Mayor Dean is backing off on locating the police headquarters on Jefferson St.

In case you missed it, Mayor Dean is backing off on locating the police headquarters on Jefferson St. He now says he will hold community meetings before deciding where to locate the police headquarters. He is still asking for the $23 million for the project to be kept in the capital improvements budget however.

No such willingness to meet and discuss relocating the jail has been offered the citizens of Antioch. What looks like what has happened is a strategic decision has been made to placate the opponents of the police headquarters being relocated, leaving the opponents of the jail a smaller minority.

Also, what I think is going on, opponents of the police headquarters could play the victim race card and they did.  It is hard for a good liberal like Dean to hold 'em, when someone plays the race card. Quite frankly, I do not understand the community objection to the police headquarters locating on Jefferson Street and I do understand the objection of the Antioch community's objection to the jail. The police headquarters will be an office building where administrative work is done, mostly manned by civilians and will have little impact.  Unlike the jail, it will not draw undesirable people, pawn shops and bails bondsmen.

In my view, the police headquarters relocation, the jail relocation and the flood wall should be taken out of the budget and be given more consideration. Maybe the best location of the jail and the police headquarters in where they are and maybe the flood wall is a waste of money. I think those decisions should be deferred until the next mayor takes office.

If you are a subscriber to the the Tennessean, you can read of the mayor's new position of the locating of the police headquarters to Jefferson, at this link: Dean to reconsider Jefferson Street police HQ move.

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