Thursday, May 5, 2011
Politics Fairgrounds Fate Within 5,000 Signatures of a Public Vote
Posted by Jim Ridley on Thu, May 5, 2011 at 6:03 AM
Will there be a referendum on keeping the status quo at the Fairgrounds? The City Paper is reporting that the Save My Fairgrounds group led by Metro Councilman Jamie Hollin has gathered approximately two-thirds of the signatures they need to put the Fairgrounds' fate to a vote in August's citywide elections:
Supporters of Save My Fairgrounds have until May 16 to collect more than 15,000 petition signatures to add a special referendum to August’s local election. In question is retaining all existing activities at the 117-acre much-disputed property.It’s a tight time frame to pull off a feat that requires more signatures than two recent memorable Metro petition efforts.
Three years ago, Metro Councilman Eric Crafton successfully collected more than the necessary 10,103 signatures during his initial English-only referendum push, before besting a 2,475-signature mark during a subsequent effort that ultimately led to a special election. One year later in 2009, Hollin turned in nearly 1,000 signatures to hold a special recall election to oust sitting East Nashville Councilwoman Pam Murray.
Comments (2)
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Not good for El Alkarlde (Happy Cinco!) if the Fairgrounds is one of the bigger GOTV factors in the August election. He will take some of the same lumps he did last November/December.
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I imagine they will pile on and probably run up the number of signatures until the last minute. If it goes beyond 20,000, which will be a tough climb, there will be some council members defeated and the mayor will be in trouble for the first time. It is perhaps the most brilliant maneuver in recent Metro history, and it is a damned shame Hollin no longer will be part of the city government.
