I'm at 2nd Ave and Cement Plant Rd (by metro water). They've blocked the road because they are doing some major opperation to contain the Chlorine storage area that is flooded (or in danger of it).Last fall, I blogged on the risk of Metro storing chlorine tankers in an open, exposed area. I'm not aware of any media coverage of this risk or measures taken to protect the community from a chlorine spill, but this is an alarming situation.
Their head of security, Mr. Jobe, got in my farce and very aggressive. When I asked him if we were in any danger. he refused to answer and told me to leave. I'm now parked on the (public) road where he can't be a dick. Nasty smells are over here though. Pass the news along and alert the press. We could have a problem.
As a social scientist, I have examined various crime reduction strategies. As a resident who has been afforded more opportunities than most of my neighbors, I have observed Nashville's approach to remedying violent crime. Suppression alone will not solve violent crime in inner-city neighborhoods already traumatized by violence and neglect. The police department's zero-tolerance approach, emblematic in its Operation Safer Street initiative, leads to over-policing, distrust and racial profiling.
An alternative to suppression that Nashville may want to consider replicating is the Measure Y initiative (www.measurey.org) in Oakland, Calif. The $20 million annual program offers a holistic approach to crime reduction. This includes the hiring of six dozen police officers, many of whom belong to specialized units dedicated to community policing and school safety instead of suppression. Additional money is allocated for fire safety, emergency service, school-based conflict resolution counselors and community interventionists (respected community activists with ties to gangs and at-risk youth) who canvass high-crime neighborhoods in order to prevent retaliation killings in the aftermath of violence.
SEIU Local 205 released a series of internal emails that reveal that administrators at Metro Nashville Public Schools have been working behind closed doors to push forward a plan to privatize custodians and groundskeepers as far back as November, 2009. The union also found that Dr. Register’s statements of a $5 million dollar cost savings to the district were based on a claim made by one of the contractors who is bidding on the project, not through a scientific cost-benefit analysis or impact study (see page 1 of Attachment, Item #3).
As a result of an information request from MNPS, union officials discovered that school administrators have been contacting and meeting in secret with representatives of GCA Services Group, based in Knoxville, with regards to outsourcing as far back as November 18, 2009, though even those emails indicate that there had been previous communications before that. Register had not mentioned any interest or inclination in privatizing these two departments until he released his budget on March 11. “Register has said that the reason he wants to outsource 700 custodial workers’ jobs is because of the economy, but he was negotiating with a contractor months before anyone even knew what the city’s revenue was,” said Doug Collier, President of SEIU Local 205, who represents support staff in Metro Schools. “Keep in mind that Register has privatized custodial services in his previous positions in Chattanooga and in North Carolina. He didn’t use the economy as his excuse then because he couldn’t. Now he could, and he has.”
Largely because of assurances by Dr. Register and School Board member Steve Glover that a savings would be seen, the Board narrowly voted to accept the budget by a vote of 5-4. “Dr. Register has not been a straight shooter with the School Board who hired him or with the public,” says Teresa West, a food service employee at MNPS. “He is claiming some kind of dire economic emergency, but now we know that he was just out to privatize our jobs.” West says that the $5 million savings that Register claims will happen from the privatization will have to be paid by taxpayers anyway since many custodians will have to go on public assistance once they lose their jobs or see their pay and benefits cut. “Because of his drive for privatization, Register has opened the district up to lawsuits since 88% of the workers affected are minorities and because GCA may have been given an unfair advantage in the bidding process.”
GCA Services, the company that school administrators were in contact with, is expected to bid on the custodial and groundskeeping contracts since their representatives were present at a March 26 question and answer session for prospective contractors. The bidding period on the contracts close this Friday.
Mayor Dean has yet to present his schools budget to the Metro Council and he has not taken a position on whether or not he will support the School Board’s proposal to outsource nearly 700 custodians and groundskeepers. He has until May 1 to present his version of the budget to the Council.
With convention center attendance down nationwide -- a 30 percent decline in Las Vegas and 28 percent in Orlando, Florida, two of the largest convention markets in the U.S. -- Nashville’s taxpayers may wind up paying part of the cost if use of the new center falls short, said Heywood Sanders, professor of public administration at the University of Texas in San Antonio, who has studied convention centers.
“It’s quite a leap of faith,” said Sanders, who’s writing a book on convention center financing. “It’s a pretty large chunk of debt.”
The city is selling in four parts, with about $605 million as taxable Build America Bonds, which come with a 35 percent subsidy from the U.S. government under economic stimulus legislation passed last year by Congress.
The average yield on Build America securities fell 6 basis points to a three-week low of 6.17 percent yesterday, according to the Wells Fargo Build America Bond Index. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.
