Feds didn't know flood money was going to amphitheater

flooded homes, Nashville 2010

NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - The federal agency that sent Nashville flood relief money said they did not know that $7 million was going towards an amphitheater. ... A News4 I Team investigation found that Nashville officials told HUD in 2013 they couldn’t find anyone who still needed help after the May 2010 flood. That flood destroyed 11,000 properties in the Nashville area. (link)

Rod Williams Comments:  This story which first broke a couple weeks ago particularly outrages me.  I have worked as a Housing Counselor for a non-profit HUD-approved housing counseling agency for over twenty-five years and still do part-time.  Ever since about 2007 when the housing crisis hit, I have worked almost exclusively as a mortgage default counselor.  I knew of people who lost their homes or their life

Ascend Amphitheater

saving or had to file bankruptcy due to the flood. The assistance they received was insufficient to make their homes livable. Some of them experienced a hardships not because they were flooded but because they suddenly lost their job due to the company they worked for being flooded and closed for a long period of time. If Nashville officials would have asked me, I could have told them, there was still a need to help flood victims.

If you recall the period of the flood and the aftermath, in addition to the Federal funds, a lot of United Way money was diverted to flood relieve and a lot of new money was raised for flood relief.  It is an outrage that this money intended for flood relief was instead used to build the Ascend amphitheater. This kind of cold-hearted opportunistic misuse of funds should not occur.  Anyone involved in this decision to divert flood relief money should be fired. It is time to drain the swamp!

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