Tuesday, January 19, 2010

What's Next for Post-MCC Nashville? Pith Consults the Spirit World, Sees Bad Omens for Homeless

Posted by Jeff Woods on Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 10:11 AM

click to enlarge These homeless people are hurting our image.
  • These homeless people are hurting our image.
Now that the Music City Center is a done deal -- OK, the council doesn't vote until tonight, but we all know what's going to happen -- it's time to look ahead, and an excited city is buzzing with questions. To help, we did what any good journalist would do. We dusted off the Magic 8-Ball and started shaking. Will the Music City Center turn Nashville into the most appealing and pleasant place to live on the planet, or merely a vibrant, world-class city with high-paying jobs for all? "Yes -- definitely," the Magic 8-Ball replied. Whew, that's a relief! We were worried about that one. Let's try a few more: Will Gaylord lose business? Outlook good. Will Gaylord quit the Chamber of Commerce? Better not tell you now. Will Gaylord fire Tom Ingram? Don't count on it. Will Emily Evans bring the flying monkeys to tonight's meeting? Concentrate and ask again. Will our city launch an image makeover consisting mainly of driving homeless people out of downtown? Wait, we don't need the Magic 8-Ball for that one. That's a no-brainer. With all those extra convention visitors pouring into Twang Town with their pockets full of cash, the hard-luck denizens of the heat grates and dingy back alleys are definitely an endangered species this time. Begging is already illegal here. Watch for police to start another crackdown on homelessness, fanning out across downtown to hand out tickets for trespassing, public drunkenness and basically being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Five years after Nashville adopted a 10-year plan to eliminate chronic homelessness in the city, what's happened? As this City Paper story points out, the number of homeless has doubled and the city isn't coming anywhere close to meeting its goals to create housing and offer services. So why hasn't Nashville made more headway? "Money," says Howard Gentry, the original director of the homelessness commission. "We cannot expect the city, the government, to fund this." Oh no? If Nashville wants to be more like Atlanta and Denver and other up-and-coming cities with a first-class convention center, it also might try to catch up with those places in helping its homeless population. OK, enough of that kind of talk. It's depressing. Now, let's return to celebrating Mayor Dean's big victory.

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But waaaait I thought all of the extra revenue we were supposed to get from the MCC would find everything we need in this city for the next 50 years! Why, as my councilman wrote me, "But how do we house the homeless without money? How do we better our schools or build libraries and community centers without money? [...] I guess that is why I am encouraged by a project that can potentially bring in millions more in revenue that is paid for by people other than our citizens."
Yes the Music City Center is this ginormous cash cow just waiting to get milked! At least, that's the load of bull we've been sold.
So what say you, Magic 8 ball? What are the chances that the Music City Center will generate the bazillions of dollars promised and all of our perennial metro budget problems will finally be solved?
"Soooooothern Beeeeeeeale .... "
Oh wait ... what's that I hear? A faint echo from the Memory Hole? Why, what is it dear Memory Hole, what are you trying to tell me?
Silly Southern Beale! That's the same load of bullshit they sold you when they built the Stadium, the Arena and the last Convention Center!."
Sad but true.

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Posted by Southern Beale on 01/19/2010 at 10:45 AM

The grapes seem to be very sour today. Get over yourselves, armchair quarterbacking is easy. Actually doing something is much more difficult....

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Posted by producer2 on 01/19/2010 at 11:37 AM

Woods, I just have this to say:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SESI19h4wDo
(As you can see the monkeys are otherwise occupied and will be unavailable tonight.)

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Posted by emilyEVans on 01/19/2010 at 11:45 AM

What? No mention of the epic FAIL that is the Nashville's Priorities petition drive? 8,300 signatures? In December 14, Sharp said they would get 25,000.
8,300? That's less that 2.5% of the registered voters in Davidson County (346,000).
That's pathetic.

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Posted by Kevin (NotSo) Sharp on 01/19/2010 at 12:06 PM

If Nashville wants more convention business, they need to get rid of that stupid three-foot lapdance law. There. It's that easy. I just saved the city millions of dollars.

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Posted by Ashley Spurgeon on 01/19/2010 at 2:52 PM
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