Nashville Predators Are One of the Most Government-Subsidized Teams

Ben Cunningham is on top of this one, with a quote from Forbes. The name "Predators" seems to fit, because they really do prey on the financial health of our community, and come back later demanding more.

Local Blogger Subpoenaed for Blogging on Blighted Property

And that person is me. On Friday evening, a courier appeared at my door and handed me a subpoena from the Seventh Circuit Court on behalf of Attorney Christina Norris (Norris & Norris PLC) commanding me to appear today at 10:00 as a "Personal Service." Ms. Norris had called me a couple of weeks ago asking me to appear as a witness for her client, Doina Gherghescu, the defendant in a case brought by her father, Iunian Gherghescu, in his attempt to wrest control of the Salemtown property they jointly own from her. Thirty minutes before the start of the trial, Ms. Norris left a message for me saying that I would not have to appear until she called me.

During our first conversation, Ms. Norris told me that she read an article I wrote on the blight at the Gherghescus' apartments and she wanted to use my witness to the deteriorating conditions. She tried to assure me that helping her client win would be a way of improving conditions at the apartments and making the neighborhood better. At that time I told Ms. Norris my reservations with appearing on her clients behalf, so she moved from invitations to a subpoena.

Living in a transitional neighborhood, wisdom requires circumspection about getting tied up in a legal case over blighted property and absentee landlords. But the main reason that I initially balked at jumping into this dispute with both feet is that it has nothing to do with making the neighborhood better. It is a personal family fight for control over a property with no assurances, no written guarantees from either side that, if either wins, the blight will be cleaned up.

Ms. Gherghescu's defense against her father means nothing more to me than protecting her own claim to and her own stakes in the property. How is her possible success in court better for Salemtown? Both father and daughter have let the apartment property run-down, marring the quality of life, generating criminal activity, and maintaining an eyesore. Why should I believe that Ms. Gherghescu would change the way she has managed the property simply because she wins this case?

Neighbors tell me that the bad conditions at the Gherghescu property have been with Salemtown as far back as they can remember. So, the Gherghescus have been imposing on this community for a long time. And this week they are imposing on me personally by taking me away from my responsibilities and entangling me in what looks to me to be nothing more than their own selfish and dysfunctional struggle for control.

Gilmore's Deferral Surprises Germantown Leaders

According to the Historic Germantown, Inc. President, Stacy Mosley, newly elected Council Member Erica Gilmore never divulged to them word that she was going to defer the bill that could provide a historic overlay for the North End neighborhood. On the contrary, Ms. Gilmore went to the effort to file the bill for consideration last Monday before Tuesday's Council Meeting after accepting it late from Germantown leaders without any indication that she would defer it indefinitely the next day.

President Mosley told me that she was surprised at the deferral and that she is confused about CM Gilmore's intention to hold a community meeting on the bill, because Ms. Gilmore had attended several community meetings in the past year in which the overlay was the exclusive focus of debate and discussion among G-towners. Ms. Gilmore never told anyone before her Tuesday meeting announcement that she would be having her own community meeting on the overlay.

We are approaching a week since the Ms. Gilmore told the Metro Council (and seemed to surprise at least Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors, who wasn't expecting the deferral) that she would be holding a community meeting on the overlay. Yet, no public announcement has been made regarding a time and date of the meeting.

That does not look like a good sign to me, given that Ms. Gilmore's predecessor, Ludye Wallace, made such announcements and he failed to communicate or to facilitate meetings. Ms. Gilmore told Salemtown leaders during her campaign that she intended to do things differently than her predecessor. In my opinion, CM Gilmore needs to reach out to the community sooner rather than later lest the impression be generated that she strung G-town overlay proponents along before the election merely to get their votes. If she has reservations about sponsoring the overlay, then she should take them to the community directly and face those who have worked for this concept for so many months.

But I've got one other question preying on my mind: why even file this bill on Monday before the Tuesday meeting if she had decided to meet with the community? That seems like the perfect time to work with G-town leaders and tell them that she felt a delay was appropriate. If she had not decided to sponsor a meeting at that point, then Erica Gilmore seems to have changed her mind on the overlay overnight. That is rather curious.

The Journey to the Dark Side is Complete

AT&T has put its mark on the Batman Building.

In news unrelated to building itself, another corporate media giant at NBC is asking AT&T to "filter the internet," which is exactly what each of the telecoms are striving to do. As Terry Heaton points out:

Technology is blowing the whole entertainment world apart, and rather than seek creative — and profitable — solutions, the people who run the giants of the copyright cartel keep trying to pull the whole thing back under their control. They are joined by the giant Telcos, who are their allies in the command-and-control battle in Congress. If the Telcos can create a tiered Web, where only those with deep pockets get the quality bandwidth, then Zucker will have his wish. Bring on those “unclogged” pipes that are filled only with pirated property. While I’m sure he doesn’t think so, Zucker is actually a puppet in the hands of AT&T.

If a tiered Web happens, it will stymie innovation, but it won’t stop the personal media revolution. And this is the real problem that the studios don’t want to consider, because, well, anybody can produce crap.

NBC is pillow-talking AT&T into filtering the internet because the news media now has little to do with reporting the news and much to do with making and hoarding money. And AT&T certainly wants its cut of the massive profits of a tiered web.

HT: Brittney

Urban Rock Climbing Expedition

Today we went out to try out the ramp travel index of the Rubicon by visiting a small rock quarry not far from Downtown. There were scores of scalable rocks to explore our own trail rating. We disconnected the sway bar (not the first time I could be accused of driving with my sway bar disconnected) and hopped around while the 3-year-old just kept right on coloring undaunted in the back seat.

Jeep Rubicon. There is no other.

The Princess Has No Clothes on SCHIP

Casting aside any concern for how carrying the Bush Administration's water might marr her attention-grabbing coutour (does being conservative ever mean prêt-à-porter?), U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) perpetuated myths to discard a SCHIP increase, even dragging in some immigration red meat to make partisans gnaw on children's health care:

I am not supportive of taking the SCHIP program, which is a good program, expanding it, having it available to illegal immigrants, having it available to adults, having it available to those that are not underprivileged American children

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee has their own bone to pick with her:

According to a Finance Committee news release, the bill does not raise the income eligibility level to qualify for SCHIP. If states go above three times the poverty level, or $61,950 for a family of four, the state gets a reduced match from the federal government. “It’s all there in black and white,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member on the Finance Committee, in prepared remarks made on the Senate floor. “Anyone who suggests this bill is an expansion to higher income kids or other populations is simply not reading the bill.”

Of course, Ms. Blackburn does not prefer black and white in her fall ensemble. She likes to mix and match.

Paying Tax Dollars Through the Nose to Keep Hockey in Nashville Is Like Horking Up a Puck

I’m hoping we’ll build a venue so the Highland Games can have a permanent home in Nashville. If our city is committed to pouring cash into losing sports franchises, at least can we have one with a caber toss?

- -CatMac

She also has a great post on priorities over at her place where she replies to blogging Council Member Emily Evans' point about an empty arena losing money:

But IT STILL LOSES MONEY [with the Predators]. If we're sitting on an empty thermal lot because ... we don't think the offer is strong enough, why in the world are we negotiating for the benefit of a different sports team? Is there something magical about the Predators [rather than the Sounds]?

Nashville needs to hang just as tough against the Predators as it did against the Sounds.

I part ways with Catherine insofar as I believe that reasonable deals at minimal cost may be pursued with sports teams, but it will not be any major loss if the Predators move to KC. Los Angeles did not fall apart when the Rams moved to St. Louis and the Raiders went back to Oakland, and the NFL is more lucrative than the NHL. If one of the most major sports markets can make it without a particular professional sport, second-tiered Nashville can too, especially in the tight Metro budget crunch times.

Sometimes we get more by saying "no" than by saying "yes."


UPDATE: Ms. Evans replies. NashPo says Deans tells Council a deal is close. Let's hope the fiscal damage is minimal.

How Can the State Maintain an Urban Park with No Overnight Security?

In the wake of the Bicentennial Mall rape, we find out that the State Park is unguarded (except for Metro patrols) for over 7 hours in the dark. Tennessee can't spare even one Park Ranger to patrol overnight? What about some surveillance cameras or emergency kiosks?

Defying the Immigration Stereotypes

So, if so many illegally immigrating Mexicans fit an American stereotype of being dissatisfied with Mexico and of being lured by the United States itself, then how is it that "Mexicans emerge as the most personally satisfied public [76%] in the latest Pew Global Attitudes survey"? Perhaps we think a lot of ourselves and not a lot about the real reasons why Mexicans might leave a country with which they are for the most part content for one in which they are consistently exploited, stalked, and reviled.

Veto of Children's Healthcare Costs Hospitals that Treat the Poor $150 Million

The tsunami-like problems emanating from President Bush's veto roll over the Tennessee hospitals that provide indigent care for a disproportionate share of uninsured children. This morning's Tennessean reports that the Bush veto of Congress' SCHIP could cost those hospitals $30 million a year for 5 years in their efforts to deliver adequate health care whenever the state's 127,000 uninsured kids need it.

This veto really was unconscionable and reprehensible. We're only going to see more tragedy and distress resulting from it. Congress needs to find its heart, claim its responsibility to be the funder of government programs (regardless of what "the decider" does), and override the veto of SCHIP.

Council Members Get Shout Outs

The Nashville Scene on its "Best Political Newcomer," at-Large Member Megan Barry:

As a corporate ethics officer, Barry is especially strong on good behavior in government. “I believe that for local government to be effective, citizens must have confidence that their lawmakers are acting in the best interest of the community, serving community needs and not those of special interest groups,” she says. What a novel idea.

Yes, and I wish she would have been in the Committee Chair mix.

And District 6 (Downtown/East Nashville) Council Member Mike Jameson gets some "Best of" love from CatMac:

[Before getting distracted by an unrelated website,] I was going to write a post about how Mike Jameson really is the very best Councilman in Nashville. I had already drafted a list of hints to the new council about how to return phone calls like Mike does, about how to linger when you're on the neighborhood association agenda like Mike does (instead of bailing after you've said your 90 words), about how to be both reflective of and a little bit nobler than most of the people in your neighborhood like Mike does. It was really good. Articulate and stuff and a little sentimental about having a councilman who is vaguely reminiscent of Jimmy Stewart. I liked it. Mike's a good guy and a good councilman and he deserves some blogbased shout-outs.

Consider this an echo for "Kid Jamo."

Bleeding Hearts of the World Unite!

Blackwater Chairman Erik Prince "cast his company as a scapegoat for broader problems associated with the government’s reliance on security contractors." Is he seriously claiming to have been victimized when it was his decision to accept high-risk/high-pay-off contracts? Was he not aware of the potential for public blow-back on a company that basically has a competitive advantage over the U.S. Military in a grisly war theater? How is it that these Republican supporters (Prince has given hundreds of thousands of his own dollars to Republicans) can jump on anybody else for playing the victim when they act so preyed upon themselves and with so little justification?

How to Make a Conservative Fall on Their Own Bible Sword Drill

What the people who dismiss religion and invoke the Spaghetti Monster (which I admit provides a good laugh) don't get is that Leviticus, and scripture as a whole, is a Pandora's Box that when opened can expose a whole lot of self-contradiction and hypocritical cherry-picking on the part of religious conservatives. When right-wingers use religion as a weapon, return the favor.

A Little Rain on Their Parade

Both Sean Braisted and Adam Kleinheider deserve the kudos they got from the Nashville Scene for "Best Political Blogger," and I cannot add anything more profound to the tribute that Scene Writer Roger Abramson did. Their efforts are those of yeomen.

However, I was disappointed that each of them in run-ups to the first significant Metro Council Meeting wrote last night's agenda off as nothing "too exciting" (Sean offered the opinion and Adam noted that Sean's opinion was "saying something"). On the one hand, not every meeting is going to be extraordinary; that would pretty much destroy the concept of extraordinary meetings. On the other hand, I thought that Sean's conclusions were unwittingly encouraging constituents not to watch. My view is that the last thing we want to do is discourage people from watching just because the agenda looks ordinary (or less than) to some who lack the interest.

I watched the 40 minute meeting, and I was able to find several noteworthy moments of which to write. But Sean and I have always disagreed about what is important about council meetings. Sean doesn't seem to like zoning issues, and yet, that is the overwhelming bulk of items on any council agenda.

Rarely do we see issues cross council's docket that look sexy from a state or a federal or a party perspective (like English Only or immigration or benefits for gays and lesbians). There is a good reason: the main focus of the council is less on social issues, which they can do little to solve, and more on neighborhood issues to which the council is bound to respond. There is nothing sexy or remotely stimulating about the latter issues until your eyes are opened to their impact on the life you live in this community.

And that "glut" of zoning issues is important to the everyday lives of the constituents affected by zoning, which is most of us in Davidson County. You can bet that the people with the money, the influence, and the land--the developers, the brokers, the investors, the Realtors, the builders--are keeping tabs on most of these zoning issues that seem to bore Sean and that fail to attract Adam's passing glance.

And if we simply lull ourselves into the preconceived idea that these zoning decisions don't affect us directly because we cannot out-shout or out-blog somebody else like we do on social issues, then we are going to find ourselves at a political disadvantage in the Metro Council, especially when the time rolls around to speak our minds about a zoning issue in Public Hearing. If you don't listen to the council now, you won't be heard by them later.

That is why, at the very least, last night's meeting should have been characterized as our first chance to see how the new Council would be starting to pay back their campaign financiers and to get a feel for any sense of balance in their deliberations. If some don't see that possibility, then--and I don't care if the Nashville Scene ensconces them in velvet and christens them alt-weekly-laureates--they should not be heeded. Planning and zoning issues are important, even and especially when we don't think they are.

Such issues have effects:

• on family issues like affordable housing
• on quality of life issues like whether a market will be built or traffic calming measures will be enacted to serve and to protect a community
• on the environment and water conservation, like whether Franklin will have to restrict water use
• on diversity issues like accommodating our elders with housing and community services
• on so many other issues that ripple out to other people's pet projects

The zoning issues that Sean and Adam may not see as important to them now are still important and someday they may see their importance.

Until that point the boys deserve the accolades they get with limits: those of us who occupy what Roger Abramson oversimplified and lampooned as "the vast wasteland of the local political blogosphere" will continue to consider the low-hanging and mundane details, because those are the very issues that the mainstream press largely ignores, like they ignore most council meeting proceedings.

Is Metro Water Privileging the Suburban Parts of the County with New Sewers?

According to a local environmentalist in this morning's Tennessean:

"You've got this suburb [near Old Hickory Lake] … that's going to get new sewers [due to a Metro agreement to comply with the U.S. Department of Justice order to stop raw sewerage overflows in the Cumberland] ....

That will upgrade their real estate.

People in the inner city have suffered from the overflow."

If nothing is being done to stop leaks and overflows of raw sewerage into near-Downtown storm sewers, I would like to know how this decision got made without any feedback from those of us around the central business district.

Mellencamp's "Jena" Released Early

This might set off a Music City Blogger or two:

Bush's Veto of SCHIP Could Cost Southern Children Dearly

The "Compassionate Conservative" rejected expansion of health insurance to more working class children and indicated that he is willing to "negotiate" for some coverage of fewer kids. Get that? President Bush is willing to use adequate health care for working-class children as a bargaining chip with Congressional Democrats.

Meanwhile, a large number of children who would suffer from this veto are southern children.

TexObBlog shows us that the Iraq War sucks the necessary funding away from worthwhile conservative programs like SCHIP:

[T]he proposed CHIP expansion of $35 billion (over five years) is about three months’ worth of spending in Iraq. The total allocated funds for the war in Iraq is surging past $600 billion, which would have paid for CHIP expansion 20 times over.

Yet, the "Compassionate Conservative" is using the veto to pose as spending restraint, while working-class children go without adequate health coverage.

Salemtown Shortie

Salemtown's famous Jeff and Morgan set their house-buying experience to a digital format and to Old Blue Eyes for public consumption:

Jim Cooper Questions State Department, Gets Targeted on Blackwater Astroturf

U.S. Representative Jim Cooper asks Bush Administration officials for reports of Blackwater investigations requested 6 months ago (the audio and video are annoyingly out of sync):

What stands out to me beyond the stonewalling and excuse-making of Assistant Sec'y of State Richard Griffin is the fact that he justifies the hiring of Blackwater based on the concept that we would be out of Iraq in 2 years in contrast to using military personnel who would be enlisted for 20 years. Mr. Cooper's follow-up about staying only 2 years in Iraq was adroit.

Nonetheless, Mr. Cooper is drawing fire over at a Blackwater Notroots Blog for his questioning of Blackwater CEO Erik Prince. A local attempt to be stitched into the astroturf has ensued; I doubt it will be long before the BWBlog links her as "friendly."

Done in Record Time

In a departure from the standards of the past, Metro Council only lasted 40 minutes tonight. But before we leap to the conclusion that a new Vice Mayor is already paying dividends, keep in mind: 1) it's early and we have a lot of new members; 2) there was nothing really controversial or divisive that required long debates or stalling tactics or diversions from the matters at hand.

Diane Neighbors really faced no challenges compared to some of these hell-holes that the Council dug for Howard Gentry. She deftly deflected Vivian Wilhoite's question about why some school grants were given to urban rather than suburban schools by ruling that Ms. Wilhoite should have asked it in the Budget and Finance Committee Meeting. But VM Neighbors had to face no stern tests tonight. It seems she is still in her honeymoon.