Yesterday was the start of the citywide celebration of Kwanzaa, now in its 36th year here in
Nashville. Through January 1st there will a large number of Kwanzaa events. The city even participates by lighting the Korean Veterans Bridge in Kwanzaa colors. To the uninformed, especially impressionable young people, they may think that Kwanzaa is a traditional African holiday and that it promotes something of value. It is not and it does not.
Kwanzaa is a made up holiday created by Maulana Ndabezitha Karenga, a
radical American Black Nationalists. Maulana Ndabezitha Karenga was born
1941 with the name Ronald McKinley Everett but adopted the African
sounding name in the 1960's. He was active in the radical Black Power
movement of the 1960's and was for a while was a member of the Black
Panthers. When the Black Power movement splintered into violent conflict
between different factions he was engaged in that struggle. He started a
group called "United Slaves" which positioned themselves as more
radical than the Black Panthers. Member of US and Black Panthers killed
each other during the violent struggles for control of the revolution.
We know that in the sixties, the FBI was engaged in promoting divisions
within the Black Power movement. Some allege that Karenga was funded by
the FBI to further that division but the truth is unknown.
In 1971, Karenga was sentenced to one to ten years in prison on counts
of felonious assault and false imprisonment. He thought two female
followers of his were conspiring to betray him and he took revenge. This
is how the Los Angeles Times described the case.
Deborah Jones, who once was given the Swahili title of an African queen,
said she and Gail Davis were whipped with an electrical cord and beaten
with a karate baton after being ordered to remove their clothes. She
testified that a hot soldering iron was placed in Miss Davis' mouth and
placed against Miss Davis' face and that one of her own big toes was
tightened in a vise. Karenga, head of US, also put detergent and running
hoses in their mouths, she said. They also were hit on the heads with
toasters.
Even if Karnega was not a made-up holiday created by a drug addled
radical thug, it would not be something worth celebrating. The
principles of Kawanzaa are not admirable. The first principle is Umoja (Unity). That is not unity among all people however but unity in the family, community, and race. The second principle is Kujichagulia
(Self-Determination). It calls for the right to define ourselves, name
ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves. Keep in mind
this is for Black people to do. It is not a call for cooperation with
others or to be accepting or cooperative with others; this is a call for
radical Black power.
It doesn't get better. The fourth principle of Kwanzaa is Ujamaa which
is "cooperative economics," perhaps the last thing the Black community
needs. Ujamaa was the 20-year experiment with African- style socialism
in Tanzania. It failed miserably. "Cooperative Economics" never works.
Voluntary collectives always fall apart. To urge collective or
cooperative economics for the Black community is to urge them to remain
poor. The Black community needs a good dose of capitalism, not socialism.
I know Christmas is made up also. All holidays are made-up or
declared by a proclamation as a day to honor an event or a
person. Christmas evolved over time and customs and traditions and
elements were added one on the other. The message of Christmas is a
positive message however and embraces all mankind. The message matters and any thing that evolves over
time, to my way of thinking, has more legitimacy than something someone
just set down one day and made up.
"I want to make sure Tennesseans know, as I have said from its
beginning, that I believe there is no excuse whatsoever for this partial
government shutdown. When the government shut down under President
Obama, I said that I was elected to make the government work for
taxpayers, not to shut it down. The same is true under President Trump. " (link)
I was saddened to learn of the passing of Bob Ries. He was a bigger than life character. He lit up the room when he was present. He was a former Chairman of the Davidson County Republican Party and a Republican nominee for the 5th
Congressional District, a military veteran and small business owner. He was a patriot and an advocate for conservative principles. He will be missed. My thoughts and prayers are with his
family.
Please watch the video and consider what Corker says before you have a knee-jerk reaction to blast Corker and defend President Trump. Corker explains that not long ago Trump could have had $25 billion for border security in exchange for settling the dreamer issue and Trump would not accept it.
Corker says this government shut down is a made up fight so Trump can look like he is doing something. I agree. Corker says even if Trump should win, our borders would still not be secure. Listen to his explanation as to why.
Corker also explains why Trump's sudden pull out of Syria without consulting allies is a mistake and why Gen. James Mattis is right.
by Rod Williams - Above is the video of the Council meeting of Tuesday, December 18, 2018.
It is just short of three hours 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 staff analysis and my commentary on the
agenda, follow this link.
Six council members were absent from this meeting. They are Erica Gilmore, Bill Pridemore, Holly Huezo, Mike Freeman, Mary Carolyn Roberts and Ed Kindall.
Following the call to order, invocation and pledge of allegiance, Alan D. Valentine, Director of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra addresses the Council and introduces the Symphony Brass Quintet which performs some Christmas music for the Council. Nashville is fortunate to have a symphony of the quality we have. Not many cities can boast of a symphony that has won multiple Grammy's. We also have one of the most highly acclaimed symphony halls in the country. I have not attended many performances of the symphony, but before my wife became home bound, we would go on occasion. I get of sense of civic pride from living in a city with such a renowned symphony.
Following the musical performance there is the presentation of a resolution honoring the retiring Speaker of the House of Representatives Beth Harwell and then she addresses the Council. Following that is a presentation honoring some Parks Departments employees for their accomplishments.
The Council then hears from Council Committees reporting on matter other than legislation. This is something new the Council does. There are several committees tasked with examining different issues. The only report is form Council Member Rhoten of the Budget Subcommittee which reports on expenses
and revenues from the first quarter of fiscal year 2019. Nothing of significance is reported but I think it is good that the financial status of the city is getting this ongoing additional scrutiny. Next is confirmation of mayoral appointments to boards and commission and they are approved. Following that, is the public comments period and the Council hears from two individuals, but there is nothing of significance to report.
Public Hearing on West End Avenue rezoning bill Bill BL2018-1398.
This is a zoning bill approved by the Planning Commission that would change from MUI-A to SP zoning on property located at 2004 and 2012
West End Avenue, to permit 360 multi-family residential units, 6,500 square
feet of retail or restaurant space, short term rental property (STRP),
owner occupied, and short term rental property (STRP), non-owner
occupied. People speak both in favor and in opposition and it is approved on a voice vote. This is in the vicinity of 20th Ave. This is not the more controversial rezoning further out West End near I-440 which is pending which has proved very controversial and has united several neighborhood groups in opposition. I have no opinion on the merits of the zoning bill and simply point out those that appear to generate controversy or for some other reason I find of interest.
Resolutions. There are 18 resolutions most of which are on 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. This issue is resolved however. The sponsor offers an amendment to take out all of those projects not in the CIB. The amendment passes. With those projects out my primary objection to this bill is removed. However, problems remain. There are many more projects in
the CIB than can be funded with available debts service.
Normally, the administration initiates resolutions like this and determines which projects in the CIB get funded. Normally, resolutions like this do not originate with the Council. However, the timing of the actual sale of the bonds would not be impacted by this resolution and simply authoring the funding for these projects would not mandate that these were the projects that got built. The administration could bring forth a resolution authorizing different project, I assume. This could also create disorder as other council members may bring forth resolution to do the same for projects in their district if this would have passed. In the end, I am not so sure a little disorder would be a bad thing. I have often felt that some districts were favored over others and the executive branch had too much power despite the Council controlling the purse strings. Some good discussion ensues. If I served in the Council, as amended, I would probably vote for this. Maybe it would be a good thing to change the way decisions are made as to which projects get funded. To see the discussion see timestamp 1:01:40-1:34:53.
The resolution fails on roll call vote. Here is how members voted: Yes (10): Cooper, Mendes, Hurt, Hall, Hastings, Haywood, Swope, Scott Davis, Pardue, and Glover; No (22):
Withers, Anthony Davis, VanReece, Hagar, Rhoten, Syracuse, Sledge,
Allen, O'Connell, Weiner, Mina Johnson, Murphy, Pulley, Elrod, Blalock,
Vercher, Potts, Bedne, Dowell, Lee, Henderson, and Rosenberg; Abstain (0).
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 but if this passed, NES would probably do it. This was on the agenda last meeting and deferred to this meeting. It is discussed and Councilman Rosenberg raises objections. See timestamp 1:35:05- 1:45:15. It was deferred again on a roll call vote.
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 worthless resolution passed on the consent agenda.
At timestamp 1:54:48 the Vice Mayor announces he will be reading the names of all of the people nominated for position on the Police Citizens Oversight Board. This would have been done at the start of the meeting but this whole time the Clerk has been checking names to make sure she had a complete list. Councilman Swope ask, why to we need to read the names. The Vice Mayor says because we said we would and we are trying to be transparent. Then, all the names are read. It looks like many of the council members take a break while the names are read.
Bills on Second Reading: There are 8. This is the only one of interest.
Bills on Third Reading: There are 16. Most are zoning bills approved by the Planning Commission. I skip through zoning bills rapidly because most of the time they do not interest me and most of the time only are of interest to nearby neighbors. If you think I may have missed something that interest you, you may want to watch the meeting for yourself.
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. It passes on a roll call vote of 28 in favor and two opposed.
Bill BL2018-1399 (as amended) is a disapproved zoning bill in
Councilman Bedne's district. I know nothing about the merits of the
bill and simply pointing it out because it is a disapproved bill and
would have required 27 votes to pass. Council Member Bedne offered a substitute ordinance and moved that it be
accepted for filing, which motion was seconded and it was approved by a voice
vote of the Council. The substitute then passed by a vote of 29 to zero.There was some discussion but it does not interest me much. Since it was still a disapproved bill, it still required 27 votes to pass but it passed.
Among those nominated were Waffle House hero James Shaw Jr. and Sheila Clemmons Lee, mother of Jocques Clemmons who was shot and killed by police when he ran from police after a traffic stop and refused to drop a gun he was carrying.
What will happen next is that all of the nominees will be sent a questionnaire which must be returned to the Clerk's office by January 4th. Then, at the January 15th meeting of the Metro Council's Rules and Confirmation Committee, the Committee will review the nominees and make recommendations to the full body. The Council will then select eleven member who will serve on board. Two of the board members must be people nominated by the mayor, two must be people nominated by members of the Metro Council, and the remaining seven seats must be people either nominated by community organizations or nominated by petitions signed by 50 residents of Davidson County. Four of the seven must be from economically distressed census tracks.
The charter amendment does not define terms. The fifty signatures to nominate someone does not require that the signatures be those of adults, voters or citizens. This charter amendment is poorly drafted and I suspect that it will either be overturned by a court or, more likely, invalidated by an act of the State legislature.
12-20-2018- The Tennessean this morning reported that Speedway Motorsports has
struck a deal with the fairgrounds racetrack operator Tony Formosa that
paves the way for the return of NASCAR to the fairgrounds. While there
are still details that remain to be worked out and while it is not yet a done deal, today's announcement is significant.
While many people have fought to save the fairground, Councilman Swope deserves the bulk of the credit for saving the historic Fairgrounds racetrack. Giving this latest development, I asked Councilman Swope for his thoughts. Here is his statement:
Robert Swope
For months I met with dozens of parties that all have a vested interest
in the Fairgrounds. The Speedway, Flea Market, TN State Fair, Christmas
Village, Hunters Car Show, and countless others were all given what I
believe was a fair chance to speak up about what worked best for their
individual interests. This was done so that moving forward, as many
concerns as humanly possible could be incorporated into the final master
plan IF a MLS stadium were to be approved.
What
become apparent early on in this year long process was that unless the
racetrack was protected for the long term, the administration would
continue to chip away at eventually removing it from the property
altogether. I began to speak about the racetrack being the elephant in
the room.... and in order to protect an elephant, we needed to find a
bigger gorilla than the MLS group.
Enter SMI and Bruten and Marcus Smith. A VERY large Gorilla.
For
the past 9 months, a number of us have worked very hard to 1) Protect
the racetrack for at least 30 years, 2) Protect the Formosa family
racing interests and 3) create a Fairgrounds Nashville that everyone in
Middle TN could be proud of for decades to come.
My
yes vote on the MLS deal was predicated solely on a trust and a promise
that SMI would protect and honor the existing agreements with Formosa ,
and when such time that SMI and Formosa reached an agreement to work
together, the Mayors Office would enter a 30 year agreement with SMI to
rebuild/upgrade the track, return NASCAR to Nashville, and work together
with all parties at the Fairgrounds for the continued operations of all
other existing functions at the facility.
It
seems that the first, and largest step in this plan has been
taken.....an agreement between Formosa Promotions and SMI...... and I
personally am thankful for the honest integrity shown by all parties to
date. We should all see an agreement between SMI and the City very
soon, thereby accomplishing the original goals set out over a year ago.
I
believe that with the Speedway rebuilt and protected for the next 30
years, Fairgrounds Nashville will become a crown jewel in our city with
all current and future events existing together and complimenting one
another.
by Rod Williams - The Tennessean reports this morning that Speedway Motorsports has struck a deal the fairgrounds racetrack operator Tony Formosa that paves the way for the return of NASCAR to the fairgrounds. While there are still some details to work out and while the deal must be approved by the Fair Board, this is significant. It is reported that Tony Formosa would continue to offer eight races a year at the fairgrounds.
It is not known what kind of improvements would have to be made to the historic track to meet NASCAR standards or who would pay for them. There is already approved $1.7 million for track improvements by Metro, but that would not be sufficient to upgrade the track to the desired level. For years the city has ignored the track hoping, many believe, that if would eventually deteriorate so badly that it would be prohibitively expensive to continue offering racing at the track. If Speedway Motorsports is granted a long-term lease, there is speculation they would pay for the upgrades. Speedway Motorsports is one of he largest owners of NASCAR tracks in the country including Bristol Speedway.
Opposition to the track centers around noise complaints. When races are going on they can be heard miles away. I live very near the track and think the noise complaints are exaggerated. Some people just love to complain. Currently the number of races permitted at the track are capped at ten per year. One can expect that some will fight to keep the ten-race cap. It is unknown how many races would have to occur at the track for the deal to be viable. In addition to noise, I am convinced that there are those who want to demolish the track because it does not fit the image they would like for a progressive Nashville. There are those who seem embarrassed by anything that smacks of Nashville's old identity. They seem to be embarrassed by gun and knife shows, flea markets, country music and stock car racing. Former Mayor Karl Dean tried to have the track destroyed as part of his plan to sell off the fairgrounds property to private developers.
If the return of NASCAR is successful, much of he credit must go to Councilman Robert Swope. Speedway Motorsports had expressed an interest in the racetrack a long time ago, but city officials would not give them the time of day or even return their calls. Swope got involved and made the city entertain proposals from Motorsports and he got Formosa and Speedway Motorsports negotiating. For more on how Swope got us to this point, follow this link. Unfortunately, The Tennessean does not even mention Swope's name in their article.
I have not watched the meeting in detail but skimmed and skipped looking for the good parts. If you want to watch the meeting it helps if you have an agenda. You can get the agenda at this link.
The meeting starts full of good cheer and cordiality but then deteriorates. Below are timestamp notations of the good parts. I use the term "good parts," meaning the most interesting parts, not as parts that exemplify harmony and good behavior.
Timestamp 25:54: Erick Huth president of the teachers union speaks to the board lamenting the schools finances and that the school board has to sell property to fund day-to-day operating expenses, that instead of a qualified teacher in every class room many class rooms have substitute teachers, that the city instead of paying money to hire new teachers the city pays money for millionaires to move to town, lack of support staff the schools need, and lack of text books. I know unions are always going to want more funding, but this sounds more serious than usual. He says the schools are drastically underfunded.
Continue watching: Kelly Watlington does not say who she is with, but talks of the findings of a recent school audit. She says there are several areas where there is potential for money to be misspend. Some checks that require two signatures only have one, gift cards are issued with no record of what was purchased with them or who they were given to, voided checks are missing. She says the director of schools has not fixed the problems, will not take advice from his staff and she calls for his firing. She gets a round of applause.
Continue watching: Laura Leonard, a teacher, says teachers are not respected, they are abused and forced to work for free and other complaints. Other speakers also voice similar complaints.
Timestamp 1:36:50: In a discussion over surplussing a piece of property in Amy Frogge's district she argues against it and Will Pinkerston argues in favor. Members show frustration and tempers flare. Board members accuse other board members of not showing them respect.
Timestamp 2:50:51: In discussion following presentation on a reading program called CKLA, Amy Frogge says the program is experimental, our kids are being used as "guinea pigs," pressure is put on principals to use the program even though they don't want to do so, teachers are forced to sign consent forms and when they try to opp out of the program they are told they can't. She said it is a "lie" that teachers want to participate in the program. She said in truth teachers hate the program. She says teachers are pressured to say they like it. She says the program does not work. She appears bitter and disgusted not only about this issue but says last years they were lied to about improving test scores when scores are really flat. She says presentations are often deceptive "dog and pony shows."
Timestamp 3.9.36: Rachel Anne Elrod, gets emotional and can hardly talk.
It is obvious that there are serious problems at the Metro School Board and that our schools are failing. Two things testify to this. Despite Nashville's population growth, school enrollment is declining. Either people with school age children are sending their children to private schools or they are locating in surrounding counties to avoid Nashville's pubic schools. The other indications that things are not gong well is that the number of Nashville schools classified by the State as failing schools is growing.
I hear from some council members and others who are engaged in civic affairs that Dr. Joseph is not a good leader, that he is manipulative, waste money, does not manage in a collaborative manner, and is not respectful of teachers and many say he needs to be fired.
As the author of A Disgruntled Republican I often post items which I think may be of interest to the conservative, Republican, libertarian or the greater community. Posting of a press release or an announcement of an event does not necessarily indicate an endorsement. Rod
Nashville. Through January 1st there will a large number of Kwanzaa events. The city even participates by lighting the Korean Veterans Bridge in Kwanzaa colors. To the uninformed, especially impressionable young people, they may think that Kwanzaa is a traditional African holiday and that it promotes something of value. It is not and it does not.
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