By Jonathan Mattise | AP, Washington Post, Oct. 31, 2019, NASHVILLE,
Tenn. — Emails cast fresh doubt on a recent claim that immigration
officials visited a Nashville school asking for student records.


Top Stories
A right-leaning disgruntled Republican comments on the news of the day and any other thing he damn-well pleases.
Shortly after taking office, Mayor Cooper repealed an Executive Order that had been issue by former Mayor Briley that basically said Metro employees were prohibited from cooperating with immigration officials and had to report on contacts city employees had with immigration officials and called on the State to repeal a State law prohibiting sanctuary cities in Tennessee.
Mayor Cooper appointed a task force to look into setting rules for interactions between Metro employees and immigration officials. The task force is tasked with reviewing current Metro policies and comparing them to immigration-related
protocols in other cities. The group will then make recommendation for a metro policy that promotes safety in the community while still adhering to state and
federal laws. The group has just 60 days to complete its work and file a report. They had their meeting yesterday, Wednesday October 30th.
A look at the list of appointees shows a list titled toward those inclined to favor a very tolerant policy toward illegal immigrants. These are the task force members:
In a news story from WPLN today, MLS Stadium Lawsuit Exposes Gap Between Nashville Mayor And City Attorneys, it is reported that Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle questions the intentions of Metro government in regards to the project to build a soccer stadium at the fairgrounds. She says there is a discrepancy between legal filings seeking to end the lawsuit and recent statements and actions by Mayor John Cooper. Examples are that the mayor had delayed the demolition of some fairground building to make way for the stadium and had appointed an internal working group to review the project. Before ruling on a question before her, Lyle wants the city to clarify its intention.
Save Our Fairgrounds has filed a lawsuit that argues that the Metro Fair Board wrongly decided to allow a stadium at the fairgrounds.
Press release - Mayor John Cooper
today announced that $17.95M from the stalled SoBro-Gulch Pedestrian
Bridge project, allocated by the Metro Council in the FY2014 Capital
Spending Fund, will be immediately diverted towards neighborhood
infrastructure projects throughout Nashville and Davidson County.
“The quality of our neighborhoods is measured, in large part, by the
quality and safety of our roads and bridges,” said Mayor Cooper. “When
$18 million for the SoBro-Gulch Pedestrian Bridge was allocated in 2013,
that amount represented 100% of the funding for bridge repair and
construction for the entire 2014 fiscal year. Currently, Public Works
estimates that $131 million is needed to repair and replace our bridges
and culverts. Now is the time for responsible spending to address our
most critical infrastructure needs and focus on the safety and
priorities that impact all of Nashville’s neighborhoods.”
Of the $18M allocation in the 2014 Capital Spending Plan, $17.95M
remains unspent and will be diverted to the following projects
accordingly:
by Rod Williams -The pedestrian bridge to connect the Gulch to SoBro has been killed by Mayor Cooper. The $18 million project first proposed by Mayor Karl Dean has been in the planning since 2013. Mayor Cooper said the money will be redirected to fund a variety of needed neighborhood projects.
The funding for the bridge was supposed to come from General Obligation Bonds, the debt paid off with Tax Increment Financing. That was supposed to placate some people by making the argument that this meant it wasn't taking money from other projects to fund. However, that was a shell game. It was like paying for it with money our of your right pocket rather than your left pocket. By financing with TIF what that amounted to was delaying money that would flow to the General Fund until after the Bridge was paid off.
I liked the concept of the bridge. I don't think that everything that makes the city more livable and attractive is a waste of money. The bridge would have been a nice addition. However, sometimes you just can't afford everything that would be nice to have. The Gulch-Sobro bridge was like taking a trip to Disney World when the kid needs braces.
The money to be redirected will go to badly needed projects, such as $2.5 million will go toward replacing the deteriorating Charlotte
Pike-Rosa Parks Boulevard bridge deck. Currently a temporary wood
deck has been placed between the bridge beams to catch falling
concrete.
I am pleased with this action by Mayor Cooper.
For more see:
The Tennessean, Mayor John Cooper nixes Gulch-SoBro pedestrian bridge.
A Disgruntled Republican, Sept 11, 2014, Mayor Dean Proposes New Funding Strategy for Gulch - SoBro Pedestrian Bridge
NASHVILLE (WSMV) - Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall announced
Tuesday that as of December 1, the county will no longer honor a
contract to house Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees.
This move comes after a meeting with local advocacy groups, Mayor John Cooper, Metro Council members, and internal stakeholders.
by Rod Williams - This is not $17M more than the estimate, but $17M more than was appropriated. Why would a project began that did not have the needed amount appropriated?
Given all of the other financial stresses facing the city, now the city must come up with $17M to finish a started project. Money can be borrowed for construction projects so this does not have to come out of current operating revenues. However, the city already has excessive debt and needs to be reducing debt, not borrowing more. The project must be completed. The city cannot just stop a project that is under construction. The project was approved with only partial funding in place under Mayor Megan Barry. Read more about it at this link.
NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - News4 is learning more about what’s behind the
delays for construction of the new professional soccer stadium and
learning more about Mayor John Cooper’s plan to get some answers about
what it will cost the taxpayers.
Construction on the new stadium at The Fairgrounds Nashville was supposed to have started in June, but now there is no exact timetable. ...... one of the hold-ups is the lawsuit by the group Save Our Fairgrounds. The bonding companies won’t issue the revenue bonds to pay for the project. (read more)
Metro Press release, 10/29/2019 - Mayor John Cooper today announced his commitment to improving
neighborhood quality of life by instructing Metro Public Works to begin
the rollout of lowering speed limits on neighborhood streets.
The Neighborhood Speed Limit Reduction initiative will impact
neighborhood streets currently signed at 30 Miles Per Hour, reducing the
posted speed limit to 25 Miles Per Hour. Metro Public Works, which
released a Speed Reduction Feasibility Study earlier this year at Metro
Council’s request, will work to implement the change over a one-year
period, upon completion of a comprehensive signage inventory.
Street sign updates and community education on the speed limit change
were previously funded in the 2018-2019 Capital Spending Plan with a
$500,000 allocation, in addition to $1M for related engineering
improvements from the Neighborhood Traffic Calming program.
Lower speed limits on Nashville’s local streets will improve safety and promote active living. Transportation research has shown that lowering speed limits to reflect an all-users approach to neighborhood streets results in decreased crash rates – in particular, dramatic improvement in crash-survival rates for vulnerable users, such as pedestrians and cyclists – as vehicular speeds decrease.
“With Nashville’s growth, more drivers have been prone to using our
neighborhood streets as cut-through routes to avoid traffic on major
corridors, impacting quality of life for our residents,” said Mayor John
Cooper. “Slowing vehicular traffic in residential neighborhoods is a
commonsense next step for public safety and health, and it’s important
to many Nashvillians I’ve spoken with in recent years. I know Metro
departments, the Metro Council, and our many community partners will
help to make this effort a success.”
Mayor Cooper will ask Traffic and Parking Commissioners to consider
the speed limit change at their November 18 meeting. He will then ask
Metro Council to ensure the code reflects the change in speed on local
neighborhood streets.
To help guide community engagement and public outreach around the
rollout, the Mayor’s Office and Metro Public Works have assembled a team
of stakeholders, Safe Speed Limit Outreach (SSLO), that will have its
first meeting on Wednesday, November 6. Members include:
by Rod Williams - On October 15, the Council considered and passed a resolution "urging" the Metropolitan Department of Law to compromise and settle the
claim of Shaundelle Brooks, as next of kin of Akilah DaSilva, against
the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County and requesting
that the Metro Legal Department resolve this action expediently."
This was an important vote and sits a bad precedent. Normally when a person sues the city, the legal department negotiates with the other party and if legal determines it is best to settle, they bring a resolution to the Council asking the Council to approve the settlement. That is not what this is. This bill "urged" legal to settle the lawsuit. In this case, the legal department has not
yet reached a settlement with the plaintiffs. They are still in the
discovery stages. That is a big difference. The resolution contains
language that could be construed as an admission of guilt on the part of
Metro government. The language of the resolution could help the family
in a separate lawsuit they have against Vanderbilt Medical Center.
From time to time the Council does pass memorializing resolutions expressing their opinion on a matter. When the Council is "urging" the Congress or an agency of the federal government to do something, it is somewhat meaningless. Also, it is somewhat meaningless when the Metro Council opines on a state issue. When the Council opines on a local issue or urges a agency of the Metro government to do something, that is more like a directive to do so, since the Council has the power do something about it if the agency does not honor the Council's wishes.
Akilah DaSilva was shot in the shoulder during the Antioch Waffle House shooting of April 2018.
911 dispatchers sent emergency responders to the Waffle House in
Hermitage, nearly 10 miles away. The family claims the
delay caused a massive blood loss that resulted in DaSilva’s death.
However, that fact is in dispute because there were at least two other
ambulances dispatched to the correct address so this mistake apparently
did not cause the death of DaSilva.
When this was before the Council, Councilman Russ Pulley did an admirable job explaining why passing this was inadvisable. Also, Glover and Hager drove home the point that passing this resolution could harm the
interest of the city. Council member Vercher spoke at length in favor of
the resolution. The minority caucus supported it. To view the Council discussion see timestamp 1:30:33- 2:29:45 in the video at this link.
With this resolution passing, it is likely that everyone with a lawsuit against the
city will lobby the Council for a favorable settlement and lawsuits will
become political matters rather than legal matters. A responsible vote was a "no" vote on this matter.
Here is how members voted:
Yes (25):
Mendes, Hurt, Allen, Suara, Hall, Toombs, Gamble, Parker, Withers,
Benedict, VanReece, Evans, Welsch, Sledge, Cash, O'Connell, Taylor,
Hausser, Vercher, Porterfield, Sepulveda, Rutherford, Styles, Lee, and
Rosenberg;
No (13): Glover, Hancock, Young, Hagar, Bradford, Rhoten, Syracuse, Roberts, Druffel, Murphy, Pulley, Johnston, and Nash;
Abstain (1): Henderson.
Below is the text of the resolution:
by Rod Williams - On October the 15th the Metro Council passed the resolution below recognizing October 2019 as LGBT History Month in
Nashville and Davidson County and October 11, 2019 as National Coming
Out Day. The resolution was not discussed.
Here is how the Council voted: "Having been unanimously approved by all of the appropriate Committees,
Council Member Rosenberg moved to adopt the Consent Agenda Resolutions,
which motion was seconded and approved by the following vote: Yes (36):
Mendes, Hurt, Allen, Suara, Hall, Toombs, Gamble, Withers, Benedict,
VanReece, Hancock, Young, Larry Hagar, Evans, Bradford, Syracuse, Welsch,
Sledge, Cash, O'Connell, Roberts, Taylor, Hausser,Thom Druffel, Murphy,
Pulley, Courtney Johnston, Robert Nash, Vercher, Porterfield, Sepulveda, Rutherford,
Styles, Lee, Angie Henderson and Rosenberg; No (0); Abstain (0)."
You will note that no one voted "no" or "abstain" when voting on this measure and this was not a machine roll call vote. However only 36 members voted in favor. So who did not vote for it? Of the 40 member Council, none were absent. So, four people did not vote. To not have themselves not recording as in favor, they may have been out of the room on a bathroom break or they may have been present for part of the meeting but not for this vote. Looking at who is not listed as voting "yes" and comparing it to the list of Council members, these are the ones who failed to vote:
Rod Williams - There are some things I am curious about that I am surprised politicians or the media are not curious about. Being an amateur blogger I would like to find the answers and report on them if I had the resources, which unfortunately I don't. One of those things that I would like to know is this: Why is Metro School student enrollment dropping while population is rapidly growing?
We all know about Nashville's rapid growth. When you look at the 14-county Metropolitan Statistical Area, it has grown anywhere from 71 to 100 people a day for about the last five or six years. A lot of that growth has been to surrounding counties, especially Wilson and Williamson. Davidson County itself however, has gotten its share. When the city population grows, one would expect to see a growth in public school enrollment. We are seeing a decline. Why?
One reason could be that the population growth has occurred while the actual number of school age children have declined. It could be that the of the 100 people a day moving to the greater Nashville area, those with children are locating to Wilson and Williamson and other counties and Nashville is getting the bulk of the single people and young people without children. It may be that as school age kids grow up and graduate, or leave the pipeline, they are not being replaced by young children entering the pipeline. If that is the case, why are families not choosing Nashville? I would speculate that if you are parents with children moving to Nashville, then one of your concerns would be the qualify of education. A comparison of school quality would be a reason to look elsewhere rather than Davidson County.
Another explanation may be that more and more parents in Davidson County are choosing private schools for their children. The average private school tuition in Nashville is $10,455 for elementary schools and $16,023 for high schools. That is a lot of money. However, many of the people moving to Nashville are earning salaries much higher than the area median income and can afford it. I am not aware, however, of any massive growth in the enrollment of private schools. Maybe some of both of these explanations above are happening.
I love Nashville and despite the worsening traffic and the growth in the number of deplorable progressives, I am living where I want to live. We have a lot going for us. Good quality education is not one of them however. It is possible, nevertheless, to get a great education in Nashville. Parents have to apply to get their kids in a good schools but since the parent has to provide the transportation, the parents who care more and have the advantages of a flexible schedule can often get their child into a good school. If your child goes to Grandbery and then Hume Fogg, they will get an excellent education. If the parent just lets their child go to the zoned school, the chances are they will not.
Unfortunately, there are not enough Grandberys and Hume Foggs. In my view we should allow charter schools that serve people other than just those living in poverty and we should be developing more quality magnet schools. Unfortunately, it appears to me that Nashville is so concerned with "equity" that they sacrifice good education to the cause. If more schools are allowed to be great schools that creates a bigger gap between the great schools and the bad schools. The school system does not seem that interested in attracting parents who want a great education for their child. Advance placement programs and programs like International Baccalaureate would attract more students whose parents want them to have a good education, but that does not seem to be a priority for Nashville.
Below is a partial list showing Davidson County population growth and student enrollment decline. I would like to know why? If anyone knows of a study that has examined this issue or if one has particular insight, please share it.
2019 Population 698 494; student enrollment 85,163
2018 Population 692,587; students enrolled 85,287
2017 Population 665,396; students enrolled 85, 399
2016 Population 663,339, students enrolled 86,633
2015 Population 656,572, students enrolled 85, 797
2014 Population 645,820, students enrolled 84,353
2013 Population 636,267
by Rod Williams - Ever since he won the election a group of young climate change activist, the Nashville "hub" of the Sunrise Movement, have been pressuring Mayor John Cooper to sign an executive order declaring climate change an emergency. The group held a six-hour sit-in during the first days of Cooper's administration to persuade him to do so. Recently the mayor held a "listening session" at a coffee shop on Nolensville Pike to speak on issues important to residents. Sunrise was there pushing their proposal for an executive order.
Cooper told the group that he agreed that climate change was an emergency but said, it is not anything he can do anything about. He has invited the group to meet with his top advisor to discuss their concerns but they have turned down the invitation. Cooper has said the subject area could not be
"more important," but has not called it a "crisis."
A local or state law enforcement agency, including a judicial district drug task force, shall not refer, transfer, or otherwise relinquish possession of property seized under state law to a federal agency by way of adoption of the seized property or other means by the federal agency for the purpose of the property’s forfeiture under the federal Controlled Substances Act, compiled in 21 U.S.C. § 801 et seq.Very few cases exceed the $100,000 threshold.
A local or state law enforcement agency, including a judicial district drug task force, or participant in a joint task force or other multijurisdictional collaboration with the federal government shall not accept payment of any kind or distribution of forfeiture proceeds resulting from a joint task force or other multijurisdictional collaboration unless the aggregate net equity value of the property and currency seized in a case exceeds one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), excluding the value of contraband.
by Rod Williams - Knowledge Academies has three public schools in Nashville operating under charters from the Metro School Board. Charter schools are funded by taxpayers but run autonomously with their own board of directors. Knowledge Academies have two middle schools and a high school. Earlier this year the School Board found irregularities at the schools and voted to revoke the charters of the three schools. Alleged irregularities included unlicensed teachers and financial management issues. The academies sometimes, it was alleged, had trouble making payroll and teachers were paid late. It was alleged that the CEO of Knowledge Academies was running side businesses out of the schools at the same time that the schools had financial problems. Also, the complaint was that the schools were not academically performing very well.
Earlier this year when the problems came to light, the Knowledge Academies’ board
took steps to address the problems. The board fired
the CEO and founder of the schools and hired the nonprofit Noble Education Initiative to run the schools. The MNPS charter schools office recommended placing Knowledge Academies on probation but instead the School Board voted to revoke the charter of the schools. Knowledge Academies appealed to the state.
The State found that MNPS was in error in revoking the charters and that many of the reasons given for revoking the charters were without merit. As to the poor academic performance, The State had this to say:
Based on the totality of the evidence presented on this allegation, I determine,while this issue is substantiated, it is not grounds to revoke the charter agreement under T.C.A. §49-13-122(b)(2). In the 2018-19 school year, Knowledge Academy achieved an Overall Composite of a Level 4 in TVAAS, meaningthat the school had achieved above expected student growth. Additionally, a February 2019 memo from the charter office to Knowledge Academywas the only evidence MNPS presented that demonstrated communication to Knowledge Academy regarding academic underperformance;in the memo, MNPS notified Knowledge Academy of underperformance in math and ELA as compared to the district,but also commended the school’s performance in science as compared to the district. Furthermore, in the 2018-19 school year, Knowledge Academy out performed the surrounding zoned middle schools in the Antioch cluster. While it is clear that Knowledge Academy has work to do to increase academic performance for its students, the academic evidence MNPS presented does not merit revocation of the charter agreement.So, MNPS wanted to revoke the charter because of poor academic performance but Knowledge was performing better than the regular public schools in the same cluster. MNPS was comparing Knowledge to the district average; not comparable schools.
Two complaints from two former staff members of Knowledge Academy is neither clear nor compelling evidence of this allegation, and Knowledge Academy presented evidence that refuted these claims by eleven teachers who were also employed at the school during the 2018-19 school year. Therefore, based on the evidence presented on both sides of this allegation, I am unable to determine that this issue is substantiated. Therefore, I cannot find evidence in this claim of financial mismanagement that merits revocation of the charter agreement.Also, on the damning allegation that the CEO was running side businesses out of the school, that is not as bad as it at first sounds. It is hardly bad at all. In fact, the State says, "I determine that this issue is not substantiated." "From the evidence, it is clear that the former administration was seeking avenues to generate additional revenue for the school, including renting out the facilities, and the Governing Board was aware of these pursuits."
by Rod Williams - The Metro School Board recently studies teacher pay and says that to boost the salaries of Nashville teachers to match the city's median income would cost more than $100 million a year. Unions applauded the study. If the School Boards plans to ask for the money suggested in the pay plan study that would be money they would need in addition to any other increases in operating cost. That would be an increase request like we have never seen. That would be a whopper of an increase!
The current 2019-2020 operating budget for Metro Schools is $914.5 million which was a 3.2% or $28.2 million increase over the 2018-2019 budget. The school district requested $76.7 million in additional funding or an 8.6% increase over the the then current $886.3 million budget. The year before that, Schools requested a $45.7million increase and only got a $5 million increase.
It should be noted that at the same time the Schools budget has been increasing, the enrollment has been declining despite the population increasing. Currently there are 85,163 students enrolled. In 2018-2019 the enrollment was 85,287. In the 2015-16 school year enrollment was 86,633 students.
Several candidates elected to the Council in the recent council elections ran on a platform to "fully fund" the schools. When a large number of council members are on record as pledging to fund whatever amount the School Board says then need, that gives the School Board a blank check to ask for pie in the sky. Look out! This should be an interested budget year.
For more information see link, link, link.
From Grant Starrett:
You are invited to the following event:
School Choice Has Arrived: What Does It Mean for Education in Our State?
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Justin Owen |
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Shaka Mitchell |
The Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency has opened its waiting
list for Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers. Online only applications
will be accepted until 3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25, 2019. Anyone currently on
the Section 8 HCV waiting list from 2017 will need to reapply. For a
direct link to the application, please click here.
The list may not be reopened for a very long time; it could be years. If you are a Metro council member or community leader or one who has contact with low-income people, please spread the word. It is often not the most deserving who get the limited number of vouchers but those who learn that MDHA is accepting applications.
Metro press release - In keeping with his campaign commitment to an accountable and
transparent government, Mayor John Cooper today announced the creation
of a Public Integrity Task Force to review current practices related to
ethics and government transparency.
The Public Integrity Task Force, chaired by Bill Harbison of the law
firm Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison, has been given the
responsibility of reviewing current Metro practices relating to ethics,
conflicts of interest, contracting and procurement practices, political
contributions, and permitted political activities by Metro employees,
vendors, contractors, and members of boards and commissions. The group
will also review Metro government’s current open meeting and public
records policies.
Mayor Cooper has further directed the task force to examine the need
for an independent Inspector General to work with Metro as well as the
Office of Internal Audit in identifying and preventing potential fraud
and waste in Metro government. The Public Integrity Task Force is
expected to make its recommendations within 90 business days.
The complete list of the Public Integrity Task Force members follows:
The agenda of this meeting was only eight pages long and there was not much of importance on the agenda yet the meeting is two and half hours long. If you are going to watch the meeting, you will get a lot more out of the meeting if you know what is under
discussion. To access the agenda, agenda analysis and my commentary on
the agenda, follow this link.
I am providing my summary of the meeting below. However, be advised that I only hit the high points and report on what is important to me, so you may want to watch it for yourself. I do not even attempt to form an opinion on each zoning bill and normally only report on those that are controversial or are bills disapproved by the Planning Commission. Also, if you view the minutes of the meeting you can find out from the official record what happened without watching. Unfortunately, the minutes are often not posted until a week later. You can access the minutes at this link.
The meeting is graveled to order at timestamp 7.46. At timestamp 12:51, Mayor John Cooper addresses the Council. It is rare that the mayor ever addresses the Council and this is Mayor Cooper's second time to do so, having addressed the first meeting and this the second meeting of the Council. Cooper recognizes National gay Coming Out Day and endorses the resolution honoring the event which is on the agenda. He announces the $12.62 million the Convention Center Authority is going to give the city. He announces he is rescinding the controversial Mayor Briley executive order concerning illegal immigration and announces the appointment of a task force to develop a policy to address the issue. He announces that soon he will be bringing before the Council a request of water and sewer rate increase and explains why this is necessary. He announces the city will be looking at traffic and transportation issues. He asks the Council to vote to confirm his appointments of Finance Director and Legal Director. He says, "this will be the council that gets stuff done."
Appointments and elections:
Resolution RS2019-30 "urges" settling the lawsuit against the city by Shaundelle Brooks, as next of kin of Akilah DaSilva. Akilah DaSilva was shot in the shoulder during the Antioch Waffle House shooting of April 2018. 911 dispatchers sent emergency responders to the Waffle House in Hermitage, nearly 10 miles away. The family claims the delay caused a massive blood loss that resulted in DaSilva’s death. However, that fact is in dispute because their were at least two other ambulances dispatched to the correct address so this mistake apparently did not cause the death of DaSilva. Normally the Council settles a law suit after Metro Legal recommends it. My view is that when the legal department ask for a settlement of a law suit rather than litigating a law suit, the Council should defer to the legal department. However, in this case, the legal department has not yet reached a settlement with the plaintiffs. They are still in the discovery stages. That is a big difference. The resolution contains language that could be construed as an admission of guilt on the part of Metro government. The language of the resolution could help the family in a separate lawsuit they have against Vanderbilt Medical Center. Councilman Russ Pulley does an admirable job explaining all of this. Glover and Hager also drive home the point that passing this resolution could harm the interest of the city. Counil member Vercher speaks at length in favor of the resolution. The minority caucus supported this resolution. If this should pass, then it likely that everyone with a lawsuit against the city will lobby the Council for a favorable settlement and lawsuits will become political matters rather than legal matters.
The family of DaSilva wanted to address the Council. This takes a 2/3rds vote of the body which failed to approve. If I had a vote, I would have also voted "no." There was no need to hear from the family. There is a motion to defer the matter two weeks and that motion fails. The vote on the resolution passes by a vote of 25 to 13 with one abstention. This sets a terrible president. When the meeting minutes are published I will post how members of the Council voted. See timestamp 1:30:33- 2:29:45 for the discussion.
Resolution RS2019-39 appropriates $11.3 million out of the General Fund Reserve Fund for the purchase of equipment and building repairs for various Metro departments. That is a lot of money but this is normal. It passes on the Consent agenda.
Bills on First Reading. As is the norm, all bills on First Readng are all passed by a single vote lumped together. Bills are not evaluated by Committee until after First Reading.Resolution RS2019-49 recognizes October 2019 as LGBT History Month in Nashville and October 11, 2019 as National Coming Out Day. I don't think "coming out" is anything to celebrate and would vote "no" or at least vote "abstain," if I were serving in the Council. I am disappointed that this passed on "consent." It is worth noting however that this does nothing but express the will of the Council and spends no money nor actually does anything.
Bill BL2019-1 raises the parking violation fee for most parking violations from $11 to $25. This seems reasonable to me. With the scarcity of parking places and the increase in the value of parking space it seems reasonable to increase this fee. Councilman Sledge explains that this is the first step in a process to modernize our parking system. It passes on a voice vote.
Bill BL2019-4 prohibits aerial advertising. I always like seeing aerial advertising. The bill is amended and deferred one meeting. The sponsor explains the reason is noise. I'm not buying it.