Dave Winer on the Difficulties of Blogging Hyperlocally

Dave Winer discloses the problems that have caused him to decide to shut down his 4-month-old hyperlocal project on Berkley (CA):

InBerkeley.com is coming to an end .... I've also learned why sites that we're calling "hyperlocal" are difficult, and why I failed to get the site to grow the way I hoped it would.

I thought we could apply the same approach that worked in bootstrapping weblogs, RSS and podcasting for a local site. One or two people start writing about their personal experiences. A small audience develops. Debates, discussions follow. More perspectives. At every step you invite people to participate. You always ask for the people who used to be called the audience to become full participants. That's how the idea scales. As I said, it worked for blogging and related technologies.

Instead, what happened at InBerkeley.com is that the people thought we were running a news organization, and they did stories the way reporters do them. That can't possibly work, imho -- for the same reason the news industry is in crisis ....

I was sure that at some point I would be giving a talk and there would be a reporter in the crowd who would ask how news can reboot if it's dependent on scarfing copyrighted work from pros. Now if I get asked the question I can say I think it's possible, but we failed to prove it at InBerkeley.com. And I'll be telling the truth.

I'm pleased to say that at Enclave, we're not focused on something as ambitious as "rebooting" the news. I'm more concerned about retrieving information that falls through the cracks or about challenging spun-news forced into the cracks.

Oregon Study Supports Some of Claims of New Urbanists

EcoHome found some empirical evidence supporting a couple of claims of New Urbanists regarding walkable neighborhoods:

[A] recent study by sociology professor Bruce Podobnik of Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore., suggests that new urbanists might be right in two out of the three cases.

Residents surveyed in the new urbanist community Orenco Station in Hillsboro, Ore., said their community is friendlier and offers more of a sense of community than other places they have lived, that they walk more often to the store, and occasionally use public transportation.

“Overall, this study lends support to the assertion that new urbanist communities can foster more socially cohesive and healthier lifestyles within urban environments,” Podobnik said in introducing his study, "Assessing the Social and Environmental Achievements of New Urbanism: Evidence from Portland, Ore."

However, it’s clear that even Orenco Station residents are nowhere near giving up their cars for public transit to any great degree.

One of the latest aerial photos of clean up of TVA coal ash spill disaster site

From the EPA website via RoaneViews via R. Neal:


More photos after the jump.

CRIME ALERT: Increase in 12South burglaries

From a contributor to the 12South e-list last week:

I just wanted to make the list aware of an apparent string of burglaries on Montrose and the surrounding area between Vaulx and 10th. [One] home was burglarized at approximately 4:25pm on a weekday afternoon, broken into through the back door. The burglars stole all the electronic devices and rifled through the bedroom drawers, probably looking for cash or jewelry. [Police said] that they had been on the street earlier in the week for a similar situation .... there was at least one more burglary in the last 2 weeks.

After looking on the Nashville Crime Map both on The Tennessean and the Police's own webpage, several burglaries come up in this very specific area.

We just wanted to make the neighborhood aware and to keep an eye out for unusual activity. It seems that the burglaries have mostly happened during the daytime.

Banks Block Path to Walkable Neighborhoods

StreetsBlog notes that that bank lenders, who are generally bullish on parking lots and driveways over pedestrians and mass transit, are the primary obstructionists to designing and building walkable neighborhoods.

Greater Boston Drive-to-Walk Mall is Manifestation of New Urbanism

Boston Globe architecture correspondent, Robert Campbell, writes of the contradictions (some sinister) of one of suburbia's new outside malls:

Legacy Place ... is a paradox. It’s pretending to be a town center but there’s no town around it. It’s a theatrical representation of town life, out here in the suburbs. It’s crazy: You drive to Legacy Place in order to enjoy a pedestrian experience, the same as you do in Disneyland. It’s fun and it’s well done. But you can’t help wishing it were part of a larger world, instead of being an isolated island of sidewalks and pseudo-urbanity in a sea of suburban freeways.

Similar outdoor malls have been springing up elsewhere, perhaps most notably the Grove in Los Angeles, where a little tram carries you around. There’s even a name for this kind of outdoor shopping environment, “lifestyle center,’’ an utterly meaningless term now common in real estate parlance ....

My problem with Legacy Place isn’t the forgettable architecture. It’s that everything is here to be bought. On the old Main Street, the one that is supposedly being copied here, much of the action was about maintaining things, not merely buying them. There was maybe a shoe repair, a watchmaker, a tailor or dressmaker, a hardware store, a pharmacy, a dentist, a church, a clinic, a funeral parlor, a post office. Nothing like those exists at Legacy Place.

And that old Main Street was public property, owned by the town, where you could exercise your First Amendment right to march or speak for a cause. At Legacy Place, as in all malls, the streets are private and you lack those rights. You’re a consumer, not a citizen.

MetroNation

Crosscut follow's Bruce Katz's appearance in Seattle:

Metropolitan areas or “metros” ... are the economic entities that will lead the nation forward, Katz said. “We are no longer Jefferson's nation of small hamlets. The U.S. emerged as the world's power because our metros are connected with metros all over the globe.” Katz didn’t mention Jane Jacobs, but he follows her Cities and the Wealth of Nations in asserting that prosperous economies depend not on nations but on the cities within them. Wealth is created where human capital converges, resources can be gathered on a large scale, mixtures of enterprises can fertilize each other, and major infrastructure projects can be communally developed not only to support these enterprises but to link them with enterprises elsewhere. Katz’s key term is metros instead of cities, he said, because “cities are not the places they were 50 years ago. The assets that the metro needs to compete economically are spread throughout the region,” beyond the city, in its suburbs and exurbs. “Only when you include parks, air, rail, transit, and roads does an economy get the necessary cumulative impact.”

So, Katz said, “We're a metro nation. Do we act like it? Do we organize our resources?” In the Seattle metro, not yet. Transportation problems, among many others, sorely need solutions, and quickly. "There's no reason why metropolitan Americans shouldn’t have rapid, frequent, reliable transportation.” Most important, governance of such matters throughout the region is “overly fragmented, with stovepipes and silos. It’s time to forge a common vision for the region and to put state, city, and local policy in service of that vision.” But resources still tend to be “allocated as if they were peanut butter to be spread on bread, instead of targeted to give the best return on investment. We must find a new pattern of spending, and move toward metropolitan governance.”

Distillers Waiting for Council Approval on Marathon Move

Distillery looks to occupy former Yazoo space at Marathon:

Corsair Artisan distillery owners live in Nashville but have their production in Bowling Green, Ky. Owners Darek Bell and Andrew Webber said they want to move the bulk of their production to the Marathon Motorworks building on Clinton Street.

The businessmen said they would like to produce gin, vodka and absinthe at the plant.

Metro Council will have to change a zoning ordinance to allow distilleries in downtown and industrial parts of the city. [jump to video]

The ordinance passed first reading on September 1, but it is not on the agenda for next week's council meeting. It still has two readings to go to be approved.

The Yazoo Brewers have moved to the Gulch, but they are selling their old brewery tanks to Corsair, which will use the brewery to feed their stills.

May Family Keeps Word to Give TSU Land Donation; TSU Not Committing to Build Ag Research Center without May Town

According to the Tennessean, Tennessee State University now owns the $400,000 land donation because Jack May kept his promise to make it with or without the May Town Center development. Assuming he does not come back with a scaled-back, micro-Downtown proposal to sprawl across the Bend we assume that the May family lives up to its word. No kudos for doing the right thing. Just acknowledgement.

However, TSU is non-committal on the question of building an agricultural research center without the May Town development, which gives me pause to reiterate that we should not assume that TSU will make good on promises without some oversight either. Regardless of what happens to Jack May's dreams of urbanizing Scottsboro/Bells Bend, TSU can take its donation in many different directions including financial ones that have little if anything to do with education or conservation or common good with the local community.

While I am on the subject of the May Town proposal and TSU, I should update the story of the Tennessee Tribune article published on its front page last week and entitled, "Black Community Wants May Town Center Built NOW!" I was told recently that the front pager was actually an advertisement that was paid for by Tony Giarratana. Forty-eight hours ago I e-mailed the Tribune news editor asking for confirmation or denial of that news. I have yet to hear back from anyone at editorial@thetennesseetribune.com. Perhaps I should have tried their ad sales e-mail instead. If any Enclave reader can give me any information that would corroborate or disqualify that allegation, please e-mail me and I'll update (or you can always comment below).

UPDATE: A commenter says that I have misunderstood the donation below. The $400,000 donation is for a teaching position. Land has yet to be donated. Promise yet to be kept.

While TSU may claim that it requires May Town Center to rezone, there is nothing to stop the university from applying to rezone on its own.

News 2's Christine Maddela Focuses on "Left Behind" Section of District 19

What makes Maddela's story a worthy one is that it focuses at the neighborhood level to show that in the tug-of-status-war between Nashville's east and west communities and the Mayor's Office's preoccupation with Downtown development, North Nashville communities are left behind.

The only thing I would caution is not to confuse a relatively small area of District 19 (where it overlaps with the Metro Police North Precinct) with all of District 19. Here is a map with the overlap highlighted in purple:



I'm not trying to minimize the neglect and blight of parts of District 19, but I am underscoring the context of the problem as a neighborhood (Jones/Buena Vista and Elizabeth Park area) one that requires more focused Metro attention (including the executive and legislative branches beyond the police) and less a general treatment of the councilmanic district.

Speaking of the councilmanic district, I find it curious that CM Erica Gilmore did not comment on Maddela's story given its framing of her district.

Coincidence in Music City Center Metaphors?

In a "Best of Nashville" piece today SouthComm's Christine Kreyling wrote of the proposed convention center's potential to screw up SoBro:

Still-to-be-determined: whether Mayor Dean is more Admiral Nelson than Captain Ahab chasing the great white whale.

I responded thusly 2 months ago to Karl Dean's single-minded will-to-build:

What was once bureaucratic mismanagement will likely become money-grubbing influence pulling in half of Metro Council, consolidating Mayor Dean's control over that slavish body.

And any discussion of ethics in this mess will be ground down by an Ahabic drive to land a large white whale called the Music City Center. Call me Ishmael, but I don't entirely agree with some implicated in this fiasco that the Courthouse system works.

The Sound of Silence

Knoxnews' Michael Silence weighs in on my latest tangle with SouthComm journos and apologists:

I love a good blogger/MSM clash because, you know, all 100 million bloggers in this world know nothing about what they are talking about. How dare them come and pee on our Ivory Tower. We know what's best for you, so pay attention. Damn upstarts. The utter gall of it all.

Deep Thought

So, did Liz Garrigan sit down to lunch with me back after our 2007 journo-blogger katzenjammer not to clear the air but actually to see whether I was just another sun-deprived paleface in lounge wear?

In my best Jack Nicholson: "Got a little substantiation for you, right here, Bruce"

1st ranked pic in "Bruce Barry" image search. Turnabout is fair play.

The high lords of journalism at the Nashville Scene are displeased with me:

Mike Byrd first posted Monday some commentary questioning whether Solidus is committed to high-quality journalism ... and rebuking without substantiation SouthComm executive editor Liz Garrigan's supposed view of alternative media.

Too bad I'm not a pro journalist or I could retreat from Scene writer Bruce Barry's criticism by insisting that my editors do not allow me the time or space to tell the entire, accurate, and balanced truth.

But since I don't have the same luxury of being able to hide behind editors' skirts while writing copy usually told from the side of the winners and the wealthy, here is my reply to Mr Barry's charge that I "rebuke without substantiation" SouthComm's interim executive editor, Liz Garrigan, for holding alternative media, specifically bloggers, with some contempt.

First, Liz Garrigan in her own words:

bloggers [whom she later accuses of wearing PJs while they research, reflect, and write for no pay] deserve some serious credit. For a motley crew of sun-deprived computer junkies with funky handles and audiences directly disproportionate to post prolificness—that is to say, miniscule though growing—bloggers here and everywhere are exerting an almost shocking amount of influence …. As parochial or arrogant as it may sound, there’s something a little frightening about the idea of giving some average Joe off the street, with no formal journalistic training, a camera, a mic and a license to report. [2006]

_________

Most bloggers wouldn’t last an hour under the journalistic quality control that a newspaper demands ....


Just one more instance of bloggers exercising not an ounce of curiosity, which is confounding. For folks who seem so obsessivly interested in the world around them, I’d think they’d want to pick up the phone now and then. There’s only one blogger in Nashville who has ever written about the Scene (or me personally) who has actually reported .... He has my respect for that. I don’t read the others ....


Never has a blogger posting egregiously inaccurate content about the Scene ever reacted in kind ....


But I have no problem with subjective criticism the liks of which you peddle, characterizations about the Scene ... me or anyone else on staff. That’s just the stuff of the Interweb, and appropriately so. Opinion is just that .... I don’t care of you call us homophobic ....


As for falsehoods printed about the Scene, I can’t answer all this stuff and don’t have any desire to. If we did that, we wouldn’t get anything done ....


I wish more bloggers would take it upon themselves to do original reporting rather than sit behind their keyboard and sling arrows while demonstrating no real curiousity about the truth .... [2007]

And I sure as heck want to avoid putting words in anyone else's mouth, but I'm not the only person to have observed Liz's scorn for non-journalist sources of information and opinion. Bloggers and journalists make their witness:

Clint Brewer [former City Paper editor & Liz's tag team partner against blogger criticism in 2007]:

Liz holds some bloggers in disdain because they deserve to be.

Kate O’Neill:

This is the part that bewilders me. I’m not sure if this will come as a surprise to you, Mr. Brewer, but most of us make no pretense of being citizen journalists.

Of those that are making the effort ... you and Ms. Garrigan are nonetheless regularly dismissive .... most of us couldn’t be less affected by what you do or do not publish. That’s what makes your apparent hostility seem so bizarre.

But your recent non-journalism-related snark at S-townMike in this space as well as Liz Garrigan’s ongoing insults towards bloggers in general suggest that the hostility is broader.

Brittney Gilbert:

Not sure Liz would remember you if she had met you .... We were introduced at a (gasp!) blogger meet-up, then several months later she asked Kleinheider in the WKRN newsroom “which one is Brittney?” Bloggers must not make very lasting impressions.

Newscoma:

I mean no disrespect but Liz ain’t getting it ....
Seriously.
I work in news too.
She needs to get over herself.
We aren’t dead, but we are getting our asses handed to us.

Alan Coverstone:

The editors will blog about it, but by their own disparaging of blogs, the work they do there lacks credibility compared with the work they do in print.

Katherine Coble:

Me, personally, my gripe against the Scene begins and ends with their continued elitism, which strikes me as odd coming from an “alternative” paper.

Brittney Gilbert:

there is more than a hint of “we can dish it out, but can’t take it” from some newspaper folks that really makes my skin crawl. The Scene is known for snark and sarcasm .... But, as soon as any of that snark is turned back on them they become humorless and broadly insulting.

I don’t blog to make friends, and I don’t think the Scene or the City Paper should get to shovel out snark (see every page of the Scene and Rex Noseworthy at CP) but take swats at bloggers who do the same.

Outside of my views of Garrigan's blog-side manners, I would ask that someone Scene-side clue Bruce in that I never claimed to be presenting a "complete handle" on venture capitalism just as I wouldn't demand that E. Thomas Wood have a complete handle on civic virtues just because he referred to venture capitalists as showing character. It's not the nature of sun-deprived blogs to present a complete handle, anyway. Right?


UPDATE: apparently, you question one person's alt-media, and you drop from the top of the list. Back in 2007, Bruce's wife Megan Barry emailed me out of the blue saying that Bruce held my writing in higher regard than he did a mere two years later.

You can do anything, but never go against the family.

SouthComm Reporter Responds to My Concerns on TNInvestco and Venture Capitalism

Nashville Post reporter and writer, E. Thomas Wood, responds to my previous post, where I quoted and queried him regarding TNInvestco:

Mike, I'm not the person at SouthComm best qualified to address your critique as a whole. I would like to respond, though, to your comments about my coverage of TNInvestco and your concerns about how my colleagues and I cover stories involving Solidus and its portfolio companies.

You are correct that my September story on TNInvestco did not address complaints raised by knowledgeable observers -- chiefly, that state-run venture capital programs grossly overcompensate the private entities that serve as conduits for the funding going to entrepreneurs and, theoretically, providing the state with an economic boost from the enterprises thus jump-started. I was unaware of TNInvestco until after the law was passed -- am not proud to admit my ignorance of what was an important legislative issue earlier in the year, but none of us can be everywhere.

In August, I began to read up on the history of Capco programs (the state VC model that eventually mutated into TNInvestco). I interviewed a Rutgers professor who has been the bane of the Capco firms' existence, Julia Sass Rubin. I gained a good understanding of why so many people consider these programs boondoggles. But the bill was already law at that point, passed unanimously by the legislature, and I would have accomplished nothing by rehashing arguments over whether it should have been enacted.

My job, as I saw it, was to look forward to the implementation of TNInvestco and examine just how prepared the state was to judge fairly between numerous proposals from highly qualified VC people. The main bar of my story, which you linked above, highlighted areas of concern in the planned approval process. In a sidebar, which you did not link, I put some of Professor Rubin's implementation concerns to ECD's chief talker, along with other questions.

I ought to note that I also fully disclosed NashvillePost.com's Solidus connection in the chart posted with the story.

Readers can draw their own conclusions after reading my full story package, but I feel I reported the story soundly and properly.

Now, just a word about Solidus. It has been the owner of NashvillePost.com since its founding a decade ago, and so there is a well-established track record you can look at as you wonder how evil an overlord it will be for SouthComm going forward. I would challenge anyone to produce a single example, from NP's freely available archives going back to 2000, of coverage bearing the imprint of inappropriate influence from the owner. NP has covered Solidus-related business dealings many times, just as it has covered the dealings of other local VCs. From its earliest days, it has always included disclosure statements with such stories so that people can be aware of the connections.

NashvillePost.com has published both good news and bad news about Solidus, its principals and their friends. When portfolio company Plumgood Food went out of business last year, we carried its obituary. When Solidus chief Townes Duncan was named in a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit last June, I reported on the complaint fully and, I hope, fairly -- even though I consider Townes a friend and have personally obtained VC funding for him in the past (a fact I disclosed, about which more in a moment). NashvillePost.com has published stories that deeply angered some of the most powerful business personalities in Nashville, many or most of whom are associates of Townes. Only long after the fact, generally, will he let drop in a casual conversation the fact that he fielded a blistering phone call from one of his buddies, hearing them out but backing us up.

Let me speak, finally, as someone who has both raised money from Solidus and worked for Solidus-backed enterprises over the course of the past decade. I arranged for the financing of the multi-author book John Egerton and I produced in 2001, Nashville: An American Self-Portrait. We (and by "we" I mean mainly Solidus) lost our asses on that high-minded venture, despite critical acclaim from Southern Living and the like. Not only has Townes Duncan not borne a grudge over that loss, but he hired me to help re-start NashvillePost.com in 2005.

For much of the next two years, he and I worked out of the same office. Both while the book was coming together and while NP was re-starting, brainstorming sessions with Townes repeatedly led to major improvements in the product. The guy genuinely cares about editorial quality in a way that fits into his worldview as a venture capitalist: He sees good content as a strategic asset, one rising in value as its competition becomes shoddier. I wish those who are concerned -- quite legitimately -- about SouthComm's corporate ties could spend a little time talking through the media future with Townes and Chris Ferrell, whose vision derives in part from Townes.

TNInvestco Tax Credits Potential Shelter & Subsidy to Solidus & SouthComm

Yesterday I analyzed the venture capital context of local news corporation SouthComm and I argued that the context was not necessarily consistent with priorities of covering local news. In this post I take a look at the dilemmas of the state subsidizing SouthComm's venture capitalism. The Governor's office has perfected the art of giving tax money away to corporations. Phil Bredesen's latest plan, TNInvestco, stands to benefit local media mogul SouthComm by giving tax breaks to insurance companies that invest in its parent venture capital company Solidus, which the state chose as a finalist in the TNInvestco competition. With the spoken intention of producing "the state's next top business models," the Governor's new law provides $120 million to insurance lenders who invest in Tennessee venture capital

But those business models are not simply successful because they provide people with the proverbial widgets that they demand, for which they are willing to pay. The new law minimizes the obstacles that stand in the way of success by providing government subsidies to private businesses. They eliminate risk and complexities of other tax credit programs for insurance companies. They are a form of corporate welfare. Given that Governor Bredesen has always sweetened private deals with tax dollars, TNInvestco cannot be spun into an exceptional exercise in stimulus. But the jeopardy of investment doesn't simply disappear with the new tax credits, it is foisted on tax payers.

In the case of Solidus and SouthComm tax credits are welfare for a media conglomerate that has a readership as large as that of Gannett Corporation's Tennessean. SouthComm also staffs publications in Louisville and has plans to expand to "other cities." Meanwhile, TNInvestco is marketed by its legislative supporters as a means to help small businesses and eventually support the state's "Rural Development Fund." It looks to me like another version of the tale of enough wealth to spread around to everybody. But that is only if the TNInvestcos succeed. There is also no data I've been able to find on how much of a return Middle Tennesseans will see to public programs and services from Solidus, especially if we assume that there may be other forms of tax credits that limit venture capitalists' obligations to Tennessee.

SouthComm reporter E. Thomas Wood described the selection of TNInvestco finalists as, among other things, a judgment about "strength of character," as if investment and speculation are now among the civic virtues. More reliable tests of character in my opinion involve the question of whether SouthComm reporters are transparent by providing disclaimers that Solidus is competing for the dollars on which they report and the matter of how those journalists report the news of Solidus' bid itself. Framing a bid for money as a test of character is itself biased. But reporter Wood acknowledges only one criticism of TNInvestco: the boiler plate corporate sideswipe that government bureaucrats may not be up to the task of evaluating business beauty queens.

Indeed, most venture capitalists say they rely more on "gut feelings" than objective financial metrics to evaluate investments. Since there is no way to operationalize "gut feelings" for the benefit of bureaucrats, the potential for conflict between state and business is clear. Yet, the onus for reform is not put on investors, but on government. The wealthy get their exemptions from reform lest their fragile pocketbooks be disturbed. Investors both want money from the government and want money without strings but with unchecked trust in their judgment.

Should they win the TNInvestco competition, Solidus will be enjoying tax breaks at the expense of tax payers, since some of the financial risk will be passed along to tax payers. The state's justification is that if subsidiaries like SouthComm expand and hire more employees, the new hires will spend disposable income, part of which will come back into state coffers in the form of taxes. Essentially, the state is willing to compel less powerful future employees to pay taxes while excusing powerful investors from meeting their obligation to support public works. Tax payers are tools in the TNInvestco trade.

However, reporters don't seem to be willing to question the TNInvestco double standard. Nor do they seem willing to challenge the attempts by market forces to open government revenues to private interests. But if the costs of expanding start-up businesses like SouthComm are too high to encourage investment, then perhaps the problem is with the market and not the government. Will SouthComm reporters and editors have the will to dissect TNInvestco deficiencies on the market side if SouthComm paychecks hinge on a TNInvestco win?

SouthComm's adopted motto, "Our passion is designing and producing magazines that truly tell your story," seems at odds with the high finance/quasi-government race for money and influence. I'm not convinced that they can ever tell the story of the hundreds of thousands of common Middle Tennesseans who may be jeopardized because TNInvestco removes some of the risks of consolidating newspapers, launching online news services, and making promises to expand local coverage while working to expand to other cities. But even if they could do so, the question remains: is it right to expose Tennesseans to such risk?

Media Giant SouthComm a Cog in Venture Capital Enterprise

An Enclave commenter prompted me recently to take a deeper look into the financing of the parent company of two of Nashville's main newspapers, SouthComm, Inc. What I have found most intriguing in that search is how media giant SouthComm itself looks dwarfed by the venture capital company that owns it and how SouthComm could profit from Tennessee tax breaks if its corporate guardian, Solidus General Partner LLC is selected by the Governor's Office in a statewide competition.

Solidus is not a journalism outfit, but a venture capital company, that is, an investment firm that may provide seed money, but more importantly it stimulates and manages passive third-party investments to help soften the high risk of early-stage and potential growth businesses. Venture capital is historically associated with the "dot-com" boom of the mid- and late-1990s, during which it reached its high watermark, but then it crashed with the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000. According to Wikipedia, by 2003 the venture capital industry had withered.

Consistent with the "dot.com" legacy of venture capitalists, SouthComm purchased The City Paper in 2008 and converted it from hard copy newspaper to provider of online content to compliment its other "niche" publications. This year SouthComm purchased the Nashville Scene with promises that combining news rooms will "yield dividends in local beat coverage of politics, schools and neighborhoods." That has yet to be seen. Local Scene reporter Caleb Hannan is gone as is City Paper reporter Nate Rau.

One of SouthComm's contributing writers, Bruce Barry insists that the SouthComm purchase of the Scene looks like a good thing for the Scene. Whether the purchase is a good thing for readers has yet to be seen in my opinion. The reporters and editors who are still around after the consolidation are probably whipped and thankful for their Solidus-backed SouthComm paychecks in an era of journalist layoffs and declining media revenues. Hence, it is up to readers to hold them accountable for actually following through on the promise to provide more local beat coverage of news events.

Readers face a stern challenge. A glance at the list of companies besides SouthComm inside the Solidus portfolio (as of 10 months ago) suggests that critical, quality, delving journalism may not matter as much as venturing money and earning investments in many high-risk start-ups:

• American Hometown Publishing Inc.
• American Sentinel University (American Learning Solutions Inc.)
• Capital Confirmation Inc.
• ChangeHealthcare Inc.
• Dalcon Communications Systems Inc.
• Documentary Channel Inc.
• Giant Photos LLC
• J. Alexander's Corp.
• Kodi Klip Corp.
• MedFusionRx LLC
• Motricity Inc. (AKA/FKA PowerByHand, PalmGear, Pinpoint)
• New Constructs LLC
• OnFocus Healthcare Inc.
• Plumgood Food LLC [liquidated in 2008]
• Spirit Broadband LLC
• The Restaurant List
• TrackPoint Systems LLC
• Tricycle Inc.

The tough test for us is to stay organized and to watchdog SouthComm's venture empire for cracks in reporting. We are also up against a new interim executive editor, Liz Garrigan, who has expressed contempt of unconventional attempts (through non-media blogs, for instance) to disseminate information that the mainstream media refuses to report or to hold the media accountable for such omissions.

So, Solidus is assuming high risk with the start-up concept of consolidating local news reporting under the SouthComm banner. Mitigating that risk may mean that we see less hard news and more fluff consistent with the set of companies in the Solidus portfolio. But it also might mean tax breaks from the state government to subsidize more capital. I'll consider the problems associated with that in my next post on SouthComm.

Employee Death Becomes a Tax Break for Employers

Magdeburg Connector Dedication Today at Noon

Competing with Oktoberfest/Germantown Street Festival today is the dedication of the Magdeburg Connector of the Cumberland River Greenway, including a fountain feature that is Carol Ashworth's somewhat literal translation of the old Morgan Park sulphur spring spigots. The connector, which cuts through Morgan Park, is named after Nashville's sister city, Magdeburg, Germany. German officials will attend the dedication.

Pictures of the Germantown Street Festival: 5K Bier Run

I did some volunteer work this morning for Historic Germantown's 5K Bier Run. I was stationed at Morgan Park near the Magdeburg Connector on the Cumberland River Greenway for the 5K.

CM Megan Barry resurfaces after running silent on the LED issue

Megan Barry's campaign manager Elizabeth M-K Sullivan announced to the Nashville Neighborhoods e-list this morning that CM-at-Large Barry not only opposed Charlie Tygard's failing light-emitting-diode-sign bill, but that she is "working on this issue right now." Call me a cynic if you like, but this strikes me as freighthopping mid-passage in order to add "keeping LED signs out of residential neighborhoods" to her bulleted list of accomplishments in the next campaign.

We can fact-check that spin. After coming out of the gate strongly opposed on this issue, she convinced me of the rightness of the cause, but then she voted for the task force allowance of LED signs in neighborhoods and equivocated on the question:

Fellow at-large Councilwoman Megan Barry reiterated her concerns about sign ordinance enforcement by the Codes Department, although she voted in favor of the task force’s recommendations.

“I think it gives the Council some opportunity to have some discussion about what they want to see go forward,” Barry said. “I do agree that… we may have created a bat to kill a gnat and that’s a concern. It’s definitely a concern for all the neighborhoods because they don’t want to see these things in their neighborhoods. The reality may be that they’re not going to see them, I don’t know. We need to have a good discussion on Council.”

Now she seems to be walking back a harder stance given the community-leveraged road blocks to the LED sign proposal. It's not right, but it's okay, because I don't reject any CM's help on this important issue, but Ms. Barry has miles to go to convince me that she is not trying to get back into the party now that band has finally arrived.

CM LaLonde Looks forward to Collaborating with Mayor Dean on Convention Center, Promises Community Meeting

A portion of CM Kristine LaLonde's October 7 e-newsletter to District 18:

A new convention center could help to further revitalize downtown and act as an economic driver for our city. Nashville is a great destination for tourists and conventioneers, and I support efforts to maximize our tourism dollars. That said, many questions need to be answered before the Council can make an informed vote on the convention center. I have shared five core questions with the Mayor’s office and will pursue concrete and clear answers to these questions before deciding my vote:

1. What is the estimated yearly budget for both the debt obligation and the operating expenses of the proposed center and hotel? What is the bottom line yearly bill? What is the basis for this estimate?
2. What is the current annual revenue from the dedicated revenue streams that are projected to pay for the new convention center and hotel? The dedicated revenue stream is defined as the following: “a portion of the existing hotel/motel tax; an increase in the hotel/motel tax; a hotel room-night charge; a rental car tax increase; and an airport ground transportation fee. Once the new center is up and running, two additional revenue sources will be put in place: redirection of some taxes inside a newly created Tourism Development Zone and taxes collected on the convention center campus itself.”
3. How much business, and thus tax revenue, will need to be generated to raise the revenue to the amount necessary to cover the yearly budget for the center? How does this projection translate into real numbers in terms of hotel room occupancy, rental car use, and ground transportation use? How many more people will the Music City Center need to attract and how much money will they need to spend in order for the center to sufficiently raise the revenue stream?
4. What is our business plan forecast based upon? How are we determining a realistic projection of how much new business the Music City Center can generate? What cities’ convention centers are we using as our sources of comparison? How are we taking into consideration the current economy and projections regarding trend-lines in business and civic convention travel?
5. What is our contingency plan if our projections prove wrong—or the economy further worsens—and the dedicated revenue streams cannot meet our debt obligations and/or our operating expenses? Where will the money come from?

....Many of the questions I pose cannot be answered until after key documents and reports are finalized. I have been heartened by the welcoming response I have received by the Office of the Mayor in regards to my questions and concerns and look forward to working with them collaboratively.

I want to know what you think of the proposed center. In the coming weeks, neighboring council members and I will hold at least one community meeting regarding the proposed center. I will keep you informed of this and other opportunities to discuss the issues involved.

Community Leaders Respond to Planners' Recommendations on LED Signs

Below is a sampling of the Nashville Neighborhoods e-list reactions to news that Metro Planning disapproves of CM Charlie Tygard's proposal to place commercial-style LED signs in residential neighborhoods and that they are offering an alternative, as-yet unsponsored ordinance called "Electronic Sign Overlay District." Planners will make their recommendations to the Planning Commission later today.

Trish Bolian:

actually, I find it one of the WORST things they have ever proposed....creating constant monitoring by every neighborhood in this city well into the future...and granting of permission on an individual basis with neighborhoods having little ground to stand on to prevent these signs. Also, it does not restrict LED's to those who have currently lit signs. My worst fear is that anyone would step forward to sponsor it. I see it as a nightmare. I am among those who will meet with planning this afternoon to go over all of this but I see their proposal as a disaster.

Charlotte Cooper:

I don't like the alternate bill, but it may have a better chance of getting approved than the Tygard bill; therefore, I was merely trying to mitigate the consequences by suggesting the addition of language that would prohibit application for ESOD unless the applicant property is surrounded by commercial zoning. I think this would eliminate the possibility of LED signs in residential neighborhoods - ALL residential neighborhoods, without neighborhoods having to oppose applications. Perhaps there is a flaw in my suggestion, but having an ordinance that prohibits LED signs for civic use property zoned R in a residential neighborhood might be a good thing. In addition, the alternate ordinance also prohibits the use of SP zoning in Section 4 by amending 17.40.105 of the Metropolitan Code to read "The Specific Plan district shall not be used for the purpose of approving an electronic display sign."

Adrianne Marianelli:

To me, the ESO would be another name for SP sign zoning for certain landowners, including Metro .... In my opinion, the alternative ordinance should be disapproved. It is even less restrictive in residential districts than the original request. If the residential districts are removed from the original request, then I believe most of the opposition will end. The codes department already does not have enough employees to ensure any new LED sign compliance in residential districts.

CM Emily Evans (not an e-list member, but her message was forwarded per her request by a member in response to a direct query):

The staff has recommended disapproval. The staff alternative is just an idea and I do not think anyone has gotten behind it and plans to move it forward. I know that MPC will not be voting on any text amendments related to it. There is a draft circulating and some comments are that are very much in order.

A Metro Planner (not an e-list member, but her message was forwarded by members who met with her to discuss community reaction):

The public hearing on the Sign Task Force bill is closed and the Planning Commission will deliberate on that. Staff is recommending that discussion on the Alternative Electronic Sign Overlay District be deferred indefinitely.

The $400,000 Question, Still Unanswered

Will Jack May and his family keep their promise to donate part of their Bells Bend holdings (worth a cool $400K) to Tennessee State University for an agricultural research facility even though they have withdrawn their proposal for May Town Center?

UPDATE: MTC point man Tony Giarratana tells the Nashville Business Journal:

May Town Center is an important issue for Nashville-Davidson County, but particularly critical for North Nashville and Tennessee State University ....

Is he suggesting that the TSU donation depends upon building MTC? Why else would MTC be critical for TSU if the donation is going to be made as promised whether MTC is built or not?

Someone Actually Booed Mayor Karl Dean?

What to do about the fairgrounds is a controversial subject in South Nashville:

BREAKING: Commissioner Announces that Tony Giarratana Withdraws Rehearing Request for May Town Center Proposal

From Planning Commissioner Stewart Clifton via the Nashville Neighborhoods e-list:

Don't know if it has hit the media yet, but Tony Giarratana withdrew request to rehear yesterday afternoon. As I understand it, if there is further action on rezoning this land, or part of it, it will have to be by new application and a different proposal.

HT: Bell Newton

Council Denies Resolution Requesting that Convention Center Financing Legislation Be Delayed until After the Year-End Holidays

Pleas tonight from some for more time to hold community meetings in their districts did not stop Metro Council from tabling a memorializing resolution that would have requested that the Mayor and other Metro leaders stretch the timetable for approving financing for the new convention center until February 16, 2010. In the midst of disclosures that council members were getting lobbied hard by the Mayor's Office to vote against this resolution, an overwhelming majority voted against even allowing the resolution to be voted on.

My own council member, Erica Gilmore, as well as all five of the at-Large members (including Megan Barry who during the 2007 campaign asserted, "I believe one person, one voice can make a difference. I will be your voice on the Metro Council") fell in line with the large pack of other CMs in blocking a vote on the request for more time to inform and prepare communities for the largest capital project in Nashville history. According to bill sponsor Michael Craddock, tabling motioner Rip Ryman supported the delay resolution in committee the night before. Emily Evans encouraged all of the CMs who wished to stop the vote on the measure to hold community meetings with constituents regardless. Mike Jameson asked Finance Director Rick Riebeling for assurance that a claim--that the vote could actually be held in January without the resolution--used to justify tabling was true. Riebeling deflected by denying that the Mayor's Office has any control over council scheduling.

In the end, it looks like the Mayor and his drones on the Metro Council are going to call an audible right out of the developers playbook, by holding controversial municipal meetings during the holiday season when people are busy, distracted, absorbed with family life or on vacation. Between Halloween, Thanksgiving, & Hanukkah/Christmas, it is going to be difficult for people to attend community meetings. That gives convention boosters, who are locked in like zealots in the Crusades, the upper hand.

We need to keep tabs on which council members hold community meetings before the bond issue to finance the project is approved and signed by the Mayor. Will Karl Dean's supporters on the council accommodate their constituents by holding meetings to prepare them? It will be interesting to see who does and who does not. A month ago I requested that Salemtown Neighbors Neighborhood Association contact CM Gilmore and ask for a meeting on the convention center proposal. No word yet on whether it will happen. But now that CM Gilmore has voted down a request to hold public hearings, she really should meet with us and discuss the ramifications of this project for our future.

Council Passes Erica Gilmore's SP Request Despite Planning's Disapproval

Even though Metro Planners have declared that Erica Gilmore's proposed rezone of a Pearl Street residence to a mixed-use is inconsistent with the North Nashville Community plan's residential character, Metro Council approved the rezoning on first reading tonight. Planning also noted that the neighborhood in which the proposed development sits is "worthy of conservation" and that the property lays between two public schools.

This looks like another overuse, perhaps misuse, of SP zoning to me. Still no word on whether CM Gilmore has held any community meetings on this matter.

Developer-Friendly CM Re-elected by Council to Planning Chair, Commission

Jim Gotto was the only candidate to run tonight for the council Planning and Zoning committee chair, which includes an appointment to a voting position on the Planning Commission. So, naturally, Gotto won. During his past tenure in that position, CM Gotto tried unsuccessfully to ramrod commission approval for May Town Center, supported allowing LED signs in residential neighborhoods, and moved to spot zone for a private school LED before the LED task force could make its recommendations.

Perhaps the only solace for those who would like to see greater balance between development special interests and community quality of life in the planning process is that with Gotto we have to stay on our toes. We don't have the convenience of letting our guards down, because CM Gotto can be relied upon to enable untrammeled growth.

Drenched Pitcher Bloom

After all, Tennessean President Ellen Leifeld is the Head Cheerleader of the Chief Lobby Group for the Convention Center

From a debate on the convention center at the Nashville Charrette:

[The] Tennessean prints article on $458,000 spent by a PR firm [McNeeley, Pigott, & Fox] lobbying council people on this project on page 5. Gaylord makes a $8,500 contribution to an organization critical of it and it's top middle of the front page.

In his defense of media executives the other day, SouthComm CEO Chris Ferrell treated the influence of power brokers on reporting too literally by arguing that media investors are not directly involved in editorial decisions. Affiliations and commitments of media executives and investors have to have some sort of influence on the balance and accuracy of reporting even if that influence is unstated; especially when that influence is unstated.

Reporters and editors are accomplished and astute people. To say that their bosses' political stance would not at least subconsciously influence their professional behavior is unrealistic. If nothing else, the unequal treatment of convention center stories appears improper. The Tennessean should reflect greater balance, but it may not be able to given Ellen Leifeld's outside commitments.

LED Proposal Re-emerges on Thursday Planning Commission Agenda

Metro planners have placed an attempt to allow commercial-style light emitting diode signs in residential neighborhoods on the Planning Commission's Thursday agenda for reconsideration. However, unlike last June, planners are now recommending disapproval of CM Charlie Tygard's proposal based on two reasons. In the first place:

From a land use policy perspective, staff would argue that these electronic display signs are not appropriate in all residentially- and agriculturally-zoned areas. While there may be some areas zoned for residential or agricultural use where an electronic display sign could be appropriate, staff finds that the process outlined in this bill does not adequately allow for consideration of the context of the site and the potential impact on surrounding properties. Rather than a one-size-fits-all list of criteria for the BZA to consider, the decision on the appropriateness of an electronic display sign should be based upon analysis of the context of the area.

So, it appears that planners have now adopted arguments by LED opponents that a one-size-fits-all-neighborhoods approach to allowing commercial-style signs is impractical and heavy-handed. This looks like progress to me.

In the second place:

from a practical point of view, the bill, as written, will not prevent future requests for Specific Plan or other inappropriate commercial zoning districts to accommodate the signs in residential districts. The process and standards recommended in this bill will limit the community education facilities, cultural centers, recreation centers, and religious institutions that are eligible to apply for, and receive permission to have, an electronic display sign. This is unlikely, however, to reduce the demand for these signs. As a result, these institutions will continue to seek electronic display signs by requesting rezoning to Specific Plan or other commercial zoning districts.

Essentially, not only will residential neighborhoods have to brook bright LED advertisements with approval of Tygard's bill, but they will continue to face increased developer demand for Specific Plans in order to get around the zoning. Tygard's bill means more money for the sign industry and more trouble for residential neighborhoods.

On Thursday, planners are offering their own alternative proposal free for any CM to pick up and sponsor. Their proposed ordinance would create an "Electronic Sign Overlay District" as "a means by which land uses situated within areas of the community where zoning does not permit electronic display signs by right, may have a process to obtain an electronic display sign if the sign is found to be compatible with the existing and proposed development pattern as outlined in the principles, policies and objectives of the general plan." Control over recommending the ESO would not go to Board of Zoning Appeals, but would stay with the Planning Commission before going to Metro Council.

According to the Nashville Neighborhoods e-list, one leader followed up with questions about the alternative and a planner responded:

We are trying to come up with the most forthright way to deal with electronic sign applications and give the public the most information as was requested by the Planning Commission. Short of a complete prohibition on electronic signs, this is the best way to make the public aware of a proposed LED sign. If we don't do this, there will still be SP and CS rezoning requests. We don't see that there is an interest on Council's behalf in a prohibition ....

Yes, there will be a public hearing for the commission to take input on the proposed ordinance.

P.S. I want to be clear about something - the purpose on Thursday's meeting is to vote on the Sign Task Force Bill and our recommendation is to disapprove.

The proposed ESO is not a bill, doesn't have a sponsor, it is our recommendation of a better way to do what the Sign Task Force Bill set out to do. We have no idea if it will go anywhere.

It seems clear to me that Planning has changed their action to advocating disapproval of Tygard's LED bill, which would mean it would require a supermajority (27 instead of 21) to pass it in Metro Council. I find curious the claim that there is no Council interest in a prohibition on LEDs in residential areas. Have industry lobbyists so influenced the legislative process that the choice is either to pass Tygard's bill or to take no action to reform and update regulations on commercial advertising in and around our dwellings? It seemed ominous when self-proclaimed reformer Megan Barry flip-flopped from wanting to beat Tygard's LED bill to disappearing entirely from the debate. Was it an indication that the planner was right about the council mood on this issue? I find that prospect disturbing.

After reading the description of the planner's proposal (p. 52), anyone have any insight on its merits?

Mayor Karl Dean Continues His Tour to Court County Conservatives

Word emerged last week that one of Karl Dean's staffers corresponded with arch-conservative Eagle Forum in order to dispatch next election a CM who did not acquiesce to the Mayor's convention center program. Today comes news, via Post Politics, that Hizzoner the Mayor himself will be breaking bread with conservatives tomorrow. Could this reflect a hedge after passage of the nondiscrimination bill for Metro employees, confidence that he has the liberal voting wing tied down, or a bona fide trend of his Log-Cabin leanings?

Good thing she took me off the mailing list

Since other progressives report receiving solicitation e-mails from Re-elect Megan Barry for Metro Council at-Large 2011, I seem to be spared the trouble of telling CM Barry "not this time, not after this term, not since you deserted some of us who contributed in 2007."

Should former Metro CM/current SouthComm CEO be commended for not playing the race card?

In last Friday's defense of his leadership, was Chris Ferrell suggesting he went to extraordinary lengths to resist what could have been acceptable behavior of making an opponent's ethnic background an issue? This response may seem somewhat sanctimonious to some who see restraint of racism as requisite:

I’m pretty comfortable that any complete look at my career on the council will reflect that among white council members, no one had a better record of advocating for programs to improve the lives of African American (and other minority) members of this community. Even my loss to Howard indicated that I wasn’t willing to use race to mobilize voters opposed to a black Vice Mayor in order to win a race. I think my public and private life demonstrates serious commitments to racial justice over a long time frame.

Are we really talking about exemplary effort in self-restraint of race-baiting, or are we talking about what should be candidate Ferrell's basic sense of duty that we would expect from him as a peer in the human race?

Local Newspaper Takes May Town Center Personally Rather than Journalistically

The Tennessee Tribune spins the rapidly receding chances of permitting urban sprawl across rural Bells Bend to near conspiratorial levels and practically impugns the well-organized, community-based opposition to the May Town Center proposal. According to writers Leslie Hart and Ronald Weathersby:

Local community and business leaders are angry about the stalemate that has resulted due to opposition of the proposed May Town Center in Bells Bend. Jack May is a native of Nashville. His family has resided here for over one-hundred years. As a result of their hard work and determination the family has truly been blessed financially. Mr. May says the family continuously seeks to give something back to their fellow Nashvillians ....

Unfortunately, it seems the multi-billion dollar development which is to be located in Bell’s Bend is suddenly being attacked by certain factions in and around the city ....

The seemingly questionable lack of support of the project by Mayor Karl Dean and his Administration along with an ad-hoc group of apparently influential interests groups has the mostly African American North Nashville community and local businesses up in arms. The financial and social opportunities represented by Jack May’s proposal would have a watershed effect on communities that have been left behind financially for decades ....

In the opinion of Tribune Publisher Rosetta Miller-Perry the abrupt stalemate that has resulted due to opposition of the proposed May Town Center in Bells Bend is not creditable ....

Miller-Perry said she sees these conflicting rationalizations as being a result of lack of respect for the African American community in Nashville.

The Tribune described May Town opponent groups as "sudden," "ad-hoc," and "abrupt" without bothering to interview them. Neighborhood leaders from across Nashville have been organizing against sprawl on Bells Bend for some time and I've been blogging on cooperative efforts to oppose the May family for a couple of years. It is a stretch to claim that they are "factions" in the sense of being clandestine and controlling. The Tribune writing seems shrill and desperate.

Why can't we be unconventional?

Blogging CM Emily Evans would prefer that we curb our conventionalism:

We are losing focus on what makes Nashville a tourist desination. Is building a box that could be in any city in the country so we can house dentists and school administrators, serve them the slippery chicken dinner and shuttle them back to the airport so they can get reunite with their families really the answer? Are there truly no other options? No music festivals, Bar B Que contests, heritage music events, head races or triathalons? Just a glass box, that's our answer. Not very creative for a city that is home to some of the world's most original people.

Asking this Mayor's Office to think outside of the box seems to be asking too much.

Do you believe coal ash has safe benefits without neutral oversight?

Shell-shocked Short-shrift Stimulus

According to a Nobel Prize-winning economist:

There was a lot of talk about health care being Obama’s Waterloo. It won’t, I think and hope. But stimulus is starting to look like Obama’s Anzio — the battle in which the American commander got himself into terrible trouble by being too cautious.

And right now Obama is pinned down in his too-small beachhead, taking heavy casualties.

UPDATE: It's slow-moving stimulus, too:

Stimulus money for transportation projects is being spent far more slowly than expected.

When the economic stimulus act passed in February, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the U.S. Department of Transportation would spend about $5 billion by the end of the fiscal year, which was Wednesday.

But Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Thursday that only $3.4 billion has been spent so far – about a third less than forecast.

SouthComm's Post Politics Blogger Draws Charges of Racism in Reference to African American Candidate Running to Represent North End

In a controversial post title this morning the SouthComm blog aggregator at the Post Politics blog referred to the African American State House District 58 challenger to Rep. Mary Pruitt, Steven Turner, as "Jason Powell in Blackface." Powell was the white challenger who ran against Pruitt in 2006. District 58 includes the North End neighborhoods (Salemtown, Germantown, etc), Downtown, portions of East Nashville and West Nashville, and the southern urban corridor to Berry Hill.

I can't claim to know what SouthComm editors are thinking in allowing this title to stand for 12 hours without comment, and the dozens of responses to the post have been mostly negative or seemed confused by the message intended in the title.

Provocation for its own sake that ends up reinforcing negative ethnic stereotypes is not good for anyone. But another question I have is whether said aggregator drew the flippant concept from another local blog's recent title referring to Barack Obama:

I shouldn't dignify the offending Post Politics post with my own blog post on it, but it does involve a candidate for this district, so it's news to us.

HT: "Klanheider" coinmaker

UPDATE: SouthComm CEO Chris Ferrell responds to reader outcry in the comment section of a separate SouthComm blog a little over 24 hours after the insensitivity was committed with a concession that his political blogger screwed up and a defense of himself and his corporation against criticism:

Kleinheider messed up. His post was completely inappropriate as were his initial responses.

Most blog posts are not edited. We trust our writers to post content that is appropriate. Most of the time they do that, but in this case Kleinheider did not. If this had been a news story for the Post or the Citypaper or the Scene it would have been edited and that headline never would have been made public. When the Post editor, Geert De Lombaerde (to answer the question asked above), learned of the post and responses he instructed Kleinheider to stop pouring fuel on the fire with his responses ....

Maybe it was a mistake in judgment to leave the headline up, but we rarely change content once it is posted unless there is a factual mistake.

We asked Kleinheider to write a thoughtful apology rather than an off the cuff response. At some point Friday it will be posted on Post Politics. It was his post and I thought the response should come from him. However, in light of some of the comments here tonight I had to write my own response as well.

One of my first thoughts when I read some of these comments was that those without sin should cast the first stone ....

With the caveat that all of us white southerners have some degree of guilt for benefitting from structural discrimination, the notion that SouthComm is run by a bunch of racists is simply ludicrous. First of all, I have operating responsibility for the company. The investors are not involved in editorial decisions in any direct manner. So the charges leveled at them are just not related to the reality of how this organization functions.
I think the fact that Bruce called Kleinheider out on this blog is an example of our commitment to independent voices ....

If you want to call me a racist for allowing this headline to remain, then I would suggest that you are making a broad judgment based on a narrow slice of information. While much of this discussion was taking place here tonight I was at Pearl Cohn watching my son play football for his very integrated public middle school. I’m pretty comfortable that any complete look at my career on the council will reflect that among white council members, no one had a better record of advocating for programs to improve the lives of African American (and other minority) members of this community.

The subject of Ferrell's reference to throwing fuel on the fire was initial debate between Kleinheider and former District 58 candidate Jason Powell. Here is the exchange as it appeared on Post Politics:

Jason Powell writes

October 1st, 2009 12:00 pm

Please kindly change the title of this blog posting. I find it inappropriate and disrespectful to the campaign I ran and the campaign Steven Turner is running.

Sincerely,

Jason Powell

Kleinheider writes

October 1st, 2009 12:16 pm

Please kindly change the title of this blog posting. I find it inappropriate and disrespectful to the campaign I ran and the campaign Steven Turner is running.

Okay, hang on. I’ll get to you in a minute. Right now I’m busy going back and retroactively making all my post title’s “appropriate and respectful.”

Could take a while.

Kleinheider's mea culpa mentioning District 58 candidate Steven Turner appeared several hour ago:

Many, many people have asked me the now obvious question “What were you thinking?”

The political answer, the pragmatic answer, the “smart” answer to that question would be “I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking. I apologize and I assure you it will never, ever happen again.”

Nine of ten people in my position would give that answer to save their skin, go along to get along and live to post another day. Fortunately or unfortunately, I’m that tenth guy.

I can’t say that I didn’t give the post title any thought — because I did. I give most of my post titles thought — the ones that provoke any kind of thought or response anyway.

As you may notice if you stop by here for any length of time, this is an aggregation site. I find things I think are interesting and informative at the local, state, and federal level and share them here. Sometimes I engage in a bit of news analysis or commentary and occasionally even some original reporting. But chiefly, this is an aggregation site.

As aggregation can be a bit boring, I like to spice up the titles a bit. Sometimes it is a movie reference, occasionally some interesting alliteration, sometimes a joke. Often irreverent and frequently disrespectful, they are designed to give a chuckle or make one think. Many times they are vague and ambiguous forcing the reader to ask “What does that mean?”

In fact, I often get emails asking that very thing about titles and I am loathe to explain. I like ambiguity. It would be silly to call blog post titles “art” — clearly they aren’t. But, to me, they are similar in that they frequently are better left unexplained.

Those that know, know. Those that misunderstand, misunderstand. And those that come away with something totally different than my intent share their impressions and make me think.

Suffice it to say, in the last 24 hours, I’ve had a lot to think about.

To those that I offended, I am truly sorry. It was never my intent to hurt anyone. My intent was to provoke a positive discussion. In that, I failed. Because, while I certainly incited something, it wasn’t the least bit constructive.

You see, I remember the race between Jason Powell and Mary Pruitt in 2006. Pruitt had, to this observer, clearly outstayed her welcome in public office. She had had legitimate ethics charges leveled against her. With a fresh progressive qualified challenger running against her, it seemed plausible (on paper anyway) that she would go down to defeat. Powell, by all accounts, ran an exemplary campaign that year. But, he ultimately fell short.

The reason was seldom said but clear as day. Jason Powell was white in a district that wasn’t.

Steven Turner is an outstanding individual who stands tall on his own merit but his brand of progressive politics, while different on the margins, are strikingly similar to Powell’s. Yet Turner has a chance at victory over the entrenched incumbent where Powell did not.