Neighborhood groups voice concerns to council candidates
By Charlene Draper
Diversity Institute Fellow
07.24.03
About 100 members of several Nashville neighborhood associations came armed July 22 with pictures and questions for Metro Council candidates, concerning prostitution, drugs, weedy lots and the hiring of a new police chief.
The Metro Council At-Large Election Forum was held at Watkins College of Art & Design on Metro Center Boulevard.
What the association members heard from the 18 candidates was a lot of agreement and little dissent over what they would do if they should win one of the five at-large council seats to be contested in the Aug. 7 election.
When a picture of a weed-filled lot was shown, candidate Kayo Smith said it was “ridiculous” that weeds are allowed to grow out of control on major thoroughfares and private lots.
“It will get cut if I have to cut it myself,” Smith said.
Candidate Buck Dozier said that city codes that call for the cutting of such weeds are not being enforced while Charles French, another candidate, called for tougher laws.
“We need to beef up codes,” French said.
Association representatives expressed concerns about the lack of attention paid to particular areas by city departments. Those areas include Murfreesboro Road, Thompson Lane and Dickerson Road.
“It often appears to us that the areas we represent are not kept up by metro departments when compared to the rest of the county,” said Wendell Poole, a member of the Murfreesboro Road Business Association.
“From the cleanliness of our streets and alleys to the enforcement of the Codes and Health Departments, we always seem to come up short; why do you think this is, and what would you do to change it?” Poole asked the candidates.
Without exception, all the candidates said they would give more attention to the areas and push for the appropriate departments to enforce the codes that already exist.
The hiring of a new police chief was another area of concern.
Karen Bennett of the Northeast Nashville Coalition said the police chief is responsible for making neighborhoods safer and asked candidates what they would do to ensure that a highly qualified person is selected for the position.
While some of the candidates said they support acting police chief Deborah Faulkner, they also said they would encourage the city to open the position to outside applicants.
“I certainly want to consider looking inside [the department] because I think Chief Faulkner is a fine chief,” David Scott said. “But as a council member we won’t be doing our duty if we don’t do a search like New York or Atlanta. We need to put Chief Faulkner with the best of them.”