"DOTS on Walls"---A riduculous way to plan that weakens citizens

DOTS For Dolts
by Bruce Wood

Bruce Wood

Computer Power Point presentations replaced actual research papers for public officials years ago. My first memory of this was when the Council met in the old West Library.

Public decision making has never recovered. Now, we go to Planning meetings, sit at tables, and talk earnestly to our random table mates before sticking the dots expressing our 'votes' on sheets of paper. I know where I would like to stick the dots but it is not worth a felony

A classic example of the weakness of "DOTS"---a few years ago during Fair Ground Planning 4--6 people from all over middle Tennessee committed to racing came to every session. They tilted the results.

This seems democratic and a full expression of citizen views. Baloney. The only people
who talk to the body of the whole are the pay check officials and they are fully committed
to the status quo and getting home. Really, this is a vanilla homogenization of view points---I
want to hear the people who know the most, are the most angry, who have a point of view.

Counting and sticking "DOTS" is for "DOLTS". Look at the Fair Ground---they are killing this
event by sabotage. Why was it moved to the back away from the flat area? Why the uphill
hike to to the Mid-Way?

Let's ask for honesty: (A) The Fair is going to be killed off in its present location for one
reason---because the people who have the power can do it. (B) As an alternative to total death---look at businesses which can co-exist with the 2--3 week Fair and go in that direction .

Bruce Wood

The above was posted in a neighborhood chat group and I am taking the liberty of reposting.  Bruce Wood is a long time citizen activist and Chairman of the environmental group B.U.R.N.T. I agree with Bruce's observation. 

I often feel like public meeting by consultants and planning department and TDOT and most government agencies are a ruse to create the impression that the agency is gathering citizen input. I believe that most of the time, decisions have been reached before the meetings ever take place. There is never a place to put a dot that says, "strike the whole damn thing and start over," or "do nothing."  When an agency talks about all the meetings they had and all the citizen input they incorporated into their plan, it does not convince me. The means by which government agencies conduct meetings is really an attempt to placate the public and claim that the process is democratic but control the outcome. Bureaucrats are arrogant. Rod

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Report from West Nashville Summit: Bruce Wood was our guest

Hello All!

Thanks to those of you who attended our meeting this past Saturday.

Bruce Wood was our guest. He is a local environmental activist with the organization BURNT and has been fighting on our behalf for the past 22 years. Conservation is the key to his movement and Bruce makes sure that companies follow the law when it comes to waste management.

Without Bruce, Nashville would look and smell much different today. He fought to get rid of a fat-rendering plant which stunk up the city and he fought against a trash incinerator along our river. If the incinerator had been allowed to be built we would have seen upwards of 200 garbage trucks a day traveling through our city to the site and its transfer station.

One thing I learned is that these environmental concerns are truly conservative issues. Laws are repeatedly broken by people who feel they are above them. People dispose of toxic waste into landfills which then end up in our drinking water. Regardless of your party affiliation, we all want clean drinking water. At the same time, the cost to clean this up after an incident becomes enormous. If we want to hold government accountable to the tax payer than we need to ensure they enforce the law to prevent costly clean ups. Conservatives value a non-biased and efficient government. Enforcing current laws and preventing our tax dollars from being needed to clean up a toxic waste site are essential to those views.

Again, this is not a liberal or a conservative issue. Environmental degradation is preventable and we owe it to one another to make sure that the law is followed.

We certainly hope to see you at the next meeting. Have a great week!


Matt Nemeth
Moderator, West Nashville Egg and Bacon Summit

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Enviornmentalist Bruce Wood to speak to West Nashville Summit

RISE AND SHINE

FOR THE

WEST NASHVILLE EGGS AND BACON SUMMIT

Meeting at 

Shoney's

365 White Bridge Pike, Nashville

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Fellowship, Dutch Treat Breakfast 8:30 AM, meeting 9:00 AM

with Special Guest Bruce Wood  Bruce Wood is president of BURNT a 22 year old Nashville citizen's environmental group.  BURNT was instrumental in stopping a $200 million expansion of the downtown incinerator at the base of Broadway, stopping a planned $100 million garbage processor on Rolling Mills Hill, closing the North Nashville Rendering Plant, and a liquid hazardous waste processor in cockrell Bend.  Each of these decisions enhanced the value of commercial real estate in key parts of Nashville.    Now, BURNT is working on state wide solid waste reform.  Citizens, business, and local governments pay $1.2 billion annually to landfill waste---$1.2 billion is almost 5% of our non-federal state budget. "BURNT demonstrates that citizens can create a cleaner environment which benefits business," says Wood.   Moderator: Matt Nemeth

My Comment

On Saturday, Bruce Wood will step into the lion's den to talk about BURNT's roll as a leading local environmentalist organization. BURNT has been around for a long time being vocal and controversial, trying to sell its view of recycling, trying to force government regulatory agencies to do their job and as many would view them, generally being a constant pain in the ass.

When it comes to recycling, BURNT has a fringe or visionary proposal, depending on your point of view, called “wet-dry.” I am sure Bruce will explain it. With mosquitoes so bad this year, you might want to ask Bruce why BURNT opposes spraying for mosquitoes. If you have noticed those “no spray” signs around town, that is the work of BURNT.

I have know Bruce for a long time. He is like the energizer bunny; he never gives up. He keeps going and going. I served in the Metro Council at a time when the city was trying to site a new landfill, when recycling was just emerging and when the money pit known as the thermal plant incinerator was trying to expand. I often found myself allied with BURNT on various issue. The downtown incinerator did need to be closed and the rendering plant was a sickening smelly nuisance when the wind blew the wrong way and the weather was just right. Some of what BURNT contributed in achieving needed to be done.

Just because a Republican breakfast group has a guest speaker, it does not indicate that the Party or the group is endorsing the speaker’s point of view. I urge you to come hear what Bruce Wood has to say, be challenged in your thinking about environmental issues, and ask Bruce the hard questions.

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