At Large Candidate

It's never too early to consider the field for the Metro Council August 2007 election. I keep getting e-mail invitations to events from this at-large candidate, but upon looking at her website, I cannot figure out where she stands on some of the more important issues urban Nashville faces. Anybody else know her?

Council Member Charlie Tygard Looks to the Past to Repair the Council's Current Reputation

Instead of looking for present solutions to problems of street cred right in front of him, Charlie Tygard is reportedly hosting a reunion of living former Council members to hear their ideas for reviving the good old days when patronage ruled in place of public counsel (lately the good old days seems to include today). Is he serious or just getting the good 'ole boys back together to wax nostalgic? Not all "institutional knowledge" is worth keeping. Dare we ask if the June 7 breakfast--to include apparently at least 70 place settings--is being paid for by Metro taxpayers?

Placing a New Convention Center

This past Wednesday night's public charrette on the Music City Center Committee's plans for a new convention center was held at the Adventure Science Center south of Downtown. The turn-out seemed lower than expected, as the crowd occupied about half of the tables set up for the event. A spokesperson from the MCCC presented their proposal after which the audience, broken up into small groups, discussed and made recommendations on design, placement, integration, and other aspects of having a downtown convention center.

I got the distinct impression from the MCCC presentation that the question of the convention center is not whether we are going to get one, but how and when we are going to build one. The spokesperson said that we lose hundreds of conventions a year despite the fact that entertainment is one of Nashville's largest industries. Nashville, according to the MCCC, is one of the three most requested destinations by conventioneers (Las Vegas and Orlando are the others), even as most large conventions go somewhere else because of downtown's antiquated convention space. The MCCC spokesperson said that Nashville's status as "Music City" had a lot to do with the demand.

The small group that I was in seemed concerned that the committee had only recommended one site, which is highlighted in hot pink on the map of south downtown below. The general concern was that the proposed footprint would eat up a major chunk of a neighborhood that is widely acknowledged to be the next residential/retail hot-spot in the city. During his presentation, the committee spokesperson said that the reason for their selection was that the spot sat in close and convenient proximity to downtown hotels, restaurants, and other entertainment venues and that this was an important quality for perspective conventioneers. My group's question was whether the relatively short life expectancy of the proposed convention center (20 years) justified the risk to longer-term So-Bro development.

One of our group members said that he was a regular conventioneer, and that what mattered most to him was not the center's close placement to hotels and entertainment venues. What mattered more to him if he were attending a convention here was that the hotels all be located close to each other and close to entertainment venues (he mentioned the Wildhorse, Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar, and Tooties). Indeed, many of the major hotels and entertainment venues are located in the rectangular corridor north of Broadway, between the river and the Gulch. The convention center did not have to be close to any of those locations. He suggested that the convention center could be placed across the river on the current Steiner-Liff property (#1, highlighted in green on the map below), which has a larger footprint than the current site, but it would not eat up a major section of downtown.


Our small group seemed to agree that moving the convention site to the current Steiner-Liff property would solve several problems. It would protect So-Bro development. There would be more space for the considerable loading docks that are needed by convention centers. Parking challenges would be addressed by the acres of parking lots around the Coliseum; no massive parking structures would be needed in higher density downtown. And the current blight sitting on the east bank south of the Coliseum would disappear.

Our group also recommended two other alternative center sites. We thought that moving the center a little further south to the triangular space between Lafayette St. and 8th Av. (#2, highlighted in green on the map above) would protect development in the So-Bro/Rutledge Hill/Rolling Mill Hill corridor. The strengths of that alternative include size for expansion and for parking, as well as access to I-65 south and I-40 east and west. Our third alternative (#3, highlighted in green on the map above) came from a recommendation made at the first charrette: moving the site to the currently underdeveloped north Gulch area.

If we are going to build a convention center, let's make sure that we put it in the best place not just for conventioneers, but for local mixed-use neighborhoods and downtowners, too. The MCCC spokesperson said during his presentation that he could not imagine a better thing than conventioneers bringing outside money into Nashville, spending it, and then leaving. I believe that those of us who live here and who have a greater investment in our urban neighborhoods can imagine an even better thing.

I Say, "Make Them Pay"

My heart bleeds for all of those Belle Meade and Brentwood residents (especially the ones talking trash about how costly city living is, given their own "cheaper services" and "lower taxes") who now might have to be charged more for using Metro Nashville's sewer system because of rising utility rates that Nashville's Mayor refuses to pass on to actual Nashville residents. I've long said that outlying, self-governing suburbs that nonetheless enjoy urban services should pay more than Metro residents for utilizing those services. It's only fair and it's karma for all of those who claim that cities are hemorrhaging people because taxes and fees are so much higher than in the 'burbs. If they don't like it, let them build and maintain their own sewers, which of course will mean an urban-like increase in taxes and fees in those hamlets.

Might "The Rocket" Pitch Against the Sounds?

Roger Clemens agreed to a record pro-rated agreement with the Houston Astros today to pitch the rest of the season after a few weeks tuning up in the minors. If all goes according to plan, Clemens will be with the Triple-A Round Rock Express beginning June 16 (after assignments with Houstons A and AA teams) getting in condition to join the Astros on June 22. The Sounds have a series in Round Rock starting June 21st, meaning they could face Clemens in a tune up for his next-day trip to the majors, assuming that he is scheduled to pitch.

If the Rocket's conditioning schedule and his stint in the minors is prolonged, there is a slight chance that he could pitch with the Express in Nashville the next week (although the chances are probably slim, since Clemens has a reputation for grueling conditioning season in and out). The Express will travel to Greer for a four-game series beginning June 30. It would be great if things worked out so that we could see this future first-vote Hall of Famer in Nashville.


05/31/2006, 11:00 p.m. Update: Clemens is scheduled for a June 6 start with the single-A Lexington Legends, just north of us in Kentucky. If you plan to road trip it, you may want to get your tix ordered if they aren't already sold out. Unfortunately for Sounds fans, unless his tune up is prolonged, his one and only start with Round Rock is scheduled for June 16.

Another City Paper Botch? Will Kay Brooks Support Pedro Garcia?

The dust has not even settled on Kay Brooks' 18-17-vote appointment from Metro Council, and the Nashville City Paper--with its own checkered history of generally mucking up the news--speculates on her possible support for embattled MNPS Director Pedro Garcia.

Did reporter Vandana Atreya even bother to do some research on Kay Brooks' blog? I doubt it, because if so she would have found Garcia taking a general beating there. On October 26, 2005, Brooks wrote:

The morning media is making it pretty clear that Metro Nashville Public School Director Pedro Garcia is on his way out. This may be the first time I've agreed with my own school board member [Lisa Hunt]. She voted not to renew his contract at this time. I don't think this turn of events was a big surprise to anyone who's been watching or had a few conversations with parents of publicly school children in our town. [Note to District 5 voters: if you liked Lisa Hunt, you'll only like Kay Brooks on one issue].

Brooks, who recently mentioned my patronage of her blog as a way to find out what she believes, also insinuated that a recent nomination of Nashville's public schools for a prestigious national award had more to do with Pedro Garcia's political connections to Los Angeles (where the award is based) and less to do with the quality of our public schools. I have no doubt that she meant that as a knock on Garcia, even though the clear implication is that our public schools are not worth it.

In my research of Kay Brooks, I found no supportive or positive comment whatsoever on Pedro Garcia's leadership. She has been critical of Garcia's supporters for running a school system without their children actually being in it. She has echoed and magnified criticism from parents about Garcia's alleged lack of responsiveness. She faults Garcia for an e-mail sent out to Metro employees in support of the September 2005 tax increase, then encourages her readers to keep any tax supporters who call them on the line as long as possible to distract them from calling other registered voters (and I'm supposed to believe that a school board candidate with that kind of political savvy did not know, as she told the NCP, that the Republicans were communicating on her behalf for a yes-vote in Metro Council?) .

I fail to see any convincing evidence in any quarter that Kay Brooks would support Pedro Garcia, unless there are other deals being made under the table that we don't see. Politics does make strange bedfellows. If that's the case, then the City Paper owes it to its readership to be more forthcoming. But otherwise, I must ask: does the City Paper just make up stuff to run in its daily? If not, where in the Sam Hill do they get it?

Blogging Lawyer Offers Michael Craddock's Vote Mongering a Pro Bono (Non-Publicō) Legal Defense

The blogger at MooreThoughts.com who broke the news about Michael Craddock securing just enough votes to put Kay Brooks on the school board has been trying to characterize Craddock's critics as merely opposed to having a home-schooling mom on the board, which as we've seen is very far from the truth. But when I pointed out alleged sunshine law violations by Craddock et al., said lawyer offered the following defense:

The sunshine law is horribly vague, almost to the point of jeopardizing its enforceability (what exactly is the “spirit” of the law? what constitutes a “meeting” under the act?).

According to the only real case law, if a public body convenes for one of two purposes: (1) in order to make a decision or (2) in order to deliberate toward a decision, then it is a meeting within the scope of the Act. Neese v. Paris Special School District, 813 S.W.2d 432, 435 (Tenn.Ct.App.1990). Unfortunately, that doesn’t answer most questions regarding the Act’s applicability. There are more restrictive interpretations in Attorney General opinions, but they are not supported by judicial opinions and are not law.

The last paragraph of the sunshine law, which qualifies the entire statute, isn’t clear by any stretch. One cannot hold official meetings outside of voter view. That’s fine, but circular, as noted above. Formal meetings are clearly addressed. Short of sitting in session, the law is vague. What constitutes a “meeting”, and what constitutes “deliberation” are big question marks.

But by the plain language of the statute, the sunshine law does say that casual meetings between legislators aren’t necessarily prohibited .... If anything, Craddock is overly protected by prior court decisions

“Deliberation under the Open Meetings Act ‘refers to discussing, debating, and considering an issue for the purpose of making a decision and does not include a discussion solely for the purpose of information gathering or fact finding.’ The University of Tennessee Arboretum Society, Inc. v. The City of Oak Ridge, slip op. (E.S.Tenn.Ct.App. 1983).”

There isn’t even close to enough evidence to grab the torches and riot for Craddock’s head.

Of course, that last bit of hyperbole tells the tale: no one is grabbing torches and chasing the Frankenstein monster around. On the contrary, I've asked for an investigation on the allegations that Michael Craddock put these votes together outside of public view. We won't know whether there is enough evidence without an independent investigation.

What I got from the MooreThoughts exchange was a lawyer doing what lawyers do: parsing terms and asking "What does this or that word exactly mean?" (I've always found it ironic that in attempts to show how vague a law is lawyers often introduce an even greater lack of clarity. "What exactly is the 'spirit' of the law?" is almost an oxymoronic question. Talk about your circular logic).

My sense is that a politically conservative lawyer who has a bias for and who wishes to defend politically conservative Michael Craddock would prefer that vote mongering in some kind of nebulous, non-legal netherworld remain veiled in obscurity relative to the law on open meetings. If clarity might dictate accountability, a good legal defense further clouds the issue. So, the MooreThoughts blogger is being an able lawyer on Michael Craddock's behalf.

However, for laypeople like me, it doesn't seem too much to ask to test the Open Meeting Law's "applicability" by investigating whether certain Metro Council members violated it. Our other option is to sit around and parse the term "applicability," asking what it means and then asking what exactly each of the terms in its exact definition means ad infinitum. We could chase rabbits in legal head games, but I say, let's test it practically in the real world instead, and at the same time let's find out whether 18 members of the Metro Council betrayed the public trust as has been alleged.

So-Bro Tug-o-War: The Public Spars with Convention Center Plans

It's good to live in an age when committees and private investors cannot simply run roughshod over public interest; or, at least if they are going to, they have to face the public and go through the motions of getting feedback. The first of the public charrettes on plans for a convention center was held at the downtown library last night, and the convention center committee had to face some criticism of their rah-rah mission to suck up a huge footprint south of Broadway that could otherwise be used for residential neighborhood development. I totally agree with the local developer who asked the committee last night to release the transcripts and minutes from the discussions that lead to selecting SoBro and rejecting all others as the best site for a revenue-depleting, cost-intensive convention center. Given that this is the Mayor's Task Force, I'm wondering if it might even be subject to open meeting laws.

The second public charrette will be held tonight at the Adventure Science Center, 800 Fort Negley Blvd. Sign-in starts at 6:30; meeting lasts until 8:30.

Nash-Trash Gets Sunday NY Times Showcase

Congratulations to Nashville's Best Trash, the Juggs sisters, whose entertaining enterprise, Nash-Trash Tours, is based in the North End at Farmer's Market. The Nash-Trash Tour was recommended in a Times article on Nashville in this past Sunday's Travel section as one of three things to do during the day in Nashville. We're always honking and waving at their pink school bus coming and going. We still intend to get a group together, BYOB, and "get trashed" ourselves like the tourists seem to be doing.

Neo-Egyptian, Neo-Neo-Egyptian

The Votes For Brooks from Wallace and Whitmore Still Do Not Add Up

The Tennessean has already pointed out that both Council members Ludye Wallace (District 19) and Ed Whitmore (District 21), who both represent heavily Democratic districts, were not dragged kicking and screaming to vote for Republican-backed conservative Kay Brooks as stand-in school board member for the summer (she won by one vote). It occurred to me that maybe the results of the sales tax referendum in September--which the Mayor would have used for increased school funding and which eventually got pitched as a referendum on Pedro Garcia and the School Board--could have made a difference in their assist of the conservatives and the Republicans who are seeking a clamp down on MNPS.

For instance, if the attitude in their districts matched the %70-%30 rejection of the sales tax by Davidson County voters (to be fair, only %6.5 of registered voters had shown up by 4:00 p.m. on election day, so it wasn't exactly a clear reflection of popular Metro-wide support or rejection), then I suppose that they might have a case for supporting a school board candidate who has been as vociferous in her attacks of the school budget and any tax increases as Kay Brooks has been on her blog.

So, I called the County Election Commission for the numbers last week. The results from Districts 19 and 21 came no where close to matching the lop-sided defeat in the County. In Ludye's district, only 16 votes separated the yeas from the nays (4% more voted against the sales tax than for it). In Whitmore's district only 14 votes separated the yeas from the nays (less than 3% more voted against the sales tax than for it). Both of those numbers are consistent with the fact that the districts are largely Democratic and with the general perception that Democrats (and progressives in general) were firmly ambivalent about this tax and that they split on the vote, if they showed up to vote at all.

So, both Wallace and Whitmore should have chosen more deliberate discretion, instead of the obviously cavalier and shortsighted approach with which they supported filling the school board vacancy. As far as I can tell, neither one of them bothered to do any research or fact-finding about the candidates before they voted. Neither of them notified their constituents about Michael Craddock's ante, and neither of them appealed to their constituents for feedback for a decision.

What's worse: Wallace seems to have based his support for Kay Brooks on a trade for a back alley. What's the worth of a school board seat in a city where it can be traded for a back alley?

Today's Legends of the Blues Festival Pictures

"The Queen of Soul Blues," Ms. Denise LaSalle, belts it out this evening in Centennial Park. "You Shoulda Kept It in the Bedroom."

Vice Mayor and campaigning mayoral candidate, Howard Gentry, taking a call after introducing Denise LaSalle.

Microwave Dave (on stage in front of the far left mural) slashing strings in the Robert Johnson style.

"All she wanted to hear were those down home blues."

A Study in Contrast

[I]t's a cheap heart tugging trick to say "it's for the children" .... [The] whole "education is the most important thing" motto was way wrong and arrogant, to boot. How many people could look face to face with a firefighter or policeman and tell THEM that education was more important than protecting life and limb?

- - Substitute Metro School Board member Kay Brooks reflecting on the September 13, 2005 sales tax referendum

Educating children is the most important thing that we as a people can do, and I think that the long term solution to crime reduction and abatement is education. So I am all for education .... This referendum is something I am very in favor of ... to give education opportunities to children is something that I believe in.

- - Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas reflecting on the September 13, 2005 sales tax referendum

TeSelle's Letter Speaks of Trust in Cooperative Mixed-Use Development, Betrayal in Republican/Kay Brooks "Stealth Operation"

Gene TeSelle, whom I know from my days at Vandy when he was one of my dissertation advisors, has written a timely letter to the Tennessean. I'm reproducing it here for your consumption:

Last Monday there was a ceremonial groundbreaking for 5th and Main, an innovative construction project that will create a significant entry point to east Nashville.

Living units will range from affordable to luxury, and in the "mixed use" tradition there will also be commercial and office space.

The non-profit developer is Affordable Housing Resources. It took most of two years for all the contracts to be worked out with a variety of financing agencies.

At the groundbreaking we were reminded about the many partners — Fannie Mae and NeighborWorks, banks, Metro's own Housing Fund, MDHA, architects, engineers, marketers. Mayor Bill Purcell said this project helps us understand why Nashville ranks high on the livability scale nationwide.

Well, that's how a constructive project happens, through a spirit of trust and cooperation all around.

A week earlier, also in east Nashville, we had an unfortunate example of how to betray trust and cooperation. In a stealth operation, a member of the Metro Council who did not even represent east Nashville lined up votes to put on the school board a candidate who home-schools her children and avoided a community forum.

At first it looked like a power play by ideological extremists. Then it turned out that the Davidson County Republican Party was involved.

Being constructive takes persistence. Being destructive only takes ruthlessness and short-term vision. Examples of both are right in front of us.

Gene TeSelle
Nashville 37212

Looks like it is still "going down hard."

Top Down, Sippy Cup in Hand

Payback Is a Pitch

State lawmakers still being wined and dined by $232,000-wielding bid-ness lobbyists even after so-called ethics reform passed? You can't say I didn't warn you. The Guv and the Gen-Ass agreed on meaningless ethics reform and the chickens are coming home to roost. Lobbyists win: game, set, and match.

To Make Matters Worse

While the General Assembly kept the wages of average working stiffs depressed by killing the minimum wage measure, they were busy last night making sure that their own retirement pensions and the Governor's salary went up (and in an era when private corporations who support these guys are trying to make pensions in general extinct). So, while refusing to help minimum wage earners, they actually helped themselves to a little more public money for an extra green fee or two during their golden years at Del Boca Vista. It fits the hoarding class's MO: to perpetually behave as if there's not enough wealth to spread around.

Bryson Joins Majority to Kill Minimum Wage Measure without Having to Defend Decision to Voters

According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, State Senate Republicans watched an "acrimonious House debate" over establishing a $6.15 minimum wage in Tennessee, and voted to kill the bill by sending to a committee that will not meet again. Despite the bill's passage by the Commerce Committee, Republican Senate Leader, Ron Ramsey moved to refer it to the Judiciary Committee for review and Franklin Senator and Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Bryson voted with the majority (17-12) in favor of the move.

Apparently Jim Bryson and his ultra-conservative co-hort didn't have the heart to stand up to successful House arguments made by Democrats that jobless rates dropped only slightly after the minimum wage hikes of 1991, 1995, and 1997. Nor did they have the fortitude to deal with the facts like:

• The buying power of the $5.15 wage has eroded to $4.73 today; nonetheless, Tennessee offers many tax breaks and incentives to help "bid-ness."
• Thanks to inflation, the current minimum wage buys a fraction of what past lower minimum wages bought. For instance, according to the Daily Plan,

in 1968, the federal minimum wage was $1.60 per hour-- or if adjusted for inflation -- $9.16 per hour. Yes-- almost forty years ago, the minimum acceptable wage in this country was over $9 per hour. But the federal minimum wage has been allowed to collapse down to just $5.15 per hour.

Or as some Tennessee Dems more precisely point out, $4.73 an hour. That's just not good management of financial resources. And it's just plain heartless of Republican leaders like Jim Bryson, who wants to be the next governor of this state. We can see what kind of people he would represent and it definitely is not most average Tennesseans. Worst of all he weaseled out of public accountability by hiding behind a technicality in Senate procedure. Not exactly a profile in courage, is it? Whatever happened to Republican calls for a "clear up or down vote"?

Thanks for Stopping By!

According to my stat counter, Adam Dread visited Enclave this morning shortly before lunch. Stat Counter says that he arrived from an Earthlink web mail account. I hope that does not mean that he is just getting around to reading my Kay Brooks e-mail sent over a week ago.

I appreciate your patonage of my website, Councilman-at-large, but I'd also welcome a reply to my e-mail from last week on explaining the process of your decision to vote for Kay Brooks, including any discussions/plans that were made by the 18 members outside of the public eye.

What's Good for the Goose: Kay Brooks on Open Meetings Laws

Kay Brooks' past blog posts on Tennessee's Sunshine Laws seem to indicate that she favors them, especially when elected officials are considering her pet projects involving home schooling. Here are some of her comments about government transparency and citizen access:

Government naturally creates a dependent society and works hard at protecting itself. One way that happens is by keeping folks out of the information loop. It worked for the church priests of old when they kept the Scriptures in Latin, it still works when our legislative priests create and maintain a convoluted legislative process .... let's begin to remove that cloud by embracing legitimate accountability and easy access by citizens to the information they must have in order to know what their own representatives are doing. And I'll push this even further down the pipeline. Every government entity ought to adhere to these rules. Citizens across the state need information from every governmental entity.

I am rather stunned by these comments. Not because they are farfetched, extremist, or unreasonable. In fact, I agree with their general principle. I am stunned at their seeming irony given that the process whereby she was recruited, promoted, and appointed by Metro Council was just as secretive, self-serving, manipulative, convoluted, unaccountable, and unruly as any state process she criticized. If Kay Brooks honestly opposes government as a closed system, how could she in good conscience accept her appointment to the school board? According to her own ethical standard, those are ill-gotten gains.

In another post she even advocated a fairly aggressive open meetings standard, which I think would be about right for Metro Council:

I want video streaming of every committee meeting, legislative session, and press conference by legislators, the governor and other agency heads. I'd even go for a link to the security cameras in the hall so I can know who's schmoozing and flesh-pressing whom.

We might know quite a bit more about the schmoozing and flesh-pressing between Council members, Davidson County Republican Party leaders and other Brooks supporters had there been more video feeds from more places that Council members meet outside Chambers and microphone shot. Archiving e-mails and documenting telephone calls concerning Council business would have probably shed even more light on the closed lobbying efforts in Council.

Finally, Brooks is hammerhead critical of a prospective mayoral candidate who was quoted as saying that that representative bodies are often required to make budgetary decisions that the public would not advocate. She writes:

So let's see if I'm following this correctly, we'll keep voting until we get the results we want, spending a half a million dollars every time. And we'll do an end run around the citizens by going to elected representatives to get this money.

Like 18 Council members did the end-around Nashvillians by appointing you via closed process to the school board, Kay?