(update) What's on the Council Agenda for June 6, 2017: Budget hearings, setting a new tax rate, honoring sexual deviants, giving power to neighborhoods, ...

The Metro Council will meet Tuesday, June 6, 2017 at 6:30 PM in the Council chamber at the Metro Courthouse.  To watch the Council meeting, you can go to the courthouse and watch the meeting in person, or you can watch the broadcast live at Metro Nashville Network's Government TV on Nashville's Comcast Channel 3 and AT&T's U-verse 99 and it is streamed live at the Metro Nashville Network's livestream site. You can catch the meeting the next day (or the day after the next) on the Metro YouTube channel.   If can stand the suspense and just wait, I will post the video here the day after or the day after that and provide commentary.

If you are going to watch the Council meeting, you need a copy of the Council agenda and the Council staff analysis or you really will not know what is under discussion.  You can get these documents at the highlighted links.

There are five appointment to Boards and Commissions on the agenda and you can expect all to be approved unanimously. One of the appointments is to the Human Relations Commission.  If I were serving in the Council I would vote against this appointee, not because I have anything against this person, but I would as a matter of principle vote against all appointees to this commission because I do not believe we should have such a commission.  It serve to intimidate people into adopting politically correct policies and they indoctrinate in liberal ideology, including the normalization of homosexuality among youth.  Unfortunately, there is no one in the Council who will speak out against this agency.

Public Hearing on the Budget

There are two bills on public hearing, one is the Operating Budget and the other is the Capital
Improvements Budget. You can expect speaker after speaker to advocate for more money for everything from affordable housing, library funding, mass transit, sidewalks and especially schools.   Those who advocate for less spending or fiscal responsibility only show up about every four years, when a mayor proposes a tax increase.  I will be surprised if there is anyone speaking who advocates for fiscal responsibility, cutting wasteful spending and cutting programs.

In cutting programs a good place to start would be by cutting the Human Relations Commission. it doesn't take a lot of money but the city should not be involved in political indoctrination and enforcing politically correct conformity. Another area I think should be cut is General Hospital. It is a money pit and there is no charter requirement or law that requires we maintain a charity hospital and since low-income people can go the hospital of their choice, General cannot fill its beds.

I am concerned about the obligation of the city for retiree pensions, retiree health insurance and debt service. As long as the city is humming along with growth as we are now, these cost are manageable but should we have slowing of growth, these are areas that are almost impossible to cut.  Since these are almost fixed cost, it means deep cuts would have to be made to other areas of government should we have an economic downturn. I think we should change from a defined benefit retirements system to the system of the federal government and most of the private sector which is defined contribution. We should limit the growth of debt service.
 

The Capital Improvements Budget is a planning documents and really does not appropriate any money, but prioritizes what capital improvements will be funded and says where the money to fund it will come from.

The mayor's proposed budget is for $2,209,690,100 which is a 5.86% increase over Fiscal Year 2017's budget.  The budget does not call for a tax increase. For a good understanding of the Metro budget and to see the details see, A Citizen's Guide to the Metro Budget. For a concise summary of the budget see the Council Staff analysis.



There are 35 resolutions on the consent agenda. 
 Resolutions on "consent" are passed by a single vote of the council instead of being voted on individually. All resolution are initially on "consent," however, if a resolution has any negative votes in committee it is taken off of consent.  Also any council member may ask to have an item taken off of consent or to have his abstention or dissenting vote recorded.  Most of the resolutions are routine things like accepting grants, and individually allowing signs to overhang the sidewalk.

There are several resolutions that are related to the budget but they are all to be deferred to track with the budget. One would adopt new fee schedule for animal control.  Others resolutions would adopt different parts of the pay plan, which  is a pay raise for metro employees. Here are the other resolutions of interest.

RESOLUTION NO. RS2017-682  adopts the certified tax rate. Following a general reappraisal, the local governing body must adopt a tax rate that bring in no more money than would have been brought in prior to the reappraisal. Currently the combined General Services District (GSD), which in most places would be the "county," and the Urban Services District (USD or "city") is $4.516. The new combined lower rate is $3.115.  The tax rate is applied to each $100 of assessment.

RESOLUTION NO. RS2017-737 pays $250K to settle a medical malpractice case against Metro.  While the details of settlements may be interesting, the only issue should be is it better for the city to settle or litigate. In this case a person died due to the actions of staff at Bordeaux Long Term Care facility. My view has always been that I trust the Legal Department to make the right decision and if they recommend settling a case out of court, we should follow that recommendation. Punishing a metro employee or mandating retraining should not be a factor in whether we settle or litigate.

RESOLUTION NO. RS2017-738 is another payment to settle out of court. This is for $30.6K and is the result of property damage caused by Metro water failing to cut off water to a property when requested.

RESOLUTION NO. RS2017-739 is another payment to settle out of court.  This also involves malpractice on the part of Bordeaux staff and is in the amount of $180,000.

RESOLUTION NO. RS2017-740 is another payment to settle out of court. This case involves allegations the police used excessive force in an incident and the settlement is for $ll.5K.

RESOLUTION NO. RS2017-744 is a resolution recognizing Thursday, June 1 to Friday, June, 30, 2017 as “Nashville Pride Month," celebrating the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities and their "enormous contributions to the quality of life in Nashville and Davidson County." I do not think we should honor a segment of the society for engaging in unnatural sex practices.  Instead of being celebrated, I think ones sexual orientation, deviancy, or fetishes should be ignored.  

Bills on First Reading
There are 48 bills on first reading and I normally try not to form an opinion of bills on First Reading and most of the time I do not even read them until they get to second reading. There are some interesting bill on First Reading this time, however. One would ban party vehicles, which I assume would include pedal taverns but I don't know for sure.  One would prohibit renting any room for lodging for less than a ten hour period. For a city that honors some types of sexual deviancy, it seems a little puritanical to prohibit one from renting a hotel room by the hour. BILL NO. BL2017-739 is on First Reading which may or may not make Nashville a "sanctuary city."  While I think I would oppose some of these bills, if I were in the Council, I would honor Council tradition and not vote against any of them on First Reading. All bills on First Reading will be lumped together and passed by a single vote as is the norm.

Bills on Second Reading. Below are the ones of interest:

BILL NO. BL2017-645  would allow passengers in horse-drawn carriages to drink and ride as long as the beverage was in a plastic or Styrofoam cup. This sounds reasonable to me. The brand name "Styrofoam" was changed to "foam"when the bill was on Second Reading on April 4th. The bill was deferred to this meeting.

BILL NO. BL2017-687 establishes a process and procedure for naming public buildings, structures and spaces of the Metropolitan Government.  I like this.  I think usually you should have to be dead before you get something named after you. This was deferred from May 2nd.

BILL NO. BL2017-705  would establish an incentive program for neighborhood that are in full compliance with codes.  A neighborhood could be awarded $5000.  Under this plan, if a neighbor has an overgrown lot, codes could review the violation but not impose penalties and the neighborhood could exert pressure on the offender to come into compliance. I do not like this. I do not want to give more power to neighborhood leaders who may have been elected by a tiny fraction of the neighborhood.  Neighborhood organizations have no official status and no legal authority I don't want to give them power. This program could cost up to $875K per year and is not in the FY18 budget. It was deferred from the May 16 Council meeting to this meeting at the request of the sponsor.

BILL NO. BL2017-707  would allow Metro to purchase internet and telecom service at specific facilities without submitting those services to a competitive bidding process. I do not yet have an opinion on this bill but it sounds suspect. I hope the committees to which this bill is assigned carefully examines it.

BILL NO. BL2017-723 is a bill establishing the tax levy for 2018 for the Urban Services District. Since the mayor has not proposed a tax increase, this tax levy will be the same as the certified tax rate discussed above. This is amendable on Third Reading.

BILL NO. BL2017-724 establishes the low-income elderly tax relief program for 2018. This is a continuation of a program that has been in place for many year. The State provides a certain amount for tax relief for the low-income elderly and this program is Metro's expansion of the program to provide more tax relief than the State. The income limit to be eligible is $29,180 and applicants must be over the age of 65. This cost Metro $3.9 million. I support this program.

BILL NO. BL2017-725  establishes a Greenways Commission and a Conservation Assistance Grant Fund and appropriates $500K to the fund.  The purpose of this is to preserve properties having great natural, cultural, and environmental importance. From what I know about it, I support this. As we grow, it becomes important to preserve certain features of our community that make Nashville livable and enjoyable. The commission could not appropriate any funds without coming back to the Council.

BILL NO. BL2017-726 would require the Finance Department to maintain a written debt management policy for the metropolitan government. This is a good step in getting control of Metro's increasing indebtedness.

BILL NO. BL2017-728 would place restrictions on who can "boot" or unboot a vehicle. It would require criminal background check of those who apply for this job.  I have reservations about this. It is hard enough for ex-cons to get a job without imposing additional restrictions on what jobs they may do. 

Bills on Third Reading. There are 16 bills on Third Reading. Here is one of interest:

BILL NO. BL2016-498   requires approval by the Metropolitan Council for obstructions or excavations which close or occupy any portion of the public right of way for a period in excess of one (1) year. I support this. We should accommodate construction but a sidewalk or street should not be closed to public use for over a year without a plan to accommodate the public.

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Metro Nashville Mayor Megan Barry appoints first tranny to public position.

Metro Nashville mayor Megan Barry made history last week by appointed the first transgender

"women" to an official position in Metro Government. Barry appointed Marisa Richmond to the 17-member board of the Metro Human Relations Commission. That commission advocates on behalf of liberal causes, engages in political indoctrination  and bullies dissidents who are not on the bandwagon of politically correctness.

One of the things they do is normalize homosexuality among young people by sponsoring the youth pavilion at the Nashville Gay Pride Festival. The Metro Council confirmed Marisa Richmond unanimously.

Richmond is a history professor at Middle Tennessee State University and is a former president of the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition. She was also the first Black transgender person to be seated as a delegate for the Democratic National Convention in 2008 being the first openly transgender person to win an election in Tennessee.  She is also a former Davidson County Democratic Committeewoman. In June 2011, Richmond was invited to attend the White House LGBT Pride reception, where she met with President Obama and Vice-President Biden.

For more on this story and to see an interview with Richmond, follow this link. For more on Marisa Richmond see this.

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What happened at the Council meeting of 1-19-16: new regs for vacation rentals and pedal tabs, Waverly-Belmont Conservation Overlay approved.

Above is the Council meeting video from this past Tuesday January 19th.  I normally try to post it the next day following the meeting but other things took priority this week so I am just now getting to it.  Normally the announcement section of the meeting and the actual meeting are two separate videos but this time they are combined in this one. The actual meeting starts at timestamp 22:12.

For a link to the Council agenda, staff analysis and my commentary on the agenda, follow this link.

There are no surprises in this meeting and no drama. There is not much point in actually watching  the meeting.  Here are the highlights. 

• The mayoral appointment of Bill Freedman to the Airport Authority is confirmed. 
• The resolution asking the Fair Board to reinstate gun shows at the Fairgrounds is deferred until the second meeting in March.  
• RESOLUTION NO. RS2016-86  which is another one of these PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) deals is deferred one meeting.
• BILL NO. BL2015-81 is  a bill which was disapproved by the Planning Commission and rezones 9.2 acres off on Clarksville pike which would allow the construction of between 72 to 120 apartment units of what is considered "workforce housing" which is another term for affordable housing. I thought this would be an important bill because it would test the strength of "councilmanic courtesy" in the new council.  However, wisely I think, the sponsor moved to amend the bill from the proposed multifamily rezoning to a SP rezoing and refer it back to the Planning Committee of the Council. He did not refer it back to the planning commission, which I think he should have done. SP zoning approves a specific plan for the site so people know where exits and entrances will be and setbacks and other things. "Councilmanic courtesy" is the practice of voting the way a fellow council member wants you to vote on his rezoning bills regardless of the recommendation of the Planning Commission.  The reasoning for this is that their is an assumption that the district council member knows what his constituents want and what is best for his district.  Some members follows a councilmanic courtesy policy most or all of the time and others follow the recommendation of the planning commission most or all of the time. A bill disapproved by the Planning Commission takes 27 votes to pass the council. The fact that the sponsor has substituted the bill to a SP zoning instead of the original proposed rezoning will not change the recommendation of the Planing Commission since the Planing Commission is not being asked to reconsider the bill. This will still be an interesting bill to watch. 
• BILL NO. BL2016-99 which would end term limits for member of the Human Relations Commission was deferred one meeting.  I am pleased it was deferred; it to be defeated!  The Human Relations Commission needs to be abolished; it does not need to be strengthened. It serves no purpose except to promote and enforce politically correct attitudes.
• The bill giving the Metro Transportation Licensing Commission authority to regulate hours of pedal taverns and other pedicabs and pedal carriages passes.
• The council gave unanimous approval for a new conservation overlay for the Waverly-Belmont neighborhood.
• The bill amending the rules governing short-term vacation rentals is amended, discussed and approved. Among other things it does is prohibit the owner of the unit from advertising that the unit can sleep more people than for which the unit is approved.

Here is The Tennessean report on this meeting: Metro Council takes step toward restricting pedal tavern hours

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Update. What's on the Council Agenda for 1-19-16: Gun Shows at the Fairgrounds, a stronger Human Relations Commission, and a disapproved zoning change.

The Council agenda for 1-19-2016 is available at this link. The staff analysis is not yet available so I am providing my analysis without benefit of the staff analysis, so you may want to check back for an update or seek out the staff analysis for yourself at this link. The staff analysis is now available but I have not read it.

Appointments to Boards and Commissions. There are ten mayoral appointments on the agenda for Council confirmation. As is usual, I expect all to be confirmed without debate. The most notable of these appointments is that of former mayoral candidate, Democrat Party fund raiser, and local business tycoon Bill Freeman to the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority. I think this is a good appointment. The Metropolitan Airport Authority is undergoing its first major management restructuring in 28 years and it recently received a scathing evaluation from a consultant hired to evaluate the organization. The  $119 million-per-year organization that oversees Nashville International Airport was criticized for being "paternalistic, dictatorial and centralized.” To read the Tennessean's report on the issues surrounding the Airport Authority follow this link. Someone of the high profile and business credentials of Bill Freeman on the board of the Airport Authority can restore confidence that needed changes will take place at the Airport.

Resolutions: There are 15 resolutions on the agenda. At this time they are all on "consent," meaning they are deemed non-controversial and will be all lumped together and pass by a single vote instead of being considered separately. A resolution will be moved off of consent and considered separately unless it receives a unanimous positive vote from the committee to which it was assigned. Any member from the floor may ask for an item to be taken off of consent or any member may request his dissenting vote or abstention be recorded. Below are the resolutions of interest:

RESOLUTION NO. RS2015-76   is "A resolution requesting the Metropolitan Board of Fair Commissioners to reinstate and continue to allow gun shows on Fairgrounds property and to otherwise comply with Section 11.602 of the Metropolitan Charter."

On Tuesday December 1, 2015 the Fair Board voted to discontinue gun shows at the fair grounds after the pending gun show of the December 4th and 5th weekend. The Fair Board was supposedly going to develop new guidelines to improve safety at the Fairgrounds and then would reconsider allowing gun shows if exhibitors would agree to the new rules.  No one really believed the Fair Board would ever allow gun shows to return to the fairgrounds. Metro legal weighted in and legal told the Fair board to allow the gun shows scheduled for January. This resolution was on the Council agenda for December 15th, but since Metro legal had ruled the gun shows scheduled for January could still take place this was deferred, I would assume to see it this could be resolved without Council action. It has not been resolved so this is back on the agenda.

With a much more "progressive" council than ever n the past, it will be worth watching how this turns out. I suspect the major motivation for this is simply a dislike for gun culture and support for anything to curtail the proliferation of gun ownership. I also suspect however that there is certain elite liberal snobbishness at play which looks down its nose at gun shows. Until country music became the most listened to format and a major source of income for Nashville, the elites were embarrassed by country music also. I tend to think the opposition to gun shows may be motivated more by a sociopolitical class prejudice rather than a gun control motivation.  I believe there is a certain desire for Nashville to appear progressive and enlightened and progressives want the "redneck" element to be deprived of outlets to express themselves. They would prefer that part of Nashville's identity not be tied to stock car racing, flea markets, and gun shows. Also, the Gun and Knife shows bring in a quarter of million dollars a year to the struggling fair grounds. Part of the effort to end the gun shows may be an effort to deprive the fair grounds of revenue in hopes that it will eventually be operating so deep in the red that there will be greater reason to close the fairgrounds and sell off the property.They would much prefer that property be a trendy mixed-use development or a corporate campus.

Bill Goodman's Gun and Knife show has been operating at the Fairgrounds for 35 years and there is no evidence that illegal gun sales have ever occurred there or even that a gun or knife purchased there has ever been used in a criminal act. There are some felons who have stated that the gun shows at the Fair grounds is where they obtained their gun, but one may surmise they did not want to admit to an additional crime of stealing a firearm so those admission from felons should be taken with a grain of salt.

Only licensed dealers are permitted to sell firearms at the fairground gun show. Under current law if you as an individual sell a gun to another individual, you do not have to be a licensed firearm dealer and you do not have to perform a background check on the person to whom you are selling. That is what is known as the "gun show loophole."  However, at the Nashville Gun and Knife Show only licensed dealers were allowed to exhibit and sell guns.

 RESOLUTION NO. RS2016-86  is another one of these PILOT deals (payment in lieu of taxes). I don't know if this is a good deal or not, but I hope it is carefully scrutinized.

Bills on First Reading. There are five of them and they will be passed by a single vote of the council. Bills on First Reading or normally not debated or evaluated.

Second Reading: There are seven bills on second reading. These are the ones of interest:

BILL NO. BL2015-81 is a bill which is disapproved by the Planning Commission and rezones 9.2 acres off on Clarksville pike which would allow the construction of between 72 to 120 apartment units of what is considered "workforce housing" which is another term for affordable housing. Here is a link to a Tennessean story about the The planning Commission's unanimous vote to disapprove the bill. At the last council meeting a lot of people spoke both for and against the bill. To win council approval, since it was disapproved by the Planning Commission, will require 27 votes. This will be the first test of the new council to see if "councilmanic courtesy" is really dead.

BILL NO. BL2016-99 would end term limits for member of the Human Relations Commission.  This needs to be defeated! If anything the Human Relations Commission needs to be abolished; it does not need to be strengthened. It serves no purpose except to promote and enforce politically correct attitudes. Anything they do that really needs doing could be done by other agencies. There is a Fair Housing Office to take fair housing complaints and the Attorney Generals office can take complaints of illegal discrimination.  One of the most objectionable things this agency does is sponsor the twink booth at the Gay Pride festival. They call it the "youth pavilion." 

Third Reading: There are 25 bills on Third Reading and most of them are zoning bills. These are the ones of interest.

BILL NO. BL2015-84  establishes the Waverly Belmont Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District.  This would restrict the tearing down of existing housing and building a very large home or two large homes on the lot.  On some streets in this part of town, there are more big new houses than original smaller houses.  I understand the desire to preserve the character of the neighborhood but a consequence of not allowing the character of a neighborhood to change and more expensive homes to be build is that our tax base does not keep pace with the demand for more spending.  Also by restricting this type of tear-down and replacement with larger homes in one area puts more pressure for this to occur on those areas adjacent to the area with the overlay.  It shifts the problem and intensifies it for neighboring neighborhoods. For more information see the Tennessean reporting on the issue.

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You may have heard of Tom Negir before. As hotel director he scuttled ACT conference.

Tom Negri, the former managing director of the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel, has been named interim director of the Metro Human Relations Commission. You may have heard of Tom Negir before.  

Back in 2009 when Mr. Negri was the manger of Loews Vanderbilt Hotel, he rented meeting space to Act For America for a conference.  The venue had been rented months in advance, then on the day before the conference, Mr. Negri cancelled the organizations contract because they were going to have as their  keynote speaker Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders. 

Negri claimed he was cancelling the contract out of concern for the "health, safety and well-being" of the hotel's guests and employees. This is the way leftist think about dialogue, diversity, and freedom of speech. They are only in favor of political participation and freedom of speech and diversity from those with whom they agree. I blogged about this incident at the time. To read that blog post and learn more about the incident, follow this link.  

Metro's Human Relation Commission has long been a hot bed of taxpayer funded left wing activism. Back during the eighties we had a Director, Fred Cloud, who took part in demonstrations opposing America's support of the anti-communist Contra freedom fighters. He used his office to organize the anti-Contra demonstration as well as other liberal and left wing causes. At that time, during a tight budget year, we were successful in defunding the MHRC. I was in the Council at that time and was part of that effort. For about five years we did not have the MHRC, until it was revised by Mayor Phil Bredesen. 
 
In 2008, the MHRC actively opposed the proposed English First charter amendment. While I did not support that effort either, I do not think it appropriate that an agency of government get involved fighting a proposed charter amendment. Private organizations can promote the cause or oppose it but our tax dollars should not be used to influence pubic opinion on a referendum. 

One of the things the MHRC does every year is sponsor a youth pavilion at Nashville Gay Pride Festival. They have long been involved in pro-gay activism. The outgoing Executive Director Caroline Blackwell is quoted in the gay publication Out and About saying, the Commission believes "the quest for equal rights for LGBTQ people is a fundamental human rights issue, and one that warrants the full attention of the Commission, Nashville and the nation."  In recent years a growing number of "GLBT" activist have been appointed to serve on the Commission.  

There are a few things the Commission does that are not objectionable but these are things that could be done by other agencies or private organizations. The MHRC serves no purpose except to promote political correctness and a left wing agenda with your tax dollars. To see some of what they do, follow the MHRC on Facebook or visit their website. Given the history of the MHRC, Mr. Negir will be right at home. 

The MHRC should be abolished. 

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How your tax dollars encourgage kids to be gay

Today was the 25th annual Gay, Lesbian Bisexual, and Transgender festival in Nashville and thousands attended.  The Metro Human Relations Commission sponsored the Youth Pavilion at the event.

I am offended.  I do not think our tax dollars should be used to normalize a gay lifestyle among young people.  I don't really care if the GLBT community want to have a big street party but oppose Metro's promotion of the gay lifestyle, especially among the youth of our community. I am sure Metro would not sponsor an abstinence themed event if some group like Family Action Council of Tennessee was sponsoring a downtown celebration, but somehow it is deemed appropriate to host the Youth Pavilion at an event celebrating deviancy.

At Metro Human Relations Commission Youth Pavilion, young people could, "'Come take pictures and answer the question 'I have PRIDE because_________' or  'What Queer means to me in 6 words or less.'”

To learn more about the event go to https://www.facebook.com/NashvillePride. To see the Metro Human Relations promotion of the event go to http://nashvillepride.org/festival/youth-area. To see how Metro Human Relations Commissions advocates for gay marriage and everything gay, visit this site, https://www.facebook.com/NashMHRC. To view the classroom indotrination promoted by the HRC, follow this link.
 

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