Mayor Briley Nominates Phyllis Hildreth and Bob Cooper to Police Community Oversight Board

Press release - Mayor David Briley today announced his nominations of Phyllis Hildreth and Bob Cooper to serve on the Community Oversight Board (COB). The recently enacted charter amendment allows the Mayor to appoint two members to the 11-member COB.

Ms. Hildreth currently serves as Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Strategic Partnerships at American Baptist College. Mr. Cooper, a former Tennessee Attorney General, is a member of the Compliance & Government Investigations Practice Group at Bass Berry & Sims.

“Ms. Hildreth and Mr. Cooper each bring a unique blend of skills and expertise that will be critical assets to the COB,” said Mayor Briley. “I am 100 percent committed to making the COB as effective as possible, and these two nominees will go a long way in ensuring that. Both have experience in the creation and management of new organizations dedicated to the pursuit of justice, and I look forward to their swift confirmations by the Metro Council.”

Ms. Hildreth’s experience includes serving as Chief Counsel in the Office of the Public Defender for the State of Maryland, as Deputy Secretary for the State of Maryland Department of Juvenile Justice, and as Managing Director for the Baltimore City Juvenile Justice Center. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a Doctor of Jurisprudence Degree from the University of Maryland.

Ms. Hildreth currently serves on the Metro Human Relations Commission, a position from which she will step down so that she may serve on the COB.

Mr. Cooper held the position of Tennessee Attorney General from 2006 to 2014 and served as legal counsel to Gov. Phil Bredesen from 2003 to 2006. Mr. Cooper chaired the Southern Region of the National Association of Attorneys General in 2012-2013 and Metro’s Charter Revision Commission.
He also taught Campaign Finance and Elections for almost 20 years as an adjunct professor of law at Vanderbilt Law School. Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Cooper served as a law clerk for The Honorable Louis F. Oberdorfer of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

A member of the Tennessee bar since 1984, Mr. Cooper earned his law degree from Yale Law School and his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University.

Rod's Comment: I do not know these people but at least they appear to be people with a good education and credentials.  I would assume the mayor's two appointees will be confirmed. I will follow with interest who is nominated for the other nine seats on the eleven member board.

Today, December 18th, is the deadline for submitting nomination.  After nominations are received a questionnaire will be sent to all nominees and the questionnaires must be returned by January 4th.  Candidates will then appear before the Rules committee of the Council for interviews and the committee will make recommendations.  I don't know, but I suspect that rather than make a choice among the nominees, the Rules committee will recommend everyone who meets the basic requirement. 

On January 15th, the Council will then select from the nominees the nine remaining seats of the eleven seats to be filled. Seven of the Board members must be people who are nominated by "community organizations" or by private petition signed by 50 Davidson County residents. However, at least four of these seven  members must reside in "economically distressed communities."  The text of this charter amendment does not define either "community organization" nor "economically distressed communities." There is no requirement that the petition signers be voters or even citizens and there is no age requirement for the petition signers.

Two other of the members must be people nominated by Council Representatives. No one with a law enforcement background or closely related to a law enforcement officer is eligible to serve.

This legislation is poorly written. I suspect that before it is all over this charter amendment will be subject to a legal challenge and be negated by a court or be nullified by the state legislature.

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A Christmas humor break: Many years ago, before the demise ...

Many years ago, before the demise of the old Soviet empire, there lived a Party member government official in the cold, cold town of Moscow. One winter's eve, as he and his wife set by the fire they discussed going out for the evening. His wife wanted an evening out but Rudolf was tired from persecuting dissidents all day and wanted a quite evening at home with a glass of vodka in front of the fireplace.

His wife said, "Rudolf, we haven't been out in a while. Let's go have some fun."

Rudolf said, "I really don't think we ought to, dear.  It is too cold and anyway, it is starting to snow and we don't won't to get stuck in the snow."

His wife went to the window and peered out and replied, "It's not snowing, It is just a little rain."

Rudolf replied, "Yes it is. Look closely."

His wife replied, "Oh well, that's not really snow. It's just a little rain mixed with a little bit of sleet."

Rudolf replied, "No, it is snowing!"

In a soft pleading voice his wife responded, "That's not really snow. It's just a little rain."

"No, it is not. That is snow,"  he responded. "Rudolf the Red knows rain dear."

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Senator Lamar Alexander not to seek reelection in 2020

Press release, NASHVILLE, Tenn., December 17, 2018 – United States Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement:

I will not be a candidate for re-election to the United States Senate in 2020. The people of Tennessee have been very generous, electing me to serve more combined years as Governor and Senator than anyone else from our state. I am deeply grateful, but now it is time for someone else to have that privilege. I have gotten up every day thinking that I could help make our state and country a little better, and gone to bed most nights thinking that I have. I will continue to serve with that same spirit during the remaining two years of my term.

Alexander is the only Tennessean ever popularly elected both Governor and U.S. Senator.  His 2008 general election vote total of 1,579,477 is the largest ever received by a statewide candidate.  Alexander is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. He authored opioids legislation signed into law in October which President Trump called “the single largest bill to combat a drug crisis in the history of our country.”

In 2016, he wrote the “21st Century Cures Act,” which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called “the most important law of this Congress.”

In 2015, Alexander authored the “Every Student Succeeds Act,” fixing “No Child Left Behind.” President Obama called the new law “a Christmas miracle,” and the Wall Street Journal said it was the “largest devolution of federal control to the states in a quarter century.”

As chairman of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations subcommittee, Alexander provided four years of record funding for national laboratories, supercomputing and waterways, including restarting Chickamauga Lock.  

You can read more about the senator’s work here.

A seventh-generation Tennessean born and raised in Maryville, Alexander was twice elected governor of Tennessee.  He was chairman of the National Governors Association and of President Ronald Reagan’s Commission on Americans Outdoors. He then served as president of the University of Tennessee and U.S. Secretary of Education under President George H.W. Bush.   In 2002, he was elected to the United States Senate and was re-elected in 2008 and 2014.  His Republican colleagues elected him three times to be chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.

He is a country and classical pianist who has performed on the Grand Ole Opry and for the Billy Graham Crusade. When not in public office, he co-founded a law firm and two successful businesses. He and Leslee Kathryn [Honey] Buhler married on January 4, 1969. They have four children and nine grandchildren.

 Rod's Comment: I remember when Lamar Alexander was publicly sworn in as Governor. A mass of people walked up Charlotte Avenue to the Capitol and I was among them.  Along with many others, I wore a red plaid flannel shirt and a button that read, "I walked the last mile with Lamar Alexander," or something like that.  For those who may not know, Lamar ran a very unusual campaign and walked the full length of the State, starting in Mountain City and ending in Memphis.  After being elected he was privately sworn in early to stop outgoing Governor Ray Blanton from making massive last minute prison pardons.  Blanton was extremely corrupt, selling liquor license and pardons and engaging in other corruption. Lamar Alexander was young, handsome, and wholesome and a breath of fresh air.

I think Lamar Alexander has served the people of our state well. He may not be a partisan bomb thrower but he is a good legislator and is thoughtful, principled, and respectful.  Those seem to be qualities not in high demand these days.  While I have respect and admiration for Lamar, everyone at some point probably ought to retire. It is time to let a younger generation have a seat at the table. I wish Lamar Alexander the best in his retirement.

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Sen. Lamar Alexander skeptical Supreme Court will agree with ruling that Obamacare is unconstitutional

by Joel Ebert, The Tennessean - One day after a federal judge in Texas issued a decision in which he deemed the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, a key Tennessee lawmaker expressed skepticism that the nation's high court would concur. 

In a statement issued Saturday, Sen. Lamar Alexander, who is chairman of the Senate Health Committee, said, "If the U.S. Supreme Court eventually were to agree that Obamacare is unconstitutional — which seems unlikely, however poorly the law was written — I am confident that any new federal law replacing it will continue to protect Americans with pre-existing conditions who buy health insurance." (link)

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Alexander at Axios Event: The Debate Should Move From Health Insurance to Health Care Costs

 “I'm going to focus on making the system more of a market, getting rid of barriers, and—if I could—find a way to make it possible for those of us who buy health care services every day to know the price of what we're paying for.” – Sen. Lamar Alexander

WASHINGTON, December 12, 2018 — Senate health committee Chairman Lamar

You can watch Senator Alexander’s discussion
with Axios’ Mike Allen here

Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said the health care debate should “move from health insurance to health care costs.”

At an event hosted by Axios today, Alexander discussed his 2019 health care policy priorities, specifically reducing the cost of health care, with Axios co-founder and Executive Editor Mike Allen.

“My focus over the next two years is to see if we can do one or two big things to reduce health care costs and maybe 10 or 12 little things and try to move the whole debate from health insurance where we've been stuck for eight years arguing about six percent of the health insurance market, that's Obamacare, to health care costs,” Alexander said. “You'll never get lower-cost health insurance until you have lower-cost health care.”

He added: “We've had five hearings on reducing health care costs and Dr. Brent James, who is a member of the American Academy of Medicine said that 30 to 50 percent of what we spend on health care is unnecessary. So I was so startled by that, that I asked the other witnesses, they agreed with him, and I asked the next panel of witnesses and the next, and they agreed with him too. That means that, of the huge amount we spend on health care, we unnecessarily spend an amount of money that's more than the gross domestic product of every country in the world, but nine.”

Mike Allen: You said that one of the biggest problems is people don't know the true cost of their health care.

Alexander: “Well, that's it. The first thing is to get rid of the barriers in the way of innovators, but nobody knows the cost. Secretary Azar is going to be here. He's got a great story about how he went for a procedure and found out it costs several thousand dollars and he got on the website and checked around and found out he could get it for $550 in the doctor's office. So the way our system is set up, you don't know the price and if no one knows the price, prices aren't going to come down.”

Mike Allen: Now you talked about the next two years, and in January, we're going to have divided government… What is one big thing that you believe you can accomplish next year as Chairman?

Alexander: “Well, I've talked already with [Senator Patty Murray], and on my short list is reducing health care costs. … I'm going to focus on making the system more of a market, getting rid of barriers, and if I could find a way or ways to make it possible for those of us who buy health care services every day to know the price of what we're paying for, that would be the single most important thing I could focus on for two years. I mean, we should do that. The Members of Congress should not sit around with the facts in front of us that we're spending $1 to $1.8 trillion unnecessarily on health care and not do anything about it.”

Background:
In a Senate floor speech yesterday, Alexander announced he will be seeking specific legislative, regulatory, or sub-regulatory solutions to help lower health care costs. During the speech, he said, “Up to half of health care spending is unnecessary.”

Alexander yesterday sent a letter to leading health care experts at the American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institution, economists, doctors, nurses, patients, hospital administrators, state regulators and legislators, governors, employers, insurers, and innovators asking them to identify specific ideas about how to reduce health care costs for taxpayers, employers, and families after concluding a series of five Senate health committee hearings exploring the same topic.

At the first hearing of the series, the committee established a common understanding of how much health care costs; at the second hearing, the committee explored ways to reduce unnecessary health care spending; at the third hearing, the committee focused on ways to reduce the administrative burden on doctors and hospitals; and at the fourth hearing, the committee focused on finding ways to improve access to information about the cost and quality of health care for patients. At the fifth and final hearing of the series, the committee examined what the private sector is doing to encourage innovation and what Washington can do to get out of the way to lower costs.

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What's on the Council agenda for 12/18/18: new affirmative action program for minority and women contractors, $25 million in General Obligation bonds w/o debt service $, asking NES to automatically "round up" electric bills.

by Rod Williams - The Metro Council will meet Tuesday, December 18th at 6:30 PM in the Council chamber at the Metro Courthouse. Here is a link to the Council agenda and the staff analysis for those who want to watch the Council meeting and follow along. If you are going to watch it, it is more interesting if you have the agenda and agenda analysis.  It is still not very interesting but more interesting if you know what the heck is going on. You don't have to watch it and yet you can still me informed however, because  I will watch it for you and then a couple days later post a summary of the most important Council actions and I will post a video of the meeting and highlight the interesting parts, if there are any.

Below is a summary of the agenda, highlighting what I deem to be the most important items.


After the call to order, invocation and pledge of allegiance, there will be a report from committees reporting on matters other than legislation. These various committees will be reporting on budget,  contract procurement, innovation and school safety. The council has a special budget subcommittee to look at the budget crisis facing the city including the role that tax increment financing plays in our budget woes.  A new initiative has been launched to "level the playing field," as Mayor Briley calls it, when it comes to minorities getting their "fair share" of Metro contracts. More on this at this link: Briley proposed a new aggressive affirmative action program for minority and women contractors.
Last meeting these committees reported that they were meeting but had nothing to report.

Kay Bowers

There are three mayoral appointments for council confirmation on this agenda. These always get approved. Two are to the board of the Metropolitan Development & Housing Agency (MDHA).  This board  has come under a lot scrutiny recently. In a Tennessean article titled MDHA board awards millions to developers with little oversight or transparency, the body of the article elaborates on the a title. One of the nominees to this board is Kay Bowers, who is the executive director of New Level Community Development Corp. From my work affordable housing field, I am acquainted with Kay Bowers and have respect for her. She will be a good addition to the board. Working at her level with a non-profit, I would expect her to be an advocate for the affordable housing component of MDHA's mission and less of an advocate for corporate welfare.  I hope the Rules Committee stressed to the new appointees the need for more transparency and oversight of MDHA.

Resolutions. There are 18 resolutions all of which are on the consent agenda at this time. A resolution is on the consent agenda if it passed the committees to which it was assigned unanimously. Bills on the consent agenda are usually not controversial and tend to be routine matters, such as accepting grants from the Federal or State Government or authorizing the Department of Law to settle claims against the city or appropriating money from the 4% fund. Resolutions on the consent agenda are passed by a single vote of the Council rather than being considered individually. Any member of the body may have a bill pulled off of the consent agenda. Below are the resolutions of interest.

Resolution RS2018-1455  would approve the issuance of $25 million in General Obligation bonds to fund certain projects.  Some of the projects are not listed in the Capital Improvements Budget adopted by the Council. The Council cannot approve funding of projects not in the CIB. The CIB can be amended however, but that would take a separate action.  Also, to put this in the CIB, something else would have to be taken out or the amount of money allocated to debt service would have to be increased.  One cannot simply issue new bonds without the money to pay the debt service. The debt service could be increased if we had excess revenue but that is not the case.  I suspect this will be deferred again. I suspect the sponsors, Jonathan Hall, DeCosta Hastings, and Brenda Haywood know this is a futile effort and are simply doing this so they can tell their constituents, "we tried."

Resolution RS2018-1508 would encourages a change in the NES policy of collecting contribution to its weatherization program for low income property owners from an opt-in policy to an opt-out policy. Currently if your electric bill is so many dollars and so many cents, you may select to have your bill rounded up to the next dollar and that odd cents amount goes to a fund to pay the cost of low income property owners to have work done on their home such as insulation to improve energy efficiency. This would change that policy so that your bill was automatically rounded up unless you opted out of that process. I adamantly oppose this.  I contribute routinely to causes and charities I support, but I don't want someone automatically rounding up my bill without my specific informed consent. This is memorializing.  It "encourages" NES to adopt this policy; it would not have to do so. This was on the agenda last meeting and deferred to this meeting. 

Resolution RS2018-1530  by Councilman Bedne ask the Tennessee General Assembly to establish a fund to cover property owners’ losses from diminished property values following the preemption of Ordinance No. BL2016-234. This is meaningless. The state is not going to do it. BL2016-234 was a bill from year 2016 that would add “natural gas compressor stations” to a list of facilities regulated as a “major source” of air pollutants which require a local permit and would do some other things. This was a part of an attempt to stop a proposed natural gas compression stations planned for Joelton and Antioch.  Federal law says that local government can not stop these developments and the Federal government has the right to permit them. Council passed 234 anyway and then the State nullified it. I wish the Council would reject these meaningless feel-good pandering measures but they won't. This will pass, but is worthless. 

Bills on Second Reading:  There are 8. This is the only one of interest.

Bill BL2018-1419 is a new aggressive affirmative action program for minority and women contractors doing business with the city. I addressed this issue in this post: Briley proposed a new aggressive affirmative action program for minority and women contractors. For details of this issue, read what I previously wrote and the staff analysis. 

Bills on Third Reading: There are 16. Most are zoning bills approved by the Planning Commission.

Bill BL2018-1399 (as amended) is a disapproved zoning bill in Councilman Bedne's district. I know nothing about the merits of the bill but am simply pointing it out because it is a disapproved bill and will require 27 votes to pass.

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Keep Mary Mancini Chair of the TN Democratic Party!

Mary Mancini

by Rod Williams - On January 12th the Tennessee Democratic Party Executive Committee will meet to choose a party chairman.  I am urging my Democratic friends to stick with Mary Mancini.

I know Democrats have not had a lot of success in Tennessee in recent years. The Republicans now control the governor's office, hold the two US senate seats and seven of the nine House of Representative seats and have super majorities in both chambers of the state legislature.

The recent race for governor between Republican Bill Lee and Democrat Karl Dean was supposed to be close but Lee won by a landslide of 60 percent to 39 percent.  Many national pundits thought the Democratic candidate for US Senate, former governor Phil Bredesen, would beat Congressman Marsha Blackburn but it didn't turn out that way. Blackburn soundly defeated Phil Bredesen 55 percent to 44 percent. 

In the State legislature House, Republicans hold 73 seats to the Democrat's 26 and in the Senate, Republicans hold 28 seats to the Democrat party's five. However, Democrats did gain one House seat, and that's something. Democrats picked off the seat formerly held by Beth Harwell.

Winning isn't everything, however.  By keeping Mary Mancini as Chairman, Democrats can keep the party pure.  With Mancini as Chair, those socially conservative, New Deal type rural voters will not make inroads into the Democratic Party.  They will not be tempted to leave the Republican Party and return to their former Democratic home. Many of these people may believe in big government solutions for some problems and they love their farm subsidies, but they are not comfortable with identity politics and they may believe in the Second Amendment and may be pro-life.  They should not be made to feel welcome in the Democrat Party.  To keep the party moving in the direction of Bernie Sanders and the progressive left, these lapsed Democrats cannot be allowed to gain a foothold in the Party. I know Democrats want their vote, but they cannot be allowed a seat at the table.

Also, to be honest, I don't know if anyone could have done a better job than Mary Mancini.  Tennessee voters are just not into Democrats these days.  Tennesseans believe in things like the Second Amendment and border security and they like rising employment and prosperity and lower taxes.  Maybe someone else could have been a better salesman than Mary Mancini but I doubt it.  You can put lipstick on a pig and it is still a pig.

There are two challengers to Mary Mancini. If you ask me, they are both DINO's.  I know Dino does not have the same nice ring to it and cartoon potential as Rino, but I think these two challengers to Mary Mancini are Democrats In Name Only.  One is Holly McCall who is chairwoman of the Williamson County Democratic Party and the other is Christopher Hale.  Christopher Hale is even pro-life.  Surely there is not room in the Democrat Party for someone who is pro-life.

Stick with Mary Mancini.  Keep the Tennessee Democrat Party the party of minorities, and urban elites.

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Congressman-elect Mark Green to Hold Six Town Halls This Week

Green also launches issues survey for TN07 constituents

FRANKLIN, Tenn. – Congressman-elect Mark Green (R-Tenn.) is holding six town halls across Tennessee’s 7th congressional district this week. Green will discuss the issues facing the 116th Congress and hear from constituents. All residents in the 7th district are invited to attend and participate.

“As a state senator, I held town halls across my district before session every year to hear from constituents so I can better represent them. I’m excited to continue these as we head to Congress. I hope everyone will come and let us know how they feel about the issues,” noted Green.

Congressman-elect Green also launched an issues survey for constituents of the district to fill out: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GreenTN07.

December 11, 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Williamson County Administrative Complex
1320 West Main Street
Franklin, TN

December 12, 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Samuel's on the Square
117 North Court Square
Waverly, TN

December 12, 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
William O. Beach Civic Hall
350 Pageant Lane, Suite 201
Clarksville, TN

December 13, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Square-Forty Restaurant
40 Public Square
Lawrenceburg, TN 38464

December 13, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Watson Building
50 Natchez Trace Dr.
Lexington, TN

December 13, 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
The Latta Theatre
205 W Court Ave.
Selmer, TN

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Planned Parenthood, the only abortion provider left in Nashville, suspends abortion services

Planned Parenthood, the only abortion provider left in Nashville, suspends abortion services 

The Tennessean -  The only remaining abortion clinic in Nashville has ceased offering abortions, instead referring patients to clinics hundreds of miles away in Knoxville and Memphis. 

Rod Williams' comment: 

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Open primaries have been good for the TN GOP. Why change what works?

Last week the Republican Party state executive committee passed a resolution calling for a change in the law to close party primaries.  As it stand now, when you go to vote you can, at the moment you walk into the voting location, decide if you want to vote in the Republican primary or the Democrat primary. In Tennessee there is no such thing as a "registered Republican" or a  "registered Democrat."

Currently there are 23 states with "open primaries" such as Tennessee has and the others are "closed." The closed primary states vary in how difficult and how soon before an election you may change your party affiliation.

The argument Republicans make for closing the primaries is that Democrats should not be allowed to help pick the Republican nominee. Some argue that Democrats vote in Republican primaries and vote for the weakest Republican so the Democrat can run against a weak Republican. Others, don't make that argument but say that when the Democrat Party has no candidate of stature running or no serious challenger to an incumbent and the enthusiasm is in the Republican Party, Democrats will vote in the Republican Party and vote for the candidate they like best.  However, this, critics claim, results in the Republican candidate being more moderate than he would be if only Republicans voted in the Republican primary. This gives us candidates who are Republican in name only- the dreaded "RINO."

I am not in favor of closing primaries in Tennessee. Tennessee has done extremely well with open primaries. We have a Republican governor, two Republican senators, and seven of our nine U. S congressmen are Republicans and we have a super majority in the State legislature in the House and the Senate. You can't do much better than that. I don't see why we would want to change a system that is working to our benefit.

Over the years, more and more Tennesseans have identified as Republican and have voted for Republican candidates. Would this have happened without open primaries? I doubt it.  I don't think many people change party affiliation all at once. If Independents or even Democrats vote in Republican primaries a few times, then I suspect, after a while, they will began thinking of themselves as Republicans. Why would we want to freeze them out from making that transition.

Also, I think our system has produced good rational, sensible people such as Corker, Alexander, and Haslam, and Fred Thompson. These people are considered too moderate by some Republicans, however,  and they want to nominate "more conservative" candidates. If we nominate people too far to the right, or nut-job Republicans like Joe Carr, I fear we are likely to lose our political dominance.

Here is an argument made made in a Facebook post by former State House Representative Debra Maggart.

Debra Maggart: Now that we have a super majority, why do we want to put a roadblock in front of Independents (who we desperately need ) and other Converts to our way of thinking?

I carried this bill long ago and I can debate it both ways. But I thought it was a good idea when we were in the minority. However, I don’t  think this anymore because we have a very different landscape now.

The Democrats have never organized their people to vote in our primaries - that’s never been proved - heck, they can’t even organize themselves to vote for their own, much less our people. That’s an old wives tale- if they voted in droves in our primaries you could look it up - but they don’t. You couldn’t get me to vote in their primary for a million bucks. So, who are these mysterious Democrats voting in our primaries??

If they tried to organize, we would know it. We’d get their mailers or phone bank calls, GOTV texts, emails, etc.
The better play is to get more Republicans and R-leaning Independents who only vote in November to also vote in August and grow the party that way. Our focus and funds should be on that idea.

I think we are limiting our numbers of voters by closing the primaries.
Having open primaries has worked pretty good so far- why change now?
We already know our numbers of voters who actually vote is shrinking anyway.
I’m sure I’ll be called a RINO for asking these questions, but I’ve served on both the SEC, the TGA, and I can’t count the campaign’s I’ve been involved in. I was the Whip when we picked up the 14-seat Majority in charge of protecting our incumbents and Caucus Chair when we expanded our numbers further.

I really want to understand why a party purity test is a good idea when we should be in the business of changing hearts and minds over to our side.

I think she is exactly right. It is a myth that Democrats organize to vote in Republican primaries. The lone Democrat may do so, but there is no evidence that it happens in large number or that there is an organized effort to do so. Instead of freezing people out, we should be enticing them to join us
. 

Here is a Facebook comment from by friend Tim Skow , organizer of the First Tuesday group and a political activist.

Tim Skow: To our ''Closed primary supporter friends'' -- Lets ask you HONESTLY to evaluate this -- '' Had ALL states primaries been ''Closed'' in 2016 ... Can we AGREE... that 1] Donald Trump [supported significantly in primaries by Independents, first time voters and even some supposed ''Dems'' mad a Obama''] would NOT have won the Republican Primary for President without them? 2] ThatTed Cruz likely would have been nominated? AND... 3] that Hillary would be President today after beating Cruz LIKE A DRUM?!!!! .... IF...Anyone cannot honestly recognize this ... THEN...you are a blind novice, political fraud ... or simply BSC !

Think about it. Tim is right. Donald Trump got the nomination because he was able to attract people who do not normally vote in Republican primaries to do so. Well, I am not going to think about that too hard because I did not want Trump to be the party's nominee. However, the process resulted in a Republican win which if Democrats and Independents had not been able to vote in Republican primaries, we would most likely would not have had and we would now have Hillary Clinton as president.

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What happened at the 12/4/18 Council meeting: bill holding Amazon bribe hostage deferred, anguish over gentrification, bad kennel bill deferred.

Above  is the video of the Council meeting of Tuesday, November 4, 2018. It is three hours and 13 minutes long. If you are going to watch it, it will make a lot more sense if you can follow along with an agenda. To access a copy of the agenda, the agenda summary and my commentary on the agenda, follow this link. I did not carefully watch the full meeting and skipped portion of it looking for the good parts. I rushed through the public hearing portion watching that in double speed. If you think I may have missed something important, or important to you, you may want to watch the video for yourself.

Only one council member, Erica Gilmore, was absent from this meeting.

Vice Mayor Jim Shulman begins the meeting with a brief eulogy of President George H. W Bush and former mayor and congressman Richard Fulton. Following the prayer and pledge, Mayor Briley addresses the Council. This is extremely rare that a mayor appears in person before the Council. He paid tribute to former Mayor Richard Fulton.

The Vice Mayor asked for committee reports on matters other than legislation: This is not a normal feature of council meetings but the city is facing several issues that the council feels deserve special attention and the vice mayor has tasked committees to look into these issue. These various committees are charged with studying the issues of budget,  contract procurement, innovation and school safety. None of the committees had anything very important to report but they are working on the issues.

The Vice Mayor announced that a joint Budget Committee and Affordable Housing Committee will be holding hearing on concerns that have been expressed in the media about how MDHA operates. The Tennessean recently published an article pointing out that MDHA spends lots of money and funds lots of downtown development with almost no oversight from the administration or the council. The mayor appoints members to the MDHA board and the council confirms them and beyond that they operate independently, with no oversight and little transparency. To read The Tennessean's report see this link.

The vice mayor reminds the council that all nomination to serve on the new police oversight board must be turned in by 4:30 pm on Tuesday Dec.18th. If any readers of this blog would like to try to serve on this board, go for it! One of the ways you can be nominated is to be nominated by a community organization, but the term is undefined. The selection of members of the board is a complex process to say the least and there is a lot of confusion. To see the announcement and an explanation of the nominating process, see timestamp 21:33- 30:40 in the video.

Bills on Public Hearing: There are 18 bills on Public Hearing. Bills on public hearing are usually to rezone a particular piece of property or to change the text of zoning code.   I do not even attempt to understand the pros and cons of every zoning bill and they generally bore me and are of interest to only the people in the immediate vicinity of the rezoning. These are the one I found of interest.

Bill BL2018-1288 (as amended) is intended to stop the owner of a commercial establishment from giving away or leasing their parking spaces.  One of the causes, perhaps the major cause, of sparse development along major corridors and for urban sprawl is the requirement that owners provide parking for their customers. The codes require so many parking spaces per so many seats in a restaurant and so many parking spaces per so many square feet of different types of retail. Some developers of  commercial property have met the requirement and then turned around and leased out their parking spaces, defeating the purpose of the requirement. This is an attempts to stop that. My view is that we should give up on this attempt to cater to the old model of car-oriented development and let the market work it out. If someones wants to open a restaurant with 2O tables and only supply five parking spaces, let them.  No one spoke on the bill and it passed by a voice vote of the Council.

Bill BL2018-1357 cancels a Planned Unit Development Overlay District on property located at 3419 Murphy Road and Bill BL2018-1358 changes from ORI-A to SP the zoning on that property to permit a mixed-use development. I happened to be visiting a relative on Richland Avenue recently and in about a three block section, about half the houses had signs opposing this development. Council Member Kindall moved to defer both bills to the January 3, 2019 public hearing, which passed.

Bill BL2018-1371 regards dog kennels and and stables. There are several things

wrong with this bill. I am not sure what the bill would do.  It defines kennels as only kennels that breed dogs. It requires kennels be located on ten acres. Where does that leave dog boarding facilities?  Could they continue to operated in the city? Ten acres seems like an awfully high threshold for having a kennel. If you live in the city and own a dog and are going out of town for the weekend and want to board your dog, would you have to go to Watertown or Dickson to board your dog? This was on the agenda on November 6th and deferred.  When on the agenda of November 6, I spoke to the sponsor and he essentially said this was a work in progress and he welcomed feedback and input.  To offer your input on this bill, the sponsor welcomes your comments and you may contact him at fabian.bedne@nashville.gov.  Council Member Bedne moved to defer the bill indefinitely, which motion was seconded and approved by a voice vote of the Council. Councilman Bedne says the bill is still a work in progress and will be brought back up but in a different form.

Bill BL2018-1393  is a rezoning bill in the vicinity of 27th Ave. North and Clifton Ave changing from RS5 to MUL-A zoning. Among those speaking in favor is Pastor Enoch Fuzz. of Corinthian Baptist church. Several people speak in opposition. The opposition is that it furthers gentrifies the area and replaces affordable housing with more expensive housing and will displace residents. It passes the Council on a voice vote.

Bill BL2018-1395 is much like the last one. It rezones property in the vicinity of 26th Avenue North and Clifton Avenue. The bill would rezone some property from RS5 and IR to MUL-A and RM20-A. The opposition is the same as the previous bill, that it further gentrifies the area and replaces affordable housing with more expensive housing and will displace residents. Following the public hearing several council members speak on the bill. It is an approved bill and passes on a voice vote.

The problem of disappearing affordable housing and changing communities is real. What can be done about it, I don't know. I don't think anything significant can be done. The amount of affordable housing than the city can build or entice to be build is not a drop in the bucket to what is being lost. I think it is a simple fact that when property becomes more valuable because Nashville is becoming more prosperous, then some people will no longer be able to afford to live where they did live. I can understand the anguish of  those who see their community change.  Part of what is happening is that communities that are close to downtown or gentrifying and many low income people who did live close to downtown will relocate. Part of Antioch is becoming the new low income areas. No doubt many low income people will leave Nashville. While I have compassion for those who are upset by the change, I don't think we can freeze low income communities and mandate that they stay low income. The best solution is to let the market work. To see the discussion on these two bills see timestamp 44:28 to 1:29:18.

Bill BL2018-1399  changes from AR2a to CS zoning on property located at 1488 and 1492 Bell Road. I know nothing about the merits of this request but am simply calling attention to it because it is bill disapproved by the Planning Commission. No one spoke on the bill and it passed on Second reading by voice vote.

Resolutions. There are 18 resolutions most of which are on the consent agenda at this time. A resolution is on the consent agenda if it passed the committees to which it was assigned unanimously. Bills on the consent agenda are usually not controversial and tend to be routine matters, such as accepting grants from the Federal or State Government or authorizing the Department of Law to settle claims against the city or appropriating money from the 4% fund. Resolutions on the consent agenda are passed by a single vote of the Council rather than being considered individually. Any member of the body may have a bill pulled off of the consent agenda. Below are the resolutions of interest.

Resolution RS2018-1507 requests that Metro refrain from providing economic incentives to Amazon unless and until employees of the Metropolitan Government receive cost of living adjustments. This is co-sponsored by the most conservative members of the Council such as Steve Glover and Robert Swope and the most liberal members of the Council such as Freddie O'Connel and Brenda Haywood.  The administration and the Chamber of Commerce oppose this.  This is substituted and then deferred indefinitely. Councilman Glover makes clear this effort is not being abandoned but simply deferred.

Resolution RS2018-1508 would encourages a change in the NES policy of collecting contribution to its weatherization program for low income property owners from an opt-in policy to an opt-out policy. Currently if your electric bill is so many dollars and so many cents, you may select to have your bill rounded up to the next dollar and that odd cents amount goes to a fund to pay the cost of low income property owners to have work done on their home such as insulation to improve energy efficiency. This would change that policy so that your bill was automatically rounded up unless you opted out of that process. I adamantly oppose this.  I contribute routinely to causes and charities I support, but I don't want someone automatically rounding up my bill without my specific informed consent. This is memorializing.  It "encourages" NES to adopt this policy; it would not have to do so. It is deferred one meeting.

Resolution RS2018-1509  calls upon the Davidson County Election Commission to ensure that the voting machines it purchases in the future provide a voter-verifiable paper audit trail and that such functionality is implemented. This is memorializing and the Election Commission would not have to do it. This is substituted, then passes.

Bills on Second Reading:  There are 11. This is the only one of interest.

Bill BL2018-1404 removes certain storage and impound fees for recovered stolen vehicles. Storage fees for tow-in lots under the jurisdiction of the MNPD are currently waived for owners of stolen vehicles. However, fees are currently charged for vehicles at private towing and impound lots. This ordinance would waive fees at both Metro Government lots and private lots. While I feel sorry for the individual who must pay a fee to recover his stolen vehicle, we cannot expect private companies to just adsorb the cost of towing and storing the vehicles. If the owner of the vehicle does not pay the fee, then the city should pay the fee for the victim of auto theft if that is a cost we want to absorb.  This is deferred to the January 15 meeting.

Bills on Third Reading: There are 13. This is the only one I find of interest.

Bill BL2018-1283 (as amended)  says that Metro cannot use the proceeds from sale of surplus property to fund operating cost.  While it seems to make sense that one should not use one-time money to fund on-going cost, as we did this year, I am not sure that this flexibility should be taken away. There may be times when the city needs to do that. This passed by a machine vote with no opposition.

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I give the new TN education report card a grade of "D+."

The Tennessee Department of Education has revealed a new online education report card this week and I would give it a "D" or maybe be generous and give it a "D+."

I would like to be able to see a list a Davidson Counties schools and be able to filter then from worst to best and be able to post a list of the ten worse and ten best. I would like to be able to compare schools across the county and the state. I just can't do that with this new system.  I can look up information for a specific school but it is very difficult to compare one school to another.

Another fault with this new state report card is that one cannot get a composite score for a school. Instead of one score, the school is rated in six categories:

• Academic achievement which measures whether students are performing on grade level on TNready
• Student Academic growth which measures if from year to year students are improving
• Chronically out of school which measures the level of truancy
• Progress on English language proficiency
• Ready to graduate which is the percentage of students who score at least a 21 on the ACT test
• Graduation rates.

It would be nice if the various factors were combined into one score, although I am sure there would be disagreement about the weight given to the various components. Given that there is not a composite score, the information would still be more useful if it was more user friendly.  The data has to be available to filter and rank or the department could not provide what information they do provide.  Why will they not make that data readily available?

The gradng scale is 0 to 4 with use of decimals.  "O" is the worst and 4 is the best. Here is a comparison of four high schools in Nashville with information gleamed from the new report card:

The quality of public schools varies greatly in Davidson County. Some of our schools are absolutely terrible and a few are excellent. Even within a school that is ranked bad there may still be an opportunity for a student to get a good education if he is motivated. Some schools that do not rank that high still have advanced placement courses and programs like International Baccalaureate. We all know the role of peer pressure and environment is student success however.  Students in good schools are generally better students.

Luckily, I do not have school age children.  If I did, I would sacrifice to put them in a private school, leave Davidson County for a county with better schools, or proactively aggressively push to get them in a good school.  No longer does one have to move to a neighborhood with good schools to get your child in a good school or lie about your address. For parents who are willing to work at it, you can get your child in a better school.  You may have to provide the transportation to get them to a school other than their district school, but that seems a small price to pay for a better education. The Metro School Choice Festival was last month, but if I were a parent with few other option for my child's education and had missed the event I would not let that stop me from exercising school choice.

I am disappointed that the new report card is not more user friendly, still it is better than what we have had before and can provide helpful information about schools in Tennessee.

To read the Tennessee Education Department's press release on the new report card follow this link.

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