Steve Gill goes to jail for unpaid back child support

He was arrested for not paying $170,000 in back child support.

link, link, link

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Metro council voted down a bill that would ban scooters

by Rod Williams - Metro council voted down a bill that would ban scooters in Nashville at last

night's Council meeting. The bill, sponsored by Steve Glover, failed, with only seven council members voting in favor of the ban. While I am a supporter of Steve Glover's election campaign, I disagree with him on this issue and am pleased this bill was defeated.

In July, council approved a bill that kept scooters on Nashville streets, but it added new regulations. The bill implemented "slow zones" in areas of downtown Nashville and prohibited scooters from operating past 10:00 p.m during the week and 11:00 p.m. during the weekends. It also limited the number of scooters.

In my view scooters should not be banned. That is not to say that I do not think we have scooter problem as it exist now. Recently, while walking from my home near Wedgewood and Eighth Ave toward downtown, I had two scooters zoom by me on the sidewalk passing on my left. I say "zoomed," but they probably were going no faster than a jogger who passes a person walking, but it seemed fast. If I would have inadvertently stepped to my left, I could have been run over by the scooter or the scooter to avoid hitting me could have careened off the sidewalk into the path of a car. After that harrowing incident, later other scooters passed me coming up to me from behind and at the same time others scooters were coming down the sidewalk heading toward me. These two groups of scooters had to pass on the sidewalk and I had to get out of the way. That is dangerous.

I have also observed scooters switching from sidewalks to street and cut corners at intersection and driving between cars and doing other dangerous things. I am not for an outright ban on scooters however, because I thing we need to welcome innovation and market forces to solve our transportation problems. We need a multimodal approach to transportation. We need options. They are not here yet, but on the way are electric bicycles which will add another transportation option that will probably be as popular, maybe more popular, than the scooters. If we have banned scooters, the electric bicycle will probably be reluctant to come to Nashville.

While a lot of young, often probably impaired, tourist zip around town on scooters enhancing their Nashville tourist experience and making life more stressful for pedestrians and drivers, scooters are also used by a lot of locals. Recently, I talked to two locals who ride scooters. One was a waiter at Southern Oyster and Steak on 3rd Ave. South. Parking is outrageously expensive downtown, especially for a guy on a waiters salary. This guy parks his car at the Nissan stadium across the river and scoots to work and back to his car every day. The other person was an attorney who works at the Beacon Center and uses a scooter to get to and from a parking garage several blocks away.

I do think we need more regulations. We should tolerate them being parked on the sidewalk but require they be parked unobtrusively. Certain busy blocks should not allow scooters to park on the sidewalks at all, but require the scooter companies to lease parking spaces for conversion to scooter corrals. I tend to think scooters should be banned from being ridden on the sidewalks. If allowed at all on the sidewalk however, they should be allowed to be driven at only a rate of speed equal to that of someone walking at a fast pace and be required to sound a warning when approaching a pedestrian from the rear. I approve of the new scooter "slow zones." Rules should be posted around town and on the app when one rents the scooter. Enforcement could be paid for with a tax or fee charged to the scooter owners.

Unfortunately, in my view, back in July when the Council passed the bill that imposed new scooter regulations, the bill also mandated a fifty percent reduction in the number of scooters allowed on the streets. I oppose that. Artificially capping the number makes those who have them on our streets, have a more valuable product and the ability to charge more. We should not enrich those lucky enough to win the scooter lottery. There will be a number at which it will not be profitable to add more scooters. We should let the market determine that number. When electric bicycles come to Nashville, they will cut into the scooter market. Most things work themselves out, if government will stay out of the way. Regulation for safety is a different kind of regulation than the kind of economic regulations that sets limits or prices. We should not be in the business of protecting people from competition.

I also do not want to require riders to wear helmets. So far we have not done so, but some advocate that.  I know helmets may save lives but people should be free to evaluate the risk for themselves after being made aware of the risk. While scooter owners could make helmets available at certain locations such as hotels, requiring every scooter user to wear a helmet is simply impractical. Also, I don't like wearing a helmet myself. I don't want to stop other people from having fun.

Don't ban the scooters, impose reasonable regulations, learn to share the road, don't resent other people having fun, and let innovation and the market solve our transportation problems.

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Study finds Tennessee ranks No. 2 friendliest state in the country

NASHVILLE (WSMV) - When it comes to friendly states, Tennessee ranks near the top of the list at number 2 according to a new study by Big 7 Travel.

Tennessee residents were noted as having "classic southern charm" with "an eagerness to show off their city to out-of-towners." The state was also noted for its "lively music scene."

Kentucky was ... number 19.  The most friendliest state? Minnesota. The least friendliest state? New York. ...California ranking 40th and Florida ranking 42nd. (link)

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Governor Lee Signs Pro-Life Legislation

Human Life Protection Act will ban abortion

 when Roe v. Wade is overtuned in whole or in part

From Tennessee Right to Life: Tennessee Right to Life thanks Governor Bill Lee for signing into law the Human Life Protection Act (SB 1257/HB 1029). The law will take effect upon the reversal of Roe v Wade, in whole or in part, by the U.S. Supreme Court. It will enact the full restoration of Tennessee's protective pre-Roe laws. The act also restores the right of Tennesseans to decide these public policies on abortion for ourselves.

"It has always been the priority of Tennessee's pro-life movement to restore the fullest possible protection to the largest number of unborn children and women in our state," said Stacy Dunn, vice-president of Tennessee Right to Life. "While states like New York are moving to strip any limits to abortion--even at the moments before birth---Tennessee wants to protect unborn children and their mothers from the tragedy of abortion."

Prime sponsors of the measure were Senator Dolores Gresham (R-Somerville) and Representative Susan Lynn (R-Mount Juliet.) It was passed overwhelmingly by both the Senate, 26-5, and the House, 69-24.

"This pro-life bill was passed in large part due to the vigilant care with which sponsors Gresham and Lynn shepherded the measure. Tennessee Right to Life expresses our appreciation for their work and wisdom," said Trecia Dillingham, board member for the organization. "We look forward to continuing to work with the Legislature to restore full protection to the vulnerable unborn in our state," said Dillingham.

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Metro Coucil candidates at-large forum, Thursday, Aug. 22.

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Firefighters union backs John Cooper for mayor

The Tennessean - The Nashville firefighters union on Wednesday announced its support for Metro Councilman John Cooper for mayor.

It's the second major union endorsement for Cooper since he finished first in the general election and qualified for the runoff against incumbent Mayor David Briley.

The Nashville laborers union, which represents construction workers and Vanderbilt University workers, also endorsed Cooper. (link)

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Business backers bail on Briley

Nashville Post- “Lot of rats leaving the ship,” one David Briley loyalist quipped, a dual indictment of both the rats and the ship, proverbially sinking.

In the days since Metro Councilmember John Cooper finished atop the mayoral field on Aug. 1, sending him to a runoff against Briley, the incumbent and second-place finisher, some of Briley’s most prominent financial supporters have been switching sides.

Next week, developer Bill Hostettler, sign magnate and airport authority member Bobby Joslin, Ryman Hospitality Properties CEO Colin Reed and historian David Ewing are throwing a fundraiser for Cooper, according to an invitation obtained by the Post. Each had previously given more than $1,000 to Briley. (link)

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Sheriff Daron Hall asked to find $636,300 in "targeted savings." Hall says, "absolutely not."

Sheriff Daron Hall

by Rod Williams - When the Mayor asked Sheriff Daron Hall to find $636,300 in "targeted savings," and Hall was asked by the media if he could meet that request and he said, "absolutely not."

Earlier this month the Tennessee Comptroller sent the Mayor and Metro Council Members a letter expressing concern about Metro's finances. The two areas of concern were we had insufficient reserves and the budget did not balance.

The mayor had counted as revenue, the anticipated up front payment from a plan to privatize Metro's parking meter operations.  When that plan ran into wide-spread opposition, Briley pulled the plug on the plan. That left a $30 million hole in the budget. Briley did not raise the $30 million elsewhere, nor did he cut expenses by $30 million. The letter from the Comptroller not only raised concern, it said that Metro had until Sept. 20th  to fix the problems or Metro would not be permitted to sale Tax Anticipation Notes.  Cities routinely engage in tax anticipation borrowing, because some bills come due before the revenue come in.

To fix this problem, Briely has told departments to find "savings" in their budget and has given each department a target of savings to find. Not all departments of local government work for the mayor.  The County Clerk is an elected official; the Metro Clerk is a Department head.  The Sheriff is an elected official; the Chief of Police is a department head. All of their budgets however are part of the Metro Budget.

When the mayor tells a subordinate department head to find savings, they are likely to do so.  With time, some Department heads do become somewhat independent and powerful, nevertheless, they work for the mayor.  Elected officials do not work for the mayor.

Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall is obviously frustrated with Metro's financial state of affairs. "I've been here all my life, living in Nashville," he told a local reporter. "It's the biggest boom we've ever had, but we don't have any money."

"If the Mayor's Office wants to cut people's budgets they should do that in a public way so the Council could ask 'What does that mean to you?' Don't do it a week after the budget is approved, telling me what the planned savings are," said Hall.

If Metro does not balance its budget and the Comptroller does not allow Metro to sell Tax Anticipation notes, then Metro could run out of money to pay its bills and would be facing decisions such as defaulting on its bonds or not meeting payroll.  We are no where near that yet, but this has to be resolved are we could be.  Eventually, the Comptroller could step in and talk over Metro's finances and order cuts or even raise taxes. This is serious. 

Serious through it is, I do not fault Hall for not playing ball. There is a process for passing a budget. Briley blew it. Let him negotiate with the Comptroller and go back and pass a budget that respects process and transparency.  Unless Briley resolves this, Bill Boner will lose his title as Nashville's worst mayor.

For source material see this link.

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6 Nashville council members, 2 school board members endorse David Briley for mayor

The Tennessean - Metro Council members Freddie O'Connell, Colby Sledge, Nancy VanReece, Anthony Davis, Brett Withers and Bill Pridemore announced they are backing Briley along with school board members Christiane Buggs and Gini Pupo-Walker.

Rod's comment: Not impressed.

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The John Ingram - Amazon Metro Courthouse

Metro is required to have a balanced budget and we do not.  We must find $30 million more in
revenue or cut $30 million in expenses.  I have an idea for how to fill that hole in the budget: Sell naming right to the Metro Courthouse.  We have the Bridgestone Arena and the Nissan Stadium, why not sell naming rights to the Metro Courthouse?

Since Amazon has teamed up with John Ingram and created A Better Nashville PAC, which has made major contributions to candidates for Metro Council (link), and since both Ingram and Amazon and their associates have given donations to many candidates for Council independent of the PAC, they may be interested in putting their name on the Courthouse of the city they are buying.  I don't know if it should be "The Amazon-Ingram Courthouse" or "The Ingram-Amazon Courthouse."

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Mayor David Briley tells Metro departments to find "savings" in their already tight budgets to fill the $30M budget gap.

by Rod Williams - Mayor David Briley  has directed Metro Departments to find "savings" in their already tight budgets. Normally, I would be one to think that bloated government could be cut without harming public safety and that cuts could be made without much harm, but not this time. While the local media has not chosen to treat it as a crisis, we have one.

Our police department is understaffed by 180 officers.  If one has a non-emergency need to report a crime, it may be days before one can get a response. Firetrucks are running with less than the  optimum number of fire fighters and as the population of Nashville has grown, we have only built one new fire hall in twenty years. We have a terrible problem recruiting and retaining teachers and our schools are failing. Codes inspections take days. Our infrastructure is crumbling.

I do not have the stats, but if I headed a media outlet with staff, I would investigate and  find out what is the fire department response time compared to a best practices and previous periods. If I were a Metro Councilman, I would ask the question. I also would want to know what happens when a fireman calls in sick. Is the public at risk? I would want to know average police response time to non-emergency crime reports. I would want statistics on teacher recruitment and retention. I know things are bad, but I wish had had a measure of just how bad.

What prompted this most recent call for departments to "find savings," is the letter from the Comptroller of the Treasury putting Nashville on notice that our budget did not meet acceptable standards. Basically it did not balance and our reserve funds are too low. Cities are required to pass a balanced budget; Nashville did not. Mayor Briley counted as revenue $30 million to be received from the sale of Metro's parking meter operation. When the plan to privatize parking met wide spread opposition, Briley pulled the plug on the plan but did not change his budget revenue projections.

It is my view that Metro is not underfunded. We have a spending problem; not a revenue problem. The current budget is $2,331,618,000, which is a 4.55% increase over the last years budget. We are spending $101,517,400 more than the previous year.  Metro is just inefficient.  I suspect we are bloated with unnecessary layers of consulting engineers in public works and that many department have too many administrative levels. Also, we spend a lot on non-essentials. 

This is the second year in a row, that Mayor Briley has called upon department to "find savings." The difference is that last year, he called on them to find savings before the budget was adopted, not afterwords. There are saving to be found. We could close General Hospital and save almost $50 million a year. It is not required by State law or Metro Charter, poor people have other options, and the hospital cannot fill its beds. Former Mayor Megan Barry proposed closing it but did not put much effort into the proposal.  She seems to have been distracted by the sordid affair she was having with her body guard and did not do her homework  or put  political capital on the line, the Council balked and the closing did not happen.

We could abolish the Human Relations Commission and save half-a-million dollars. This agency does almost nothing of value. The few things they do of value could easily be done by other agencies. This agency's primary function seems to be to promote political correctness. 

Rather than cuts to police and fire, we could close the libraries one day a week. I don't know how much that would save but it would be substantial.  The problem with this is that then the people would notice. You can hide cuts to the fire department and no one notices but if you close libraries one day a week people will notice. We could make judicious cuts without harming public safety but it is easier to make across the board cuts.

I do not know if what Briley is proposing to do is legal. It certainly does not seem proper.  Budgets are adopted after a process that involves administrative budget "discussions," (formerly called budget hearing), Council budget hearings, a public hearing, and legislative debate and then adoption.  It certainly does not seem proper to change the budget without the public transparency and input and the legislative process.  

If the city passes a budget and then we have a disaster that increases cost or if we have an economic downturn that results in less revenue, then a mayor does have the authority to shift funding.  This is not that situation however.  The mayor proposed a budget that he knew was $30 short of revenue.
The Council should have balked at passing it, but our system of government provides for a very weak council. There was not much the Council could do. They cannot change the revenue projections they are given. Under our charter, if the Council does not pass the mayor's budget and does not pass a  substitute budget, the budget of the mayor becomes the city's budget automatically.  While the Council could have made noise they did not have the power to make the mayor pass a balanced budget. This unbalance budget adopted by the city is clearly the fault of the mayor.  

Stay tuned to see what happens next.  If the Mayor cuts $30 million from the budget he may satisfy the Comptroller, but there may be law suits to challenge his authority to arbitrarily change a budget once it is passed.  While department heads work for the mayor and are likely to comply with his request for cuts, the Police and Fireman's unions will likely balk. Those constitutional officers such as County Court Clerk and Trustee and Sheriff are elected by they people and do not work for the mayor. They may not accept the directive to "find savings."  Also, we are in the midst of a mayoral elections. If Cooper will exploit it, and I think he should, he can show what an incompetent is David Bailey.

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Have coffee with Thom Druffel, Saturday,

 

Meet Thom Druffel 

This campaign has been a great way to meet new people in District 23. Our campaign has knocked on thousands of doors, called thousands of people, and sent out thousands of mailers to local voters to inform them about the reasons District 23 needs new leadership.

Now we have a great opportunity for you to meet Thom Druffel in a more personal setting. 

This Saturday 8-9 AM, and every Saturday 8-9 AM until the election, Mr. Druffel will be at Bruegger's Bagels. 5311 Harding Pike, Nashville, TN 37205.

He will be there to sit down, have coffee, and hear how you want the future of District 23 to unfold.

Get to know him one-on-one.

Thom Druffel is an experienced leader who has held the reigns for many years in the hospitality industry. He will take the leadership expertise that he has acquired from his many years of experience balancing budgets, efficiently studying business plans, and making productive deals, and apply it to the council.

Click here to watch to watch NewsChannel 5’s recent story on TSU's push for college students to take advantage of Nashville's huge tourism boom. You might see someone you know!

We hope to meet you there!

Early voting starts on August 23 at the Howard Office Building and here in District 23 on August 30 - ending September 7. Election Day is on September 12.

 Kind regards,
Thom Druffel for Metro Council Team

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Is President Trump responsible for the eco terrorist shooting in El Paso and the socialist terrorist shooting in Dayton?

by Rod Williams - Following the tragedy of the El Paso and Dayton shootings, there has been a mainstream media narrative focusing  on the white nationalist connections of mass shooters and an attempt to blame the shootings on a political climate created by President Trump. Most of the media, except for a handful of conservative outlets, have been beating this drum day after day.  MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show has gone as far as to suggest that when following the shootings, Trump ordered the flag over the Capitol to be flown at half staff until August 8th, he was sending a  secret message to white supremacist  letting them know he was one of them. You see, "H" is the eights letter of the alphabet and so 8-8 is a code for H-H, which stands for Heil Hitler. These people are nuts!

Most media did not get off into la-la land like MSNBC, but yet they made the claim or implied that the mass shootings are a result of white nationalism and Trump is responsible.

First of all, no one is responsible for the actions of another unless they were a co-conspirator or ordered the hit. No person not directly involved in the shooting is responsible for the actions of a shooter. If some nut kills a public figure I criticized in this blog, I am not going to feel any guilt.  When a mentally unstable person commits a crime, one could always look to influences and find a message or ideology or public figure that influenced the killer and is thereby responsible for the actions of the killer.

In 1969 when Charles Manson ordered the brutal grizzly murders at the Sharon Tate  home which resulted in the death of Tate  and four others, Charles Manson thought he was following directives contained in the lyrics of the Beatles' White Album. He thought “Helter Skelter,” foretold a bloody, apocalyptic race war. The murders were designed, in Manson's mind, to ignite that race war. I do not think the Beatles deserve any of the responsibility for the murders committed by the Manson family.

Another thing wrong with this view is that the facts are packaged to fit the narrative and facts that don't fit the narrative or ignored. No doubt about it,  anti-illegal immigrant views motivated the killer in El Paso. Before he went on this shooting rampage he issue a manifesto that called the massive influx of illegals an "invasion" and he said, "Hispanics will take control of the local and state government of my beloved Texas, changing policy to better suit their needs. They will turn Texas into an instrument of a political coup which will hasten the destruction of our country."

That is not all he railed against however. He also expressed anger about "the takeover of the United States government by unchecked corporations." He sounds like a liberal.

Much of his manifesto is that of an angry environmentalist:

The American lifestyle affords our citizens an incredible quality of life. However, our lifestyle is destroying the environment of our country. The decimation of the environment is creating a massive burden for future generations. Corporations are heading the destruction of our environment by shamelessly overharvesting resources. This has been a problem for decades. For example, this phenomenon is brilliantly portrayed in the decades old classic “The Lorax”. Water sheds around the country, especially in agricultural areas, are being depleted. Fresh water is being polluted from farming and oil drilling operations.

Consumer culture is creating thousands of tons of unnecessary plastic waste and electronic waste, and recycling to help slow this down is almost non-existent. Urban sprawl creates inefficient cities which unnecessarily destroys millions of acres of land. We even use god knows how many trees worth of paper towels just wipe water off our hands. Everything I have seen and heard in my short life has led me to believe that the average American isn’t willing to change their lifestyle, even if the changes only cause a slight inconvenience. The government is unwilling to tackle these issues beyond empty promises since they are owned by corporations. Corporations that also like immigration because more people means a bigger market for their products. I just want to say that I love the people of this country, but god damn most of y’all are just too stubborn to change your lifestyle.

This part of his manifesto is hardly mentioned by the mainstream media. It doesn't fit the narrative. Was the shooter influenced by Al Gore?  You could just as easily call the shooter a eco terrorist as a white nationalist terrorist. The Dayton shooter was a supporter of socialism and favored Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren and was against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (link) That has not been widely reported.

I don't know the political leanings of all of the domestic terrorist of the last dozen years or so.  Some were Islamist, some didn't seem to have an identifiable ideology, some where anti Jewish, one was anti Sikh or maybe was anti Muslim and was confused and thought Sikhs were Muslims, one was a Muslim who was anti gay, and several seem to be just mixed up sick kids. 

The media is painting the picture that most domestic terrorist are white supremacist triggered and inspired by Donald Trump. I think it is an intentional strategy to cause critics of open borders to shut up. Their narrative does not hold water. One could just as easily call the El Paso shooter an "eco terrorist" and the Dayton shooter a "socialist terrorist."

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