Two a day is OK with Murray

CM Pam Murray (District 5-East Nashville) filed her election financial reports late according to a blog opposing her effort to stay in office. I'm not surprised.

Thankfully, the blogger thought to cross check the donors with the police reports. This is the kind of reporting that our regular media outlets should have done. Wonder why subscriptions are down?

Further into the blog post is more evidence that Murray is happy to take money from landowners that are a detriment to the health and safety of the people she's supposed to represent. Her three biggest donors had over 4,000 calls for police service since 2003 when Murray became a councilman. That's about 2 a day from just three businesses on desperate Dickerson Road alone. That's a huge drain on police and city resources. She's not cleaning up and improving the neighborhood she's ignoring obvious safety issues.

How does she justify not initiating an effort to shut those businesses down completely as nuisances for the good of the neighborhood and taxpayers generally? How does she justify taking campaign contributions from them?

Tomorrow is election day in District 5. Nashville needs a better quality of representation for that district. District 5 needs a better quality of representation. Hopefully, they'll get it very soon.

UPDATE: Here's the link to Murray's Financial Disclosure Statement just filed.

Garcia needs to testify

MNPS BOE Chairman David Fox (District 8-Hillsboro-West End) is exactly correct. The memos of former MNPS Superintendent Pedro Garcia are not the inviolate word of God. And considering how much weight appears to be given them I'm convinced that Garcia, himself, needs to be subpoenaed and state under oath what he alleges in the memos and be subject to cross examination.

He could have left quietly but no, he had to leave this little present. I say let's get him on the first plane back to Nashville. We're footing the bill and having to live with the consequences. I don't care of it's inconvenient for Garcia. Maybe he should have more thoroughly considered the consequences of his memos. Shades of junior high note passing! He should be man enough to come and stand by and defend his words.

The Nashville Scene seems very correct with their cover article in 2007: Best Foes Forever.

Who is William Rock?

For a man who has spent a life time, we're told, in education and is being called as an expert witness in the MNPS rezoning trial he's got a remarkably light public presence. Good thing he was friends with the plaintiff's attorney...we might never have heard of him otherwise.

William Rock is a distinguished service professor emeritus of the Department of Educational Administration at SUNY Brockport and served on the faculty here from 1968 through 1995. In 2001, he established the Annette Lamphier Rock Nursing Scholarship in honor of his wife, Annette, a lifelong nurse. This award will help support and nurture the education of nursing students at the College for years to come. He and Annette reside in Brockport. (SUNY-Brockport)

Give it a try...Google, Google Scholar, Bing, Ask, Yahoo, Cuil, Dogpile, LinkedIn--they would have nearly nothing at all on this guy if it weren't for current news coverage. How do you get to be a "nationally recognized school rezoning expert" and not have a paper trail that's on-line somewhere?

Kudos to HCA

From the folks at Post Business comes word that an employee union, Service Employees International Union, wants to set medical protocols that WE might have to suffer the consequences of.

Union officials say the policy [employees not inoculated against the flu must wear masks] should have been subject to negations (sic-I assume negotiations) since it affects employment terms, but HCA has declined to bargain. HCA officials said the policy is part of their comprehensive infection-control program to protect workers and patients, and they plan to continue moving forward with it.

The medical experts thinks protecting their patients from possible infection is a good idea. Who on Earth is the SEIU to make medical decisions that could endanger the rest of us? What's next? No more Hep B shots? TB test? Hair nets or rubber gloves? Just wait until the SEIU starts throwing their weight around via Obamacare. Lord have mercy on us all.

Is this the change voted for?

Tweets all over the courtroom

The Tennessean's education reporter Jaime Sarrio is also tweeting the rezoning hearings. For those of you who tweet (or set up an RSS feed from these tweets) you can follow the rezoning hearing at both

http://twitter.com/tncourtroom
and
http://twitter.com/NashvilleJeff

Should be very interesting to compare these two streams.

Any others?

Tweeting rezoning hearing

The Metro Nashville Public Schools rezoning hearing this morning is being tweeted by Nashville Jefferson.

Check his twitter page: http://twitter.com/NashvilleJeff

1. Plaintiff witness Mrs. Spurlock testifying about allegedly falsified school choice form choosing John Early for her daughter
2. Defense: No discriminatory intent; choice abrogates any discriminatory impact.
3. Plaintiffs: Rezoning goals stated by the Board are "subterfuge, pretext, a facade"
4. Filling up now -- and it looks like Mark North will be repping the School Board today

Wishful thinking?

What does CNN know that we mere mortals don't? Or is it just wishful thinking on their part?

CNN has already scrubbed the mistake but Google has it cached.

Some heritage more valuable than others

Spot on editorial about the fairgrounds in the City Paper this morning. Larry Woody nailed it.

'There is a theory we have no trouble embracing that some of Nashville’s “progressive” movers and shakers are eager to shed the city’s perceived Hee-Haw image — namely, country music, stock car racing and country-bumpkin fairs and flea markets.

“First they moved the Grand Ole Opry out of town, and now they’re running stock car racing out,” Denson said. “They’re doing away with the history and tradition that made our city so unique and special. It’s sad to see.”'

Again, Nashville focuses on proving to the world we're not hicks. It's a serious mistake to turn our back on our heritage. And whatever happened to "dance with the one that brung ya?" The fact is ordinary people live here, pay taxes, attend humble events at the fairgrounds and yet get the back of the hand from their own government--well it's palm side up come tax time though.

'Dean said he realized the decision to close shop was difficult, but “given the inability of either [track or fair] to support itself financially, it is simply time for us, as a city, to move on.”'

So is this the bar for deciding what comes and goes in this city? Or does that bar get raised and lowered depending upon how favored by our betters the project is?

“I once heard somebody say that the city doesn’t need a ‘playground for race drivers.’ Well, the city sure has a lot of ‘playgrounds for golfers.’ What the difference?”

Or tourists at a convention center.

Do they think that forcing the closing of the fairgrounds will feed the Nashville and Music Center Convention Centers business? I doubt it. The fact is those venues are too expensive, too inconvenient and not suitable for many of the events now held at the fairgrounds. I can think of one annual convention that will probably move out of the city if this happens. I don't think it'll be the only one.

"Metro officials seem anxious to close the fairgrounds, yet what they intend to do with the property remains unclear. Proposals have ranged from building low-income housing to creating another business park."

Because that whole Metro Center project worked out so well? I believe someone already has big plans for the fairgrounds and Mayor Dean knows exactly who it is. We the people just aren't privy to it yet.

Go Gotto

CM Jim Gotto (District 12 Hermitage) wants us all to see the Music City Center numbers (so do a lot of other people).

"If, in fact, these contracts are giving away the space or heavily discounting it, then that doesn't bode well for being able to pay the operating expenses of the convention center," said Gotto.

The Convention and Visitors Bureau said the details of what each group is paying for exhibit space and hotel rooms needs to be a trade secret for competitive reasons. WSMV

"Competitive reasons"--right.

From the screen shot I can only assume that there are discounts and incentive numbers that have been whited out. How on Earth can councilmen or taxpayers evaluate the wisdom of this huge financial commitment without those numbers? How can I believe Terry Clements, lobbyist for the Convention & Visitors Bureau, who said just last Thursday there were no freebies when I can't see the actual numbers? They'll let the Council peek at the numbers but they can't walk away with copies? No. Without hard copies available to keep convention proponents accountable over time NO Metro councilman should vote for this boondoggle. You want taxpayers to cosign for $1 Billion dollars but we can't see all the details of the deal? I don't think so.

And further, we're not supposed to be concerned about the convention center numbers and that half of the conventions aren't actually going to fully utilize this 'needed' larger facility because it's the hotel rooms that bring in the money?

You want to keep the particulars of the deal private? Use your own money.