Tennessee
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11:50 a.m.
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The key to understanding where Memphis needs to go, is to understand that our problems and challenges as a community are not separate issues but are all connected and a deficit in one area has a related negative impact on other areas. For example, if a city has an overwhelmed and or inadequate system for Mental health or drug rehabilitation, then it's only a matter of time before homeless services...
Confessions of a West Tennessee Liberal - 11:29 a.m.
Today's Maryville Daily Times has a big front page feature about some home town boys making the big time on the metal band tour circuit. Their specialty is "death metal." I'm wondering if the editors and publishers at the Maryville Daily Times are familiar with the genre, and particularly some of the boys' lyrics (warning: explicit, extreme, nauseating). This ain't your daddy's Black Sa...
KnoxViews - 8:06 a.m.
Following are some layoffs being reported by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development this week: • MTD Consumer Products, Brownsville (Haywood Co.), TN, makers of Cub Cadet lawn mowers, 480 employees between 7/1/2009 and 7/31/2010. It was previously announced that the company is closing the plant . • Sea Ray Boats (Knoxville Plant), Knox Co., 28 employees on 6/25...
KnoxViews - 8:06 a.m.
Previously, I questioned the assumption that giving Tennessee State University a chance to build an agricultural research center on Bells Bend would support agriculture even if the primary research focus is more on agribusiness than on farmers. I've not seen any other May Town Center opponent question the assumptions of the TSU donation, and while I don't reap any rewards from playing the pessi...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Sun 8:38 p.m.
Today over 30 members of the Knox County Democratic Party participated in the Farragut Parade. We had 5 cars, a biodeisel bus, and a float carrying the Statue of Liberty. We handed out toys, treats, and visors and coffee mugs made of recycled materials along the parade route. Big thanks to Suzie and Jerome from District 5 for organizing, it was a great success! KnoxViews ...
KnoxViews - Sun 7:42 a.m. - 5 clicks 
Nashville's 4th of July celebration is, as usual, downtown at Riverfront Park. The fireworks start at 9:03pm (bridges close at 7:30pm!). Not that I have anything against things that look and sound like bombs bursting in the air , but I'll be staying home and hiding under the desk with the family pets. Wynonna will be there, and the Fisk Jubilee Singers and the Nashville Symphony. Road...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Sat 4:01 p.m. - 10 clicks
Ex Tennessee Titan's Quarterback Steve McNair and a woman have been found dead. Link... KnoxViews ...
KnoxViews - Sat 4:01 p.m. - 5 clicks
Wouldn't holding an Independence Day roman candle to your face be a quicker form of death than rafting and swimming through TVA's spilled arsenic, mercury, and selenium ? Roane County is also farming their ash spill out to other less fortunate communities for their own future holiday fun. TVA's Christmas gift just keeps on giving during any holiday. ...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Sat 7:57 a.m. - 4 clicks
David Dwayne Lyons Santorini photograph The Emporium Center, Link... , at 100 S. Gay Street has an opening reception, 5-9pm, for its new exhibition, in the Balcony, featuring works by seven local artists. Blount Mansion, Link... , will host a reception for the Smoky Mountain Quilters. Live jazz with the BBC trio, tours of Blount Mansion, wine and hor d’ oeuvres. This event is...
KnoxViews - Fri 12:27 p.m. - 7 clicks
Contrary to the opinion of many economic development officials, tax freezes are not an indicator of success for Memphis. Rather, they are clear indications of our failure to create the more competitive city that we need for a new economic era. In other words, for 20 years, we have had an over-reliance on tax freezes, AKA payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, while complaining that we had to do it becaus...
Smart City Memphis - Thu 9:24 p.m. - 11 clicks
Our next Mayor, whoever that may be,will face a number of challenges as he or she works to move our city forward. One of these is our inadequate public transportation system. MATA. "MEMPHIS AREA TRANSIT AUTHORITY" is one of the departments within city government in serious need of reorganization as well as an upgrade in service and efficiency. Currently a great number of Mata's riders are low inco...
Confessions of a West Tennessee Liberal - Thu 4:44 p.m. - 11 clicks
U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn has resorted to the playbook used by a former Tennessee Republican Party chair now running for a congressional seat in East Tennessee. Attempting to appeal to her far-right base, Blackburn, who represents Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, is sponsoring legislation that would require future presidential candidates to show their birth certificates proving Constitutio...
The Donkey's Mouth - Thu 2:35 p.m. - 4 clicks
State Sen. Jim Kyle (D-Memphis) has filed to run for governor. Kleinheider has the scoop . KnoxViews ...
KnoxViews - Thu 10:27 a.m. - 10 clicks
Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester said Robin Smith’s announced entrance into the 3rd Congressional District race should give Democrats all the ammunition they need to win the seat next fall. “Mrs. Smith has enough blood on her hands to taint that seat for any Republican,” Forrester said of the former state Republican Party chair. “She [...]...
The Donkey's Mouth - Thu 6:58 a.m. - 4 clicks
Memphis got screwed again, and the culprit was a familiar one – state government. Back when the promises were made that the economic stimulus spigots would be turned on in Washington, Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton joined the chorus of mayors who were concerned that cities would be short-changed. He was right: highway funding funneled through state government was spent mostly in rural areas. I...
Smart City Memphis - Wed 9:00 p.m. - 4 clicks
Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester thanked state Rep. Curt Cobb for his tireless service to the state and the people of Bedford, Lincoln and Rutherford counties after the legislator resigned his seat earlier this week. “Curt has been a very dedicated servant to the people of the 62nd House District,” Forrester said. “No one has [...]...
The Donkey's Mouth - Wed 3:14 p.m. - 3 clicks
Salemtown resident Grace McKinley escorting her daughter Linda Gail McKinley (second girl) and friend down Garfield Street from her home on 6th Avenue to Fehr Elementary School, corner of 5th and Garfield, Nashville, TN, 9 September 1957. Ms. McKinley walks through an irate crowd of segregationists carrying picket signs and protesters of public school desegregation (photo courtesy of Nashv...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Tue 10:29 p.m. - 5 clicks
http://newscoma.com/2009/06/25/mabel-for-governor/#comments Let’s face the facts. We have a steady procession of clowns and other circus acts vying for the Governorship of the State of Tennessee. It’s time we chose a candidate that makes them all look like they’re standing still. Four legs will always be better than two when it comes to Tennessee politics. From the sta...
Ablogination - Tue 9:05 p.m. - 10 clicks
Across the state, Tennesseans took time out of their Saturday to serve their communities and join the call for health care reform. Read some of the reports after the jump, or share your own experience in the comments. The Chattanoogan (Staff) “Health Food Bank Drive Is Saturday”: Organizing for America and the Hamilton County Democratic Party [...]...
The Donkey's Mouth - Tue 4:44 p.m. - 4 clicks
Politico's Jeremy Mayer is all in a tither about the ambition of First Wives. Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton, and now Michelle Obama just won't quit acting like women who have something to offer other than the traditional uncompensated wifely labor. Why won't the wives stay in the bedroom? Queen Michelle the First?: Washington insiders haven’t seen a first lady this ambitious since ...
Tennessee Guerilla Women - Tue 12:41 p.m. - 3 clicks
Been away for a while and have been reading with great interest news stories about the flood of candidates seeking to serve as the next Mayor of Memphis. I have also watched a great deal of enthusiastic activity from folks all over the political spectrum preparing to gear up for the upcoming special mayoral election this October in support for already declared candidates and in efforts to enlist o...
Confessions of a West Tennessee Liberal - Tue 12:41 p.m. - 3 clicks
To continue the theme that we began yesterday on what it will take for Memphis to recruit the kind of candidate that can become a great mayor, here's the abbreviated advice from one of our favorites, Denver's John Hickenlooper: LESSONS FROM A BREWPUB: The John Hickenlooper Guide To Civic Success We started our Profiles in Leadership: America’s Great Mayors series to answer a simple question: wh...
Smart City Memphis - Mon 7:50 p.m. - 7 clicks
Irate segregationists exchanging words with supporters of desegregation at Fehr Elementary School, 5th Avenue, North and Garfield Street, Nashville, TN; 9 September 1957. Police escorted African American students into the school, marking the first day of public school desegregation in Nashville (photo courtesy of Nashville Public Library, Special Collections; all rights reserved; do not cop...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Mon 3:23 p.m. - 3 clicks
According to Michael Cass : Opponents on the council — 10 of whom made their sentiments known at the Planning Commission's public hearing Thursday — said it would be difficult for the project to win that many votes. "I think 27 is really hard," said Councilman Erik Cole of East Nashville. "I'd say there are somewhere in the 16 or 17 category who are fairly solidly against it." Getting 23-24 vot...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Jun 29 - 5 clicks
In an e-mail to the Salemtown list, Central Precinct officers say that the arrest of Darren Lamont Hardemon and four other individuals, including juveniles, should provide relief to the North End after a 6-month crime spree: We wanted to let our neighborhoods know there have been 5 arrests this week related to the residential Burglaries in the areas of Hope Gardens, Salemtown and Germantown. T...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Jun 29 - 5 clicks
Kerry Hayes, always a wise observer of the Memphis scene, wrote some sound advice on his Facebook page about the post-Herenton era: Remember: Mayor Herenton's departure is an opportunity, not a solution. Remember: the leadership that comes next is vastly more important than the leader who's leaving. Remember: the Mayor should not blamed for every bad thing that happens in the city no more than ...
Smart City Memphis - Jun 29 - 5 clicks
It seems a good time to reprise a slightly edited post from July 5, 2006, which was also the June, 2006, City Journal column in Memphis magazine: This is the golden age of great city mayors. In Chicago, Richard Daley transformed “Beirut on the Lake” into one of the world’s great cities - sophisticated, vibrant, seedbed for an astonishing array of enlightened “green” programs. In Denver an...
Smart City Memphis - Jun 29 - 3 clicks
There're many reasons that we respect Cindy and Kevin Brewer. They are the kind of talented people that we need in this city – young, entreprenuerial, positive. In their work and in their civic activities, they are committed to creating a better city that builds on its unique authenticity. They are spreading the word about Memphis with their professional peers this week , and they are show...
Smart City Memphis - Jun 29 - 4 clicks
RCEC’s attempt to close meeting incites howls from media and citizens MURFREESBORO - Rutherford County Election Commission (RCEC) Chairman Tom Walker attempted to violate state law by barring reporters and citizens from a public meeting on Monday night. (Read first-hand reports from the Daily News Journal and the Murfreesboro Post.) Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Chip Forrester called Stat...
The Donkey's Mouth - Jun 26 - 5 clicks
Memphis made a top 25 list, but unfortunately, it wasn’t one we wanted to be on. We had two neighborhoods in the 25 most dangerous neighborhoods in the U.S. - #11 (Bellevue Boulevard/Lamar Avenue) and # 7 (Warford St/Mount Olive Road. The rankings were compiled by WalletPop based on the exclusive neighborhood crime information from NeighborhoodScout.com . NeighborhoodScout.com said it collec...
Smart City Memphis - Jun 26 - 6 clicks
Blogging CM Emily Evans has observations about last night's Planning Commission public hearing on May Town Center: There were people from Germantown, East Nashville, Donelson, Downtown, West Nashville, Bordeaux and Green Hills. In a real "pay it forward" moment, I listened to one Bordeaux resident tell me about how supportive the Scottsboro/Bells Bend neighbors had been in the fight against the...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Jun 26 - 5 clicks
Michael is nineteen years old. He lives in Tennessee, otherwise known as hell on Earth for transgender people. He goes to school in a relatively more liberal part of the state but things are still ridiculously hard on him. Add to that the fact that his parents don't really accept or care about him the way he is. His parents, if you can call them that, are your typical homophobic conservatives ...
DailyKos (Tennessee) - Jun 26 - 4 clicks
It seems that a lot of people won’t believe Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton is really leaving City Hall until he turns in his keys July 10. Such is the mystique of unpredictability that surrounds him. Although reports of a resignation have circulated and sounded firm for weeks, there were still people at the City Hall press conference who half expected him to announce that he was appointing a n...
Smart City Memphis - Jun 25 - 5 clicks
a2a_linkname=”TI&S | You Were Taking a Hike?”;a2a_linkurl=”http://timvalentine.wordpres Well some may believe that I will take this opportunity to bash the Republican Party for being hypocrites and offer up the same dose of medicine they was so willing to dish out to Democrats during the whole Clinton-Lewinski, John Edwards...
Thoughts, Ideas & Suggestions - Jun 25 - 3 clicks
It was a match made in heaven. The worst Tennessee Legislature in memory advised on charter schools law by the specious superintendent of Shelby County Schools, Bobby Webb. Fortunately, in the midst of its gun fetish exhibitionism, the Legislature found time to reverse course on a proposed amendment to Tennessee’s restrictive charter schools laws. In keeping with the mantra of the education...
Smart City Memphis - Jun 24 - 2 clicks
Darren Lamont Hardemon--a suspect in 7-week burglary spree last winter in Salemtown and a strong suspect because of evidence left in 9 recent burglaries in the other North End neighborhoods of Germantown, Hope Gardens, and Historic Buena Vista--makes two court appearances beginning at 9:00 tomorrow morning. According to the constant buzz on Hardemon on the Salemtown e-mail list, residents have ...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Jun 24 - 4 clicks
Across Tennessee, the calls for health care reform are growing louder. You don’t need to be an expert to help out. Visit BarackObama.com to find the service event closest to you. Here’s a sample of the dozens of events planned for this Saturday: MEMPHIS: Crusade to End Infant Mortality. “Memphis has the highest infant mortality rate among the [...]...
The Donkey's Mouth - Jun 24 - 4 clicks
Anybody who can take on Wal-Mart and win is special in our books, but Brian Stephens isn’t through yet. As a new member of the Shelby County Election Commission, he’s about to do something way too rare in local government. He’s about to make public records public. If we had a dollar for every time someone in local government talked about transparency, we could actually afford government website...
Smart City Memphis - Jun 24 - 3 clicks
NASHVILLE - Citizens, advocates, parents, medical professionals, educators, and students will join Organizing for America and the Tennessee Democratic Party for a kickoff event at the Nashville Farmers’ Market on Saturday, June 27th from 8am to 4pm, to begin the push for health care reform in Tennessee. The purpose of the Health Care Day of Service [...]...
The Donkey's Mouth - Jun 23 - 2 clicks
The Metro Nashville Planning Department has already established an irrational pattern to rush to judgment without benefit of independent, objective studies to back their recommendations. In yesterday's excellent analysis on May Town Center, Christine Kreyling reiterates Planning's switchbacks with respect to neighborhoods proximate to Bells Bend: Despite all these conditions on which the pl...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Jun 23 - 2 clicks
Betsy Phillips on the benefits of May Town Center for the incarcerated along its access corridor: Residents of Cockrill Bend--Um, well, yes, you're incarcerated, so on the downside, it'll be more traffic with no corresponding increase in family visits. On the upside, a pedestrian friendly bridge will make crossing the Cumberland much easier if you are able to escape and head west. ...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Jun 23 - 5 clicks
So, in endorsing 3 bridges to get people out of Greater Nashville and into Bells Bend, is Planning Director Rick Bernhardt attempting to be the Robert Moses of our city? ...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Jun 23 - 4 clicks
Before the Planning Commission and Metro Council jump into bed with the Giarratana development team on May Town Center, they better think about how it could actually destroy prospects for new urbanism in Nashville. Jeff Woods with the prognosis : The planning staff says we should all accept May Town because it now includes so-called New Urbanism concepts --bells and whistles like sidewalks an...
Enclave: Nashville North-by-Northwest - Jun 23 - 4 clicks
“Small business owners like Chris and Becky Link in Nashville are also struggling. They’ve always wanted to do right by the workers at their family-run marketing firm, but they’ve recently had to do the unthinkable and lay off a number of employees — layoffs that could have been deferred, they say, if health care costs [...]...
The Donkey's Mouth - Jun 22 - 4 clicks
The Memphis Music Magnet - a project spearheaded by the always creative Professor Charles Santo - is based on the premise that musicians can make equally beautiful music in revitalizing the Soulsville neighborhood. More to the point, it's about building a culture of creativity that in the end can be more important in attracting young, college-educated to Memphis than the big projects that a...
Smart City Memphis - Jun 21 - 4 clicks
