• This cow is sacred

For this week's dead-tree Scene , I waded into Metro politics for some brief reportage on Mayor Karl Dean's proposal of the city's first property tax increase in seven years. Essentially, this amounts to an attempt to catch up to the City Paper's Joey Garrison, who's covered the matter extensively (and, as always, provided the Metro play-by-play on Twitter, may its name be praised).

In the course of trying to take the Metro Council's temperature on the mayor's proposal — which Garrison has also done a bit of — I talked with Antioch-area councilman Robert Duvall and at-large councilman Charlie Tygard, both of whom are conservatives. Duvall started speaking out against a tax increase before it was even proposed, while Tygard, a veteran member of the council who has lived through property-tax debates under several mayoral administrations, said he was "skeptical" but "not committed one way or another."

While chatting on the phone, though, neither hesitated to throw a few ideas at the wall that they say could shrink the tax increase, if not eliminate it altogether.

District 23 Councilwoman Emily Evans wants you to know she knows a thing or two about syntax, spelling and writing good.

In a post titled "MNPS Kan't Read" published on her blog over the weekend, Evans takes Metro Nashville Public Schools to the woodshed for poor grammar and run-on sentences she discovered on the school district's website (and elsewhere):

In response to a discussion among some residents of Hillwood about MNPS academic standards and rigor, I was directed to a portion of the Hillwood High School website dedicated to their Academic Scholars Program. There on the program's home page is a list of requirements including the "Academic Scholar Couselor [sic] Report." Thinking this misspelling might be an aberration or worried it was not I took a look at the Academic Scholars Application Form. There, under the section dedicated to the commitment necessary to participate is a sentence that would make my high school English teacher arise from the grave and go looking for her red pen.

According to Pith's copy of the Necronomicon, post-mortem reanimation rarely occurs as a result of poor English skills; usually it involves invoking an nameless ancient god and/or animal sacrifice. Usually.

Evans continues her grammatically sound critique by expressing dismay that two weeks after she first brought the errors to MNPS's attention, they still hadn't been fixed:

A bill filed by Councilman Duane Dominy that would green-light the relocation of an asphalt plant on Antioch's Franklin Limestone Road and has sparked ire from residents will be indefinitely deferred, according to an email obtained by Pith.

Late last night, Dominy informed Antioch constituent Pam Ward (who was interviewed in this week's Scene in a story about the rezoning fight) that the councilman would recommend to the Metro Planning & Zoning Committee that the bill be permanently shelved.

"The Planning & Zoning Committee meeting is at 4:45 PM Monday," wrote Dominy. "If well enough to attend, I will ask for an indefinite deferral of bill 103. Should I not be able to attend due to the flu, I will send a letter requesting the same."

Karen Kelley, who lives on Franklin Limestone Road and has been vocal in her criticism of the proposal, says the fight is not over despite this seeming victory.

"Until [the bill] is totally gone," Kelley tells Pith, "we will have to be vigilant."

Dominy did not return requests for comment as of posting time.

Last night, an otherwise sleepy Metro Council meeting saw an outpouring of constituent rancor over a proposed zoning change that would allow a new asphalt plant to be constructed on Franklin Limestone Road, which many speakers said would cause further harm to their already over-industrialized neighborhood.

Approximately 24 Antioch residents spoke out against the bill during a 50-minute public comment hearing to express concerns that the new plant would increase pollution, further depress home values by opening the asphalt plant too close to residential properties and threaten wildlife in nearby Mill Creek, which is the habitat of the endangered Nashville crayfish.

Patricia Griggs, a resident of Piccadilly Road, spoke of the negative health effects she's experienced living in an area home to two active asphalt plants and other heavy industry, the former of which rock the area with seismic blasts and emit into the air particulates that aren't fully understood, even by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"About a year ago, I developed breathing problems," Griggs said. "I have been to countless doctors in the last year trying to figure out what's wrong with me, and I don't know what it's from."

• Nobody, I mean nobody, calls me disengaged from the body politic.

With more than 2,000 years of Western civilization under their wings, the 40 members of Nashville's Metro Council engaged in an awesome debate last night concerning one of the most pressing issues facing modern society.

After approximately 60 minutes of impassioned rhetoric, representatives of your municipal government narrowly approved a bill that would address systemic income equality undertake a massive jobs program to employ all out of work Nashvillians provide universal health care for all Davidson County residents send the first guitar to the moon permit the raising of chickens in certain council districts within Davidson County.

Passions flamed on both sides of the issue to the point where it had seemed all oxygen had been sucked from the room. Even Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors seemed to roll her eyes as council members regaled those assembled with stories of wild animals (mainly in the Antioch area) that would eviscerate the chickens; talk of exorbitant costs to animal services; the decibel level emitted by hens; fecal-based animal diseases; and other tales of (ahem) foul play.

As an at-large Metro Council candidate backed by the political and fundraising largess of Mayor Karl Dean & Co., Sarah Lodge Tally has returned the favor on the campaign trail by championing her benefactor's pet Music City Center project as well as criticizing its detractors — namely her opponent, District 24 incumbent Councilman Jason Holleman, whose skepticism of the publicly financed convention center has drawn ire from the mayor's office — as naysayers of capital-P progress.

So it's with no small irony that Tally's support of the $585 million project is apparently rhetoric-deep: Her work at law firm Miller & Martin, which has collected $1.6 million in its handling of the city's purchase of the low-balled 5.66 acre Tower Investments property, presents enough of a conflict of interest that Tally must recuse herself from any convention center-related votes if she is elected Aug. 4.

In an interview with The Tennessean, Tally tried to apply a generous coat of lipstick to the proverbial pig maw, saying that an "abstention due to a conflict of interest and a vote against a project are two different things." Indeed, a zero and a negative integer are two different things, but in terms of tangible legislative support in the council, Tally's is a distinction without much difference.

She explained her position further last week in emails to the Scene:

I do not see my support of the convention center as a problem. My support ... is wholly unrelated to my work at Miller and Martin. Last year, I did about four hours worth of work on the Tower case, out of nearly 2,000 hours billed. As you can see, it was very, very minor work. And, I do not have any idea what the firm has been paid for the (Metro Development and Housing Agency) work — that information is well above my pay grade.

• Photo by Jude Ferrara
• 'Exploration & Discovery'

(Keeping on the theme, there's also this.)

For those aspiring to join the city's 40-person legislative body, there's a session about the arts in Music City on Monday, June 27, that's probably worth attending. During the workshop, the Nashville Arts Coalition will present findings from a recent study that offer some rather promising new intel:

An analysis prepared for the Metro Nashville Arts Coalition, measuring the years 2007-08, found that the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area has the fourth-highest cultural vitality index value in the nation, trailing only Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and New York City. In 2008, there were about 23,500 highly creative jobs in Davidson County and more than 35,000 in the Nashville MSA.

Presenters will also discuss grant and public art programs in Davidson County, and Stephen J. Tepper, associate director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University, will talk specifics about the cultural and economic effects of the arts here.

“Nashville’s arts community is a big force in our economy and makes a mighty contribution to education and quality of life for everyone who lives here,” Nashville Arts Coalition member Vali Forrister said in a release. “Metro government is a strong partner in a very large community-wide effort that has built a vibrant arts scene."

At the CP, Joey Garrison's got a piece this morning detailing a slew of interesting Metro Council races coming to a boil. Turnout is expected to be low, Garrison writes, but the stakes aren't, even beyond the fairground referendum:

The next council figures to play a role in some significant debates. Dean’s decision to hold off raising property taxes — and instead restructure the city’s debt in a short-term fix to a long-term problem — has left some wondering how long the city can stave off a tax hike. Dean’s administration has commissioned a study on the feasibility of a new Nashville Sounds baseball stadium, positioning it as a possible second-term issue.

Several entities including the Nashville Symphony have approached the mayor’s office about a new amphitheater at the 11-acre former thermal plant site, and Dean has signaled interest. The mayor has also said investing in mass transit is on his radar, and that would require a dedicated funding source. True upgrades in public transportation would cost millions.

Garrison's got juicy breakdowns of several races, from the District 35 face-off between Bellevue incumbent Bo Mitchell and challenger Tonya Jones to the District 5 dust-up that includes Pam Murray and Priscilla Eaton (who are battling in court as well as at the polls).

A day later, Gail Kerr writes in a column sounding the alarm on voter complacency that Mayor Karl Dean is still considering whether to campaign for any council candidates. She quotes Dean campaign spokesman Tom Hayden to that effect.

Kerr does this four days after the Scene reported on the myriad connections between Dean and Tally, and about the fact that the mayor has thrown his support behind Tally in the race against District 24 incumbent Jason Holleman. Here's the moneyshot:

It also will be fascinating to see if Dean has any coattails in the Metro Council elections. Hayden said he does not know if Dean will endorse or campaign for council candidates.

Sounds like somebody missed a memo.