Franklin continues the tradition: 'Political Bribery.'

Streetscape complaint was a political bribe:

The payout of $4,500 to a Franklin resident by the Franklin BOMA ("Streetscape issues linger," Dec. 9) is nothing more than a political bribe using taxpayer money to silence a ridiculous complaint.

The money is ostensibly to build a brick wall around an electrical box near the driveway at 138 Third Ave. N.

Never mind that taxpayers spent millions to remove the unsightly overhead power lines and built a fancy sidewalk in front of these residences. Or that most Franklin residents plant bushes or shrubs as they deem needed at their own expense around these types of boxes. What limits will BOMA put on caving in to businesses and residents asking for taxpayer money in these ridiculous manners?

Get a backbone BOMA, and stop wasting taxpayer money. I have sent this same complaint directly to BOMA.

Michael J. Bolduc
Franklin 37064

Franklin's decades-long planning scam.

We already covered this in May 2006, in Cherry Pickin'.

But o.k. ... in Franklin will ask county planners for more cooperation, it reminds me of the old J.A.P. bitching at the altar of the Klatt UGB Church about Thompson Station, where in the south part of the city, Franklin has systematically cherry-picked land to annex ... all for the benefit of developers.

And of course, why is this a big mystery, after all, we're talking about people downtown that at the end of the day, give themsleves standing ovations and made-up awards after a decades-long, gross dereliction of responsibility for improperly planning the entire City of Franklin -- and then go on to feather their own nest in one of the biggest robberies of improving their own property with honest taxpayer money.

We're talking about lapdogs that will actually show up with a phony petition in their hands in order to run another favor-to-a-friend up the backroom flagpole.

It's like listeing to an alderman bitch about the Roper's Knob developer deal fiasco ... oh, but wait a minute, I just made the same kind of a phony developer deal MYSELF to overturn a buildout condition and PUD ... I guess I'll go pick up sticks in my yard by my phony self.

So here we are three-and-a-half-years later, with more Franklin downtown phonies bitching about people developing outside of their control along Henpeck:

“They’re [the County] more informing us of the decision rather than involving us in the process,” City Administrator Eric Stuckey said.

“The truth of the matter is they don’t want our opinion,” said Mayor John Schroer.

Yeah ... that's right ... that's what happens when people catch on to the sham you guys are pulling on everybody else in Franklin - they don't want to touch you with a 10-foot pole.

Instead of bitching about the land you clowns can't greedily control, maybe you should be more concerned about the services and ... quality of life ... you're supposed to be providing for the current residents of the city.

Under the comments at the A.M. Insert Online, someone named "RedwingResident" had this comment:

"The audacity of the city of Franklin never ceases to amaze me. I live in the urban growth boundary. The city of Franklin has greedily annexed cherry picked land in the area and changed zoning, knowing and not caring that their plans WILL without a doubt destroy the quality of life that has been enjoyed in the Goose Creek area for years by multiple long established subdivisions. The county residents’ wishes have been continuously ignored by the city. How dare they whine about Williamson County not involving them in the process of establishing a new business in the county where they might want to annex some day. How petty for the city of Franklin to whine about not being included in the planning process when they habitually do not include others in their planning."

Echo Chamber

Before reading Franklin streetscape issues linger, there are a few things:

First

Let’s all thank the management of the Tennessean, who have been sitting around playing Franklin Chamber of Commerce and cutting & pasting press releases, and then after all of the robbery is said and done, they take the Obama bailout approach by *GASP* questioning expenditures after it’s too late. Good job guys.

Second

$400,000 in change orders on the first phase of this highway robbery? That’s approximately 8% of the initial project cost.

Do you know what 8% in change orders is called in the competitive world?

It’s called OUT OF WORK.

Project 8% over the entire $120,000,000 cornholing from this $treet$ham fiasco, and that’s $9,600,000 ... that's a lot of damn money!

And what does Schroer have to say:

"Is there beautification in that project? Absolutely, and I'm proud of it."

That’s too bad John, because what this tells me is that between the City's various departments, the project plans, and project management, someone doesn’t know what the F*** they’re doing downtown.

And $4,000 … hmmmm … I guess those ... Committee Members … gotta keep track of those donations to their favorite … Foundation … in the back of their mind – one big happy family!

Echo Chamber

Alderman Margaret Martin, who represents Ward 4, which [sic] includes downtown Franklin, believes a neighborhood's aesthetic value can't be undervalued:

"I know Dana gets all excited and upset when we do things that are pretty, and that's all right," Martin said. "Anything we can do to enhance this town and make it more attractive, it does nothing but good for everybody involved, including Dana and anybody else who criticizes it."

Wow, thanks for the Dr. Laura Shtick – how about all of you that voted for this get your asses over to my neighborhood and get started?

Boy, talk about someone who stood by and watched – firsthand – at the decades-long dereliction and neglect of planning for the rest of the City of Franklin! What a joke.

Little more than the same old people trying to keep their echo chamber intact – next thing you know, she’ll be telling everybody we need to get some dangerous intersection fixed.

Early start.

Well, there go the fire and rescue trucks toward Goose Creek - they're getting an early start this morning.

And again, since the rescue units have to come from across town - let's just hope it's not your family, right?

Big huge beaver -- a Thanksgiving Tradition?

Well, another year has passed, and even though the nieces and nephews are another year older, they are still fascinated with the beaver dams - the beavers, the fish, the sighting of a couple of woodland ducks, an egret or two -- all of the wildlife.

Most particularly, the kids are still concerned over the plight of the beavers and the attempt to drain one of the upper reservoirs using the beaver baffle, eventually, emptying out this natural drawl that overlies a natural low spot for an aquifer.

Can you imagine? A city-supported pet project where it's O.K. to drive off the wildlife?

If this were any other spot in the State of Tennessee, you wouldn't stand a chance ... I guess too much insider money on the line though. Standard Franklin, Tennessee.

Anyway, after another couple of years, a couple of reflections:

1. The only thing the beaver baffle is doing is supplying the lower reservoir. I say good for the beavers.
2. The kids reminded me of the Ally Bank pony commercial, where even a kid can tell when something isn't right ... I had to drag all four of them away -- pulling branches, logs, and stumps out of their hands as they were trying to help bolster the beaver damns amid shouts of "save the beavers!"

And oh yeah ... kids being kids ... the basement to Carnton is wide open.

Pick your poison.

♣ Guys, guys, guys ....

Two ... links ... on the chain link fence story: K-Walt and Carter.

We know the pickle jokes, and we've seen the White Tent Good Taste Deputies trying to crack down once before using the parking/pavement excuse in areas where they feel threatened by the tawdry working class ... all that affordable housing horseshit and all ...

What I don't get is K-Walt's take. He knows as well as I do these people routinely try and use their connections -- consuming valuable time and city resources.

Imagine, watching a city department getting their leashes yanked, again, and spending honest taxpayer money trying to push through a phonied up petition - all for one clown with parking OCD - and nobody says a damn word about it.

That department is phony as the day is long.

♣ Franklin should refund cost of speeding ticket

Ms. Lisa Brown of Thompson's Station laments another one of Franklin's speed traps ... but of course there are no such things as speed traps - just ask Jackie Moore.

Isn't it funny how the F.P.D. picked such an obscure spot, right at the city-county-city hodgepodge line, where the land has been cherry-picked by greedy, self-serving UGB robbers?

Speaking of speed traps - don't forget about the new one on westbound South Royal Oaks, where the police are parked on private property at the Rachel Springs ghost town.

♣ Instructions

It's amazing to open up the local Tennessean insert and watch someone still spending their days carrying the water for the heritage wackos ... hoping ... praying ... they'll be let into their little circle.

Anyway, here's some food for thought on your next photo album layout:
♣ Fix it right the first time: Need for signal on Clovercroft is inevitable (emphasis added)

Being a longtime resident of Wilson Pike means I travel Clovercroft Road often.

The intersection on Clovercroft where two subdivisions pour out onto a main road is dangerous, not because of the traffic on Clovercroft, but because the folks coming out of the side streets just don't slow down. It's as if they never see that there is another road in front of them.

There is a need for a traffic signal at that place and all the relocating of hills, etc., is
just delaying the inevitable. The city and county fathers need to stop acting like children and think about the residents who travel through this area almost daily.

Put in the traffic signal with warning signs on Clovercroft that a light is imminent. Stop wasting taxpayers' dollars by trying to use a Band-Aid approach. Fix it right the first time and then we won't have to spend extra money. It might even save someone's life. [See: Actuary, by proxy]

J.L. Russell
Franklin 37064

Yes.

Uhhhhhhh .....

"Here’s my question: Are chain-link fences really what this ordinance is about, or is it about the perceived values of people who use chain-link fences?"

..... Yes.

It is about perceived values - make no mistake, you're part of the "what everybody else gets" crowd, you know, a PONC.

Don't you guys have access to all of the Tennessean's archived stories -- why not read back through that old proposed parking/pavement ordinance, when they were trying to help prep Liberty Pike for their new townhome curb appeal, and ask the same question?

McEwen Drive: Yet, another phony story.

Yet, another version of McEwen from Vernon Gerth:

On February 26, 2008, the Franklin Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BOMA) approved the permanent closing of McEwen Drive between Turning Wheel Lane and the Private Driveway just to the west of the intersection of McEwen Drive and Cool Springs Boulevard/Oxford Glen Drive. The closure became effective March 17, 2008. This project required an adjacent developer to establish the base (height) of the roadway with the City completing the final improvements. Just last month the BOMA approved Franklin’s Capital Improvement Program and this is one of four specific projects to receive funding through completion.

Read more at: McEwen Update.

Well, somebody is lying -- remember all of that talk of a report and closing the road because of safety issues? Where is that report, by the way? Probably never was one!

Looks to me like now, it was phonied up all along -- just long enough for the City to work out another back room deal and leave honest taxpayers on the hook.

What everybody else gets: robbed.

One thing to keep in mind before you read Greg Wade's later below, is that most of the aldermen on the BOMA are in place to do exactly what Mr. Wade is describing -- curry favor for specific people, neighborhoods and developments - it's nothing but quid pro quo for these people, and actually trying to govern the City is an afterthought -- the meetings, votes, and all of this agenda stuff is just a formality.

Mr. Wade, as far as available money for actual infrastructure and municipal projects for Franklin's residents, look at the wasteful $treetsham highway robbery.

You had a group of people get together to figure out how to systematically rob honest taxpayer money through the Planning office of the City of Franklin and spend it on downtown interests -- care to guess why they're pushing Columbia after the downtown $treet$ham?

An open letter to Franklin BOMA representatives:

I have come to know some of you and find you to be enthusiastic and honorable citizens. You sacrifice a great deal to serve, and it is appreciated.

The issues I am addressing began when most of you were not sitting on the board.

I am a resident of Highgate. Since 2005, I have struggled with the city of Franklin's concept that individuals have to pay the lion's share of having sewers installed. I have expressed my opinion that municipal entities are intended to spread cost. After all, do we charge individual homes that benefit from streetlights or traffic signals? Do we charge those who use our public schools? Of course not. I have lived in several cities and never faced this kind of assessment.

While dealing with this issue at open hearings, I have asked BOMA more than once, "Can't the city help alleviate some of this burden?" The answer I received, more than once, was, "No, it is not fair for tax money to be used for neighborhood projects of this kind." I was told 25 percent of the SAD cost could be borne by the city if BOMA approved it, which in Highgate's case, BOMA did not. I asked the question myself and was told "no tax dollars, no 25 percent," period.

Having followed with interest the potential use of federal stimulus dollars for Franklin sewer projects, it is interesting to me how tax dollars are now defined. Apparently federal dollars are not "tax" dollars and can be used to support sewer projects. And it is interesting that current proposals for other neighborhoods offer 40 percent assistance. What happened to the 25 percent that was specified in the initial SAD structure? And I am now told, sorry, "too late for Highgate" even though my assessment has not yet started.

I am hopeful the Boyd Mill neighborhood and others will be able to access tax money to help them with their costs. I am in no way begrudging them for getting this aid. As hard-working taxpayers, I am happy to see them getting it. And if Highgate gets left out, I am glad Boyd Mill will get their funding. But I am asking, why not Highgate?

I would appreciate an answer that I can't seem to get. I have been told since this is federal money, it is a different situation dictated by federal rules. I have been told, "Sorry, Highgate was a guinea pig," etc. And apparently BOMA's definition of tax money is akin to one former president's definition of "is." These answers are simply not good enough. The bottom line is tax dollars are being used for some, but not for others.

What is the solution? Franklin should kick in the money to supplement Highgate, etc., at the same level being considered for the other neighborhoods. In the long run, it may be cheaper and Franklin (BOMA) should do what is right. If a consistent approach isn't taken, then every new project and every new change will only increase the frustration and anger in our community over all of this issue. I don't think lawsuits and disgruntled citizens is the way BOMA desires to go.

Again, I truly appreciate your service. I hope you understand my questions and I have tried to be as open-minded as possible. I ask you to stand in my shoes and try to do the same. I suppose to me, fair is fair, and I am stubborn enough to keep asking questions.

Greg Wade

Franklin

The HRWA and Bravo Caesar.

Somehow, I was talked into going to McCreary's, downtown across from the Theatre that needed to be saved, where I had some of my friend's loaded 'chips' and about 6 gallons of water.

McCreary's blows under the new ownership, which is why the Club stopped going there.

It's run by the same Bongo Java commune types who think they're on the time clock to take up all of the tables with their agro friends that waltz in off the street - one big alternative, just discovered horn rims and creepers, 26+-nowhere-to-go-klatch, with the kinds of tattoos that leave you unemployed.

Liked it better when it was Bravo Caesar (ohhh ... don't remember ... newbies?).

The disheartening part of all of this, is that while the City of Franklin is doling out free taxpayer money to organizations that include an alderman's favorite non-profit that pays him, the HWRA has been booted out of their HQ, and reduced to a metal can on a counter in a crap pub with a dollar and some change.

Even worse: the aldermen that let this kind of shit go on and never call anyone out.

On Deck: Skinner and his sewer/septic vote.

Karl Dean, meet Doug Hood. Doug Hood, meet Karl Dean.

Can anyone outside the futbol community even comprehend what the World Cup, even anywhere in Tennessee, would do for the State, much less the region?

When I read LP Field, music pitched in World Cup bid, it seems Karl Dean has taken a page from Doug Hood's outmoded, outdated, and outpaced playbook - pitching a single field as some sort of gold-plated, dangling carrot.

• Does anyone know the type and scale of facilites being built in South Africa this moment for World Cup 2010?
• Do you know the caliber of dormitory, eating, practice and training facilities it would take to house the best soccer teams from all over the world?
• Do you know the economic impact and jobs the World Cup would bring -- years-long jobs that would need to be hired ASAP when given the go-ahead?
• Do you know how much it would cost a person to go to the World Cup in 2010 -- even sleeping on the floor of a hotel room, eating Top Ramen, and scraping enough money together for one match ticket?

Environmental meeting tonight will discuss Superior Essex concerns.

FYI: Environmental meeting tonight will discuss Superior Essex concerns.

Wil-Co: The old Albatross around the neck.

Competition to lure World Cup is strong.

No doubt, Williamson County Parks & Recreation Director Doug Hood and his merry band of carnival workers, are quickly drafting a letter to the World Cup selection comittee explaining how in the Bizarro World of Wil-Co, adults aren't allowed to play Futbol, and that Germany, Spain, et. al., would have to warm up and practice in Murfreesboro or Smyrna.

Seriously, as much as I would love to see the World Cup happen in Nashville, the leftover 1970s turf shoe and coaching short mentality, as above, will be a big hindrance -- you simply can't have a bunch of outdated hayseeds in the mix, then add in the fact that Nashville's Mayor and the Commission are busy getting their palms greased in reviving the wonder years of the miserably-failed-Fountain Square Mall, just under the name of the Downtown Convention Center this time, and it would be like a scene from Hee Haw.

What it would probably take is another Nissan back-room wrangling since Nashville is not even on the list of "Top Tier" cities such as Washington D.C., the murder capital of the nation.

Insert.

It continues to amaze me as I read over the Heritage A.M. insert, this panty-wetting glom affair with a walking horse park that as it continues to funnel valuable tax dollars, should have been an active park that people could actually use.

Hey Mark, do you know how ... trainers ... get those horses to walk like that?

It sometimes involves electricity, and it ain't pretty.

Represent.

Franklin election numbers lag.

Ann Beard: "As far as saving money for taxpayers, having those municipal elections with the general election only makes sense in saving money," said Ann Beard, county election administrator.

Skinner: Candidate-elect Ward 3 Alderman Mike Skinner wants to explore whether the city's charter should be changed to add more races to a given ballot.

"I would love to see if we could change the charter to reflect that the mayor's election would also be the ward aldermen (election)," Skinner said. "You'd have two reasons to vote."

First, the at-Large positions need to be removed completely - I mean really - aside from Ann Petersen having to battle the Mayor's handpicked For Sale Planning Commission, when was the last time you saw one of those clowns do something for the benefit of the City?

If my ward alderman's vote is trumped by some jackass that lives across town - voting for little more than a favor to a friend - how is that adequate representation?