Mat Town is an interesting play on words but did you mean for it to be the title?

Now that you changed the title, the previous post doesn't make sense. But your rant is right on!

If it was called Matt Town, I'd be way for it. Green space, schmeen space.

Matt:
Excuse me, but don't let last night's debacle lull you into the idea that Tony G. and his buddies have lost. These guys are superrich and super-powerful, the type who make their living driving bulldozers over pristine places and any poor schlump who gets in the way. They'll be back when things "cool down." And they will have done their behind-the-scenes lobbying. They'll make a big show of "scaling down" the project, making "concessions," and they'll get what they want by waiting out the opponents' collective zeal. I hope the neighbors, and the media, and folk like Briley continue to pay attention and keep challenging the insanity of a Second Downtown. Because it's not over - there's too much money at stake.

It's a minor shame that the Planning Commission vote wasn't held last night, but if postponing the vote comes at the expense of hearing all the public opinions on the matter it's a price I'm glad we paid. Everyone should be heard, and they were, which is great to see.

No doubt in my mind that Tony G and his anemic group of supporters (unburdened with solid facts, as was demonstrated more and more frequently as the night went on) would have been rejected outright had the vote been held last night. Regardless, Tony appears to have pushed forward without delay today, in an attempt to render the Planning Commission moot. Ironic, since one would think that the council provided in the earlier comment of biding one's time and coming back when the fervor has diminished would be more prudent. Perhaps the banks really are calling Tony's loans, as one citizen mused last night, and time is indeed not on his side?

All that aside, I was impressed with the turnout last night, with the cogency, diversity, and solidity of the opposition arguments, as well as the multitude of positive reasons they banded together to support the Commissions overall plan, while rejecting the MTC proposal outright. It was inspiring to see so many citizens coming out, putting in long hours, and speaking so passionately about the future of our city. Kudos!

On the flip side, I feel there surely must have been folks there wearing "Balance" t-shirts who support May Town out of a hope that it will truly bring some good to Nashville. For that I'm grateful, and hopeful that they paid attention to the demolishing of Tony's discourse of Fear Uncertainty and Doubt.

The question I have is, having run into a number of MTC "supporters" who were employees of construction, architectural, PR, and legal firms (and many more accounts of the same by others) -- *were there* any MTC supporters who weren't paid to be there?

One older gentleman spoke with our group at the very end and said "Tony told me to come out so I did, and I got a free t-shirt, but I didn't know until about halfway through what was going on here." By the end of the night he had become a supporter of Bell's Bend, as preserved by "The Third Vision". Maybe Tony G shouldn't let his employees be exposed to the dangerous rhetoric against MTC. Heh.

Thanks, Matt, for covering this ongoing debacle,
Rick

"and they'll get what they want by waiting out the opponents' collective zeal..."

Indeed. This scenario has been repeated time and again all over Davidson County.

In Bellevue, a few years back, it was the Subarea 6 Charrette Charade and, for example, the development of the triangle area at Highway 100 and Old Harding Pike (just to mention one controversial spot). The likely scenario: the developers just keep coming back and coming back and coming back, long after surrounding neighborhood residents have run through vote after vote after vote in unanimous opposition, mistakenly thinking time and again that their voices have been "heard," only to ultimately lose in the end ...

The Zoning Commission and Metro Council will cave, and the developers and deep pockets win the prize: they will get everything they wanted all along and more. They stand to make tons of money, so it's their "job," so to speak, to keep coming back.

The neighborhood types, in contrast, will finally reach a point when they can't keep coming back; they are not getting paid to keep coming to the table. The day will finally come when they have an actual life to return to. That's the day when a fatal vote will be taken and, wow!, it's unanimous in favor of the developer's plan! That's the day when the Zoning Commission sells out, the developers win it all, the neighborhoods are screwed.

An old trick to get your development passed: Bring in the largest, awful design you can dream up. Get the neighbors stirred up, defer the commission vote a couple of times. Finally come in with a "scaled down, tasteful" version you intended all along. Neighbors will quit fussing because they feel their voices were heard and the developer gets what they wanted in the first place.
Do not let this happen. Keep vigilant and do not let the developers get your grateful appreciation. You may just get played.

Jameson probably earned himself a sizable lead in the "Best Councilman" category of the Best of Nashville list with his speech last night.

Seeing development crazy Michael Craddock and Eric Crafton stagger to the podium and try to match Jameson was rather hilarious.

They kept making mention of the fact that, "we're not here to tell jokes," as if Jameson's speech was invalidated because people laughed.

Note to Craddock and Crafton, not to mention Tony G., people laughed because of the audacity of this proposal defined so succinctly by Jameson in the quote Pulle pulled.

And the bottom line is that the pro-May Town Center side got thumped last night and everyone in Nashville knows it.

May Town Center Breaks Ground in 2013!!!

That's the best headline the Mays and Tony G. can hope for right now. But it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Tony and potentially contracted employers are doing what is expected. It's like the little man fighting the big corporate giant. And this is not much different than why the career public education folks prevent change or progress. Their careers are based on keeping the status quo with a few changes to make the politicians happy. The odd difference that's happening in Davidson County, and probably all over the country, is the 60s radicals, liberals, flower children, whatever you want to call them, are now entering retirement age: healthy, committed, educated and ready to keep on keeping on. This is not something Tony et al factored into their equation.

"The question I have is, having run into a number of MTC "supporters" who were employees of construction, architectural, PR, and legal firms (and many more accounts of the same by others) -- *were there* any MTC supporters who weren't paid to be there?"

At the Bellevue Subarea 6 Charrette Charade, we had to specifically and explicitly request/demand that ONLY actual Bellevue residents be allowed to vote on the controversial development issues ~ not outside developer representatives and lobbyists and their handpicked supporters.

But, as stated above, the developers' ultimate strategy was to just wait us out. When, finally, we had to return to our actual lives after many months of meetings and votes, then they had their unanimous outcome. And the Metro Planning Department promise made at the time, that development "absolutely would never" spread beyond the triangle at Highway 100 and Old Hickory Boulevard, fell like the predicted domino. Contrary to explicit promise, asphalt and big box strip mall are taking over the once scenic Highway 100.

Another question about the integrity of this development--One bridge and Hwy 12 is going to handle traffic for a development of this size? Imagine downtown Nashville with only 2 ways into and out of the city at rush hour. What a nightmare. There has to be alternative traffic plan for both flow and safety. I think the commission should ask for it and if one does not exist, the developers should be forced to come up with one. It might contain a few surprises.

As a resident of Bells Bend and someone involved in emergency management, I want the planners to think about how difficult it would be for emergency responders to get into Bells Bend over that one bridge and 2-lane road if something were to necessitate an evacuation.

For example, how would that work if a tanker with hazardous materials overturned ... requiring a 2-mile evacuation and resulting in a situation that took more than 2 days to be clean up.

Of course, that would never happen, right?

See story on I-40 closure in Cumberland County earlier this month:
http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=8667151

"KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Interstate 40 east in Cumberland County remained closed on Sunday as emergency crews worked to move 3,200 gallons of a toxic chemical into a new tanker truck.

A tanker hauling 3,200 gallons of Titanium Tetrachloride ran off the road near Crab Orchard, at the 331 mile marker, just after 2:30 P.M. on Saturday. State officials evacuated a two-mile radius around the wreck scene."

Patience is a virtue when posting over here, Jeremy.

BTW: Jeremy is not exactly a tree hugging hippie. Not too long ago he was a first-rate business reporter and editor at the CP.

For all those who oppose the May Town Center please be aware that if the MTC fails to be approved something else will be build in its place. That 'something' is 700 McMansions on 2 acre lots.

The May family has invested too much money to not develop this land. Unlike the Town Center, there is no approval or appeal process to stop building the single family option. The zoning is already in place and they could start pulling permits immediately if they so wished.

Under no circumstances will the land remain undeveloped. Its now a matter of how, not if.

Well, we don't necessarily have to build a second downtown with 18-story buildings, right?

but why not build office buildings? That seems to be the crux of the problem with this - and is it because nobody saw it coming ? I can't get my brain around why's wrong with the idea of an office center, when contrasted with Zeitlin's failed awful idea of a village it's certainly a winner to my eye. It at least thinks of grander use and addresses the access issue, which Zeitlin did not. (Zeitlin's plan, as Jeremy will no doubt recall, archly refused to enteretain the question of emergency access at all, stating that the 6 miles of OHB from Highway 12 should just be widened eventually, but never said who would pay for that or how they would ever resolve the myriad landowner issues such widening would initiate.) And it makes the land quite useful, not just a bunch of houses dumped on the end of a tree-scarce finger in the river.

So is it just that it's office buildings that has everyone riled up? Because we all know, as others have posted, something's going to get developed here, and not all plans will guarantee this amount of green space or this level of access.

Yes, I live in Scottsboro. And I'm not opposed to this. I think the infrastructure would be a wonderful upgrade, and the area at large would only benefit from the attention in the long run. I mean, my gosh, at least we're talking about IMPROVEMENTS out here for a change and not the fricking construction dump!

Well, we don't necessarily have to build a second downtown with 18-story buildings, right?

I'd rather that 'second downtown' be built in Davidson County than in Cool Springs, as it has been for the past decade.

As a long time Scottsboro resident, vehemently opposed to MTC, who participated in all the planning department community plan meetings and the commission hearing on 7/24, I have a question. Why is it so difficult to convince people that "development" in the conventional sense is NOT the solution to every problem and the only way to deal with what the planning dept. refers to as "undeveloped land"? Have you heard anyone in Nashville complain that they wish Radnor Lake had been allowed be covered with the housing development planned for it? What about the Warner parks, would you prefer to have a shopping mall on that land? The Beaman Park to Bells Bend Corridor could be the outdoor recreational center of the city with both greenways and blueways. It also contains the best farmland in Middle Tennessee and should be utilized as such. Farmland is disappearing at an alarming rate in TN. Being one of the fattest, most polluted and unhealthy cities in the nation is nothing to brag about. Why not provide an antidote to that, show some vision and some chutzpah and say NO to intense development. We're happy to have low-impact, sensible development that is compatible with the rural lifestyle and character the community has enjoyed thus far (eco-tourism, agriculture and agri-tourism, B&Bs, equestrian ventures, biking and hiking trails, hunting, fishing and boating). These are profitable ventures that will not destroy the land. We are opposed to the kind of development that would destroy the rural character forever.

It could turn out to be too expensive even for the May family to develop the land they "own", unless they want to win at all costs.

"...win at all costs..."
That all that it's all about for people like them. They will win because they can.

Stop fighting just for the sake of fighting, and start listening...you'll save alot of money on PR firms and blood pressure medication. Here are the facts:
A) May Town Center is not another downtown. Who told you otherwise? The Mays and Tony Giarratana who have hundreds of millions, if not billions, invested in downtown would never compete with themselves. Name one building downtown that could house a new Nissan world headquarters. Stop comparing apples to oranges. These are 2 different areas with 2 different agendas and markets. Law firms will not be drawn away from downtown because lawyers walk to the courthouse. the buildings are not being designed for a floor by floor occupancy as is in downtown. It is built for entire corporations to relocate. Please stop arguing something that isn't true.
B)HIS personality? "Bitter, petulant, arrogant, and snobby." Really? Did you own a mirror? Perhaps you should start counseling Bells Bends supporters on their own efforts or lack of behavior and maturity before you start hypocritically pointing a finger at someone else.
C) Tony is Italian. That was not yelling.

And who do you work for or who are you related to? And how long have you lived here?

It’s funny to see how sensitive people can be when it comes to promoting positive growth and development within the city limits of Nashville. Pith serves as a good example of what ignorant arrogance sounds like. Pith, you have to realize that Tony is a man with vision and that he is trying to ignite the full potential of Metropolitan Nashville. If you were to draw a line around the Metropolitan Nashville area you will see that in the north and northwest core of Nashville there is dense development but it all stops short of Briley Park Way. This area of our city remains this way not because we love trees and farmland although it important. The main reason that area lay dormant is due to the fact that it is not accessible and would require a series of bridges and road expansions and perhaps revamping the ferry system. It seems like those modification are bad moves to you, but guess what people have been wanted ways to navigate that area for years. The way the river runs through the area creates 3 peninsulas making it very expensive to develop the area due to the amount of city planning and development that would take place to link any major development in this area to city infustructure. Having said that, Pith you take your gun out and aim at the only man with the insight and to courage to take on that well needed metro revitalization project. You need to get out a map and try to understand why Tony is not sprawling the metropolitan area growth with the May Town Center concept. His development would only be completing an economically deprived and underdeveloped area of our existing metro zone by raising property value to say the least. How much longer will we continue to notice the depreciation of northwest Nashville? This development is important being that, Northeast Nashville extends to Gallatin, Southeast extends to Murfreesboro, South extends to Franklin, and South West extends to Fairview. If you outline the population density of metropolitan Nashville you will see a gulch in the radius that will pin point the under-developed Bells Bend canvas. Its obvious that with your comedic expression of Tony that your not attracted to his personality however the fact remains that Nashville tax base would be on par with city of it size if all of its existing metro zone were at there strongest tax potential. Nashville metropolitan area is around 1.5 million people and growth is inevitable why not get a jump on inner city planned developments. This talk about flooding the area with 40,000 people is ludicrous, how many people flood the other areas of town. My goodness people are can just be so critical some times but I am telling you growth is coming. Nashville will never be Atlanta because we are not innovative enough we spend more time opposing than implementing. Pith your need to use your creative tongue in support man that all I have to say. Our Downtown area is developing at a good rate; however, anyone that pushes Nashville into the lead position is often rejected like the Signature Tower for example. Nashville needs to be running strong on all of it cylinders as it stand northwest and North Nashville simply does not provide the economic contribution that other areas in Metro are able to bring.

Pith it is obvious that you are on the outside looking in. You need to pick up a recent demographic report of the North and Northwest Nashville areas and do some reading.
These people have concerns and issues as well; it is not always about rural consideration. Any reasonable person will conclude the following about this area of metro Nashville. This area is looking for local jobs, primarily hospitality and service oriented fields. It could be said that 20% are looking for business opportunity and professional growth on there side of town. Nearly 80% of the people in this area own there homes. Besides studying your attack on Tony have you studied the real-estate values in the North and Northwest Nashville areas, if not, let me tell it’s about 35 to 40% lower than its surrounding areas. This harsh reality is cause people to vacate the area living it at greater distress. This is greatest negative growth rate reported in the city. How can a person a critically thinking person such as yourself be dumbfounded by Tony’s plan that for north and northwest rejuvenation I think that with your critical review of things you would be able to understand that North and Northwest Nashville could benefit from the raise in property value after all that strengthen the cities taxable base as well. Nashville core is not through growing but it takes more than one man to do though that. Tony is doing nothing more that proposing to fill an economic gap in Nashville Metropolitan structure. Try to understand this too, the back drop to Bells bend is rolling hills, trees, and pastures. So 500 acres would hardly destroy the country side that exists between West Nashville and Jackson, TN.

Gdogg: For a hired gun, you certainly have no patience with the slow Pith blog uptake. Some things can't be rushed.