office and the Metro Council on the issue of patronage and non-profits.

But the tallest candle stick ain't much good without a wick

Folks are spreading the kudos around today to the Mayor and to the CMs who voted for Ronnie Steine's memorializing resolution encouraging voters to vote against Eric Crafton's "English Only" if when it appears on the November ballot. Let's set aside the question of whether our expectations have sunk so low that we actually give kudos to politicians for just doing the right thing. More importantly, is last night's action going to have any influence at all beyond being more grist for Crafton who may spin this into out-of-touch government trying to impose on voters?

Accuse me of cursing the darkness rather than lighting one candle, but I don't see anything that happened last night as igniting a mobilization of English Only opponents or sparking a call to conversion of English Only supporters. So, I'm not so sure kudos are deserved. If community leaders are spending any time posturing on this issue, it's too cheap to be called bold, and they are wasting time that could be spent planning and implementing strategy to defeat it. Unless journalists can dig up any dirt to discredit Crafton's movement and/or unless our leaders are organizing their communities to help defeat this, last night was more than likely the climax of any attempts to kill Crafton's movement. As such, it was anticlimactic.

They Were Circling Like Birds of Prey over the Bellevue TIF

The big development news from last night's council meeting was not that developers of Bellevue Mall got their tax increment financing to subsidize their project (along with rose-colored employment and tax revenue projections from Eric Crafton).  Bigger news was that Council Members from Antioch, west Nashville, and the Dickerson Road corridor used the time that should have been devoted to debating the merits of the Bellevue tax breaks to making shameless appeals to council and the Mayor's staffers present for the same breaks for developers in their districts.  It wasn't pretty, and the Vice Mayor should have nipped the lobbying in the bud.

Mayor Tells Council Effect of "English First" Will Be "English Only"

For a long time I've been using the terms "English First" and "English Only" interchangeably, because I've always assumed that the effect of both is to make English the only language that Metro employees could use.  Eric Crafton's change of nomenclature last year when he was attempting to sell "English Only" to the Metro Council was cynical, because it truly made no difference outside of cosmetic effect.

In his comments to the Metro Council last night, Mayor Karl Dean told members that he believes that the "English First" ballot initiative would have the same effect of "English Only."  Obviously, I couldn't agree more.  Even with Mayor's criticism of English Only, Crafton curiously remained cordial toward the Mayor saying something to the effect that his initiative would help the Mayor.

Council ended up passing a memorializing resolution encouraging people to vote against Crafton's English Only.  The debate reflected the effects that I assume whenever legislators encourage voters to do something:  Council conservatives railed against the resolution for its apparent paternalism.  Even with passage, I believe that the resolution will serve as a rallying point for voters who support Crafton's attempts to micromanage Metro government and impose a cultural agenda on employees just trying to do their jobs.

State Makes Park Security Measures Official

Tennessee Parks officials have released an official map of the location of the 911 call stations being installed at Bicentennial Mall State Park (although misspelling "Bicentennial"). Thanks to Rob Robinson for forwarding it to me:


It's been too long in coming for measures that I was told were impossible for state parks.

Shoot the Liberals: They Hate Us for Our Freedom

On Sunday a viable candidate for TNGOP poster boy walked into a Knoxville Unitarian Universalist congregation and opened fire on the fellowship with a 12-gauge shotgun, killing two and injuring seven. His justification? He hates liberals, a claim supported by his stash of books by right wingers like O'Reilly, Savage, and Hannity. With so many conservatives priming the hate-pump, it was a matter of time before one of its nuts came loose, and innocent people, including children, were forced into the line of fire.

In the aftermath, the local community has rallied to the UUs side:

Monday night Second Presbyterian hosted a big community candlelight vigil service for us to help us recover and to comfort and console us. That building was totally packed! There were people of all churches and no churches, from mosques and synagogues. Everybody was packed in essentially putting their arms around us. Our minister, [the Rev.] Chris Buice, said that there was a power in that room, and we really felt that. When [UUA President] Bill Sinkford said that our religion is about standing on the side of love and we’re not going to give that up, we really felt that, too.

We sang some classic UU hymns, and at the end the kids sprang up into the center aisle of the church at the front and sang “Tomorrow.” “The sun will come [out], tomorrow,” with bright faces, bright voices. We will never forget that. That was literally like sunshine. That was like life coming back at us. Those were the moments when we started back. We’re not back, but we’ve started back.

At a service of comfort [Tuesday] night, one UU said, “I’ve never been so proud to be a Knoxvillean,” and I would echo that. Knoxville showed us that there are a lot more good people than bad people.

This is the expression of freedom: even in the face of death they refuse to stop loving and caring for those whom others loath and spurn. The more hatred is fired at them, the more their cause is justified, and the more good people will come from the shadows to rally to their aid.

City Leader Admits to Accepting Payments From Developers

A Chicago Alderman pleads guilty to scheming to extort cash in exchange for supporting zoning changes and permits for developers. Developer donations were not just made to her campaign, but also to a Chicago non-profit linked to her. Her opinion of local elected officials: "Most aldermen, most politicians are hos." Does that mean that donating developers are johns?

As Strategically Effective As an Editorial or a Memorializing Resolution

Symbolic statements are being made against Eric "English Only" Crafton's ballot initiative. But they are as likely to mobilize his us-v.-them supporters as they are to GOTV against it; I can see Crafton's signers laughing at the county Democratic execs request that they remove their names from the petition. Unless the Democrats are making themselves useful by organizing block-by-block to GOTV or finding money to throw into the fight, their paper opposition won't amount to much, and it may serve as fodder to mobilize the opposition.

You have got to come with more than words if you want to win this. You've got to come with mobilized numbers and money. That's what Crafton's got. That's why he's going to win. And the Democratic Party will have let us down once again.

Ulterior Motives Behind May Town Place?

Is Tony Giarrantana just a May family mercenary lobbyist hired to grease the Planning Department machinery for a zone change, and then walk away? Are both May Town Place concept and the promise to finance a bridge both cruel ruses to spring the building of anything the next set of builders desires (MetroCenter II?) on top one of the most important pieces of greenspace in any urban setting?

Tough CP Questions Reserved for "Goo-Goos," I Guess

An Enclave reader who is also a long-time gadfly of Charlie Tygard pointed me to the following problem in a recent City Paper article:

Based on the following CP article, it appears that Tygard is trying to get funds for a non-profit for which he is a board member. Doesn't this constitute a conflict of interest? And hasn't he already done something like this before? A couple years ago I think he got funds for a non-profit that he was the treasurer for. And, of course, we all know how he likes to use non-profits for his campaigns.

These are significant questions that some--including CP reporter Nate Rau--should have asked Tygard. It seems to constitute a conflict of interest, and typically those on whom we depend to root that information out are reporters. But even with Rau reporting that Tygard is seeking $15,000 for the Bellevue Exchange Club Foundation, he didn't bother to follow up with Tygard.

In 2007, when Tygard was Treasurer of the Bellevue Exchange Club Foundation, Metro initially denied a request he made for $5,000 for lights for the organization's ballfield. A couple of months later he moved to earmark $10,000 for the BECF out of the council's infamous discretionary funds.

Calling Charlie Tygard "Council Member at-Large" seems to be a misnomer. He's never stopped representing certain Bellevue interests as far as I can see. Being at-Large only gives him a larger platform from which to do so.

Suburban Migrants Make U-turn

Transportation in the Washington, DC area is trending away from auto culture and suburban flight. "The people are leading the revolution" to urbanized mass transit hubs that link jobs with population centers in places like Tyson's Corner (a community at the heart of Tom Wolfe's 1991 book, Edge Cities). Meanwhile, in Denver, a Republican Mayor is being called a "Socialist" for rejecting sprawl and embracing the idea of light rail mass transit for his suburban community.

Much Receives, But Nothing Gives

That man may last, but never lives,
Who much receives, but nothing gives;
Whom none can love, whom none can thank,
-- Creation's blot, creation's blank.

- - Thomas Gibbons

Federal spending is 4 to 1 in favor of highways over mass transit. And this guy thinks that Exxon is paying too much to the federal government even though they earn obscene profits that eclipse some third world countries' GNPs. (Shouldn't we have more paved roads than Haiti?). Who is more eligible to pay for auto-based infrastructure if not the oil companies?

One reason that I can't take too seriously the ethics credentials of conservatives who preach on campaign finance is that they spout the virtues of capitalism without regard to its vices, one of which is that corporations plow money into political campaigns to shelter their competitive edge. Only the naive (or the cynical) can argue with a straight face that such a large segment of the ruling class principally plows its profits into finding oil and employing people. Exclusive private schools have tuitions that have to be paid. Someone has to bankroll the Gucci'ed livestyles of the wealthy before more employees are hired.

So, we don't need more sermons defending Exxon for its obscene profits and bemoaning taxes they have to pay for being among the oil monopoly. If they want Americans at the bottom of their trickle trough to consume their oil, then they need to kick in their share to the government (rather than political campaigns) for the maintenance and upkeep of the nation's infrastructure, which has secured their "competitive" advantage for nearly a century.

Otherwise, the ingratitude is intolerable.

Whom to Vote For? Who Cares?

This includes the most uninspiring group of Dems I can remember seeing on a ballot. I usually vote early, but not this time.

I've listened to each of the District 1 School Board candidates and I'm still probably going to have to write in someone else's name. (Looks like we're probably going to end up with another board member who wants to make schools operate like businesses).

Thursday voting will literally be an unhappy civic duty for me, bordering on a waste of valuable time. Good luck finding someone who inspires you.

Cavalcade of Capitalists: Senior Financial Analyst Arrested for Selling 2 Million Customer Profiles

Hence, the value of corporate ethics in American society: not only is defunct Countrywide a predatory lender who lured consumers with "teaser rates," but their workforce included a white collar criminal who sold millions of customers' mortgage profiles, including social security numbers on the black market. Sounds like a regular den of thieves.

A white collar criminal, huh? Watch the justice system go easy on him.

The 300K Developers' Friend in the Mayor's Office

Michael Cass seems to do an effective job at grasping concerns that community leaders have expressed about Mayor Dean.

It's past concern for me. It's more like regretting my vote for Karl Dean, and I'm not sure that I can vote for him next time around with his exclusive commitments to over-growth, public schools, and crime prevention. (The crime prevention leg seems rather weak given that the beginning of his term was marked by a significant theft at the offices of the election commission that occurred because of a nonfunctioning alarm, computer protocol problems, and a reproachable security company. And I haven't noticed a drop in crime in my community during his term). Seriously, besides style, what has been the difference between the way Karl Dean has governed and the way that Bob Clement said he would?

All I've ever expected is balance, but seen little of it coming from this Executive. And when Mayor Dean tells a reporter that he is committed to balance, I don't see it. I never expected a clone of Purcell or a guy committed to installing sidewalks at breakneck pace. It just would have been nice to have a Mayor who could include neighborhood advocates in leadership positions in his administration. It would have been nice to see him commit to an Office of Neighborhoods rather than "refine" it. It would have been nice to know that once and a while the Mayor would govern as if growth and development are not restricted to economics and private structures, but also pertain to community and infrastructure.

Debate on May Town Center Impact on Downtown Office Occupancy Rate

At least an unwhitewashed debate is occurring somewhere.

The Worst of Both Worlds: Toll Roads and Unchecked Sprawl

In a sudden fit of journalism, the CP is focused this morning less on boostering May Town Center and more on objective reporting about the feasibility of a bridge, seeming to get the perspective of every side affected by the possibility.

However, not only did reporter Nat Rau omit the question of who would pay for the maintenance and upkeep of a developer-built bridge, but he wasted space that he could have devoted to that question by offering a scenerio of further privatization of public infrastrure by wedding the Giarratarra bridge plan to the state toll road plan. That's all northwest Nashville needs: another idea for siphoning state and local tax dollars for private industry. Toll roads are an exclusive boon for toll corporations and an exacting boondoggle for taxpayers.

The Neighborhood Effect and May Town Center

The NY Times article on readjusting globalization that I quoted earlier today referenced the economist idea of "the neighborhood effect," which is reducing transportation costs by moving industry closer to component suppliers and to target consumers.

That idea got me to wondering about how these shifts in globalization and the probable movements of American companies closer to home will change the supply and demand equation for development in Nashville. It seems to me that American companies no longer have the luxury of telling Nashville leaders that they get what they want or they go any where else they want. If they're going to be targeting cost effective locations between suppliers and consumers, then it seems to me that the companies are going to be looking at least more regionally, and perhaps even narrowly at specific communities.  They probably will be coming to Nashville because of low transportation costs rather than other factors (like a "campus" of at least 50 acres).

Given the transitional phase of global business, is it really wise to rush Tony Giarratana's May Town Center concept given that the risk of losing Bells Bend may be too high in such an unstable economic condition?

Would New Council Noise Ordinance Help or Hinder Neighborhoods Burdened with Nuisance Noise?

It looks like a resolution to be introduced on first reading by Eric Crafton, Jim Gotto and Anna Page will do away with decibel level limits in the noise code and prohibit any noise (except in the central and commercial core zonings) that is "plainly audible" from the nearest residential property.  Ostensibly, this would seem to simplify matters, since people don't generally own decibel meters, but I would like to hear more discussion.  Would this code change aid or constrain neighborhoods dealing with unruly noise issues?

Busting a Shelbyville Reporter's Chops for Attacking a Blogger

Chris Wage charges a Shehbee-VULL reporter with a malicious link and with opening the door for his online entourage to attack a social worker for being a social worker. Given that a reporter's claim to objectivity is his or her ability to interview and to portray meaning or facts as close to the subject as possible, it might have helped Mr. Mosley to have done an interview with the blogger about her work before jumping to the conclusion that the vocation of social work itself engenders blinders.

Council to Consider a Quarter of a Mil Grant Increase to Metro Action Commission

Pending council approval the MAC (whose offices are currently located in Salemtown) would appropriate grant funds totaling $251,000 with a cash match of $145,000 for the Low Income Energy Assistance Program to provide financial assistance with heating/cooling costs and budget counseling for its eligible customers.  According to the council analysis this increases the total amount of the grant award to $13,557,584.

Metro Council to Consider $10,000,000 Grant for North End's African American History Museum

On Thursday night council can approve a resolution that would authorize Metro to grant to the Industrial Board $10,000,000 of the proceeds of general obligation bonds in order to provide a portion of the funds to accomplish the construction and equipping of the museum as a public works project. The museum is planned for the corner of Jeff Street and Rosa Parks Boulevard next to Farmers' Market.

According to the analysis of this bill, after Metro lawyers raised concerns in 2007 about the legality of spending general obligations funds on a non-profit, the Purcell Administration worked to come up with a legal alternative:

The agreement refers to the African-American museum as a "public works project", as state law allows local governments to contract debts in order to make grants to local government instrumentalities for the construction of any public works project. Since the museum will technically be an IDB project (to be operated by the Foundation), it qualifies under state law as a public works project.

Fuel-Intensive "Free Trade"

This morning's NYTimes has some sobering cold-water-to-the-face for those progressives who have sold out to the trickle-down concept of "free" trade, which looks like a relic-in-waiting:

Cheap oil, the lubricant of quick, inexpensive transportation links across the world, may not return anytime soon, upsetting the logic of diffuse global supply chains that treat geography as a footnote in the pursuit of lower wages. Rising concern about global warming, the reaction against lost jobs in rich countries, worries about food safety and security, and the collapse of world trade talks in Geneva last week also signal that political and environmental concerns may make the calculus of globalization far more complex.

"Free" trade apologists rely on oversimple arguments about "sharing American wealth" with people of other countries, and they seem to plug their ears to opposing sides that say that wealth doesn't get shared with anyone but the sliver of the global population that controls the marketplace.  Now they have to deal with the brutal realities of supply and demand rather than dishing naive ideas about "sharing" in a world where little has usually been shared with the lower rungs of the class pecking order.

As bad as globalization has been for lower-rung American workers, it is going to get worse for cents-on-the-dollar-wage workers in other countries as unfettered corporates abandon them to move closer to home to save on fuel costs.  Assuming that we haven't passed an eco-tipping point, that may help the environment, but not the international labor force.  The rocking motion of "free" trade divides and conquers work forces worldwide while keeping them reeling and pacified.  Likewise, the political left will be both placated by the lowered environmental risk and torn on the ramifications for labor.

Tennessee Tops in Predatory Patronage, But Not in Minimum Wage

A 277% increase in donations that campaigns have received from the predatory lending industry has put Tennessee in a crappy upper eschelon, which has to have an entropic effect on any progress the state makes to reform predatory lending.

For Tennessee's working people something's got to give somewhere, but it isn't giving on wages, as Tennessee is not ranked among states leading on minimum wages.  Predatory lenders are spending six figures on candidates to make sure that consumers will pay whatever they say consumers should pay, but Tennessee wages will not rise to assure that consumers can afford to pay any more.

Biodefense Entrepreneur Would Have Profited from Fear-Driven Federal Spending

The prospect of bioterrorist attacks was not yet pressing the popular consciousness. He had the antidote for an attack and limitless earning potential. All he needed was a catalyst to cause mass panic to get his product stockpiled. It's the simple law of supply and demand.

It's not so cynical after all to wonder if terrorist attacks are caused primarily by profit-motives. Bioterrorism is first a marketplace and fanaticism seems like a cover for the hard exchange of goods and services.

Comcast Rebuked in Small Victory for Net Neutrality

From the LA Times:

Federal Communications Commission found that the cable company failed to tell its subscribers about the blocking [of some customers using file-sharing technology], lied about it when confronted by the commission and tried to cripple online video sites that compete with its on-demand service.

They ordered the cable giant to stop without a fine levied. It's a slap on the wrist that probably won't intimidate: corporates see that they can lie to regulators for free. But I guess it is better than continuing to look the other way.

This Week Developer-Cozy CP Resorts to Calling Us Ignorant on Development

Besides a tenuous-to-the-point-of-irrelevant Lawson connection between Murfreesboro's recent failure and Bells Bend, we haven't heard as much rah-rah for May Town Center this week coming from the City Paper.  But an editorial in this morning's edition looks like a weekly editors' effort to to run regular promotions for Tony G.'s bid to sprawl on the Bend.  This week the CP kids are lecturing Nashville about its ignorance of economic development, and arguing that Nashville's leadership and its "stakeholders" should "endeavor to answer these kinds of questions better."  "Better" like a certain opponent of the MTC on the Metro Council recently did?

I'm not criticizing the idea of encouraging a thorough discussion and comprehension of Nashville's economic development; I'm just rejecting the City Paper's biased attempts to use the idea to advance its mission to promote the May Town Center plan and to kill the Bells Bend neighborhood plan proposed by an overwhelming majority of Scottsboro/Bells Bend residents.

This One Already Provoked a Response This Morning at the Southcomm Hive Mind

Matt Pulle's rattling some City Paper cages this morning:

So why is the Chamber [of Commerce] playing Switzerland [on May Town Center]? I’m hearing different theories, which may or may not be correct. But I'm feeling very City-Paperish today. So let's do some speculating, even though I may not know what I'm talking about.

Definitely the money quote of the week.  The City Paper seems to be trying so hard to be the little shadow Chamber of Commerce in its support of MTC.

Americans Hate Billboards

One of the main arguments used by private industry for roadside digital billboards is that they need to be able to inform the public in the most impressive manner.  Opinion polls indicate that Americans are not impressed by any billboards and they are adversely influenced by them.

HT:  District 17 listserv