Thursday, May 7, 2009
40 Jealous Whores / Politics / The Economy Maytown: Same Old Elephant, But With Shinier PR
Posted by Pete Kotz on Thu, May 7, 2009 at 1:09 PM
Comments (8)
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They should call it Greedtown - Hey May Family why don't you fix up Belle Meade Plaza, Hill Center is going to kick your arse over there...........and Tony G. has some f'n nerve trying to sell this junk! He made a decent profit at the Viridian, but the poor people that bought late will have many years before they break even on those high-priced dumps!
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Why y'all want to protect the office market in Cool Springs an other suburban areas-- at a cost to the Nashville job market and tax base-- is a complete mystery to many of us.
I can assume why the writer you post is opposed to the project. They live in a large, expensive house, on a large multi-acre lot and want that lifestyle preserved in every sense. Even rich folks feel the tug of NIMBY. I get that.
But I'm not rich. I don't live on a huge wooded lot. My kids go to public schools and I see no reason to assist the ring counties in raiding our business base. Maytown, as I understand it, will compete with the suburban office market. It's not a threat to downtown-- for gawd's sake do a little research for once.
I'm for growing this county in a smart way. I'm for expanding our tax base and fighting aginast the sururban sprawl. You should be too.
I was on the receiving end of one of those push polls last night. It came across more of a survey than a "did you know that John McCain has an illegitimate black baby" polls, but the agenda was still very clear.
They asked, among other things, whether I'd be more likely or less likely to favor May Town Center if I knew that:
(a) They were going to fund a multimillion dollar technology center there for TSU
(b) They were going to build a nice bridge
(c) They were going to set aside a lot of acreage (900 acres?) for parks and greenspaces
(d) they were giving $1 million to Bells Bend residents to help them keep out further development (presumably, that meant more people like May Town Center)
(e) here's the tricky one: They mentioned that the area either was or could be zoned for up to 700 homes if May Town Center is not built. This gets to the point about the hidden agenda. Is the real plan to turn the place into Subdivision City?
In the end, I told them I was against May Town Center as currently planned, but for none of the reasons they presented.
For one thing, I'm highly dubious of the claim that it will bring in the promised number of companies and tenants, at least not without cannibalizing a lot of what's currently in the downtown/Gulch areas.
Second, as I told the survey caller, if they draw anywhere in the neighborhood of the number of people they claim, the infrastructure will be completely inadequate. One bridge won't be enough, and Metro would be on the hook for the bill.
I'm not unflinchingly opposed to the IDEA of such a development in Bell's Bend. I suspect we're living in a fool's paradise if we think an area so close to the city is going to remain pastoral and undisturbed for the long term. But the plan for May Town Center is going to have to be changed, and become more credible, before I'd go for it.
I would like to repeat for emphasis that one bridge will not be enough. Especially if that one bridge requires people to get off 40 and then get off of Briley and drive out past the prison, when all any fool with a map has to do is look and see that the obvious spot for a bridge is right off 40.
But of course, they don't want to bring that up because they don't want the people living in that neighborhood to start pitching a fit.
And then, let's not forget that the exit off of 40 onto Briley is only done heading west. So, if there are people living in west of town who want to work in May Town Center, we need to have a serious talk about the logistical problems of getting them off the interstate, through those traffic lights, and onto Briley headed north without completely screwing up everyone who comes in from the west's commute.
Part of the reason I think this is an enormous pile of BS is that something like MTC can only work if it's easy to get to. And yet, the developers keep saying "No, we won't ruin the rural feel. We'll only have one bridge. We'll keep OHB two lanes. It won't have an exit directly off of I-40."
Well, then, that's going to be a fucking traffic nightmare, if anyone will actually bother to make the effort to get out there.
I think what we folks who live in these parts are most afraid of is not that it will become another Cool Springs. Our fear is that it will become another 100 Oaks, a place no one went to because no one could get there.
If we have to give up some farm land to have a vital development, well, that will suck but change comes. But if we give up all that open space to have a ghost town? That's going to suck even worse.
I happened to be painting yesterday when I stubled across a presentation on local government acess TV about Maytown Center by the developer, Planning Commission staff, and a TSU representative to members of the Commission Board and a few things really threw me off. The first was the statement that a light rail system would bring people to their jobs/homes-is this really feasible? Who's going to pay for this new addition to the project? I was also once again appalled that TSU has spent so much time putting together plans for an agricultural research center, like Research Triangle in VA/NC or Silicone Vally in CA that relied on strong university partnerships- a very worthy project indeed but obviously the university is being used to sell this project to the Commission and the city. The honorable thing for the Maytown people to do, if they are really sincere about wanting to invest in TSU, is to give the land to them whether or not the project goes through, so the school is not held as ransom for the project. It was also amazing to hear every progressive idea/terminology used to sell the project, from sustainable to environmentally friendly, etc. It's as though Maytown is being dressed up in whatever clothes are needed to sell this thing at any given moment to any possible person. Integrity is not a word that can be associated with this development effort. I just hope members of the Planning Commission can keep their heads about themselves and not be swept into the game of mirrors being perpetuated by the developers.
The honorable thing to do is to put some time into gathering the facts. The honorable thing to do is to understand what you're talking about before slandering the motives of others.
As has been reported in the media, the gift to TSU is not conditioned on the project or any zonging change. It is absolute.
To think that nothing will happen to all that land is insane. If you are commenting on this and have never drivin down old hickory blvd. please stop until you have made the trip. The bend is huge. I have lived there for twenty years, and other than a lot of land a few sod farms and a failed park there is not much else to say about it. If anyone thinks that the Mays will just give up and throw away their investment they are stupid. Bells Bend has the potential to be the place to be in the whole STATE not just nashville. If maytown does not come through a neighborhood will, and everyone will wish maytown had happened.
