The Disgruntled Republican in Nashville: Report on the Council meeting of 8/15/17: Shulman rhymes, rules not suspended to condemn white supremacy, more time to drink beer passes.

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Report on the Council meeting of 8/15/17: Shulman rhymes, rules not suspended to condemn white supremacy, more time to drink beer passes.

At only 56 minutes long, this is a short meeting and there is not much of anything importance happens. To access the meeting agenda, staff analysis and my commentary on the agenda, follow this link. Here is the meeting summary and the highlights:

Sheri Weiner is elected pro tem of the Council in an uncontested election. It is the job of this person to conduct the Council meeting is the absence of the vice mayor.

Councilman Jim Shulman whose term as Chairman of the Rules and Confirmation Committee is ending gives a farewell and the committee report in verse. It's cute. See timestamp 4:30.

An attempt to suspend the rules to introduce a late resolution to condemn white supremacy fails. The sponsor is Councilman Bob Mendez. The rules are to be suspended only in an emergency. The rules cannot be suspended if two council members object and Councilman Doug Pardue and Councilman Tanaka Vercher object. I support the objection to suspending the rules. This is not an emergency. White supremacy will be around in two weeks. To see The Tennessean's report on the issue see Nashville council passes on taking up resolution to condemn white supremacy.

BILL NO. BL2017-829 which would require the Department of Public Works to replace, at no cost to the homeowner, government-supplied waste containers that are stolen, lost, or damaged beyond repair is deferred indefinitely, but the sponsor says she is still working on the issue.

BILL BL2017-834 on Second Reading which would amend the time restriction of when beer could be sold or served for on-premises consumption passes. Under this bill a small number of restaurants could sell beer anytime except from 3AM to 4AM. For an explanation of this see the video at timestamp 23:54.

BILL BL2017-826 on Third Reading, which is a disapproved zoning bill in Scott Davis' district, passes without discussion by a vote of 28 to 2 with 5 abstentions and 4 not voting. This bill had to have 27 positive votes to pass. I have no opinion on the merits of the rezoning and the only reason I am mentioning this is because it is a disapproved bill and sometimes is hard to get a disproved bill passed.