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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He Warned Us

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

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

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

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

From the District 17 e-mail list:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Andy Cordan's Report on the North End Serial Burglar

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

Red Flags and Flares When Fundees Report Whatever They Want To

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

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

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

How To Take Down a Tsunami

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

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

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

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

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

Real Estate in Salemtown via Google Maps Feature

View Larger Map

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

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

Two Huge Deferrals at Tonight's Council Meeting

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

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

Shouldn't It Cross His Mind?

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

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

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

Announcing: July 11 Concert to Benefit Bells Bend

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

Click on image to enlarge:

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

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

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

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

Another Top Towns List Nashville Failed to Make

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

One of the requirements was great public transportation.

'Nuff said.

Another Broken Metro Parks Promise on Morgan Park?

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




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

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

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

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

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

So how did the state intervene with Darren Hardemon?

Convicted Bicentennial Mall Rapist Gets 23-Year Prison Sentence

From Metro Police via the Salemtown e-mail list:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kingston's Going to Smoke the Ash Spill Today

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

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

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