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Friday, September 22, 2017
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Nashville transit future better off without trains
 |
| Malcolm Getz |
- An increase in transit travel will not reduce congestion.
- Express lanes reduce congestion and support transit.
- Street railways add to congestion at choke points with restricted lanes.
- Street railways are expensive to build. With limited routes, many travelers face transfers between buses and trains.
- A train costs twice as much per hour to operate as a bus. Spending more for trains means Metro will have to reduce bus service.
- Use of transit is falling where on-demand car services are growing.
- With falling prices in car services, fewer travelers will choose transit.
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While Tennessee Schools show impressive academic improvement, Nashville Schools continue to fail.
While the State of Tennessee showed impressive improvement in academics, the city of Nashville's improvement was dismal. Based on standardized test scores, school systems are rated on "value-added," that is a measurement of a students improvement. The Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) measures student
growth year over year, regardless of whether the student is proficient
on the state assessment. In calculating a TVAAS score, a student’s
performance is compared to the performance of other students who have performed similarly on past assessments. Students are rated on a score of 1 to 5 and a school score and district score is composite of that.
The Nashville school system scored a "1," the lowest possible score. Firty-five school districts, more than a third of Tennessee’s districts, earned
overall TVAAS composites of Level 5, the highest level of growth. Shelby County school district and Hamilton County also scored a 1; Knox County scored a 5. Neighboring Williamson and Rutherford County each scored a 5.
There are some schools within Davidson County that scored very well. East Nashville Magnet School, Meigs Middle Magnet School, Hume-Fogg High Academic Magnet, Lead Academy, New Vision Academy, Liberty Collegiate Academy, and several others earned the highest score of 5.
In my view, it is almost child abuse to leave your child in a failing school. Nashville is a great place to live if you are childless but not so great for families. If you have children you are much better off living in Williamson County or Rutherford County rather than Davidson. If you are a parent in Davidson County, to ensure your child does not grow up dumb, you must move to a neighborhood that has a good school, fight to get your child in a magnet school or send your child to private schools. Unfortunately, many parents do not have the means to relocate or send they child to a private school. In choosing hospitals or grocery stores we have choice. We are not assigned to a hospital (at least not yet) or a grocery store. Most often parents have very little choice in which public school to send their child and are required to send them to the school in their neighborhood even if it is a dangerous and failing school. Rather than working to improve our public schools about half of our school board seems more concerned with combating school choice and defending the status quo.
To access state, school district, and school data follow this link.
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Wednesday, September 20, 2017
What happened at the Council meeting of 9/19/2017? Nothing of any significance.
There is not much of importance on the agenda. There were no contentious bills and everything passes or is deterred. To access a copy of the Council agenda the Council staff analysis and my commentary on the agenda follow this link. Below is a summary of the meeting.
At the start of the meeting their is presentation honoring Metro Libraries. The Metro Li bray was awarded an honor by some organization as library of the year. Following that, there was a presentation honoring the Metro Police school guard crossing division. Consideration of the agenda does not start until timestamp 18:40 in the video.
Changes to the rules of the Council were adopted on a voice vote with little discussion. The changes gives the Council more time to consider the Capital Improvements budget and to submit request.
Three people are elected by the Council to serve on the Industrial Development Board. There were four nomination. Elected were Ginger Hauser, Lindsey Cox, and Cristina Allen.
This is the meeting at which the Council nominates from among their own people who will serve on various boards and commission. Some Boards and Commission require a council member to serve on the Board. The Council also appoints some members to other Boards. Nominations were made at this meeting and the positions will be filled next meeting. The actual consideration of legislation does not begin until timestamp 39:27 in the video.
RESOLUTION RS2017-779, RESOLUTION RS2017-780 and RESOLUTION RS2017-781 all of which deal with the temporary closing of right of ways and the fees charged for getting a permit to close a right-of-way are deferred to the second meeting in December.
RESOLUTION RS2017-882
is a memorialize resolution, which simply expresses an opinion of the
Metro Council, asking the news media to show greater sensitivity and
decorum regarding reports of juvenile deaths. This passed on the consent agenda.
BILL NO. BL2017-801 on Second Reading, which imposes additional requirements for any public right of way closure permit exceeding a
six month period and requiring a quarterly report be provided to
members of the Council regarding all right-of-way closures passes.
BILL NO. BL2017-802, on Second Reading, which increases the penalties for an improper right-of-way closures is deferred to the second meeting in October.
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Monday, September 18, 2017
Tennessee to reinstate work requirements for able-bodied food stamp recipients
by Anita Wadhwani, USA TODAY NETWORK, Tennessee - Tennessee will reinstate work
requirements for food stamp recipients a decade after they were eased
during the height of the economic recession, Gov. Bill Haslam announced
Monday.
In most Tennessee counties, able-bodied
adults without dependents will have to put in at least 20 hours per week
on a job, an approved volunteer program or a qualified education or
training program to get benefits. The measure goes into effect Feb. 1,
but recipients will have 90 days from that date to comply with the new
rules.
The requirements are expected to impact
58,000 of the approximately 1 million Tennesseans getting the grocery
buying assistance, according to a news release. About 36,000 people who
are able bodied and without dependents are already meeting the work
requirements while getting food stamps. (read more)
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Scottie Nell Hughes accuses Fox News host of rape in new federal lawsuit
Trump surrogate and Tennessee conservative Scottie Nell Hughes says she was repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted by Fox News host Charles Payne, according to a federal lawsuit filed Monday in New York. Read more.
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Lots of help needed in the Keys but we got turned away.
The below was posted by Albert Tieche on Facebook. With his permission I am reposting here. This is not only a well-written story of one's frustrating experience while trying to do good, but explores how modern government discourages risk taking, thwarts efforts of people to be self sufficient and take initiative, even in times of crisis. It ask, what is the proper roll of government? Rod
by Albert U Tieche - Don and I were turned back at the roadblock going into the Keys on
Thursday afternoon, Sept 14. It was very disappointing because we were
well prepared. We had 150 gallons of gas in the boat tanks with a
transfer pump built in, 60 gallons of water, 250 lbs of ice in a giant
cooler, enough food for several weeks, 2 gas-powered generators, a chain
saw, tow chains, lots of tools, tubeless tire patching kit, portable
air compressor, personal protective equipment and a SatPhone. We had a
portable toilet with chemicals plus sleeping quarters in the boat we
were towing. We were also prepared to legally protect ourselves and our
property if that situation arose.
We had acquired detailed satellite photos of the conditions at Don's house on Cudjoe Key and his immediate neighbors' houses. Don's place is on stilts as are his neighbors. That helped. His place had some damage but it was minimal due to his good prep work last week. Nothing structural, so the house was livable. Some of his neighbors had more serious damage. All of them had 4' of seawater in their ground level areas. That water damage would have to be remediated. All had damaged or downed trees.
We knew from the good sat photos that one of Don's neighbors, who had been camped at the roadblock for a while, had driven a sedan the 100 miles from the roadblock all the way to Cudjoe Key. We could see his car in his driveway in Wednesday's sat photos. It was not there on Tuesday. So we knew US 1 was passable, just as the news reports said it was.
However, it turned out that the neighbor had actually defeated the police roadblock in a way we could not replicate. We learned that piece of info right AFTER we were turned away. (ATT restored cell service to their customers on Cudjoe Key on Thursday afternoon. The neighbors began to get word out to us because one of them had an ATT cell phone.)
It is an unfortunate situation. We could have helped the people who rode the storm out in that neighborhood and others, too. We were very well prepared and well provisioned. We stayed overnight in Ft. Lauderdale with friends who also have a house on Cudjoe Key.
This morning, Friday, the emergency management people told us by phone that they will not allow
any Lower Keys homeowners to return until the
911 system is restored and the medical facilities are functional. They
said they cannot guarantee everyone's safety until that happens. Only
First Responders are currently allowed in. (And God bless the First
Responders!)
It appears the Emergency Management people are moving the roadblock further into the Keys every few days as electric service is restored to the Keys piece by piece from the mainland. But, from Big Pine Key to Key West is where the worst damage was done. And Cudjoe is in the middle of that. News reports say it could be as much as a month before electricity is restored to Cudjoe. I don't see how EMS can plausibly keep homeowners out that long. Mold growth will get started within a week in flooded houses that have not been quickly "torn out" and sprayed with the proper chemicals. That's the voice of experience.
Did I mention that Don and I both have personal experience at flood remediation? And that we have both been safety trainers and project planners in our professional lives? Did I mention that I have done Disaster Preparedness and Recovery training for companies and local governments? But, I digress.
Of course, we were not asking for anyone to guarantee our safety. We were prepared. I do understand that if authorities had allowed just anyone to go in, there might have been people who went in totally unprepared, got in some sort of physical distress, and then needed help. Non-resident gawkers might have gone in to "see the damage" and created problems. If that did happen, the press, that has been allowed in all along, and are reporting non-stop, would have immediately blamed "officials" for any hardships that befell any unprepared person who went in. That's what the press tends to do. They usually blame the government, not the individual. Officials know that and fear that criticism. Rightfully so.
It is unfortunate that officials are not willing to make any distinctions between fully prepared, able bodied people who can help the situation and unprepared individuals who may well cause more problems than they solve. I understand that it would be difficult for officials to make such judgements for each case. But, just because it's difficult doesn't mean you can't do it. In our case, our provisions and equipment were easily viewed at the roadblock, But the cop was not the least bit interested in our level of preparation and provision.
Having been denied access by road, we have developed a workable plan to make the run to Cudjoe by boat from the area of the roadblock-maybe 50 miles by water. Every house in Don's neighborhood is on a canal with access to both the Atlantic and the Gulf. All have small private docks. Many of the homeowners have boats that can make that run. I don't see how the Coast Guard could stop a homeowner from boating in and docking at their own docks. If the roadblock goes on for weeks, that may be the only way to get in and start repairs and clean up.
UPDATE SATURDAY MORNING: Homeowners will be allowed back in to Cudjoe Key on Sunday morning, Sept. 17.
It comes down to a difference in how one sees the role of government:
I believe in freedom of the individual and that government should not prohibit property owners from taking care of their property in a situation like this, even though there are risks to the individuals. Local governments properly are charged with building and maintaining infrastructure and keeping the peace. And our local governments do that pretty darn well, even in major disasters.
But, modern government officials seem to now behave as if their job is to guarantee the safety and well being of all individuals at all times, even if that means denying property owners the right to protect and repair their property for an extended period of time. That is beyond what government should be allowed to do.
I cannot imagine government officials in the 1800's standing at the gateway to the west and telling people in wagon trains that they are prohibited from going further west because the government "cannot insure their safety" on the trip. The thought is comical.
With this particular disaster, there is room to improve. Keeping homeowners from doing repairs to mitigate damage for extended periods of time is not a proper role of government. Well prepared homeowners should have already been allowed back in. As someone volunteering to assist a homeowner, I would have been willing to provide ID and sign a liability waiver on the way in.
These two competing views of the proper role of government undergird much of the division in our modern culture. Some think governmental power is basically unlimited if they have good intentions. Others think governments must be limited and that they overstepped their bounds in this situation. Governments often seem to regard citizens as helpless creatures. The citizen response to Hurricane Harvey in Houston demonstrated the good things that citizens can do very quickly. They came from all over and saved people and property. The citizens did very well. But, I think common sense got cast aside by authorities in the aftermath of Irma in the Keys. It was easy to "close the Keys" because there is only one road in or out for over 100 miles. So they did. And they kept well prepared homeowners out because it was easier than making judgement calls on who was prepared to go in and who was not.
The decisions made by Emergency Management about homeowner access to the Keys in the aftermath of Irma need to be reviewed and critiqued in the interest of continuous improvement. They have done a lot of things right. But they made some bad decisions, too.
Albert Tieche is a Project Manager at Tieche Training and Development and a former Administrator of Elections for Davidson County, Tennessee. He lives in Nashville.
Lots of help needed in the Keys but we got turned away. Here is what happened:
 |
| Albert U. Tieche |
We had acquired detailed satellite photos of the conditions at Don's house on Cudjoe Key and his immediate neighbors' houses. Don's place is on stilts as are his neighbors. That helped. His place had some damage but it was minimal due to his good prep work last week. Nothing structural, so the house was livable. Some of his neighbors had more serious damage. All of them had 4' of seawater in their ground level areas. That water damage would have to be remediated. All had damaged or downed trees.
We knew from the good sat photos that one of Don's neighbors, who had been camped at the roadblock for a while, had driven a sedan the 100 miles from the roadblock all the way to Cudjoe Key. We could see his car in his driveway in Wednesday's sat photos. It was not there on Tuesday. So we knew US 1 was passable, just as the news reports said it was.
However, it turned out that the neighbor had actually defeated the police roadblock in a way we could not replicate. We learned that piece of info right AFTER we were turned away. (ATT restored cell service to their customers on Cudjoe Key on Thursday afternoon. The neighbors began to get word out to us because one of them had an ATT cell phone.)
It is an unfortunate situation. We could have helped the people who rode the storm out in that neighborhood and others, too. We were very well prepared and well provisioned. We stayed overnight in Ft. Lauderdale with friends who also have a house on Cudjoe Key.
This morning, Friday, the emergency management people told us by phone that they will not allow
It appears the Emergency Management people are moving the roadblock further into the Keys every few days as electric service is restored to the Keys piece by piece from the mainland. But, from Big Pine Key to Key West is where the worst damage was done. And Cudjoe is in the middle of that. News reports say it could be as much as a month before electricity is restored to Cudjoe. I don't see how EMS can plausibly keep homeowners out that long. Mold growth will get started within a week in flooded houses that have not been quickly "torn out" and sprayed with the proper chemicals. That's the voice of experience.
Did I mention that Don and I both have personal experience at flood remediation? And that we have both been safety trainers and project planners in our professional lives? Did I mention that I have done Disaster Preparedness and Recovery training for companies and local governments? But, I digress.
Of course, we were not asking for anyone to guarantee our safety. We were prepared. I do understand that if authorities had allowed just anyone to go in, there might have been people who went in totally unprepared, got in some sort of physical distress, and then needed help. Non-resident gawkers might have gone in to "see the damage" and created problems. If that did happen, the press, that has been allowed in all along, and are reporting non-stop, would have immediately blamed "officials" for any hardships that befell any unprepared person who went in. That's what the press tends to do. They usually blame the government, not the individual. Officials know that and fear that criticism. Rightfully so.
It is unfortunate that officials are not willing to make any distinctions between fully prepared, able bodied people who can help the situation and unprepared individuals who may well cause more problems than they solve. I understand that it would be difficult for officials to make such judgements for each case. But, just because it's difficult doesn't mean you can't do it. In our case, our provisions and equipment were easily viewed at the roadblock, But the cop was not the least bit interested in our level of preparation and provision.
Having been denied access by road, we have developed a workable plan to make the run to Cudjoe by boat from the area of the roadblock-maybe 50 miles by water. Every house in Don's neighborhood is on a canal with access to both the Atlantic and the Gulf. All have small private docks. Many of the homeowners have boats that can make that run. I don't see how the Coast Guard could stop a homeowner from boating in and docking at their own docks. If the roadblock goes on for weeks, that may be the only way to get in and start repairs and clean up.
UPDATE SATURDAY MORNING: Homeowners will be allowed back in to Cudjoe Key on Sunday morning, Sept. 17.
It comes down to a difference in how one sees the role of government:
I believe in freedom of the individual and that government should not prohibit property owners from taking care of their property in a situation like this, even though there are risks to the individuals. Local governments properly are charged with building and maintaining infrastructure and keeping the peace. And our local governments do that pretty darn well, even in major disasters.
But, modern government officials seem to now behave as if their job is to guarantee the safety and well being of all individuals at all times, even if that means denying property owners the right to protect and repair their property for an extended period of time. That is beyond what government should be allowed to do.
I cannot imagine government officials in the 1800's standing at the gateway to the west and telling people in wagon trains that they are prohibited from going further west because the government "cannot insure their safety" on the trip. The thought is comical.
With this particular disaster, there is room to improve. Keeping homeowners from doing repairs to mitigate damage for extended periods of time is not a proper role of government. Well prepared homeowners should have already been allowed back in. As someone volunteering to assist a homeowner, I would have been willing to provide ID and sign a liability waiver on the way in.
These two competing views of the proper role of government undergird much of the division in our modern culture. Some think governmental power is basically unlimited if they have good intentions. Others think governments must be limited and that they overstepped their bounds in this situation. Governments often seem to regard citizens as helpless creatures. The citizen response to Hurricane Harvey in Houston demonstrated the good things that citizens can do very quickly. They came from all over and saved people and property. The citizens did very well. But, I think common sense got cast aside by authorities in the aftermath of Irma in the Keys. It was easy to "close the Keys" because there is only one road in or out for over 100 miles. So they did. And they kept well prepared homeowners out because it was easier than making judgement calls on who was prepared to go in and who was not.
The decisions made by Emergency Management about homeowner access to the Keys in the aftermath of Irma need to be reviewed and critiqued in the interest of continuous improvement. They have done a lot of things right. But they made some bad decisions, too.
Albert Tieche is a Project Manager at Tieche Training and Development and a former Administrator of Elections for Davidson County, Tennessee. He lives in Nashville.
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Sunday, September 17, 2017
Update: Can You Pass A U.S. Citizenship Test?
Can You Pass A U.S. Citizenship Test?
Update: The citizenship test is so simply one would think any American should be able to pass it. However, I am constantly amazed at the ignorance of people. Back when Jay Leno was on TV, he would do a segment called "Jay Walking," where he would go out on the street and ask people the simplest American history questions or current events question or geography question or ask then to identify by name a picture of the Vice President or some other well-know public figure. It is amazing how many people could not answer the question. When O'Riley was on Fox, he had a similar segment called "Watters' World," in which the reporter would ask people on the street very basic questions that one would think everyone would know the answer to, but most did not.
These segments of Watters' World and Jay Walking were funny. However, I always suspected that these were not representative. I suspected that these segments edited out the knowledgeable people, because if people knew the answers it would not be entertaining.
Today I got a fund raising letter from Intercollegiate Studies Institute which argued that liberal college professors prevent our founding principles from being passed to the next generation. It referenced an ISI survey of 2,500 undergraduate students and said, "incredibly, 51 percent could not name the three branches of government." That is astounding! Think about it. These are college students who probably think they are smart and who probably vote, and yet they can not name the three branches of government.
With this kind of ignorance, I fear for our country. We must work to turn this around. Citizens should demand that civics be taught in schools and that students have a certain basic level of civic literacy before they graduate. Parents who can afford it need to send their children to good private schools. Even if one can send their own child to a private school or even if one has no children, we all have a interest in having an educated citizenry. People need to get involved. Education is too important to be left up to educators. Conservatives and even good liberals who believe people should have a basic level of civic literacy should run for school boards. The field of education, like the field of journalism, has been dominated by liberals for a very long time. More conservatives need to be encouraged to become teachers. We should support with our charitable giving those organizations like Intercollegiate Studies Institute and the 917 Society and others that are trying to change things. If we cannot turn this around, we may be part of the last free generation.
These segments of Watters' World and Jay Walking were funny. However, I always suspected that these were not representative. I suspected that these segments edited out the knowledgeable people, because if people knew the answers it would not be entertaining.
Today I got a fund raising letter from Intercollegiate Studies Institute which argued that liberal college professors prevent our founding principles from being passed to the next generation. It referenced an ISI survey of 2,500 undergraduate students and said, "incredibly, 51 percent could not name the three branches of government." That is astounding! Think about it. These are college students who probably think they are smart and who probably vote, and yet they can not name the three branches of government.
With this kind of ignorance, I fear for our country. We must work to turn this around. Citizens should demand that civics be taught in schools and that students have a certain basic level of civic literacy before they graduate. Parents who can afford it need to send their children to good private schools. Even if one can send their own child to a private school or even if one has no children, we all have a interest in having an educated citizenry. People need to get involved. Education is too important to be left up to educators. Conservatives and even good liberals who believe people should have a basic level of civic literacy should run for school boards. The field of education, like the field of journalism, has been dominated by liberals for a very long time. More conservatives need to be encouraged to become teachers. We should support with our charitable giving those organizations like Intercollegiate Studies Institute and the 917 Society and others that are trying to change things. If we cannot turn this around, we may be part of the last free generation.
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Happy Constitution Day
I fear for the future of our Republic. So many people have no concept of our structure of government. They do not understand limited power and checks and balances. They seem oblivious to basic concepts. It is mostly on the left but also some on the right. You see this in the opposition to the Electoral College. People who oppose it do not even know why we have it. You see this in support for executive orders from a president. Many people both left and right, want policies adopted they support. They are much more concerned about the policy than that it be adopted by constitutional means. They think a president should have the power to rule by royal decree. I don't know if ignorance of the constitution and basic civics is worst than in the past, but it certainly seems like it.
The 917 Society has a goal of giving every 8th grader in Tennessee a pocket copy of the Constitution. Please support there effort by making a contribution. Follow this link.
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