Council Meeting of July 2 with commentary and video

I am posted this video of July 2 Council meeting late, because Metro Channel 2 only posted it yesterday. At only 36 minutes, this is a very short council meeting. The Council meeting could be even shorter if they would just put the whole agenda on the "consent agenda" and pass it with a single vote.  Even shorter would be to just assume everything on the Agenda passes unless someone calls in an objection. Since almost nothing every gets rejected and since all forty member think exactly alike, the Council is kind of superfluous and could be replaced with a rubber stamp.

To link to the agenda and agenda analysis follow this link.

All of the Mayor appointees to Boards and Commissions are approved unanimously as I expected they would be.

Bills on Public Hearing:
Most of the pubic hearings on zoning matters would interest only neighbors of the proposed rezoning. The Sylvan Park rezoning  however does address an issue that is affecting all of the hip neighborhoods of Nashville such as 12th Ave South and Five Points and if what has happened in those neighborhoods continue, it will impact more of us.

The city is approving more and more nodes of commercial development in residential neighborhoods. That makes our neighborhoods more vibrant and means one does not have to drive far away to dine. The thought is that neighbors will walk to these restaurants and they will serve the neighborhoods they are in. That is not what really happens. People still dive to restaurants. There was a time when the City had strict parking requirements and for x number of square foot of restaurant space, for instance, you had to have x number of parking spaces. That was not conducive to the development of vibrant communities and was more suitable to suburban development. However with the way development is occurring now in our neighborhoods, people parking on the street are taking the parking spaces of the residents of the neighborhood.

I was going to go to 12th Ave Pub one evening on a weekend recently and their parking lot was full and I drove blocks away and never found a parking space and gave up.  With 12th Ave Pub, Mafioso's, Urban Grub, the barbecue place, and others along 12th Ave, parking takes the available parking spaces for blocks around.  If you were a resident of one of those streets, and you come home in the evening your parking space is gone. You may have to park six blocks away!  That would be bad enough but if you had a trunk load of groceries in your car, you would be highly perturbed. Or, if you wanted to stay home and have guest over, they would have to park blocks and blocks away.

I like the vibrancy of Nashville and think Nashville is becoming an even greater place to live. However, we must figure out some way to accommodate growth and keep our neighborhoods livable for the people who live there. I had at one time hoped, Douglas Corner on 8th Ave would get some nice restaurants and become more vibrant, now I am hoping it doesn't because I wouldn't have a place to park.

Resolutions on the Consent Agenda:
None are pulled. They all pass by a single vote. Among those is a resolution urging Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform. It is controversial in Congress and the Country but not in our council it passes unanimously. Not a single council member thinks we ought to secure the borders first (read the resolution and more about this at this link).

Everything else on the Agenda passes with no dissenting votes or discussion.

Top Stories