News 2 and Messed Up have been inundated recently with a string of emails from concerned citizens about the homeless problem in downtown Nashville.
A vast majority of these residents, civic leaders, and business owners have written to Nashville Mayor Karl Dean to see if a dialogue can be developed that will eventually lead to a plan that works for everyone.
Many of these citizens tell Messed Up they have communicated with the police force and other agencies in the city, but they want to hear from the mayor to see what his strategy is.
One of these concerned citizens is Carolyn Ridley who lives in the upscale Cumberland building on Church Street.
Ridley says she and her husband are trying to sell their penthouse but the homeless population at the park across the street is severely jeopardizing that possibility.
“I love living downtown. There is a lot to do. We are so close to everything. For various reasons we are selling. But I am concerned. A realtor brought buy a buyer, she rode by the park, and the
Prequalified buyer saw the homeless, and she said I don’t want to go in the building. She said this scares me enough, if I have to be here, I don’t want to look here as a place to live.”
Ridley and other residents tell Messed Up city’s like Brentwood and Belle Meade wouldn’t accept this, and neither should residents’ downtown who pay an extra tax to live here.
“I have a lot of compassion for the homeless. We need solutions. I wrote to the mayor to suggest solutions. We need solutions that reflect compassion for homeless but wont compromise our life styles or our property values or diminish property values, and won’t effect economic development for the city of Nashville.”
Ridley talks about angry confrontations with vagrants while walking her dogs. She talks about having the police number programmed into her speed dial just in case. She talks about watching homeless people washing their clothes in the downtown fountain and it taking hours for the police to respond.
“I think we need the mayor, and the urban residential association to get involved. There have been many emails to fix the problem.
I have written the Mayor, and I would like a response. Thus far the mayor has not responded. I am concerned about that.”
RJ Stillwell is CEO and Founding Partner of Sound Healthcare. He too lives in the Cumberland and he was a mayor supporter during the election. Now Stillwell says it is time for the mayor to get involved.
“Downtown residents generate a lot of tax revenue. Downtown represents an image for the city. We love being pioneers. But there is no concerted effort between government and law enforcement.
We don’t have sufficient laws on the books to put teeth into what officer can do.”
Stillwell says he travels to New York City often and he says per capita, Nashville’s homeless problem is worse than the big apple’s.
“Juliani cleaned it up. He altered their laws to impact it.”
I ask Stillwell about his email campaign to the mayor’s office.
“We want leadership from the mayor. I supported the mayor in his campaign. We want a concerted effort between businesses and government and residents and police to find appropriate solutions.
The penthouse dweller says he is frustrated by the silence coming from the mayor’s office on this issue.
“We have had an email stream with people heavily vested in downtown and there have been multiple efforts to reach the mayor for a response and get some action.”
“Is he ducking the issue?”
“No I don’t think so. I know he is a busy man. But our property values, based on square footage are among the highest in city and we even pay an extra level of tax that nobody else pays. We deserve leadership on the issue.”
Messed Up also requests an interview with Mayor Karl Dean. We are directed to Lt. Andrea Swisher in Metro Police Central Precinct.
“We provide a highly visible police presence.”
Swisher tells me that Metro Officers are much more aggressive this year than last year initiating contact downtown on issues involving the homeless.
“We had a 245 % increase in community contacts in and around that area. Up and down Church Street. We have 7 bike officers actively patrolling on bikes and scooters and walking. What I want to stress is this is not just a police issue; it’s a social service issue and community issue at large. Maybe what they are seeing are due to the lack of resources. They are short on outreach workers. Look at the homeless count, 2,000 people counted in February considered to be homeless. Look at that number and these are intensive cases. You have people with addictions and mental illnesses. It is labor intensive. Look at the resources, not enough. We need more.
Swisher says Metro officers issued over 1,800 citations for things like aggressive pan handling and open containers. Swisher says there are little to no repercussions for violators who don’t show up for court or pay fines.
We contacted Cliff Treadway at the Nashville Rescue Mission who said this:
“The Nashville Rescue Mission offers a live recovery place.
Here they start by first taking care of their basic human needs such as food, clothing and shelter. They then have a recovery program that helps the homeless transition back into a productive lifestyle by arranging day labor jobs as well as educating them how to stay productive.”
Treadway adds:
30% of the homeless have mental illness; Nashville rescue mission lends space to the mental help co-op which treats the homeless with mental illness and drug addiction through rehabilitation and medication
They only have around 30 volunteers working because those are the only citizens who came by, signed up, and are willing to donate their time.
The Nashville rescue mission passed out near 700,000 meals to the homeless last year
Funding comes from donations by businesses and individuals
Last year the Nashville rescue mission took in $12,111,649 in donations
Their expenses cover food and clothing distribution, transient services, rehabilitation services, public awareness and fund raising.
Below are some of the emails from downtown citizens to the mayor’s office:
My name is Susan Castle. I have a law practice and a store on Church Street and own the property I work in. My employees are harassed on a regular basis by folks living on the street. Last week one of the young women who work for me had to call the police after a homeless man came into the store multiple times and was threatening her. The police came and arrested him. The following morning the man was waiting for her to arrive at the front door of the store at opening time. Fortunately, one of my older employees was working that day and she knew how to handle the situation. This is scary stuff to think that someone is waiting for you because you called the police after they repeatedly harassed you. It’s bad for business.
Susan Castle
Attorney
Downtown Shop Owner
Downtown Property Owner
Dear Mayor Dean and Commander Huggins
Another Sunday in downtown Nashville, wishing you guys were here to see the numerous homeless people that are currently occupying our neighborhood. Today, my girlfriend had to walk on the street in order to be able to pass a group of homeless people congregating and blocking the sidewalk, complete with suitcases, bags, etc. Today is one of the worst days yet, the park is full. My assumption is that we are the “benefactors” of the closure of tent city.
As the days go by and our situation only gets worse, it makes me wonder if I made a mistake moving downtown.
When I made the move, Church Street was being remodeled; the Viridian was under construction as well as the Symphony, the Encore, the Suntrust building and all of the other downtown condos built downtown in the last few years. I noted that the First Museum, The Country Music Hall of Fame, the Titans Stadium and what is now the Bridgestone Center had all been built and I saw a city on the move. A city that I was proud to be a part of and to live in. I believed in our city and its leaders and their ability to get things done.
Is it lack of community involvement? Is it lack of focus, leadership? Are we as a city pushing ahead with the big plan of the new convention center and soon to be announced hotel that we are just not dealing with this issue? I would use the excuse of the flood, except that we had this problem before the flood and have not dealt with it.
I recently talked with Laura Jumonville with the Key Alliance and last year talked to Mr. Harris. They are both people of passion trying to deal with this issue but the reality is that they are underfunded and have long term goals that are not going to bring any immediate relief to our situation should they ever manage to get funded.
Did I make a mistake? Does living or working downtown mean that we must be confronted with this issue every time we walk out our front doors? Do I need just to accept that nothing is going to be done? Do I need to give up and reconcile myself to the fact that nothing is going to be done?
I am not a quitter; I don’t believe that the situation that exists has to be this way. I don’t believe that this level of homelessness would be accepted in other neighborhoods and other communities.
I am thinking that there are a lot of us that feel the same way.
If you are receiving this email and wish to be taken off the list let me know and I won’t bother you any more. If you know people that feel the same way, let me have their email addresses so that I can add them to our list so that we can collectively have a voice and be heard. If you are feeling the way I am, speak out, add your voice to mine and the others that have responded to this series of emails and send an email to our Mayor and our police force. There may not be an immediate resolution to the homeless issue but we should expect that more be done for us. We are being pushed to being on the front lines of this issue. Add your voice.
Bob Watson
I experienced the same this weekend. I headed up 7th to avoid the park, but Capitol Blvd. was the same all the way up to Sheraton. I crossed the street to War Memorial, however it was no different.
To those people that are in a position to make changes, please know where all this comes from. We love Nashville and our neighborhood; it’s why we chose to work, live, play, and invest here.
We are asking that we do what ever it takes to make this situation better. It’s working in other cities. Why not here? I don’t want another ten year plan. What ever is happening now is clearly not working. This is NOT a case of being uncompassionate with people. What laws are in place to prevent this in other cities and what do we need to do to implement them?
If we don’t do something, people will eventually shut up and move away.
Commander Hugging-I hear you and thank you for responding. Why have we not heard from anyone else?
I agree that the quality of life concerns are important and we at Central Precinct are committed to re-doubling our efforts in this area. I have been working within the Department and with Metro legal and the Homelessness Commission members for many months on some remedies to keep those that are chronic offenders that commit repeated crimes in custody longer and attempt to get them individualized treatment for long term solutions to just this type concern. We are also very near being able to add some teeth to some ordinance issues that in the past have only resulted in basically warnings ( Your Central Precinct officers issued approx. 1,800 of these quality of life ordinance violations just last year). Just over 6 months into 2010 the area mentioned has been impacted due to environmental changes in the surrounding area from flood, to water main breaks and street closures that are ongoing. The CMA and Bonnaroo Festival also bring in transient issues each year that remain after the events are gone from Nashville. These conditions may very well have increased the public space use in this area. Knowing these conditions existed and the patterns of the year prior we have already increased community contacts in the immediate several block area by 225 percent over this same period last year, business checks have been increased by 200 percent in this immediate area as well. The largest crime category for downtown by volume, (thefts), is also down in this area over the same year to year comparison. All this to say we are hard at work addressing issues, with the laws available to us, and we continue to work at addressing these concerns daily. I will also continue to look to find ways to improve. You have my continued commitment to every person downtown that we will be responsive and attentive to our community and downtown issues. I would ask that you continue to call us on incidents using 862-8600, (911 if emergency), to have us check out suspicious or other activity that gives rise to your concerns. The laws currently limit how much we can interact with individual use of public space/benches, but we can always do welfare checks and be a presence that will often have a deterrent effect and check for other detectable issues while there. Officers will be encouraged to get out on these calls and make these one on one contacts and welfare checks to have a greater presence when we are called. I have contacted the Metro Parks Police and requested their coverage in the Church St. Park by their officers and have been advised they will be assisting in the Park. The downtown partnership and Block by Block has also met with me and discussed options on their end to coordinate efforts and will be assisting. I hope the long term efforts in this regard will reduce the negative issues, not just for a summer, but for the long haul. Please remember to participate in your neighborhood watch groups and attend these meetings so we can get these communication lines developed and sustained. Our partnership within the community truly compounds our ability to be proactive and respond to concerns or changes in our downtown area. Your contact at the Central Precinct to set up a meeting, safety instruction, neighborhood watch group or other information about services we can offer is Sergeant David Rueff or Lieutenant Ben Rodgers at Central Precinct 862-7611.
According to the Better Business Bureau of Middle Tennessee; if a contractor asks you for up front money to start a job, tell them you need to make a few calls and check a few things out before you authorize any work.
Linda Messinger wishes she had done just that.
The Sumner county elementary school teacher and church piano player is out more than 4,000 dollars because she paid some contractors $4,700 up front money.
What did she get for that?
She painted a 12 foot deep pool by herself; WITH A SPONGE!
Messinger sued the men, Greg and Jim Aanderud in Sumner County Court.
The Judge made her pay 500 dollars for some power washing that was done, and she awarded the Hendersonville woman $4,200.
Messinger hasn’t seen a dime of that money and her pool still needs work.
“I am a trusting person. I trust people I look for the good in people. I don’t look for red flags,” Messinger tells me, paint brush in hand.
Using court documents, Messed Up calls numbers and bangs on doors listed to the Aanderuds.
We find nobody and get no calls back.
On a return visit to the apartment listed as Greg Aanderud’s residence, a maintenance man tells us he was evicted some weeks earlier.
Where he is now is unclear.
Covered with paint and filled with frustration, Messinger looks in the camera and says this to the men who allegedly took her money and left her holding a sponge.
“Some day you will answer for this maybe not in this world but some day you will.”
Messed Up spoke to a Sumner County attorney familiar with the Aanderuds. We asked him to get a message to the men to contact us. We’re still waiting.
At our request; The Sumner County Sheriff’s Department investigated the Aanderuds, but officers tell us the issue was less a crime, and more a civil matter.
Messed Up viewer Jewell Haas sent us this photo from Panama City Beach. She took it from the balcony of the resort she was staying in.
She titled the photo: Oil in Panama City Beach.
Messed Up called her to get more details and she says she discovered, in her words;
“It turned out to be schools of fish!”
That was surprisingly good news from a section of the world many Middle Tennesseans frequent.
Thanks to Jewell for keeping us in mind.
The sign says: Welcome to Inglewood. It’s where we want to live.
Residents in this quaint suburb of Nashville say they want to live here, but it’s increasingly difficult when so many trucks zip down streets not built to handle the load.
According to a 2008 Metro Public Works traffic survey: more than 1,700 vehicles a day traverse through a very small Inglewood neighborhood tucked between Gallatin Road, and a series of rail road tracks.
According to the traffic study, 52,000 vehicles a month travel down Maynor and Iverson, and Coney and West Kirkland, where the speed limit is 30 mph.
Many of these vehicles are headed to a business park on West Kirkland that is the hub for 25 businesses.
And that’s the rub.
Big trucks, traveling too fast on streets not designed for this volume of traffic.
So why are trucks on these streets?
They should come and go from West Kirkland, but many trucks miss the turn and use other roads leading through the neighborhoods.
The turn at West Kirkland is also restrictive from Gallatin road due to a rail road bridge that severely affects how vehicles can turn onto and off of Gallatin road.
According to Jack Curtis, trucks have hit guard rails, utility poles, and fire hydrants.
Curtis says at least once a week, a semi truck travels down a street that clearly prohibits loads bigger than 26,000 pounds. More than once a week, the electrician says one of those big rigs gets hung up in front of his house.
The man who lives on the corner of Iverson and Coney says he is afraid that is just a matter of time before a child is injured or killed.
“Will it take a kid getting run over by one of these vehicles?
These trucks fly through here. They throw garbage in the streets.
I want to tell them. We are going to close this road. All our constituents are fed up. We can’t stop progress, but we want an access cut.
Curtis is suggesting a road be built from the business park on West Kirkland across the rail road tracks, through an electrical sub station and onto Home Road which also leads to Gallatin road and other major thoroughfares.
Messed Up asks Metro Public Works about this plan and we are told that the agency has invested many hours studying this problem and to date, nothing that works for everyone has been adopted.
Gwen Hopkins of Metro Public Works says the council voted by a 4-3 hand vote to ban all trucks over 26,000 pounds on Iverson Avenue, Maynor Avenue, Coney Street. - Effective August 2009.
She says signs for truck weight restrictions were installed in August 2009.
Hopkins adds that if trucks are not obeying the restriction, it would be an enforcement issue.
Metro Police tell Messed Up, in the last five years, officers have written 2,500 citations or warning tickets to vehicles in these neighborhoods.
The owner of American Business Park is John Stephenson. By phone he tells me this:
“Basically, we’ve been to the meetings. The industrial park was there before those houses. I came up with a left hand turn lane. I was willing to subsidize some of it. I am trying to get the city to meet me part way. But they don’t want to do it. It is very difficult to get into the place. We have been trying to work with the community to make it work. I don’t like using the street anymore than they want us to.
I have encouraged our tenants not to use it as well. I have spent a lot of money for attorneys. They were going to restrict our access, with no trucks. We compromised at 26,000 pounds. It was industrial before it was homes.”
I ask Stephenson how difficult it would be tear out the median near West Kirkland and move the rail road bridge.
“We would have to dig out the median, and dig out the Inglewood sign and relocate that. I have hired a traffic study. I would end up spending 50k and it doesn’t solve all the problems. I have notified the truck drivers here is the way to do it. I have had community meetings.
Stephenson says 25 businesses now call his business park home.
Inglewood Councilwoman Karen Bennett has been on this issue for years.
“The issue is a frustrating situation. Geographically it is a bad location for a business district to exist near a residential area and railroad tracks that is blocking them in. Neighbors are tired of the trucks and we have been dealing with this for three years. We have restrictions on large semis, but they are not all complying. We had this fire plug run over and it ran for hours, the driver kept going. There is speeding in the community and the residents are frustrated.”
Bennett tells me that the business complex has every right to be here, and is zoned correctly.
Mark Macy is a senior official at the Department of Public Works. I asked him about the problem and here is what he says:
“The median is part of the problem. Mr. Stephenson (the business park owner) claims a turn lane here will make things safer for traffic. Get me a traffic engineer with a study to say that. We don’t think it would be safer, or we’d have done it. There are site distance issues. If you take out the median, then people coming out will make an illegal left and cause too many problems.
Also, if they want to develop a turn lane, they should submit, plans specs and cost estimates to build a turn lane. There is storm drain culvert under all this. We would need the correct site distance calculations to make sure we are covered. Also we would need to ask for permission from the rail road if it is needed. Not sure, but it is right near their pier. Some of the work would occur in a rail road easement. Then we’d expect him to pay.”
I ask if the city would pay for the job.
“That’s up to the council,” Macy says. “Normally we get council to approve a project in capital budget and if it is in the capital improvement budget, a wish list, then we asks them to appropriate funds. That is not my call.”
Macy says the problem is the neighborhood is between rail road tracks and Gallatin road. He says all this was built before zoning and planning departments were around. “If there was a solution, we would have found it all ready. This is one of the toughest ones we have seen for a resolution,” Macy added.
Who spray painted over the Nolensville Road Zoo mural that has acted as a visual gateway to the zoo for the last 3 years?
Thousands of you see this art work every day as you pass under the railroad bridge.
Mike Cooper is the artist who painted the mural. Cooper painted the work in 2007 at the request of the Flat Rock Community.
For three years the mural remained pristine.
Then, recently, an idiot with a spray paint can went wild and desecrated the columns, painting over the zoo critters.
“That sucks,” muralist Mike Cooper says getting his first glimpse of the graffiti.
“It is not only disrespectful to me, it is my art, but this was made for the community and the people. From a disrespectful standpoint, you are disrespecting your community and the city. What they don’t understand is they are disrespecting themselves. For them to do this, they are dissin themselves.”
Cooper pulls out some paint solvent and a scrub brush. His initial plan is to see if he can lift the spray paint off his art work.
At first, the spray paint comes up. Cooper is encouraged. But then, he realizes, to get the lime green paint off the monkey, he has to scrub the monkey’s face off. It’s frustrating to this professional who says this is one of the few times he has ever had to deal with this type of issue.
“Theoretically you leave it alone. It is like a professional courtesy. You don’t tag someone else’s artwork. This is not artwork. This is dog’s marking their territory. You don’t do that. There are other ways, you want to fight? How bout spray cans at 20 paces?”
Cooper also painted the Mural on Jefferson Street that was plagued with vandalism.
Cooper eventually put a special clear coat on top of the art, which will allow for quick clean up in the future, without harming the artwork underneath. Cooper says, sadly, he will do the same thing at the zoo once he repaints it.
“This is what I do. I paint murals. I don’t erase graffiti. I paint murals!
Messed Up sends the artwork to metro police. A sergeant on the gang task force tells us that the graffiti has been spotted around South Nashville, but the “tagging” is not affiliated with any gangs known throughout Music City.
By the end of the 4th of July holiday, Cooper had repainted the mural.
South Nashville Councilwoman Anna Page says the clean up cost was extensive.
“Flat Rock Heritage Foundation approved $3,500 last night to pay for the repairs. We will also ask local businesses to help with some of the funding. This is a big hit to our budget!”
A few weeks ago, Messed Up viewer, Glenda Reavis presented us with a problem.
Reavis claims she brought her dog to the veterinarian for a routine check up. She says, the procedure cost $57.75. Reavis tells Messed Up she checked her receipt and everything looked fine, until she got home and read her bank statement.
That’s when she got a serious case of sticker shock.
According to Reavis, the animal hospital charged her 100 times that amount for a whopping $5,775!
That’s a serious mistake, especially for a woman on a fixed income.
Reavis claims that a month passed and the veterinarian still had not refunded her the money charged to her account. Reavis says she took the problem up with her bank and the animal hospital but neither was any help. She was frustrated and didn’t know what to do so that is when she contacted Messed Up.
We learned that the card over charged was a debit and it was affiliated with Visa. We presented her a few suggestions and then advised her to bring this issue up with Visa.
Reavis says, because of our advice, people started to listen, and soon she had a successful remedy.
We are happy to inform you that Visa was able to get her money back from the animal hospital.
A friend of the family wrote to thank us. Actually, she mostly thanked Messed Up super intern: Evan Latham, who worked tirelessly on this issue for the Reavis family.
Evan,
I just want to say thank you for all your help with getting my friend, Glenda Reavis, money back from a local vet that had charged her $5,775.00 instead of $57.75. You gave her suggestions to try that lead to her getting every penny back and she got it back fast. Evan, you made her a very happy woman and for that we are very grateful. If not for all your hard work, I’m not sure if she would have all her money to this day, so again I say thank you and God bless you in all that you do. Channel 2 is the best, and has a great employee, THANKS EVAN YOUR THE BEST!!
Forever a fan, Candice Hunt
Evan had a big smile on his face when he read this letter, so thanks for sending it Candice!
It’s been more than 2 months since flood waters saturated and destroyed Middle Tennessee.
In that time, many of us have cleaned up and moved on. Many more citizens are still dealing with this disaster.
That’s the case for an Antioch couple who have been literally camping out in their trailer since the flood subsided.
Luz and William Rives (pronounced Reeves) have a few electrical devices like a fan, a coffee pot and a fridge. And all of it is powered thanks to a heavy duty electrical cord that is plugged into a neighbor’s home 200 feet away.
Luz and William have been married for 42 years. The couple would like life to get back to normal, but they say they are patient people and many have suffered worse than they have.
“We are borrowing power from our next door neighbor,” the woman with the Omni-present smile tells me.
“How hot has it been?”
“Up to 110 degrees in here one day. Man we were sweating really bad.”
The couple’s trailer is filled with supplies and tools. There are no inside walls, only wooden two by fours criss crossing where walls will hopefully one day create rooms.
I notice the couple’s bed on one side of the trailer and the toilet on the other side of the home.
There are no walls and subsequently there is no privacy.
Luz smiles through it all. “I am grateful. We had so much help. To stay in our own home. And I would have to pay rent somewhere else.”
“We’re camping out,” she will say numerous times.
The couple tells me that they did get a FEMA check. They tell me that they could have moved out, they tell me they could have hired their own trailer company to raise their trailer, but since Country Meadows Trailer Park is paying for the work, the couple will deal with the heat and the lack of privacy.
So what’s taking so long I ask?
“It’s not that easy,” Dean Cooper of Cooper mobile homes will tell me.
The flood plane has changed. So trailers like the Rives’ will have to be raised, at least two feet.
How is that computed?
It starts with an independent surveyor hired by the trailer park. Those findings are then submitted to Metro Storm Water. Once Storm Water signs off, the paper work is sent to Metro Codes. Codes can then issue a permit to the trailer owner to move the trailer, once the trailer has been fortified and stabilized to withstand the move.
Then a company like Cooper trailers moves the trailer, dumps new dirt in the old lot, levels it, digs footings, and then reinstalls the trailer several feet higher than it was. Once codes reinspects this, then NES electricians can come and restore power to the trailer.
It all takes time and it all takes permits.
Triva Howe is the trailer park manager. She says the company has been flying along getting homes repaired and moved.
“We raised 12 homes in 2 days. Nobody has ever seen that done before. Cooper did it.”
Further slowing the process according to Howe; the homes must all be set at the same level, which requires all the surveying to be completed so everyone will know just how high to raise the trailers.
“We can’t have one house 5 feet high and another one 8 feet, and one four feet. If we do it will be a domino effect.”
Byron Hall is the Chief Building Inspector for the Metro Codes Department.
“It takes time to get your arms around this. I’m not sure any department had a policy in place that dealt with a 500 year flood.”
Tim Hill at NES tells Messed Up:
“Once we get a release from codes that electrical is safe we will restore power to that residence. By state law we have to wait for authorization. When I say this, I mean for flood related homes, we are waiving reconnect fees but for bad credit customers we are not waiving the fee. We require a payment or a deposit to reinstall power. If there is outstanding bills customers will have to catch up and make a deposit.”
Dean Cooper of Cooper Mobile Homes says:
“If I had a permit, we could do two double wides a day. But there is a lot of stuff involved. You gotta get permits.”
We have an update on a Messed Up sidewalk in Lakewood.
The family initially contacted us complaining that the sidewalk in front of their home was too steep and not wheel chair accessible.
Messed Up went to city hall to get some answers.
City Officials said they would look into the matter, but as of this date, it seems like little has been done.
Jeff Houghton, whose mother uses a wheel chair, says “The city has yet to address the sidewalk issue. I have filed a formal complaint with the US DOJ/Civil Rights Division’s section on Americans with Disabilities Act. I have called a couple of times to follow up with the DOJ and was told it could take months. The last follow up was this past Friday July 2, 2010.
My sister and I are moving forward with building an ADA ramp off the porch. The ramp will be a bridge to nowhere since my mom won’t be able to get off the public sidewalk without us carrying her. Yesterday evening I watched the other ADA neighbor ride up and down the middle of the street since he couldn’t get on the sidewalk. One evening he will get hit by a car and all that will be said by our city leaders is “I am sorry to hear this grave news”.
Our attempts to reach the Lakewood City manager proved unsuccessful.
Kurt writes,
It simply amazes me that all this bull about how the Music City Center will bring more jobs to Nashville. I am a currently an employed electrician and I was hoping to get a job working on the MCC. My investigation has revealed that the electrical contract has been issued by Clark Construction to Conti Electric, a company based in Michigan. Not only that, but after contacting Conti Electric I found out that they are a union company and will only be hiring from the IBEW. The unions are dead and the ratio of unemployed or underpaid non-union electricians in middle Tennessee compared to the number of unemployed IBEW members in the local economy, I think, must be a staggering difference. So far it seems that all contracts issued are currently going to out of state contractors. THAT’S MESSED UP! And I’ll probably end up paying for it in higher taxes!
by
News 2 and Messed Up have been inundated recently with a string of emails from concerned citizens about the homeless problem in downtown Nashville.
“I love living downtown. There is a lot to do. We are so close to everything. For various reasons we are selling. But I am concerned. A realtor brought buy a buyer, she rode by the park, and the
Ridley talks about angry confrontations with vagrants while walking her dogs. She talks about having the police number programmed into her speed dial just in case. She talks about watching homeless people washing their clothes in the downtown fountain and it taking hours for the police to respond.
I ask Stillwell about his email campaign to the mayor’s office.
It’s one of the biggest red flags there is.
What did she get for that?
On a return visit to the apartment listed as Greg Aanderud’s residence, a maintenance man tells us he was evicted some weeks earlier.
She took it from the balcony of the resort she was staying in.
The sign says: Welcome to Inglewood. It’s where we want to live.
They should come and go from West Kirkland, but many trucks miss the turn and use other roads leading through the neighborhoods.
The man who lives on the corner of Iverson and Coney says he is afraid that is just a matter of time before a child is injured or killed.
“That sucks,” muralist Mike Cooper says getting his first glimpse of the graffiti.
“This is what I do. I paint murals. I don’t erase graffiti. I paint murals!
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In that time, many of us have cleaned up and moved on. Many more citizens are still dealing with this disaster.
“Up to 110 degrees in here one day. Man we were sweating really bad.”
So what’s taking so long I ask?
Then a company like Cooper trailers moves the trailer, dumps new dirt in the old lot, levels it, digs footings, and then reinstalls the trailer several feet higher than it was. Once codes reinspects this, then NES electricians can come and restore power to the trailer.
Byron Hall is the Chief Building Inspector for the Metro Codes Department. 
