Well-Financed Tennessee Dem Blocks Health Care Reform

I received this from Jeff Parcher at the Center for Community Change:

Bart Gordon is blocking health reform right now in the Energy and Commerce Committee (see this story:http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2009/July/16/bluedog.aspx).

He’s taken a lot of money from the special interests (see below) and we really need to hound him into supporting people and not lobbies! Let’s get people to call his office: (202) 225-4231. Tell him to stop blocking real health care reform!

Representative Gordon and the 6^th District Stream

Rep. Gordon’s Career Fundraising

1989 - 2010 Total Receipts:	$11,059,757
1989 - 2010 Total Spent:	$10,125,028

	Individual Contributions	$3,568,246	(32%)
	PAC Contributions	$6,123,872	(55%)
	Candidate self-financing	$0	(0%)
	Other	$1,367,639	(12%)

Top Donors

Industry	Total
Health Professionals	$675,218
Industrial Unions	$434,250
Public Sector Unions	$389,800
Commercial Banks	$351,341
Lawyers/Law Firms	$350,407
Insurance	$293,916
Telephone Utilities	$285,865
Hospitals/Nursing Homes	$271,100
Transportation Unions	$248,600
Building Trade Unions	$242,100
TV/Movies/Music	$235,696
Real Estate	$204,500
Electric Utilities	$197,411
Securities & Investment	$191,150
Tobacco	$188,200
Air Transport	$183,400
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products	$164,478
Lobbyists	$152,797

Is Gordon Voting for Tennessee or His Out-of-State Donors?

Top Contributors to Campaign Committee and Leadership PAC

Rank	Contributor	Total	Indivs	PACs
1	Blue Dog PAC	$5,000	$0	$5,000
1	FedEx Corp	$5,000	$0	$5,000
1	Raytheon Co	$5,000	$0	$5,000
1	Operating Engineers Union	$5,000	$0	$5,000
1	Wal-Mart Stores	$5,000	$0	$5,000

How much has Gordon received from the Health Care Industry? $951,000 from PACS and $195, 979--that’s OVER $1 Million

Gordon’s Big Campaign Donors Include:

· The American Medical Association

o Who came out about the house health care bill this week

· National Health Care Corp

o Which he incidentally sponsored a bill about this session

· Altria Group

o Formerly Phillip Morris

West Nashville Community Plan Bumped by May Town Again

A Nashville neighborhood leader points out that the west Nashville community plan, which conflicts with the May Town Center proposal, has been bumped off Thursday night's consent agenda mostly likely for deferral, since the commission is also entertaining a do-over for May Town developers on the same night. Consent agenda items are recommendations that are approved as a group without debate.

The west Nashville community plan would protect existing neighborhoods from becoming the drive-through spaces that building bridges to Bells Bend would produce. The Metro planner in charge of the community plan, Anita McCaig, is not answering e-mail queries regarding Planning's preferential treatment for May Town developer Tony Giarratana over the expectations of west Nashville residents.

The community plan had already been bumped off a May agenda due to CM Lonell Matthews' rushed introduction of the MTC proposal.

UPDATE: Metro Planning spokesperson Craig Owensby responds to this post by saying:

The West Nashville Community Plan was never on the consent agenda - we don't do that with community plan updates.

LATER UPDATE: A Hillwood leader claims that Planners told one of their gatherings that the West Nashville Community Plan would be put on the consent agenda at the Planning Commission meeting.

Because "The 2nd Amendment" Sounds So Right When Slurred through a Bitchin Beer Buzz

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Difference Makers - Doug Jackson
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Jeff Goldblum

The letter where I ask questions of the Metro Planning Director that journalists won't regarding "merits" that warrant special favors for developers

Writing Planning officials lately has become like trying to distract the Borg collective from their technical functions. Whereas I used to get answers to my questions back from planners under the last mayoral administration, today's Planning officials seem to ignore me. I'm also hearing rumblings from other neighborhoods that Metro Planning is ignoring Nashvillians' concerns on other issues.

Undaunted, I sent the following e-mail to Rick Bernhardt two days ago and quite predictably I have not received an answer:

I read your letter communicating your approval of consideration by the Planning Commission of May Town developer Tony Giarratana's request for commission reconsideration.

With regard to your statement that Mr. Giarratana's request is "not entirely without merit": could you be more specific? What particular merits does the request have that other such requests made in the past did not have?

Also, could you please cite examples of such special consideration that the Planning Department has given rezoning applications in the past, particularly those that your office may have recommended for Commission disapproval?

I'll update if I ever hear back from Mr. Bernhardt, but don't hold your breaths.


UPDATE: Planning spokesperson Craig Owensby responds that Mr. Bernhardt could not respond to my e-mail since he has been on vacation since before July 15, the day I e-mailed him and the day his letter to Tony Giarratana is dated in the Tennessean. Looks like CM Lonnell Matthews screwed up a lot of people's July vacations by shoving May Town down Nashville's throat mid-summer.

Military Mobilizes to Fight Planning Commission's Threat to Environment

The San Antonio Planning Commission and Texas developers are going up against the U.S. Army to lay claim to an environmentally sensitive buffer zone around the Army's local training installation. Commissioners and developers look to run an end around the democratic process and build high-density, gated sprawl across unspoiled habitat.

Sound familiar, Nashville? Could we enlist the Army to help us fight the Battle for Bells Bend, too?

A Cautionary Tale of Neverending Urbanization: May Town's Virginia Inspiration Risks Losing Its Green Buffers

Fairfax County, Virginia is the home of Reston Town Center, which Nashville's May Town Center developers use as the "model product for comparison." According to one former Fairfax Planning Commissioner, the low-density green belts surrounding Reston are at risk of being lost to urbanization because of the very goal that MTC developers tout as a primary reason for sprawling across the Cumberland to Bells Bend: higher tax revenues for the entire community.

In his comments we may be getting a foretaste of things to come should May Town be built:

For decades, two fundamental planning principles governed this part of the county. The comprehensive plan has long envisioned urban employment centers in Reston and Tysons Corner, with a low-density residential buffer in between. Moreover, from the time of Robert E. Simon’s original plan for Reston, there has always been a greenbelt preserved around that planned community. Reston’s highest density is in the Town Center, and development is tiered or scaled down toward its outer edge. On the north, east, south and southwest boundaries of Reston, there is low-density residential development — homes on large lots ....

Urbanization violates both principles. Such an action would change the character of Fairfax forever.

Adding higher density development - commercial or residential - would add thousands of vehicles per day to roads that cannot handle today’s demand. Rail and other forms of mass transit would offer little relief, as these low density potions of the county are miles from the existing or proposed “silver line” stations - a distances no one would walk. Moreover, 65 percent of vehicle trips are non-commuting; they are trips to the grocery store, soccer practice, church and other destinations for which rail is not an option. Bus service would be prohibitively expensive, as would the right of way and constructive costs for miles of new roads.

Schools serving these areas are already at or near capacity and cannot handle additional density. A change in the plan would not only tip the first of many land-use planning dominoes, but it would trigger expensive demands for parks, police, fire and other public services.

Reston Town Center planned and built green belts just like May Town Center plans conservation easements that they assure will be enough to guard against further urbanization of Bells Bend. Yet, the Virginia situation indicates that that the temptation to sacrifice more undeveloped and low-density land to more commercial and residential development only intensifies once urbanization starts. Increasing density increases demand for expensive services and tantalizes more developers to request new zoning with the easy promises of more tax revenues if given the same sort of exceptions that the Planning Commission might make for May Town Center.

Approving May Town both sends Nashville down a slippery slope toward total urban saturation and sets a precedent for future growth as barriers to development disintegrate. If the Planning Commission gives Tony Giarratana and the wealthy May family the opportunity to build even the most limited city on Bells Bend, every ill that goes with urbanization will follow any benefit. Once we break Bells Bend we bought it; and there will be no do-overs for the huge green swath.

UPDATE: The issues of increasing revenues and the loss of some supposedly protected open space to a proposed indoor recreation center are also causing some debate around Reston Town Center. Again, Reston is the blueprint for Nashville's May Town Center. Greenspace is prone to being nibbled to death by urbanization once the growing, denser populations decide they need these amenities and those amenities.

LATER UPDATE: Bells Bend doesn't currently have a street gang problem does it? Build those bike paths and the gangs may come.

Apparently, Reston police dedicated more resources to cutting gang-related activity almost in half so far in 2009. And when police dedicate more resources, the extra revenue has to come from somewhere. But I thought these Town Centers were supposed to generate, not consume, revenues?

So, does the Scottsboro/Bells Bend community want the gang-related activity that might follow high-dense, urbanized bike paths?

Germantown's Monroe at 7th Scales Back amidst Neighborhood Concerns

Not too long ago I received word from inside Germantown that team members with the ambitious Monroe at 7th development were scaling back its concept to "something more reasonable," after a disclosure that the original plans requested blasting and the construction of a new storm sewer for the entire block. Up until that point the development team--which includes Germantown architect firm Carnell Mosley--reportedly had a swimming relationship with affected neighbors, but I am told that developers did not incorporate the feedback or concerns of residents around the project into the plans.

CLARIFICATION: Germantown resident wrote me to say that developers never disclosed the blasting/sewer info to neighbors before they decided to scale back.

Gulch Dweller Warns that a Boutique-Dominated Enclave is No Substitute for a Healthy City Neighborhood

Jonathan Belcher, a veteran of Gulch living and blogger at "Imagine Title Here," examines a recent NY Times feature on his southwest Downtown neighborhood and offers these pearls of wisdom, which could apply to any urban neighborhood:

I moved to The Gulch a little over four years ago excited at one day living in a thriving urban neighborhood. To be honest, I don't care about the hipster or singles scene. And I fear that The Gulch will end up as a sort of soulless scenester urban area and not the urban neighborhood that it has the potential to become.

That's why I'm glad to see some critical discussion happening on what The Gulch could be versus what it is and isn't today. There is no doubt--The Gulch (and other local infant urban areas) offers not only some exciting possibilities but indeed some exciting realities. Where there was once urban decay there are rehabbed and new buildings, retail, dining and increasingly, people.

But there has to be more than trendy chains like Urban Outfitters and scenester joints like the late Bar 23. Right now you can have dinner, get drunk and look good doing it in the Gulch. And if you are wealthy (for the most part), you can go upstairs and sleep it off in your 600-700 s.f. Gulch condo, too. But what if you want to walk to the local bookstore and then to the grocery on your way home? One day I think that will be possible. But the question remains--will anyone but rich people be able to afford to do those things in The Gulch . . . or anywhere in urban Nashville? And what happens when those people want to have kids?

The Gulch, like Salemtown, needs a lot of DEWKS to go with its common DINKS and SINKS, because neighborhoods without that generational diversity are short-term fads rather than long-term communities.

UPDATE: Congrats to JB for winning the Nashville Scene's "You Are So Nashville If" contest.

Is the Planning Commission Going to Reconsider May Town Center on the Basis of Reason or because of Power?

A couple of Metro Planning Commissioners have said that their governing body, while it listens to the public, does not make their decisions on the basis of popularity, but on the basis of reason alone. Part of me doesn't disagree with that. They shouldn't be beholden to popular power moves. But I would go one step further: they also shouldn't be influenced by power and money that comes from the top of the local power pyramid, whether that be from Metro Council that controls their purse strings or from wealthy developers who have the money to gain influence and access to the halls of power. Indeed, they ought to be planning within the limits of reason alone if they choose to stay unswayed by public debate.

So, I'm having a hard time understanding how it is that Planning Director Rick Bernhardt (whose Department recommended approval of building a second Downtown on Bells Bend) and Planning Commission Chair Jim McLean (who has cast at least one vote against disapproving the May Town Center plan) are now telling May Town developer Tony Giarratana that the commission will entertain his request to rehear his team's proposal after the Planning Commission failed to muster the needed 6 votes to recommend approval.

Here is an excerpt of the Bernhardt's letter via the Tennessean:

In accordance with the adopted Rules and Procedures of the Metropolitan Planning Commission ... your request has been reviewed for merit by Chairman McLean and myself. Without making a final determination on the issue, we do not find at this time that the request is completely without merit. Therefore it will be place don the Planning Commission's agenda for consideration.

I genuinely would like to know exactly what merits Tony Giarrantana's letter has that other party's--in enduring long meetings, late hours, and meeting confusion--requests do not have. If the Planning Commission is indeed going to make a decision for rehearing on the basis of reason alone and not because of the power and money at stake in the May Town Center decision, the Planning Director and the Commission Chair should articulate the reasons for this decision and their claims and warrants should stand for fall by no other power than that of the better argument.

Excellent News from MDHA on the Salemtown Streetscape Project

Salemtown neighborhood advisers met with an MDHA representative on Tuesday evening for an update on construction plans for the federally-funded streetscape project. More specifically, they gathered to find out whether the housing authority had pulled off an arrangement to put trees--previously removed because of costs overruns and the loss of a state tree grant due to project delays--back into the plans.

We were not disappointed. MDHA is using the last $7,000 of the grant (earmarked for short shrubs for 24 traffic-calming islands on 5th Avenue, North and 7th Avenue, North) in tandem with a $3,000 donation from Regan Smith landscape designers to purchase Natchez crepe myrtles (tree-size shrubs with white blooms) to plant in each of the islands. Moreover, the plant supplier has some surplus liriope, which he will provide as ground cover for the islands. Each bulb-out will be amended and mulched and receive care for 3 months during the fall for the $10,000 total.

I don't know whether our persistence paid off, but I came away feeling fortunate that we got back a few of the plantings we lost, and the blooming crepe myrtles ought to close in the corridor along these busy streets, along with adding vertical elements to the obscure, street-level bulb-outs. The flora will be the last elements installed in the streetscape plan, and we won't see them until after summer. Committee members present voted unanimously to approve the new plan. Once the trees get installed, we need to thank Regan Smith and the plant provider for their donations to the neighborhood.

In related news, MDHA also said that they would repair one island at 5th and Hume that has been hit several times by vehicles and damaged.

Does Giarratana's Letter to Planning Fail to Stipulate Any Real Irregularities Based on Planning Regs?

A member of the Nashville neighborhoods leaders e-list takes a long look at Planning's rules of procedure and finds the May Town developer's request for a commission re-vote on May Town Center lacking:

looking into the rules and regulations of the Planning Commission it states that a request for reconsideration must state: 1. what conditions have changed (in the case none...[Tony Giarratana] just didn't like the outcome) OR 2. what new information is available (again...none...he just didn't like the vote.)

Also, the Executive Director and the Chair of the Planning Commission can decide whether to recommend it for rehearing. This will be interesting since their own rules address what must be considered.

Quote of the Day

From tonight's All-Star Game, regarding the fact that the National League has not won since 1996:

Announcer Joe Buck: Any bailout for the National League?

President Barack Obama: No, we're out of money.

The Gulch Ain't Shangri-La, Says One NY Times Mag Commenter

Serious drawbacks, yes:

Just spent yesterday considering a move to condo living in The Gulch. It is certainly an interesting place, but nothing below $150K available. No affordable housing, as far as I can see. No grocery store. No green space. Average age probably in the late 20’s to 30’s. Few babies/children/etc. Could not find one piece of information on urban gardening. Schools zoned for The Gulch are abysmal. All in all, if you are single or DINKs, it is a swell (underline swell) place.

As bright and shining as neighborhoods like the Gulch are, Nashville will never be a serious urban destination until it makes room for kids, good schools and more generational/income diversity in city neighborhoods.

Nothing is over until Tony G., the May Family Landlords, and Their Team of Lawyers Say It is over

Last Friday, the development team intent on building a second Downtown across the pastures of Bells Bend asked for special treatment from the Planning Commission in the form of a do-over of the Planning Commission's June vote. That vote did not go well for the Bells Landing Partners: the Planning Commission could not muster enough votes to approve urbanization of Bells Bend, which itself triggered an impossible supermajority vote in Metro Council.

Slick, take-no-prisoners developer Tony Giarratana sent the Planning Commission a letter requesting a new vote based on vague references to irregularities and lame claims to late-night hours and meeting fatigue that are standard boiler-plate for many Metro meetings I've watched. The enigmatic kernel of Tony G's case that seems to beg for the extended obfuscation that lawyers do so well:

As you recall, after about six hours of meeting and public hearing the gavel fell and, at around 10:00 in the evening, the first vote was called. During the ensuing 45 minutes of motions, debate and voting it became apparent to many in attendance that several procedural irregularities most likely undermined the entire voting process. To be sure, the late hour had an obvious impact on the Commission members expressing such sentiments as "It's late," "I'm tired," "Don't confuse me," and "It's confusing," all the while rubbing their eyes and shaking their heads. Many in the room that evening certainly shared these frustrations.

The irony of the June public hearing is that May Town supporter and friend to untrammeled developers, CM Jim Gotto, was the Commission member who forced the late-hour vote. The Commissioners had already been talking about carrying over the MTC discussion to another day and voting then. However, CM Gotto must have miscalculated that he had 6 votes that he did not have, and he seemed to misconstrue that his side had the advantage of late night confusion. We wouldn't have heard a word about do-overs from the development side if 5 other commissioners had voted with Gotto.

Instead, the confusion worked against the May Town team, because at least one commissioner who had expressed his ambivalence all night about supporting the proposed sprawl voted against a motion against May Town and then voted against Gotto's motion in favor of May Town. Despite the consistency of the caution with the different votes, Gotto paid no heed to the ambivalence and he may have clumsily cost his side Commission approval. Tony G should stop blaming "irregularities" for his loss and instead blame Mr. Gotto's fumble.

To protest in such a self-important way as if he was any better than anyone else who ever loses at the commission is bad faith. Those of us who have sat through long Metro meetings, late at night, staggered by the procedural stunts--at times watching initiatives we support lose--should feel no pity or empathy for the MTC development team. They are all lawyered up and ready to take this to the ivory towers of the judicial branch away from the unwashed masses in order to charge Metro government irregularities.

But proponents of keeping Bells Bend rural by keeping out a second Downtown have their own case against irregularities in the Metro Planning department. The alternative development area plan, the MTC rezoning request, and the Planning staff's endorsement of the SP all violate Metro Planning's own Community Character Manual, which is supposed to be determinative of planning for Bells Bend. The Planning staff's bungling double-cross of west Nashville neighbors and their sub-area plan in order to open the door for bridges to be built to Bells Bend was also a glaring irregularity that will do more to undermine public confidence than anything the Commission did to MTC. May Town opponents have their own strong case against Planning irregularities, but their avenues to seek redress are fewer and far between because of the lack of comparative wealth.

Obama White House Still Not Proactive on Urban Policy

The Obama Administration continues to react to questions about its commitment to cities, rather than advancing proactive urban policies. As always, DMI Blog is all over the laggardly White House.

In the meantime, transitional urban neighborhoods are bearing the brunt of the economic malaise.

Homeless Crime in Chestnut Hill Neighborhood Subject of Upcoming News 2 Report

A neighborhood leader from the Trimble Action Group of Chestnut Hill tells the Nashville Neighborhoods Leaders e-list that Andy Cordan will be looking into a problem that his community is having with homeless suspects stealing wire from construction sites and ripping it off buildings:

ABC local affiliate Channel 2 News will air a segment on the problem we are having in Chestnut Hill. The homeless are stealing any wire that can be sold for scrap recycling and burning it in our neighborhood to strip it bare.

This releases toxic smoke into the air, puts our neighborhood at risk for fire and puts everyone in the position to be ripped off of any wire that they can steal from your car, home or business.

There is only a code violation used to stop this problem, which is impossible to enforce. The homeless don't have ID and don't stick around long enough to be cited. The police can't arrest them as what they are doing isn't illegal, but ONLY a code violation against open burning in Tennessee.

NY Times Blog Doesn't Leave the South's First LEED Certified Neighborhood Hanging

The Moment blog had a fist tap for Nashville this morning:

Now, it’s probably true that for anyone monitoring the Brooklynization of other midsize cities, from Baltimore to Minneapolis to Seattle, the Gulch in this early stage may seem like small beer. But for a city that, like many others, gave way long ago to corporate parks and spaghetti junctions, it’s a noteworthy thing for the New South to give up even one block to New Urbanism.

However, blogger Jeffries Blackerby, who says that Nashville is a city that he has "tried to love for many years," exaggerates the greenness of the initiatives with which Karl Dean campaigned and won in 2007.

I followed that campaign closely, and more than any other subjects I heard Karl Dean emphasize public schools, public safety, and economic development. In fact, if you look to Karl Dean's inaugural address, those are the very issues he embraces, referring to air pollution once in passing only as a means to focus on regionwide economic development. While Mayor Dean did appoint a green ribbon committee, I would not characterize environmental protection as the effective cause of Karl Dean's win or the hallmark of his tenure. Beyond the green ribbon committee he has had many opportunities to underscore sustainable economic development as raison d'etre and has not.

Thanks for the neighborhoods blog love, New York Times, but let's not hype the progressiveness of our Mayor's Office or forget that there are significant campaign promises he made that have yet to be realized.

Does This Inspire Your Confidence in Newspapers?

The mainstream media is already deciding who will be at the health care reform table and, according to Bill Moyers, it ain't going to be you or me:

The publisher of THE WASHINGTON POST, Katharine Weymouth — one of the most powerful people in the nation's capital — invited top officials from the White House, the Cabinet and Congress to her home for an intimate, off-the-record dinner to discuss health care reform with some of her reporters and editors covering the story.

But she then invited CEOs and lobbyists from the health care industry to come, too — providing they fork over $25,000 a head, or a quarter of a million if they want to sponsor a whole series of these cozy little get-togethers. And what is the inducement she offers them? Nothing less than — and I'm quoting the invitation verbatim — "An exclusive opportunity to participate in the health care reform debate among the select few who will actually get it done." The invitation reminds the CEOs and lobbyists that they will be buying access to "those powerful few in business and policy making who are forwarding, legislating, and reporting on the issues."

Remember, the invitation promises this private, intimate, and off-the-record dinner is an extension "of THE WASHINGTON POST brand of journalistic inquiry into the issues, a unique opportunity for stakeholders to hear and be heard."

Let that sink in. The "stakeholders" in health care reform in this case do not include the rabble — the folks across the country who actually need quality health care but can't afford it. If any of them showed up at the kitchen door on the night of this little soiree, a bouncer would drop kick them beyond the beltway.

Is it any wonder that alternative sources of information like blogs are so popularly followed when newspaper publishers tend to show themselves so unreliable? How can we possibly trust the fourth estate when they put themselves in bed with power-brokers and sell their influence to king-makers?

Shoot-First Usually Takes Out Innocents

If local blogger Nathan Moore called me "pro-looter" in the immediate wake of Katrina for challenging the shoot-first-let-God-sort-them-out that he and other right-wing bloggers promoted, can I accuse him in hindsight of being pro-malice-aforethought? It seems that guns used generated as much anarchy as order and the callousness of police failed to protect at least one father of four.

Germantown's Sidewalk-Side Charm

Kateo takes a walk to lunch and comes back reminded why she's glad she's a G-towner:

High on our list of criteria for a livable neighborhood when Karsten and I were house-hunting was that it had to have sidewalks. Some cities take this attribute for granted, but many of Nashville's neighborhoods don't have extensive sidewalks, so this truly was a limiting factor in selecting a location. In moving to Germantown, not only did we get sidewalks, we got charming brick sidewalks.

Jump to the rest, including photos of her favorite neighborhood gardens.

Supressed Voter Turn out Gives Republicans the Best Chance of Winning

R. Neal shows himself the realist about tactical election politics, especially the dirty tricks that serve a certain red-state party:

there is clear and very real evidence of an organized effort to undermine election reforms in Tennessee. Go read that and tell me how you interpret it as anything short of an effort to discourage voter registration, suppress voter turnout, inject big money into elections, make it impossible to verify election results, and install hand picked election officials to oversee their schemes.

The only thing that isn't clear is the motive. It may be as simple as "because they can." More likely, it's to gain every possible legal advantage going in to the 2010 elections.

And they media? Well, they're not helping the situation some deep investigative journalism, let alone attention, so what good are they?

Mainstream media is taking a pass on the controversy. They are too busy mourning the death of journalism to go do some journalism as part of their "fourth estate" duties, one of which is to watch over this most fundamental element of representative democracy. Other than a couple of bloggers and a "colorful" activist (who got a visit from the TBI courtesy of the Secretary of State's office for his trouble), nobody seems to care.

Quote of the Day

Let's have do-overs on ALL of the votes involving a late hour, tired commission members and confusing procedural irregularities, OK?

- - Southern Beale

Two of Tennessee's Neighbors Wasted Stimulus by Juicing the Competition

The need for federal oversight and regulation continues. Progressive States Network's Nathan Newman cites the worst examples of states using federal assistance to overpay for jobs and steal them from other states:

• A multi-state bidding war for a battery production consortium ended up with Kentucky offering $200 million to subsidize a 2,000-worker facility at a cost of $100,000 per job.
• Georgia paid $100 million to NCR to move its 1250-person headquarters from Dayton, Ohio - its home for 125 years - down to an Atlanta suburb.

In the absence of fiscal restraint at the state level, it would be nice if federal regulators would step in to stop the carnage. It is federal money, after all.

Is the Stimulus Passing over Cities in Favor of Exurbs and Rurburbs?

ProPublica's Amanda Michel writes that, despite appearances to the contrary, metropolitan stimulus money may still be in the pipeline:

States had a June 29 deadline to obligate, or decide how to spend, 50 percent of their transportation money. But my colleagues here at ProPublica discovered that there’s more than one way to meet the deadline. By June 30, they found, “13 (states) still hadn’t obligated 50 percent of their total highway funds ....” It turns out that states had to obligate only the money controlled by the state governments, not the funds transferred to big cities and urban areas. So cities may not have fully reported their spending projects yet; we’ve put in a call to the U.S. Conference of Mayors to ask about it.

That Road to Hell Sure As Heck Ain't Paved with Bad Effects

What the Tennessee Valley Authority actually intends doesn't matter much when toxic coal ash moves from white affluent communities to poor African American ones:

TVA reportedly considered moving the coal ash to two communities in eastern Tennessee that are predominantly white and with lower poverty levels, but the company sought regulators' approval only for the Georgia and Alabama sites. TVA's announcement regarding the Alabama landfill's selection said the choice was made after an evaluation process involving more than 30 companies.

In a letter to Facing South following publication of our May report, Peyton T. Hairston Jr., TVA's senior vice president for corporate responsibility and diversity, took issue with the story:

To write that TVA has made decisions on where to transport ash from the Kingston coal spill based on the racial composition of a community is simply wrong.

For the record, the story did not say TVA made its disposal decision because of the community's racial composition. But the effect is the same: TVA -- with EPA's approval -- has chosen to move toxic waste from a predominantly white and relatively well-off community in Tennessee to a poor and majority-black community in Alabama.

Does it truly matter whether or not TVA is a racist organization when their actions are effectively prejudiced in consequence?

He Warned Us

Paul Krugman on how President Obama hedged his bets on the stimulus and now the Republicans are going all in early in the poker game to fill the void where White House boldness should have been:

It’s only June, but Republicans are already claiming that the Obama economic plan has failed. (Yes, that’s insane — hardly any of the money has flowed to the economy yet — but this was predictable.) Meanwhile, unemployment is already above 9 percent. And the green shoots are looking browner by the week, especially on the jobs front: new claims for unemployment insurance are stubbornly running at more than 600,000 a week, far above the 350,000 or so that would be consistent with a stable unemployment rate.

We really do need a bigger stimulus. But it’s going to be hard slogging.

Jim Cooper, Thelma Harper, Mary Pruitt to Meet with District 17 Constituents at Church of Scientology

From the District 17 e-mail list:

U.S. Congressman Jim Cooper, State Senator Thelma Harper and State Representative Mary Pruitt will speak and answer questions at the District 17 “Second Saturday” breakfast, Saturday, July 11, 8-9:30 am.

The long-running breakfast roundtable will be held at the Church of Scientology in the newly-renovated, historic, 1898 Fall School building, 1130 8th Avenue South, at the corner of 8^th Ave. South and Chestnut St..

Dist. 17 Council Lady Sandra Moore, the meeting facilitator, said the legislators were invited in response to constituents' questions about the legislative sessions, especially health care.

A contribution of $5 at the door will be requested for a cafeteria-style breakfast catered by the church.

Enter the parking area behind the church from Chestnut Street. Handicapped access with an elevator to the main floor is located around the corner of the building on the north side (towards downtown). .

The Church of Scientology purchased the 36,000 square foot Fall School building along with adjacent properties at 1112 and 1114 8^th Ave. South last year. This continues the church’s practice of buying and restoring historic properties for use as churches around the country.

The District 17 informational breakfast meetings are usually scheduled for the second Saturdays (except during June and December). The informal, non-partisan forums are for neighborhood leaders and residents from all corners of the district to network with each other and public officials. Dist. 17 ranges from I-40 south to Sevier Park, Berry Hill and Trevecca University.

For more information: Please call the breakfasts sponsor, District 17 Council Lady Sandra V. Moore, 386-9246, or Church of Scientology officials, Rev. Brian Fesler or Julie Forney, 687-4600.

No word on whether any Operating Thetans will be conducting audits during the meeting, but let's hope it doesn't turn into Battlefield Earth.

Andy Cordan's Report on the North End Serial Burglar

Kudos to News 2, but did it take national media attention to Tennessee's recidivism problem to train local media attention on the impact here in our neighborhoods?

Red Flags and Flares When Fundees Report Whatever They Want To

We can never say the Government Accountability Office did not warn us that there be rocks here:

In the GAO’s opinion, the system for making sure that stimulus dollars are spent properly simply isn’t up to snuff. The report goes on to note that state auditors—whose job is to make sure that public dollars are appropriately spent—don’t have the funding to exercise their own responsibilities under the stimulus bill ....

The GAO reported that “significant questions have been raised about the reliability of the data on www.USAspending.gov,” which is mandated by law to track financial information about who gets federal funds. The GAO points out that because the numbers on the site come from those receiving funds, the quality of their data can’t easily be verified.

How To Take Down a Tsunami

Last week blogging CM Emily Evans cut the legs out from under the myth--which aspiring May Town Center developers were trying to spread--that Williamson County is burying Davidson County's future under an economic tsunami:

Today I got stats from the wonderful folks at the Davidson County Assessor's Office. Seems like things haven't been too shabby here in Nashville either. Between 1994 and 2008, Davidson County's assessed valuation went from $7.784 billion to $16.479 billion - about 111%. Of the $8.694 billion in increased valuation, $5.130 billion or 59% is attributable to our residential and farm growth. Not as much as Williamson County's 70% - but still pretty strong.

Ironicially, our commercial and industrial tax base accounted for 34% of the total growth. That is 10% more than Williamson County. In fact, Davidson County's commercial/industrial tax base grew 89% from 1994 to 2008. Williamson County's percentage growth rate is higher at 400% but you tend to find those kind of percentages when you are working with small numbers. Williamson County's commercial tax base is still just 24% of Nashville's.

And if we were losing growth, businesses and residents to Williamson County, how could Nashville's real estate market be one of the most stable in the country?

When you look past the May Town scare tactics at the numbers, you have nothing to fear except fear itself. Rushing out to build a downtown in a pasture would be knee-jerk nuts with Nashville's relative stability.

Real Estate in Salemtown via Google Maps Feature

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Nashville's LP Responsible Party for Arsenic, Lead, & Copper Leach in Tacoma

Building industry giant, Louisiana Pacific, is one of the parties responsible for toxic levels of chemicals including arsenic leaching from a Washington state woodwaste landfill into surrounding soil and ground water. The next step in clean up is to build a slurry wall around contaminated soil and water as a barrier. A slurry wall is a trench backfilled with bentonite clay. That may be the acceptable way to control leaching, but after TVA's coal ash spill defied an acceptable way to pond fly ash, this layperson wonders whether a trench filled with clay is enough to protect the watershed. Should we trust it?

Two Huge Deferrals at Tonight's Council Meeting

As expected, CM Lonnell Matthews indefinitely deferred his proposal to change the neighborhood plan and rezone Bells Bend to allow May Town Center, after the Planning Commission recommended disapproval almost two weeks ago.

As promised, CM Charlie Tygard deferred his bid to open neighborhoods up to commercial-style LED billboards, after the Planning Commission deferred his bill at an opponent dominated June public hearing to August 1. Tygard plans to bring the bill to Metro Council public hearing in November.

Shouldn't It Cross His Mind?

A developer with the May Town Center team responded unapologetically and indignantly to suggestions that full disclosure at a public hearing of the Planning Commission was not beneath him:

I did not identify myself because all of the Planning Commissioners already know who I am and need no introduction and because I am a citizen of Nashville with a right to speak on my own behalf independent of my affiliations. It didn't even cross my mind to describe my background.

I don't see how any public individual asking for political exceptions to current rules and inviting various audiences in different places to consider him a source on the facts about a development from which he stands to profit can get away with a cavalier ethical attitude nowadays.

Announcing: July 11 Concert to Benefit Bells Bend

As a courtesy to a cause I believe in, I'm passing along this invitation to a fundraiser at Loveless for the good folks who fight the good fight to preserve Bells Bend. Please support this effort even if you are unable to attend; but otherwise, go and enjoy some great local musicians.

Click on image to enlarge:

To make those ticket purchase e-mail contacts clickable for you:

Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Advance tickets may be obtained from Adelle Wood, adelleintn@comcast.net or Ellen Jacobson, erj@skinmdpllc.com.

WV Miners from Massey Energy Crash July 4 Family Reunion, Threaten "Mountain Keepers"

According to FacingSouth, a mob of Massey Energy miners invaded a July 4 party of peaceful mountain top removal opponents and started threatening them even though the party goers did nothing to provoke violence. Particularly heinous is an alleged threat by one of the thugs to slit the throats of a father and his child:

Another Top Towns List Nashville Failed to Make

Top 5 college towns in North America does not include Nashville.

One of the requirements was great public transportation.

'Nuff said.

Another Broken Metro Parks Promise on Morgan Park?

On April 27, Parks Director Roy Wilson told me that a building contractor had 70 days to complete a new water feature for Morgan Park. Consider these pictures I took of construction today and tell me whether you think they'll be able to finish by Thursday, which I believe is 70 days after April 27.




I'm no engineer, but I'm thinking 3 days to finish is impossible at this point. Assuming they don't meet their deadline, this fountain will be joining Morgan Park's multiply-deferred playground, greenway, and multi-purpose field installations in a string of unrealized promises from Metro Parks.

So, is the State of Tennessee shifting the cost of crime to neighborhoods or not?

Do you read anything between the lines of Tennessee Department of Corrections Commissioner George Little's comments to News 2 reporter Andy Cordan in the wake of the North End serial burglar Darren Hardemon's recent release and crime spree?

The state is absolutely not trying to shift the cost of crime to the neighborhoods. What we need is a balanced approach that best utilizes scarce resources.

People in Tennessee have made it clear they don’t want higher taxes. This means we need to manage our budget so that we are intervening with less serious offenders as appropriate to reduce recidivism.

So how did the state intervene with Darren Hardemon?

Convicted Bicentennial Mall Rapist Gets 23-Year Prison Sentence

From Metro Police via the Salemtown e-mail list:

A man convicted of raping a young woman in Bicentennial Mall has been sentenced to serve 23 years in prison. Ricky Lee Morgan, who was homeless, pleaded guilty in May to the aggravated rape of a then 22-year-old woman that occurred in September 2007. There was no security in the park about midnight when she cut through the park to get home. Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Mark Fishburn ordered Morgan to serve the sentence at 100 percent.

The 2007 rape prompted concerns citizens here to convince the Bredesen administration to put emergency call boxes in the state park, but not without a lot of resistance and foot-dragging on the part of government officials.

Ever since then, the state has been trying to spin its response to complaints about park security up as "quick," and a crime report on this conviction recently sent out on the Germantown e-mail list has State Senator Thelma Harper blaming Metro Police for the lack of call boxes in the state park:

According to Senator Thelma Harper, emergency call boxes were installed at the Bicentennial Mall when it was first constructed, but the phones were removed at Metro's request because of 911 abuse and prank calls. Following this rape, the emergency call boxes were reinstalled.

It also did not help that Senator Harper failed to follow through with communication and with promised results for months.

Should we automatically assume that a donation to a university will be used responsibly?

Previously, I questioned the assumption that giving Tennessee State University a chance to build an agricultural research center on Bells Bend would support agriculture even if the primary research focus is more on agribusiness than on farmers. I've not seen any other May Town Center opponent question the assumptions of the TSU donation, and while I don't reap any rewards from playing the pessimist about philanthropy, I also feel the need question a recent claim that because TSU might have an archaeology program, it is likely to protect Bells Bend's tribal burial sites and to be less driven to bring in more revenues by maximizing the surplus value of acreage donated.

Universities are economic interests as much as they are academic communities. While it is a private institution with fewer obligations than TSU to state requirements, Fisk University attempted to sell pieces of its world-renowned Alfred Stieglitz collection that had been donated in 1949 by Georgia O'Keefe. Despite Fisk's long-time commitment to providing art education at the Carl Van Vechten Gallery, president Hazel O'Leary attempted to remedy the university's overextended finances by trying to selling off art that provides the very opportunity for education. The issue here is not how freer than TSU Fisk is to undermine its own educational strengths, but that universities do whatever they can get away with in order to survive, even if doing so might damage their academic reputation.

While I would hope that TSU would strongly commit itself to preserve history and pre-history in Bells Bend, realism cautions me against any unexamined faith in the university without them providing an explicit chart for the course they intend to follow with respect to research and education. What have they done so far that would cause us to extend them the benefit of the doubt when there is so much money to be made off of undeveloped land in Davidson County, especially for cash-starved universities?

Kingston's Going to Smoke the Ash Spill Today

Wouldn't holding an Independence Day roman candle to your face be a quicker form of death than rafting and swimming through TVA's spilled arsenic, mercury, and selenium? Roane County is also farming their ash spill out to other less fortunate communities for their own future holiday fun. TVA's Christmas gift just keeps on giving during any holiday.

Council Member to Indefinitely Defer May Town Center Proposal; Doesn't Have Votes for Approval

CM Lonnell Matthews says he is deferring to get the Bells Landing Partners' TSU land/cash donation squared away. Betsy Phillips wonders whether the Planning Commission public hearing engendered a crisis of faith in developers' intentions on the TSU supporters' side. I guess I'm just too much of a cynic on that score: CM Matthews sees that he's not going to get the quick and easy hit that the summer/holiday calendar makes possible, so he's deferring for lack of votes; he's deferring to save it from certain defeat. Time is now his enemy, so he's looking to buy more of it.

News 2's Andy Cordan to Do "Messed Up" Segment on North End Serial Burglar

The folks at WKRN sent me the following e-mail:

We just wanted to let you know that Andy Cordan is doing a Messed Up segment about this repeat offender Darren Hardemon on Monday at 5pm. We see you all have done A LOT of work investigating this guy and trying to get him out of your neighborhood! We hope to shed some more light on this and hope that you and your neighborhood association will be able to watch! We’d love to hear your feedback as well! Thanks!

Salemtown residents will be particularly interested, I'm sure, in this Messed Up feature.