Below is a link to the crime reference sheet that was distributed at our most recent community meetings as requested. Thank you for your positive feedback and please share with your neighbors.
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-Hy0ONzShrzdkMzYld6UTNEekU
Community gets involved for positive change 7:11 PM, May. 10, 2012 Written by Derrick Dalton Tennesean
“We moved here six years ago, and we knew that this was the up and coming place. It’s like what East Nashville was 10 years ago.”
An Antioch resident made that comment at one of the Planning Department’s public meetings earlier this month, describing how she had come here from California and deliberately settled in an area that had great potential for growth and positive change.
And she’s not alone in feeling that way about Antioch. When I talk to other parents during school activities there, or to other fathers at the barbershop while our sons are getting their weekly haircuts, it’s obvious that many of us believe Antioch can still be an economically viable community. There are some challenges, no question. Major retail businesses have been leaving the area, and there’s widespread concern about crime and safety, even though Metro Police Department statistics for the 37013 ZIP code show overall major crime is down nearly 15 percent in the first four months of this year compared to 2011.
Antioch residents have been sharing their thoughts about those and other issues at a series of Planning Department public meetings as our planners work to update the Antioch/Priest Lake Community Plan, which guides growth and development in an area bounded roughly by Interstates 40 and 24, Harding Place and the county line.
Listening to the community is always the first step; then, planners draft an update, get more public comments, and finally take it to the Planning Commission for approval. That process will continue through this summer and into the fall; the next public meeting is May 17 from 6-8 p.m. at Lakeshore Christian Church, 5434 Bell Forge Lane E.
We encourage everyone with an interest in Antioch’s future to join us and be heard. Online surveys and other opportunities for feedback are linked on the Planning Department’s webpage at www.nashville.gov/mpc.
So far, residents and business owners tell us that they’re optimistic about a better future for Antioch, one that includes less crowded streets, better housing, more sidewalks, more local jobs (95.5 percent of working-age residents are employed, compared to 92 percent countywide, but many of them hold jobs outside Antioch), places for young people to gather and — probably the one we have heard most — a return of strong and varied retail options to Antioch’s economic scene.
Improvements are already under way, including a Metro library and community center at Hickory Hollow Mall, along with a branch campus of Nashville State Community College.
Antioch is actually in better shape than most of us realize, and the updated Community Plan, based on the thoughts and needs of the people who actually live, work, do business, and go to school there, will provide guidance for an even stronger future.
When Nashville Mayor Karl Dean proposed the city's first property tax increase in seven years in his May 1 State of Metro address, his hardest work still lay ahead. In these economic times, a tax hike is a tough sell, and Dean didn't waste any time before making the pitch.
In his first term, Dean cut $59.2 million out of the city's operating budget and decreased the Metro workforce by 688 employees. Now he is arguing that by picking up this political grenade, he, not those who would cut the budget further, is the one making the "tough decision" so often called for in times of economic distress.
Since the address, he's put on the full-court press, sending out an email urging citizens to call their Metro Council members in support of the proposal and sitting down for interviews with various local media outlets.
"We're at a point now, if we cut further — and we are actually eliminating $3 million from operating budgets — to the level you would need to cut and not have a tax increase, you would be talking about cuts that would definitely go into muscle," he said in a meeting last week with staffers from the Scene and The City Paper. "We'd have to lay off 200 police officers, 200 firefighters, 200 teachers, close all the branch libraries, close all of the community centers. And you still wouldn't be there."
Dean is proposing a 53-cent increase for residents in Davidson County's Urban Services District — the more densely populated inner core, where more services are available — and, after a recent change, a 48-cent increase for those in the General Services District, the suburban areas where fewer Metro services are available. (The 53-cent hike to the city's $4.13 tax rate is an overall rise of 12.83 percent.) The proposals are just below the figures that would have triggered a public referendum on the issue.
But there have still been signs of pushback from the public. In a Twitter post last week, Councilwoman Emily Evans said she had received "a gazillion more emails" from people opposed to the tax increase and upset that Dean had asked them to contact council members. The Nashville Tea Party has called a meeting this Thursday, May 10, to rally members against the proposal. And now Dean must win over a young council, which includes only five members who have ever voted on a property tax change. Three more are running as Democrats for seats in the deep-red state legislature, and may reasonably worry about the political consequences of supporting a tax increase. Dean's premise is that a tax increase is, by far, the lesser of two evils — the greater of which simply can't be tolerated. But while he says it's really true this time, there are those who won't hear a bar of that ditty.
"Every property tax increase you get is either for the children, or we're going to cut police or we're going to close your parks — we're going to make it hurt," says Councilman Robert Duvall, who is running for a state seat as a Republican. "So everyone that's afraid they'll really do that shakes in their shoes and goes ahead and goes along with it rather than face the reality."
Councilman Charlie Tygard, who has survived property-tax debates under previous mayoral administrations, says he's not committed one way or the other but is "skeptical at this stage." He explains it's hard to know the council's temperature on the proposal right now, as it should be. "I'm trying to tell folks that most reasonable, rational, thoughtful council members have not taken a position one way or another and will not until the council goes through its deliberations and talks to department heads," Tygard tells the Scene. "Certainly the mayor is meeting with individual council members one on one and is very committed from his standpoint.
"There's a lot of work to be done. We're just in the first quarter of a situation that, in many cases, takes overtime to decide."
The first meeting of the Steering Committee for the Undeveloped Nashboro Parcels will take place on tomorrow, Tuesday, May 8 @ 6:30 pm in Fairway Villas. Joining the steering committee will be former councilman and attorney John Summers, former councilman and attorney Sam Coleman and current councilman and architect Fabian Bedne.
Minutes of the meeting from last week held at the Nashboro Golf Clubhouse are available thanks to Attorney Alma Sanford. Please contact me if you are interested in receiving a copy. I will not be posting these on our blog, twitter, facebook pages to the general public during this two week period as we are planning for our presentation to the Metro Planning Commission.
SAVE THE DATE - to join the steering committee at the Metro Planning Commission meeting Thursday, May 24 at 4:00 pm, 700 Second Avenue South (Howard Office Building). We Need Your Support! Please Help as we need to have a strong showing from our community. __________________________________________________________________________
Below is a link to the crime reference sheet that was distributed at our most recent community meetings as requested. Thank you for your positive feedback and please share with your neighbors. https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-Hy0ONzShrzdkMzYld6UTNEekU
Save the Date - another community meeting is being scheduled as requested by everyone in attendance at last weeks meeting at the Nashboro Golf Clubhouse for Monday, May 14 at 6:30 pm. The location will be decided by the steering committee and additional details will be emailed soon. Thank you.
Reported By Heather Jensen, Reporter - bio | email
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -
Goodwill Industries is hosting a week-long hiring blitz in north Nashville starting Monday to help decrease the high number of unemployed Tennessee residents.
Goodwill Week begins May 7 with a job fair at the main Career Solutions Center in Nashville at 937 Herman Street. Over 30 employers will be on site during the four hour fair starting at 10 a.m.
Goodwill is expecting hundreds of job seekers at the fair and those attending should come prepared with resumes, a photo ID, and a Social Security card or birth certificate. Job candidates are also encouraged to dress for success as many companies will be conducting on-site interviews.
Recently released data shows a high number of Tennesseans are unemployed. In March, unemployment numbers were down to an average of 7.9 percent statewide. Some counties were double that rate. The problem is not just in the Mid-state, numbers also show states across the nation with high unemployment rates. On Friday, national unemployment rates were released. The rate dropped from 8.2 to 8.1 percent in April. Analysts said the drop occurred because people gave up looking for work. The government only counts people as unemployed if they are actively looking for work. Only 115,000 jobs were added, well below what was expected.
Goodwill Industries is hoping to help people who don't have jobs to find them. Betty Johnson with Goodwill Industries explained that the week has multiple events to help job seekers succeed.
"We've got workshops going on, how to create your resume, how to dress for success, how to know how to interact with the people at the job fair." She continued, "People need to be trained on how to be successful at a job fair. And we're not just doing that here, we're doing that throughout middle Tennessee at many of our 17 career centers outside of this center right here in downtown." The job fair runs May 7 through May 11 throughout Tennessee.
For a full list of job fair locations, events, and other information, visit the company's Web site
Thank you to all who participated and helped to make a difference in our community.
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Below is a link to the crime reference sheet that was distributed at our most recent community meetings as requested.
Thank you for your positive feedback and please share with your neighbors.
A community meeting is being scheduled regarding the tax increase proposal. Also a neighborhood watch/leader meeting with the Hermitage Precinct is being scheduled. When these are confirmed, they will be emailed. Thank you.
