Comment Archives: stories: News: Woods
Re: “Council members feel the burn as the Music City Center fight heats up”
I imagine Dr. Heyward will talk about St Louis, Atlanta, Miami, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Louiville, Las Vegas, Orlando, Honolulu, Detroit, Raleigh, Kansas City, Seattle, Memphis, Knoxville, Myrtle Beach and any of the countless other examples of publicly financed convention facilities which failed to meet long term consultant expectations and pie-in-the-sky economic promises. St Louis will be brought up simply as the most glaring and tragically laughable example of a city that thought it had a brand that must be protected and invested in. I am not amazed that there is only one Dr. Heyward, what I am amazed about is that there is not anyone who travels the nation talking about all the successes. Dr. Heyward ALWAYS debates a local yokel tourism overlord whose only arguments are their city is not like the 100 other cities that have failed before because they have a brand and the current facility only accommodates 20% of the market.
Re: “Council members feel the burn as the Music City Center fight heats up”
Was this the same Bill Fox who has decried tourism as the poorest excuse for an industry in the state? You should listen to his annual addresses to the Government Finance Officers Association, they have been pretty informative about the "industry" and the economic drag it provides on the state's resources. Tourism and hospitality has the highest numbers of employees on state assistance, highest rates of unemployment, lowest salaries (gross and per capita), and highest level of tax breaks. It is the one industry that never pays off the "investments" governments make on its behalf. The only one. The road is riddled with the broken promises of tourism. Yet it is the only industry that can get away with using those broken promises as proof that more investment is necessary. Tourism is the broken slot machine of the economy. I find it amusing that this one convention center can produce 30,000 jobs while the Great Smoky Mountain National Park was only given credit for creating 15,000 jobs in a recently published and heralded study. Yes, the Music City Center will apparently create twice as many jobs as the most visited national park in the country! My advise, don't believe any tourism person, there is documents proof of 30 years of failure in public financing and zero documented proof of actual success meeting promises. In this fight one set of tourism liars are deflecting attention on yet another set of tourism liars. Those of us with knowledge are left just shaking our heads wondering why no one looks at the real numbers instead of the promises.
Re: “Council members feel the burn as the Music City Center fight heats up”
Hmmm . . . the Gaylord shill, "Moost" Sharp, touts ol' Woody Sanders as an expert. A prof from San Antonio, TX knows Nashville better than Bill Fox, an economist with the University of Tennessee, huh? Tell us, Moostie, who is paying to bring Sanders in again? He's a hired gun, you know. He's been giving this anti-convention center spiel for almost 30 years. How many cities have taken his advice? None, you say. If no one else listens to the crackpot, why should Nashville? Here's another riddle, Moostie, who wrote that Sanders "relies upon notoriously inaccurate data and then reaches conclusions that are based upon simplistic and incomplete analysis"? Yeah, Woody sounds like a real expert. How much do you suppose he'll talk about St. Louis?
Re: “Council members feel the burn as the Music City Center fight heats up”
Ah one of the caffeinated ones laying the ground work to dismiss the preeminent expert on the topic of public financing of convention facilities. Not falling into line on a topic of great financial personal interest to you is no reason to disrespect the scholarly research he has published. It is hard to believe that a Harvard educated, municipal administration Phd knows less than the meeting planners and PR hacks. By all means bring Dr. Sanders back so everyone can hear the dark and truthful numbers from all the other cities that have gone down this disastrous path before us. Maybe someone can challenge his facts and figures with that "Nashville is a brand" mantra.
Re: “Council members feel the burn as the Music City Center fight heats up”
Why is Mike Jameson such a cry baby? He claims he wants a balanced and fair discussion, but he invites Heywood Sanders to come do a hatchet job on the Music City Center next week.
Re: “The Great Gadfly”
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Re: “Pedro Garcia won’t testify in NAACP suit that hinges upon his memos”
Huh? I thought this was supposed to be about Burnett.
Re: “With the GOP stoking anti-Obama resentment, old times here are not forgotten”
I find your "mass-man" Tennessean analysis to be spot on. And a Republican tsunami will be especially good news for the corporate-welfare sector.
Re: “With the GOP stoking anti-Obama resentment, old times here are not forgotten”
I find your "mass-man" Tennessean analysis to be spot on. And a Republican tsunami will be especially good news for the corporate-welfare sector.
Re: “With the GOP stoking anti-Obama resentment, old times here are not forgotten”
Racism comes in all hues of the human skin. Just as it is absolutely true that election opposition to Obama included racists that voted against him because of his skin color, it is equally true that election support for Obama included racists that voted for him because of his skin color. The same can be said about current debates on national issues. However the saddest thing is that the excuse (not reason) of racism is one of the things that seems to fuel the screaming match between extremists on either end of the political spectrum when well-meaning people attempt to rationally discuss those issues. Without rational discussion and compromise leading the way there is a too probable a likelihood of either no reform legislation or bad reform legislation in the end. We all lose as a result, except perhaps for those that are enriching themselves with the status quo.
Re: “With the GOP stoking anti-Obama resentment, old times here are not forgotten”
Same GOP bash is found in most left leaning news media nationwide. Say it is true long enough and the people will believe it was true in the 50-60's. Today's consumers of news are more skeptical of the printed and televised words of wisdom from these sources.
Re: “With the GOP stoking anti-Obama resentment, old times here are not forgotten”
Right you are Chris! Is it any surprise an article, or an editorial as if there is a difference, like this appears in this paper? Don't forget: the left can't argue the points they must resort to calling names: bigot, racist, teabagger, ect.
Re: “With the GOP stoking anti-Obama resentment, old times here are not forgotten”
"It's too white, Southern and cranky, critics say" Here, let me fix that for you... "It's too white, Southern and cranky, Leftist bigots say" There, that's more accurate. What's that? You can't call the president out for lying without being labeled a racist, but you can complain about Caucasians and Southerners by their designations? Say, Mr. Journalist, I bet it would never cross your mind to complain about an NAACP gathering being "too black". Or how about the Congressional Black Caucus? And I suppose you forgot about all the black protestors, volunteers and even entertainers working the 9/12 rallies. Or maybe you just didn't see them. Or bother looking for them. Because you had your own prejudices to protect. If it wasn't for double standards, the politically-correct Left wouldn't have any standards at all. As for Obama, perhaps it's not so much a case of the "GOP" stoking the anti-Obama sentiment (much of the crowds have protested against the Republican party too, but you didn't seem to notice that either), but Obama's own arrogance, narcissicism and corrupt, even criminal associates that are fueling this growing sense of disgust. Nah, it must be "manufactured". Keep telling yourself that.
Re: “Tennessee Democrats blame racism for historic election losses”
Bullshit, considering that Democrats were the most racists towards Republican voters if you would see the historical content. If the idiot democrat supporters keep this claim about voters voting against Obama alive, well it is safe to say that over 90% of Black voters voted for Obama because he was Black.
Re: “Disputed accounts of a secret meeting may affect Metro's rezoning controversy”
Without a recording of the meeting, and if all parties continue to hold to their version of what was said/not said, I don't know how any court can make a decision. Then there is the potential that each party understood the statements through their own personal filters. For instance, one party remembers saying, "The court-ordered busing program was a failure." Another person may have thought they heard, based on their perception, "The court-ordered program didn't keep our schools segregated." Either statement would have been correct, but the intent or interpretation of either statement can be viewed from more than one angle. In the end it appears to me that there are likely still socially backward thinking people (segregationists) just as there are also professional victims (NAACP).
Re: “Disputed accounts of a secret meeting may affect Metro's rezoning controversy”
"But to win, as Vanderbilt law professor Jim Blumstein explains, the plaintiffs don't have to prove all that. All they need to prove is that, in adopting the rezoning plan, school officials were at least partly motivated by race." If so, then how is going back to a plan that was 100% zoned out of racial consideration any kind of remediation? Court-ordered busing was remediation for systemic, institutional racism. That order ended several years ago, and since then we continued to take racial makeup of schools into consideration (primary consideration) for mapping school zones without a court order for cover. Until this year, that is. So I'd like to know from Mr. Blumstien if he feels, in rejecting neighborhood schools as resegregation because of what one person reportedly said, that the court will be comfortable in reverting back to the previous plan that would bus the plaintiffs' child past the neighborhood school and on to Bellevue Middle solely for the expressed desire that more black children go to schools in white/affluent neighborhoods? Or, a better question would be, wouldn't the only way to get the tainting of race out of rezoning be to do away with zoning completely? Given the book shortage fiasco affecting 68 schools, it's not as if zoning kids gives MNPS the ability to start the year without overcrowding and misdirected resources anyway.
Re: “Disputed accounts of a secret meeting may affect Metro's rezoning controversy”
Mr. Woods, Please take a few minutes to examine the lcurrent level of diversity in the Hillsboro and Hillwood cluster schols - that you refer to as "upscale" in your article. Well, the schools may be located in upscale neighborhoods, but most of the school-age children in those neighborhoods do not attend Metro Schools. The current level of both poverty and diversity in these so-called "upscale" schools under the rezoning plan is very high. To describe the results of the rezoning plan as "segregation" is to ignore demographics and facts. How can the rezoning plan be a return to segregated schools when, under the rezoning, the schools are not segregated? Finally, the school system worked hard to give all families a choice about the schools their children attend. Almost all families make a choice. About 50% chose to continue being transported to schools further from their homes while the other 50% chose to attend schools closer to home. Please look into the choice options that were given to families -- how can rezoning result in segregation when most families exercised a choice?
Re: “How can Nashville's rezoning plan work when one school doesn't even have textbooks?”
The situation with the honor student is troubling to say the very least. I too attended Metro schools in the 70's and 80's, we were all terrorized by these troubled kids from the "hood". These kids did not care about school or learning at all, so I know how the little girl feels. This whole idea about neighborhood schools is the best way to go for this city. Our school system suffered after the busing began and maybe this will heal it from the past. Kids should never be forced to travel across town for a better education, we should shift the teachers to the troubled schools and pay them better to go. Also, I thought we had wavers for kids to attend any where they wanted in the city? Lets face it our school system has failed and we need to do something different. Busing kids was never going to be the answer to solving the problem with education our children.
Re: “Even as theater, town-hall shouting matches over health-care reform are turning into a major pain”
These far right wingers disrupting the Town Halls (Town Hells) don't even realize they are being used as corporate shills. I'm pretty sure none of them are very wealthy, have insurance, or if they do, haven't been denied care if or when they get gravely ill. They do not realize that they are acting like idiots against their own self intrests. This goes a long way to show that our educational system is in deep distress. It also goes to show that the FCC needs to put up some tight regulations on the corporate MSM owners who spew forth hateful, scaremongering propaganda. What a mistake it was to deregulate the MSM and let them have a monopoly on all that some people choose to watch or listen to. I supposse when they did deregulate, they never realized they'd get a monster like Murdoch and his cronies. Is it even possible for the right wing to act like Christians (they always claim they are) and do what Jesus would do? That is, help the least among us. Give to Cesear what is his, give to God what he commands. What a bunch of hypocrites!
Re: “Council members feel the burn as the Music City Center fight heats up”
No evidence of successful convention centers, "Moostie" Sharp? You are truly sipping on the Woody Kool-Aid. How about these: Milwaukee increased its exhibit space by 42 percent, quadrupled the size of its ballroom, and doubled the number of its meeting rooms. It doubled its room nights. After Tampa opened its new convention center, downtown room inventory increased by about 40% and convention center business increased by 40%. Seventy percent of pre-bookings for Austin's new convention center came from groups that had never been to the city. Since the Loews Miami Beach Hotel opened, 50 additional hotels have opened. I could go on, but my point is that Woody and you never talk about those, Moostie. Why is that? Because you make your money by running down the convention business. That's Woody's niche, and your no more than Colin Reed's puppet.