What happened at the Oct. 17th Council meeting? Not much. Soccer stadium funding bill deferred.

At under an hour long this is a short meeting. Nothing very interesting happens and their is not much need to watch it. The most significant item on the agenda was RESOLUTION RS2017-910 which  would approve the issuance of $225 million in revenue bonds and general obligation bonds by the Sports Authority all for the purposes of financing a Major League Soccer stadium proposed for the Nashville Fairgrounds. This was deferred a meeting.

To access the agenda, the agenda staff analysis and my commentary on the agenda follow this link. No one "takes a knee" during the pledge. Below is other items of interest.

RESOLUTION RS2017-900  and RESOLUTION RS2017-909  would have approved a housing incentive grant agreement between the Metro and Miken Development for the conversion of two units of workforce housing  located at 1211 51st Avenue North. These were withdrawn at the request of the administration. Why, I don't know. The developer would have converted two units to workforce housing and received a grant of $18,204 per year for 15 years. That seems like an expensive way to build  housing for people with an income that is between 60% and 120% of the median income. 

“Workforce housing” is defined as housing that costs the consumer no more than  30% of his gross income for households earning more than 60% but  not more than 120% of the median household income in Davidson County. For a family to two, the median income is $52,026. So a couple with income of 120% of that, or an income of $62,300, could pay rent of $1560 a month and still live in a unit that was subsidized.

RESOLUTION RS2017-911 which provides $1 million in funding to favored non-profits passes on the consent agenda.  Twenty-seven non-profits get funding including  $25,700 to Southern Word to teach skills in spoken word poetry to prevent violence. For a full list of agencies getting funding see the staff analysis.

BILL BL2017-802  on Second Reading is deferred indefinitely. This is a bill concerning right of way closures and work performed in the right of way. There have been several bills on the topic of right of ways in recent months.  This would impose increased penalties for closing a right of way without a permit and provide an easier means for the public to report right of way problems and do some other minor things. I suspect this will come up again.

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