Quarter 1 update on Who is contributing to the Kenneth Eaton campaign.

The candidate with no money.

I have examined Mr. Eaton's 1st quarter report which is for the period that ended March 31st, 2015, which had a report due date of April 10th.

Mr. Eaton began the quarter with a balance on hand of $0, had receipts of $0, and ended the period with a balance on hand of $0.

I am going to go out on a limb here and predict that Kenneth Eaton will not be our next mayor.

Below is my report on Mr. Eaton's initial campaign financial disclosure for the period that ended January 14th.

His financial disclosure for 1/15/2015 shows no money raised, no money spent and no money on hand.

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Tim Garrett for Vice Mayor!

When I served on the Council in the 80's I served with Tim Garrett. I consider him my friend. He is a reasonable, fair, honorable, and  knowledgeable person. He will listen to everyone. He will assist new council members in being the best council member they can be. His history of having served for a long time in the council will be of tremendous value with a council that will have a majority of new members.

The Vice Mayor conducts the council meetings and has to strike a balance between keeping council meetings moving and insuring that adequate debate occurs and that all voices are heard. I think Tim Garrett will strike the right balance.

Another major duty of the Vice Mayor is appointing council members  to committees and appointing chairmen of those committees. With a large council body, the council must rely upon the recommendations of the committees of the council. I believe Tim Garrett will make good committee appointments and will choose good committee chairmen. He will appoint members to committees based on their interests, experience, and ability. With Tim Garrett making the appointments to committees, I will have more confidence in the recommendations of those committees.

Should we be fortunate enough to elect some Republicans and conservatives to the Council, I do not believe Tim Garrett would attempt to marginalize those members. Tim Garrett would be fair in making committee assignments and in conducting meetings.

Tim Garrett is an old school Democrat and not an ideologue. By the standards of today, he is a conservative Democrat. He has concern for the fiscal health of our city and he has respect for tradition.  For the most part, political party affiliation has very little to do with the day to day work of the council. Conservatives and Republicans will be treated fairly by Tim Garrett.

I am enthusiasticly supporting Tim Garrett for Vice Mayor.

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Quarter 1 update on Who is contributing to the Charles Robert Bone campaign.

Charles Robert Bone

A boring campaign report.

I have examined Mr. Bone's 1st quarter report which is for the period that ended March 31st, 2015, which had a report due date of April 10th.

Mr. Bone began the quarter with a balance on hand of $491,557, had receipts of $259,769, and ended the period with a balance on hand of $268,457. The candidate has loaned his campaign $275,000.

A review of this report shows the following contributions of interest: Michael McWherter contributed $1,000. Mike McWherter is the son of former Governor Ned McWherter and 2010 Democrat nominee for Governor.  Note that Mike McWherter also gave $1,000 to Megan Barry. I do not understand why a contributor gives money to multiple candidates seeking the same office. I guess if you contribute a thousand dollars to a candidate you get access no matter who wins.

Craig Johnson, President of R. G. Anderson Company donated $1,000 and Gail Johnson of the same address, $1,000; Michael Hodges, President of Advance Financial the payday loan company, $1,500; Rakesh Aggarwal, $500; Bone for State Representative, $2,534; Jonathan Wing with the District Public Defenders Office, $500; Moore Entertainment PAC, $7,500; Peter Heidenreich, former Director of Nashville's Public Works Department, now a lobbyist with Hall Strategies, who has also contributed to other campaigns, $250 additional for an aggregate contribution of $500;  Elizabeth Biven a lobbyist with Clark Bivens Government Relations, $450; Metro Council member Ronnie Steine, an additional $250 for an aggregate of $500; CORPAC whose chairman is Brackney Reed, who is also the COO of Gresham, Smith and Partner, $500; H. Hill Realty PAC gave an additional $500 for an aggregate donation of $2,000; Garry McNabb owner of Cash Express, a payday loan company, $1,500; Fred Detwiller owner of DET Distributing, who has also contributed to the campaigns of other candidates for mayor, $1,500; James Hodges, President of Hodges Group of Portland, Tn, "a certified Women-Owned Small Business," $1,500 and Nancy Hodges listed as "Executive" with the Hodges Group with the same address, $700; AGC PAC of Memphis, $3,000;

The above is the only contributions of interest. He is not getting many single contributions of large amounts, not much out-of-state money, not a lot of money from lobbyist, not any money from the Court House crowd and no money from progressive activist or the Democrat establishment. He gets a lot of money from attorneys, but being an attorney I assume that is the people he knows and attorneys tend to contribute to political campaigns.  His contributors include independent insurance agents, owners of big construction companies, business consultants, people employed by investment companies, people who work for banks, people in the real estate profession, owners of engineering firms, architects, people in advertising, a few people in the music business or entertainment business, some CPA's, a few people in the medical field, a dentist, people with business interest as diverse as boats, tobacco, men's clothing, an electric company and a liquor store owner and people as wholesome as the Executive Director of the TN Future Farmers of America Foundation. Overall it is a pretty boring campaign financial report and that is a good thing. 

Below is my review of Mr. Bones initial financial report.

A review of Charles Robert Bone's financial disclosure report for the period ending 1/15/2015 does not show much of interest. He started the report period with $509,742 on hand, raised $250,224, spent $268,410, leaving $491,556 on hand.

He raised a lot of money from attorneys but being an attorney himself, that is not surprising. Attorney Dewey Brandstetter gave him $250. A lot of attorneys from the firm of Bone McAllester Norton contributed and several from the firm of Butler Snow, LLP.

One of his biggest contributors is Plumbers and Pipefitters which gave him $7,500.

He got money from a handful of contributions from out of state including $1,500 from Sarah Lowery of New York City, $700 from James Fox of Richardson Texas, $1,500 from Webb Sowden of Dallas Texas and $1,000 from Dustin Huffine of San Pedro CA.

Other interesting contributions are these: Ryman Hospitality PAC $1000, H.G. Hill Realty PAC $1,500, and Ron Gobble, President of Gobbell Hays Partners, Inc. $1,500.

I do not know many of the people contributing to his campaign, but others may. To view his campaign disclosure report, follow this link.

One thing interesting about the Bone disclosure is that all of his contributions were marked as contributions for the "primary election." There is no primary election. The August 7th election is a general election.

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Beware who you give money to: Nashville's "For Our Country" veterans charity shuts down amid questions.

News Channel 5 reports that the Nashville based charity For Our County, which was supposed to be raising money to help wounded veterans has shut down amid questions about its finances. Apparently it was a sham charity and did not have the connections it claimed to have and was helping no one except the people who started the charity.  You can read about it and see the newscast at this link.

I don't give a lot of money to charities. From time to time, I may give to the Red Cross when there is an emergency somewhere in the world and I always buy a paper from the homeless guy on the corner of my street and I help individuals in need from time to time that I encounter  through my job. I am not affiliated with a church so I don't regularly support a church.  I do give quite a bid of money to political causes, however.  In my view, our country is at a cross roads and about to be destroyed by liberal policies. I fear this once great county is on the path of destruction. Our nation which has been the exceptional nation in the world, the nation that gave mankind the concept that our rights come from God not from government, is going to become just another neosocialist country. Our liberties and our prosperity will become things of the past if we do not change course. Our children will not know the same America we knew.

I rank giving money to support conservative causes and to saving our country as equally noble as any charitable activity. Since the advent of the tea party movement, dozens if not hundreds of conservative organization have sprung up, all asking for money. Unfortunately, many of them are shams and do nothing to advance the cause.  They are preying off of people's patriotism and political passion and spend almost nothing on electing conservatives or advancing the conservative cause. They line the pockets of the person leading the organization. I get email solicitation from them almost daily.

Last year I got a solicitation from a group called Patriots for Economic Freedom asking for a contribution to help Tim Scott's reelection.  Tim Scott is one of my favorite Senators. He is both fiscally and socially conservative and has charisma and is a potential future leader of the party.  I looked into his campaign and found out he was assured to win. He had an unknown weak Republican challenger in the primary and a weak unknown Democrat challenger in the general election. His campaign did not need my help. I get solicitation all of the time, hitting the political passion hot button of the moment. I just have a feeling that most of them are just fronts to enrich the organization and will have little impact on the cause they are promoting.

Almost everyone knows of the scandals that have plagued the world of televangelism.  Remember Jim and Tammy Baker, and Jimmy Swaggert?  The sex scandals my have revealed personal failings of the ministers involved but the financial scandals revealed the phony nature of the enterprises. Paul and Jan Coach launched the Trinity Broadcasting Network in the 70's and it grew into a world wide enterprise. It was exposed that the non-profit spent millions for a lavish lifestyle of the Crouch's that included a $50 million luxury jet and 13 mansions and $300,000 to $500,000 in annual meal expenses for the directors of the organization and a $100,000 mobile home for Jan Coach's two poodles (link). The Trinity Broadcasting Network held regular money raising marathons, saying that stations would go off the air if viewers did not give and preaching a prosperity gospel that said if you contributed, the Lord would financially bless you.  I can imagine that much of the lifestyle of the Coach's was paid for by little old widow ladies who struggled to keep their heat on in the winter and ate cat food but sent money to the Coach's who enjoyed the finest of food and wine prepared by the best chefs in one of their 13 mansions.

I would not want to discourage the generosity of spirit that causes one to contribute money to help wounded veterans, or hungry children, or foreign missions, or save our county from destruction that will result from liberal policies, yet everyone needs to be cautious before they click that "contribute" button or write that check. It almost seems like there are as many charlatans trying to get your money as there are honest people with good motives doing good deeds.

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Quarter 1 update on Who is contributing to the Megan Barry campaign.

Megan Barry

 Progressives and the Democrat Establishment open their wallet. 

I have examined Ms Barry's 1st Quarter campaign disclosure report which is for the period that ended March 31st, 2015, which had a report due date of April 10th.

Ms Barry began the quarter with a balance on hand of $450,452, had receipts of $220,728, and ended the period with a balance on hand of $532.094. The candidate has loaned her campaign $200,000.

Contributors this period include several people associated with Vanderbilt University including Senta Greene, $1,200; Ann Stern, $1000; Richard Willis, $500; Bill Wiggins, $300; Tracy George, $350; Dewey Daane, $600; David Shaffer, $1,000; Charles Pinson, $500; Mark Cannon, $300; Tony Stewart, $1,500; Cecelia Tchi, $600; Mark Schoenfield, $300; Tiffiny Tung, $600; Richard Lloyd, $1,250, Charles Rush, $500; Gay Welch, $1,300, and a several others who contributed smaller amounts.

Mike McWherter, son of former Govenor Ned McWherter and 2010 Democrat nominee for Governor contributed $1,000; Joel Lee, President of Lee Strategies and also an Adjuct Professor at Vandy, $500; Elizabeth Spencer, Senior Aide, employed by the Office of Al & Tipper Gore, $500; Beth Greer, Chief of Staff to Al Gore, $300; Victor Goetz, Legislative Assistant to U. S. Congressman Jim Cooper, $250; Robert "Bob" Tuke, an attorney who is a partner with Trauger & Tuke who is also an Adjunct Professor at Vanderbilt University School of Law who was the 2008 Democrat nominee for U. S. Senate and who contributes to lots of campaigns, $1,500; Attorney George Cate, $500; attorney  Dana Moore, Director of Education Networks of America, $1,500; Robert Collie, Sr. VP with Education Network of America, $1,300; Ashford Hughes of the Southeast Laborers District Council, $200; Rep. Darren Jernigan, $250; Jenny Ford, owner of the lobbying firm Jenny Ford Government Strategies, $250; County singer Emmylou Harris, $1,500; Gayle Ray, who I assume is the former Sheriff, $600; Joe Hall of Hall Strategies, $850; Abby Trotter with Hall Strategies, $500; Jane Alvis, owner of the lobbying firm Alvis Company, $1,000; several people associated with Nashville Cares; Chancellor Carol McCoy, $250; Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman, $250; a bunch of attorneys with various firms; Celest Reed, an RN with Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee, $750; former State Representative Janis Sontany who is now an employee of the Davidson County Clerk's office in charge of "Special Projects", $1,000; Lavoe Mulgrew, a School Director of LEAD Academy, $500 (I find this interesting since Jeremy Kane, founder and CEO of LEAD Academy is also a candidate for mayor); Robert Cooper, an attorney who I assume is the former State Attorney General, $250; Alice Chapman a partner in the McNeely Pigott & Fox public Relations firm, $600; Ruth Katz with the Aspen Institute of Washington D. C., $250; Ruth Ann Harnisch of Hampton Bays, NY, with the Harnisch Foundation, $1,500; Gordon Ball, the 2014 Democrat nominee for U. S. Senate $1,500; Howard Eley, CEO of Infrastructure Corporation of America, $1,250; Lee Dietz, homemaker, $1,500; Jim Free a Washington lobbyist, owner of The Jim Free Group, $250; School Board Member Will Pinkston, $1,500; Peter Heidenreich, former Metro Director of Public Works, now a lobbyist, $500; Lisa Howe, Executive Director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender (LGBT) Chamber of Commerce, $200; another $500 from Country music artist Buddy Miller; James Smith of Austin, TX, President of Red River Services a Hazardous Waste Disposal company, $1,000; another $1000 from actress Ashley Judd; Jim Schorr, CEO of Social Enterprise Alliance, $500; and H. G. Hill Realty PAC, $2,000.

Below is a previous report I did on Barry's financial report covering the period prior to the 1st Quarter. This was the initial report and covered the period that ended January 14, 2015 and had a due date of February 10th.

Below is what I found of interest in Ms Barry’s report. I am sure others would find other things of interest. Some of the people you know may not be the same people I know, so you might find it interesting that certain people contributed to her campaign that I overlooked. If you want to know more about who is supporting Megan Barry’s candidacy follow this link to view her report.

One of the most interesting things I found from reviewing her report is how much money she got from professors and others associated with Vanderbilt University.

Lydia Howarth wife of  Vanderbilt Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos gave $3000. Other contributions from Vanderbilt, most of them from Vanderbilt professors, include the following: Larry Churchill $500, Gay Welsh $1000, Richard Lloyd $1000, Bill Ivey $600, Vareen Bell $500, Bonnie Dow $1800, Pearl Sims $250, Beth Conklin $250, Dan Cornfield $3000, Ruth Brown $1000, Vicki Green $1000, Jaky Akbari $175, John McCammon $2000, Tae Park $500, Virginia Scott $1000, Ranga Ramanujam $1500, Ray Fiedman $1500, Ellen Clayton $1500, Lou Outlaw $500, Ginny Shepherd $1000, and Ted Fischer $1500.

Out of town contributors include Arthur and Joyce Skodney of New York City who gave a combined total of $6,000 to the campaign. I don’t know who they are and a Goggle search did not turn up anything of interest, but I just found it interesting that a New York couple put $6000 into her campaign. Other out of town contributors are Janet Meuller of Overland Park, Kansas who gave $3,000 and $1,500 from Lanfred Claus of Viena VA and $1,500 from Neta Moye of Viena Va.

Other contributions of interest are these: former council member Anna Page $1,535, Renato Soto of Conexion America $250, former state Rep. Janis Sontany an employee of the Davidson County Clerk's office gave $900, the manager of the Global Mall Ravishanker Shetkar $1,500, School Board Member Will Pinkston $500, famed divorce lawyer Rose Palermo $1,000, and former council member Betty Nixon $500.

The Venick for Council Campaign gave her $1,500. Butch Eley, CEO of Infrastructure Corporation of America and former Chief of Staff  for Nashville Mayor Bill Bonner gave her $250 and philanthropist Martha Ingram gave her $3,000. Actress Ashley Judd gave $500, attorney Bob Tuke $1,000, attorney Elliot Ozment $500, and former councilman and member of the Planning Commission Stewart Clifton $250.

Community activist Gene Tesselle and his wife gave a combined total of $1,100. Rusty Lawrence, Executive Director of Urban Housing Solutions, gave $500. Liza Quigley, chief of staff for Congressman Jim Cooper gave $1,600. Women for Tennessee’s Future donated $7,900, Gaylord Entertainment Co. PAC $1,000, Americana artist Buddy Miller  $1,000 and Thomas Wills, Director of Vending for the homeless newspaper, The Contributor, gave $1,500.

This one surprised me. Roy Dale, who is a former Metro Councilman, a developer, and someone who I assume is a Republican gave her $1,500 and his wife Lisa Dale who is an outspoken conservative and prolific poster on Facebook also gave $1,500. Why these two people who I perceive to be conservative are contributing to the most progressive candidate for Mayor in the race, I don't know.

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Two forums with the mayoral candidates

Two forums with the mayoral candidates are being organized for the Antioch area.

The Crossings Nashville Action Partnership will be holding a forum at 6 p.m. Sunday, May 31 at the Ford Ice Center. According to a Facebook Post by CNAP President Alma Sanford, questions will focus on the mission of CNAP, including "the creation of a business friendly environment and enhancement of the quality of life in Southeast Nashville."

More details to come.

A second forum will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., Saturday, June 6 at Lakeshore Christian Church, 5434 Bell Forge Lane East.

According to organizer Cheryl Mayes, this forum will focus on the re-growth of Southeast Nashville and topics of education, housing, transportation, and business.

This event will be moderated by Vicki Yates, a news anchor with News Channel 5.

It is free, but
registration is required.

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Caffeinated Conservatives May Meeting - Mae Edition. Saturday May 16th from Noon - 2.

From Stephen Clements:

Hi everybody,

Saturday May 16th from Noon - 2 PM at Uncommon Grounds in Old Hickory Village (1053 Donelson Ave), join us as we host State Senator Mae Beavers! As one of the most consistently conservative public officials in Tennessee, Mae will share her thoughts on the last legislative session and the fights she sees coming down the road.

Bring your appetites for good food and good conversation!

Stephen Clements and Terry Torre
Caffeinated Conservatives

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What happened at the Council meeting of May 5th: New regs for sex clubs, OKs deal to sell old Convention Center, a vote for Insure Tennessee.

This is almost a four hour meeting. Most of the meeting is taken up by public hearings, which I superficially watched skipping over portions of the meeting. I do not even attempt to explain or keep up with all zoning matters on public hearing. 

It will help you follow what is happening if you have a council agenda. To see my commentary on the agenda and a link to get your own copy of the agenda and staff analysis follow this link.

If you are interested in the meeting but do not want to spend 4 hours watching it, you can watch it in double time.  In the bar at the bottom of the video screen, under "settings" see if you are given that option.  If not, go to this link and click HTLM5 player and then go back to the video and you should be given the option of watching the video at faster speeds. I can usually watch video of meeting or conversation at double speed and not miss much content.

The meeting is conducted by Lonnell Matthews Jr, who is President Pro Tem of the Council, whose job it is to conduct the council meeting in absence of the Vice Mayor.

All of the mayor's appointees to board and commission are approved without discussion.

Bills on Pubic Hearing:

BILL NO. BL2015-1083 at timestamp 0:30-1:38 is interesting. This is a controversial downzoning which would take a neighborhood of about 117 acres that is now zoned R15 and downzones it RS15, meaning now duplexes are permitted but this rezoning would restrict the neighborhood to single family homes only. To hear the proponents of the rezoning one would think that if not rezoned to single family, they are losing the right to keep their neighborhood single family. They distort the reality. The advocates of the rezoning are the ones changing the legal status quo- they are the ones taking away from someone the right to do something with their property that they are now permitted to do,  yet they argue as if they are the defenders of the status quo. Some of them also argue that no one should be permitted to opt-out of the rezoning. This is the type of argument that is taking place all across Nashville. More and more neighborhoods are rezoning to single family only. I understand people wanting to maintain the character of their neighborhood, but if we do not accept more density, then we restrict the tax base from growing, which we need if we are to pay the bills that are going to become due and we encourage urban sprawl by restricting greater density.  Also, downzoning is a "taking" of property, because it takes what you are permitted to now and takes that property right away from you. Several of the opponents of the downzoning make that point. Council member Evans moves to pass the bill and then defer it to the first meeting in July to give time to let those who want out of the downzoning an opportunity to "opt-out" of the downzoning. Several Council members comment on this bill. Council member Todd and Duvall speak in favor to the property rights of those who want to opt-out.

BILL NO. BL2015-1098 is deferred to the July public hearing. Currently the Metro code establishes a minimum acreage for different type schools and number of students. For example, a high school must have at least 15 acres and an additional acre for each 100 students. This bill applies some common sense adjustments to that formula and would allow schools to be located on less acreage. Some people, especially in the Green Hills area, oppose this change because they think that by making it difficult for Hillsboro high school to relocate, that the Hillsboro property will remain a school and that that prime property in Green Hills will remain unchanged. They do not want to see more commercial development in Green Hills so they want to make it difficult for Hillsboro High to relocate.

 BILL NO. BL2015-1099  passes. It defines what is a sex club, and says they can only locate in areas zoned industrial and not within 1000 feet of a church, home, school, park or daycare center and it imposes other requirements.  This looks like this is intended to make it impossible for a sex club to exist. I am surprised that there was no one speaking in favor of this change giving how much opposition there was to the Tennessee Social Club's attempt to locate in Madison, but no one spoke for it or against it.

BILL NO. BL2015-1100 changes the code to make it the applicant's responsibility rather than the city's for posting signs that say a property has a hearing before The Board of Zoning Appeal. Also it removes the requirement that such notices be published in a newspaper. Notices will be published online on an official website. This makes sense to me. Several council members have questions about this. It passes.

Resolutions:
RESOLUTION NO. RS2015-1476, passes on the Consent agenda. It puts the Council on record as supporting the Insure Tennessee plan. There are two sides to this issue but apparently not in the Metro Council. The Council has not been lobbied by both sides, they have not set through the hearings. Personally, I ended up, after initially having reservations, supporting Insure Tennessee giving the assurances that we could get out of it if it did end up costing the state money. I like the way it was structured. However, I do not think the Council should weight in on State or Federal matters. There could be no end to memorialize resolutions.  We could memorialize Congress on the issue of the day every Council meeting. We could memorize the U.S. Congress on the Iran Arms deal, we could memorized the State on the gas tax. We could have competing memorializing resolutions and spend the Council's time debating State and National issues every meeting.  Despite actually favoring Insure Tennessee, if I were in the Council I would vote against this memorializing resolution. I am surprised that every single member of the Council supports Insure Tennessee but every one of them voted saying they do.

RESOLUTION NO. RS2015-1433  is not on the consent agenda and is considered seperately. It proposes to amendment the Metro Charter to extend term limits for the Vice Mayor and members of the Council from two to three terms. This is deferred one meeting.

Bills on Second Reading:

BILL NO. BL2015-1102  allows the Parks Department to permit the sale of beer in any Metro Parks.  Now the Parks Department can only allow beer sales at parks in the downtown area. This passes without discussion.

Bills on Third Reading:

BILL NO. BL2015-1067 is the agreement to sale the site of the old convention center. It passes unanimously without discussion.

Here is the Tennessean's report of the meeting. Please note that the Tennessee's now has their on-line content behind a pay wall so if you are not a Tennessean subscriber you can't read it. 

Council OKs deal to sell old Nashville Convention Center

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Jeremy Kane is concered we don't all feel relevant

Vote for Jeremy Kane. He will make you feel
Relevant! He will make you feel welcome! Jeremy
Kane will make you feel valued!
Vote Kane - the "feel good" candidate.

Jeremy Kane press release - Mayoral Candidate Jeremy Kane yesterday hosted a group of local community leaders to identify and focus on resolving unique issues and challenges faced by Nashville’s seniors. The meeting was part of a series of working group meetings Kane has convened to foster collaborative thinking on issues of importance to our city.

Rebuilding Together Nashville Executive Director Becky Carter led those in attendance in a lively discussion about how Nashville’s youth and seniors can better collaborate to ensure that all feel relevant, have access to valuable city services and public transportation, and feel safe and welcome in their respective neighborhoods. Also attending were leaders from FiftyForward, the Council on Aging, and the Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee as well as others who work among seniors.

“I’ve heard concerns raised at my town hall meetings and elsewhere that the contributions of our seniors to the community are not as valued as they should be, and that their rights to quality city services and affordable housing should be more recognized and honored,” said Kane. “These working group events are an effort to bring interested parties around a table to work through issues and share ideas that help us foster the notion that we can create a city where we all can contribute to and participate in our city's success. We will create a 'Nashville Together' when we bring diverse perspectives and people together to solve our common concerns."

Working lunches, such as this, a previous lunch discussing equal pay for women, and upcoming lunches, along with Kane’s “Just Jeremy” town halls are all part of Kane’s efforts to inspire a more cohesive sense of community by highlighting what we can do as "Nashville Together."

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Nashville to began work on Metro Parenting 5 Year Strategic Plan

The Metro Parenting Commission, a new twelve-person metro commission created by Mayor Karl Dean, which includes representatives of the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, Metro Social Service, the Human Relations Commission, the Department of Public Health, Juvenile Court and seven members of the public appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the Council, will began work on the city's first Five Year Parenting Plan at their meeting on May 22.  The committee met last month for the first time and elected Ms N. Loco Parentis as Chair. "The children are our future," said Ms Parentis.....

Well, not really, but in case you missed it, here is the presentation of "Crafting a Creative City, Metro Arts' 5 Year Strategic Plan."

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Corker Iran deal bill passes Senate 98-1. Senate forces Obama to submit Iran nuclear deal for congressional approval.

By Stephen Dinan, The Washington Times, Thursday, May 7, 2015 - Senators voted overwhelmingly Thursday to force President Obama to submit to Congress any nuclear deal he reaches with Iran, giving lawmakers a final say before the administration cancels economic sanctions on the Islamic nation.

The 98-1 tally in favor of the bill was a rebuke to Mr. Obama, who had wanted to have a free hand to negotiate with Iran, but will now have to make sure whatever terms he strikes can gain approval of enough members of Congress to stick.

The House must still vote to approve the deal, but passage there is all but certain later this month. read more

The vote was 98-1 with only Tom Cotton of Arkansas voting "no." The objection of Cotton, as well as that of some conservative advocacy groups, is that Congress was giving up its powers by putting the burden on Congress to stop a deal, rather than on the White House to sell the deal. “A nuclear-arms agreement with any adversary — especially the terror-sponsoring, Islamist Iranian regime — should be submitted as a treaty and obtain a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate as required by the Constitution,” said Senator Cotton.

Of course, in theory, he and the conservative advocacy groups who argue that point of view are correct. An agreement to end sanctions and impose a nuclear arms agreement should be considered a treaty and should go to Congress.  But, as a practical matter, that was not going to happen. President Obama was going to approve a deal without Congressional review. He was not gong to call the deal a "treaty" and submit it to Congress and Congress was not going to make him. A President can rule by fiat if Congress allows it. The constitution does not enforce itself. Congress was not going to impeach President Obama for failure to submit an Iran agreement to Congress.  What we ended up with is a strong, almost unanimous vote to require the President to submit it to Congress.

When submitted to Congress, Congress will be given a month to pass a resolution of disapproval. If they do not pass a disapproval motion then the deal is approved. If they do, the President may veto it. If the President vetoes the disapproval resolution then it would take two-thirds vote in both houses to override the veto. So, a determined one-third could stop a veto override.

I would much prefer we follow the Constitution, but at least this will get a public airing of the deal. If will get the issue in the news.  There can be debate and hearings. If it is a bad deal, the public will learn of it.  If it passes by only the support of one-third of one house of Congress, the public will question the wisdom of the deal and also the world will know the President does not have the support of the country in approving the deal.  This is not a great way to pass a treaty, this is not the way it should be done, this is not the way the Constitutions lays it out; but, this is a heck of a lot better than no congressional input at all and that was what was going to happen.

Also, should the deal be approved with only one-third support of one house, Congress my impose new sanctions. The deal may not be a done deal even if President Obama can maintain a veto.

Congratulations to Bob Corker for pulling this off.  I know some fire-brand conservatives will think Bob Corker is a traitor for passing this piece of legislation. If they do, then they must think the same thing of everyone who voted for it. That is Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Tim Scott, and Mike Lee. Do they really think only Tom Cotton got it right?

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NashvilleNext and its impact on community/subarea plans - Subarea plans changed with no neighborhood input.

This was posted to the Nashvilleneighborhoods google group by Tish Bolian who is a neighborhood leader in the Hillwood community. I think her view represents the view of many who have been involved in the NashvilleNext process.

From Tish Bolian:

By now, I am sure that all of you are more than keenly aware of
NashvilleNext and many issues involving it and the extraordinary timeframe
for responding or seeing any changes. I have been to quite a number of the
NashvilleNext meetings, responded to surveys, gone to presentations, talked
to staff, etc. Even though I have done that, I learned quite by happenstance
through someone plodding through documents here in our neighborhood that the planning department has totally changed our Subarea Plans (now
"community Plans") and then we are to refer to 2 huge massive 4 in. binders
for answers to land use and other applicable issues regarding our
neighborhoods and areas of concern.  

If you recall, they promised us allthat when NashvilleNext was complete, they would get back to updating the remainder of all of the subarea plans. Now, they are updating them for us with no heads up and no neighborhood involvement into that process and basically making NashvilleNext (the vision of Nashville for the next 25 years) include NashvilleNow (our subarea plans they now call Community Plans).

I am more than a bit concerned about the impact to all of us and our
neighborhoods, hears at planning, BZA, the council, etc. I just wanted all
to be sure they were aware of this. Time for input was just at 1 month
though they will accept comment into this week. The community had 4 weeks to respond what they worked on for 3 years (with several deadline extensions for their process). I am so very concerned re this and just wanted to be sure all were aware.  
 
Trish (Hillwood)

We are having NashvilleNext crammed down out throats with no opportunity for input! And, without knowing what is in it. The planners will claim x thousand people participated in the process and it was three years in the making. The truth is, after the plan was written they gave people one month to understand the plan and how it effects their community and to comment.  One would have to read all 1,700 boring technical pages of it and be well-versed in the jargon to have a clean understanding of the plan. The plan will be approved by the Planning Commission; it does not have to go to the Council for approval.  The usual community organizers are not raising a stink about this process because they probably like what is in the plan. The professional or semi-professional community organizers do not necessarily have the same interest as regular neighborhood leaders despite the often times successful tactic of coopting neighborhood leaders.

I myself am primarily concerned about other metro issues and not planning and zoning, so I have not read the full 1,700 pages and studied it, but I hope neighborhood leaders rise up and call their councilmen and ask their councilman to stop the planning commission from adopting this NashvilleNext as the city's planning document until there has been a systematic opportunity for neighborhood input, very similar to the sub-area planning process. This does not pass the smell test.

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