Support Councilman Carter Todd's Amendment to stop $350M in Metro Spending!

From Rick Williams, Chairman of Save Our Fairgrounds:

Good Morning To All:

Thank You for your continued support of Save Our Fairgrounds!

We are now and always have been a group of concerned citizens who pointed out to our neighbors and friends why Mayor Karl Dean should not close the Historic Tennessee State Fairgrounds and what a very, very important part of Nashville's history the Fairgrounds happens to be.     We also pointed out how much positive economic impact the Fairgrounds contributed to the Nashville Economy.
We come to you today to point out in the final days of Karl Dean's term as Mayor he is busy trying to spend every available cent of Metro dollars and push us further into debt.  The proposed $100 million flood wall along the West Bank of the Cumberland River is again another huge waste of taxpayer money.  Adding to that project are two more last-minute and very rushed projects which total over $250 million.  This is a typical Karl Dean move - plan something without community input, announce it and push it through.  We cannot stand around and let this happen.   As the Fairgrounds and race track community was under the threat of attack to the Fairgrounds being permanently closed and redeveloped,  we had to step up and help stop that from happening.

Now Southeast Nashville and North Nashville are under threat of projects being rushed at the last minute into their communities.  The Mayor is proposing to move the Police Headquarters to Historic Jefferson Street and relocate the Metro Jail to Southeast Nashville on Harding Place near the Airport.  We believe it is time for the Metro Council to stand up again and say NO to all three of these projects until these issues are debated in public and community input received.  THIS MONEY KARL DEAN IS SPENDING JUST ON THE FLOOD WALL COULD BE SPENT ON THE FAIRGROUNDS PROPERTY TO UPGRADE THE BUILDING AND RACE TRACK AND HELP RESTORE THE FAIRGROUNDS.  SO I THINK WE SHOULD HELP STOP THESE PROJECTS HE IS PROPOSING IN THE LAST 120 DAYS IN OFFICE.

All of these projects should be the priority of the next Mayor and Metro Council and not rushed thru this Council in the last 120 days in office.  Councilman Carter Todd has put forth an amendment to the Metro Budget which will be considered tonight at the Metro Council meeting at 6:00 PM.  We are asking you to contact your Metro Council Member and ask them to SUPPORT AND VOTE FOR Councilman Carter Todd's amendment to the Budget at tonight's Metro Council meeting.

Again we just want these communities to have a chance to be involved in the planning of these major projects just like we started work to build up the Fairgrounds and get support from each major Mayoral candidate after Mayor Karl Dean almost had the property bulldozed.

Thank you again for your support!

Rick Williams
Chairman, Save Our Fairgrounds 

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How the Council voted on same-sex Metro benefits & who simply did not vote.

On July 3rd the Metro Council passed a bill on second reading that would extend metro benefits to the domestic partner of same-sex couples.  The measure is estimated to cost between $400,000 and $900,000 a year.  While the cost is reason enough to oppose the measure, in my view a more compelling reason is that we should not be normalizing what is a perverted life style.  We should not treat as if married, two homosexuals who live together.  If we wanted to say that any two people who share a household and have financial entanglement could be treated the same as a married couple, then I would have less problem with the bill.  I am sure that among Metro's employees, there is a son caring for his elderly mother who lives with him, or there is a mother carrying for her disabled son who lives wither her, or there are two "old maids" who share expenses but do not share sex. If we want to extend this service to people who may be dependent on each other, why is it contingent that they have a sexual relationship?

The vote to approve the bill was 25 in favor, 6 opposed, and 3 voting to abstain.

 BILL NO. BL2014-779

An ordinance amending Title 3 of the Metropolitan Code to provide domestic partner benefits for Metropolitan Government employees. The bill was approved by the Budget and Finance Committee and Personnel-Public Information-Human Resources-Housing Committees. Mr. Westerholm moved to pass the bill on second reading, which motion was seconded and adopted by a the following roll call vote: “Ayes” Barry, Steine, Garrett, Tygard, Matthews, Harrison, Hunt, Banks, Scott Davis, Westerholm, Anthony Davis, Stanley, Moore, Allen, Gilmore, Baker, Evans, Holleman, McGuire, Harmon, Johnson, Potts, Bedne, Todd, Mitchell (25); “Noes” Pridemore, Pardue, Glover, Stites, Claiborne, Dominy (6); “Abstaining” Bennett, Blalock, Dowell (3).

Bill Pridemore
voted NO

Doug Pardue
voted NO

I am extremely proud of those six who voted "No" and want to put a picture with the face.  I am especially proud of the stand and comments made by Josh Sites.

Josh Stites
voted NO

Steve Glover
voted NO

Phil Clairborne
voted NO

Duane Dominy
voted NO

Three Council members voted to abstain. I do not understand a vote to abstain.  I think on controversial issues one should get off the fence and state how they stand.  Sometimes one votes to abstain when they have a conflict of interest. If a council member works for a company that is seeking a zone change, then a vote to abstain is appropriate, or if one has some other conflict of interest. On a bill like these there is no logic to a vote to abstain. Of the three abstentions  Karen Bennett and Davette Blalock who are both Republicans are very disappointing. I am not familiar enough with Jacobia Dowell to know how she would have voted, had she voted. I emailed Karen Bennett and Davette Blalock to give them a chance to tell me why they abstained, but I did not hear from either of them.

 Here are the pictures of those who chose to not take a stand and voted to abstain. 

Jacobia Dowell
Abstained

Karen Bennett
Abstained

Davette Blalock
Abstained

Twenty-five of the Council members voted "yes."  Many of them are obviously liberals and I am not surprised. Some of them I don't know well enough to have guessed how they would have voted. Some of them however disappoint me in how they voted. Maybe my evaluation of them was wrong, but these are the Councilman who disappointment. I am especially disappointing in Charlie Tygerd, and Carter Todd both of whom are Republicans.  

Here are the "yes" votes that either surprised me or disappointed me.

Charlie Tygard
voted YES

Emily Evans
voted YES

Carter Todd
voted YES

Tim Garrett
voted YES

There is one vacancy in the Council and Council Member Edith Langster was absent for the whole meeting. Other Council Member who did not vote at all and were present at least for part of the meeting were Jerry Maynard, Tony Tenpenny, Sheri Weiner and Robert Duvall. I do not know if Mr. Maynard was present for this vote or not. This vote was near the end of agenda and the meeting was almost five hours long, so he may have not been present and had a legitimate reason.  I did speak to Councilman Tenpenny, Sheri Weiner, and Robert Duvall. They all had left the meeting early with very legitimate reason. Council member Sheri Weiner had a health issue and Councilman Robert Duvall and Councilman Tony Tenpenny had family emergencies. I won't go into details but they all did what they needed to do by leaving early. All three told me that had they been there they would have been "no" votes and that they will continue to oppose this effort.

As disappointing as I am in those who I expected to be "no's" who voted yes and those who abstained, I am disappointed in the Christian community and those who advocate traditional values. The Social Conservatives were AWOL on this issue. Had the three who abstained voted "no" and the two of the four disappointing "yes's" voted "no" and Weiner, Tenpenny and Duvall been present, the vote would have been to 23 to 14. If there would have been a campaign from advocates of traditional values to stop this, I believe five more votes could have been switched and it could have been killed. An outpouring of opposition could still stop this between now and June 17th.

If anyone, I mentioned in this blog post would like to explain your vote or your abstention, please feel free to leave a comment, or email me and I will post your explanation.

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Nothing But the Truth Candidate Endrosements

African-American conservative local radio talk show host Carl Boyd has issued his endorsements for the upcoming election. He interviewed many of them on his local radio program on Nothing But The Truth on WMDB 880 AM.  Where we share an endorsement, I have highlighted it in red. Carl Boyd's endorsements are listed below.

THE TRUTH 2011
Mayor- James Keeton
Vice-Mayor James Baxter
Council at Large: Sam Coleman, Ken Jakes, Donna Crawford, Don O'Donniley and Eric Crafton
District 1- David Phillips
District 2- Gloria M. Jones
District 3- WRITE YOUR OWN NAME
District 4- Dave Patterson
District 5- Scott Davis
District 6- Dave Rich
District 7- Anthony Davis
District 8- Nina Ground
District 9- WRITE YOUR OWN NAME
District 10- WRITE YOUR OWN NAME
District 11- William Guthoerl
District 12- WRITE YOUR OWN NAME
District 13- Josh Stites
District 14- James Stanley
District 15- WRITE YOUR OWN NAME
District 16- Tony Tenpenny
District 17- Jerry Graves
District 18- WRITE YOUR OWN NAME
District 19- Bob Ries
District 20- Gower Mills
District 21- PLEASE WRITE YOUR OWN NAME
District 22- Sheri Weiner
District 23- Emily Evans?
District 24- Jason Holleman
District 25- James Kaminski
District 26- Brock Parks
District 27- Michael Leftwich
District 28- Duane Dominy
District 29- Will decide by Election Day
District 30- Jason Potts
District 31- James L, Widrig
District 32- Will decide by Election Day
District 33- Robert Duvall
District 34- Carter Todd
District 35- Tonya Jones

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Teacher Union (MNEA) Endorses Candidates for August 4th Election

The Metropolitan Nashville Education Association has issued its endorsement for the August 4th Metro General Election. With only a few exceptions, highlighted in Red below, this is a list of people not to vote for.

I am pleased to see that in District 33 they failed to endorse anyone. Robert Duvall, one of the really good councilmen, is in a very tough battle in that district. Of course, I wish they would have endorsed Robert, but I did not expect it.  At least they did not endorse any of his several opponents. This is a plus for Robert.

In District 29, I am surprised that they failed to endorse Karen Johnson. Karen is a former member of the School Board. In the Spring, when the unionist flocked to Nashville for a big rally to oppose education reform, Karen marched with the teacher union to support their cause. You would think in gratitude they would have endorsed Karen. Who did she make mad?

Here is the list:

Mayor: Karl Dean

Vice Mayor: Diane Neighbors

At-Large:  Megan Barry

               Sam Coleman

               Jerry Maynard

               Ronnie Steine
               Vivian Wilhoite


District 1: Lonnel Matthews, Jr.

District 2: Frank Harrison

District 3: Walter Hunt

District 4: Brady Banks

District 5: Scott Davis

District 6: Peter Westerholm

District 7: Anthony Davis

District 8: Nancy VanReece

District 9: Bill Pridemore

District 10: No Recommendation
District 11: Darren Jernigan

District 12: Steve Glover

District 13: Marilyn Robinson

District 14: Bruce Stanley

District 15: No Recommendation

District 16: Anna Page


District 17: Sandra Moore

District 18: David Glasgow

District 19: Erica Gilmore

District 20: Buddy Baker

District 21: Edith Langster

District 22: Seanna Brandmeir

District 23: Emily Evans

District 24: Jason Holleman

District 25: Sean McGuire

District 26: Chris Harmon


District 27: No Recommendation

District 28: Tanaka Vercher

District 29: No Recommendation

District 30: No Recommendation

District 31: Fabian Bedne

District 32: Jacobia Dowell

District 33: No Recommendation

District 34: Carter Todd

District 35: Bo Mitchell

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The Nashville Business Coalition Metro Council endorsements

The Nashville Business Coalition has announced its support for candidates in the Aug. 4 election. Below are the NBC endorsements. I have highlighted some of favorites in red.

District 1: Lonnell Matthews
District 2: Frank Harrison
District 3: Walter Hunt
District 4: Brady Banks
District 5: Scott Davis
District 6: Hans Schmidt and Dave Rich
District 7: Anthony Davis
District 9: Bill Pridemore
District 10: Doug Pardue
District 11: Darren Jernigan
District 12: Steve Glover
District 13: Josh Stites
District 14: Robert “Bob” Budesa
District 15: Phil Claiborne
District 16: Anna Page
District 17: Sandra Moore
District 18: David Glasgow and Burkley Allen
District 19: Erica Gilmore and Curt Wallen
District 20: Buddy Baker
District 21: Edith Langster
District 22: Sheri Weiner and Seannalyn Brandmeir
District 24: Sarah Lodge Tally
District 25: Sean McGuire
District 26: Brock Parks
District 27: Davette Blalock
District 28: Tanaka Vercher
District 29: Karen Johnson
District 30: Jim Hodge
District 32: Jacobia Dowell
District 33: Page Turner
District 34: Carter Todd
At Large: Tim Garrett, Megan Barry, Ronnie Steine, Charlie Tygard, Jerry Maynard and Renard Francois
Vice Mayor: Diane Neighbors
Mayor: Karl Dean

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