One Year Later – Here we are Pandemic

It is past time to vent about politics and COVID-19.

About a year ago (March 19) I stopped driving to campus to show up for work.  I was one of the last ones in my department to do so. I began working from home exclusively from mid-March – mid-August.

COVID-19, SARS virus, had spread around the world via air transmissions and killed people. A lot of people.

Over 500,000 alone in the United States. And counting.

I had to live through the despicable misinformation: It’s a fake virus / It’s only a façade to destroy the president / It was created in a Chinese lab / It’s not transmitted through air / Singing doesn’t make it more spreadable / It doesn't kill people. Living through that constant spin of disinforming cacophony was too much.

We had a president who did nothing or very little and primarily lost his re-election because of that inaction. It was by far the weirdest presidential politics I had ever seen. Just unfathomable.

The joy of seeing long lines of American citizens waiting hours to vote. The stamina to defend the right to vote no matter the obstacles. And belligerent court cases were tossed out one by one. No one believed the election was rigged except for the lunatic fringe who stormed the Capitol, broke windows, desecrated the holy temples of the House and the Senate, obscenely destroying offices, killing police officers. Yet the electoral college votes were accepted. No riot stopped democracy in action.

In mid-August, my department returned to each person showing up on campus at least 2-days a week. Even with the increasing COVID numbers in November and the campus going into a partial shutdown, my department continued to show up each workday while other departments went home to work. We were still there. We continued to support students often the only ones parking cars in the back lot November – January.

There were all kinds of societal stressors. Working from home. Teaching from home. Disrupted schedules. Canceled sporting events. We found out how important in-person elementary school instruction was to the economy. Children wearing masks. Adults wearing masks – except for those who didn’t believe the virus was real. We had friends who freaked out and went to the other extreme too scared to breathe or to function. I’m not sure which drove me nuttier – the disinformers/the fake theory supporters or the extreme fear people – it would be a close call.

I went through stress – I missed family. I missed opportunities to see family, my children, my mom. Each of us had similar missed opportunities. We all grew tired of Zoom calls and virtual meetings.

The one thing a friend of mine told me during the fall is still ringing true in my head – we will never be the same again.

We will never be the same again.

It has been awhile since I wrote a politically-charged blog post. So this one is about climate change.

<sarcasm>Nothing is happening. It's all a hoax. Fake news. Keep telling yourself that. You'll believe it if you repeat it enough.<drip>

Two penguin chicks survive out of 40,000
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a28067879/two-penguin-chicks-40-000-colony-climate-change-birds/?fbclid=IwAR3LWQ9RlW7wwKftZ_nJmX2fS6oG2SJq6DzeE0gNHABdPur1HGQkxbQGxp0

200 Reindeer found dead in Norway
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/over-200-reindeer-found-dead-in-norway-researchers-blame-climate-change-2076363?fbclid=IwAR3ImrpPZYy-6Zwym9_LXpFDwM2nu6nEuxRAwgaTHSO3GzE_FM2AWGK6tpE

Greenland's Land Ice Sheet Melting Faster; air flow over Atlantic disturbed
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/12/greenland-ice-sheet-is-melting-faster-than-in-the-last-350-years/

Cold War Spy Photos Show Himalayan Ice Melt
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/06/19/himalayan-glacier-melt-spy-images-reveal-impact-global-warming/1500695001/?fbclid=IwAR1d5mqx3_Q8uFnHa8Y_sa-N1UxLpSV9MXUVPReWcNg_TR2eAivuqc0l-0E

Carbon Dioxide so plentiful, can trees help us now?
https://www.businessinsider.com/so-much-co2-planting-trees-cant-save-us-2017-5?utm_content=buffer95269&fbclid=IwAR1yeH9DnY-VQj9_yQC6yOBIrb3IeY0eir_Bj_lXBfMA_KZcyVUEubh2Y8Q

Yeah - it's just a hoax. Carbon dioxide isn't increasing, ice isn't really melting in tons, nothing is going on. Just go back to work and ignore all of the signs. Maybe the end will come soon and we won't have anymore responsibility to care for the Earth.

Ignore at your own peril. And your great, great, great grandchildren's lives.

The Town Time Forgot: Cairo, Illinois

Cairo, Illinois. | Is a dead town. | We drove through it twice in May 2018.

Our first trip through Cairo we saw one person. One person drinking a Bud Light.  Ironic, we traveled from Cairo to Future City and neither seemed to have a future. Eerily empty.

Cairo, pronounced CARE-o, became a tinderbox of racial unrest and the city never survived it. The Ohio and Mississippi rivers confluence is not very far. Cairo like its Egyptian counterpart is surrounded by water.

Lynching happened in Cairo. The racial unrest probably was around for years but 1900 started the ball down the slippery slope and never recovered. In 1900, Cairo had a population of 13,000 and 5,000 of that 13,000 were African-Americans. A traditional white heritage town had the largest percentage per capita of African-Americans, nearly 40 percent.

Railroads slowly reduced steamboat and ferry traffic that supplied Cairo’s economy. When the local economy sours, it’s easy to find scapegoats. More racial tensions.

Major highway bridges were built to the south of town and contributed even more to economic decline as automobile traffic took off from Illinois into Missouri.

A riot protesting the death of black soldier in the Cairo jail turned Cairo into a Rome is burning town. I remember watching Walter Cronkite on CBS news showing images of the National Guard trying to get order restored. But it was too late – the black residents held a 10-year quarantine of white-owned businesses. The white population created a militia called the White Hats. Eerily KKK. And probably not much different.

A city divided cannot stand. A lack of inclusion and government diversity does not create a foundation. Cairo’s racial divide doomed so many economic opportunities.

When the Interstate bypassed the city in the late 70s, more businesses closed, more people left, the hospital closed, but yet high racial tension remained. Now the business district is virtually boarded up or decrepit.

On our second trip back through town heading to Chattanooga, we saw three people out on the streets. Nobody seems to give a damn about Cairo, Illinois.

An easy way to get rid of racial tension – have no population left to be angrily divided. More like, despair and depression rules the day now in downtown Cairo.

Cairo is, simply, no more.

My View on NFL Protests and Television Viewership

So, after two NFL seasons of hubbub about kneeling during the National Anthem, I might as well wade into the controversy.

My short take: a bunch of ‘much to do about nothing’; a politicized outcry about two percent of all NFL players who are protesting. What about the other 98% - jeopardize their livelihoods? Makes no sense to chop off the 98 percent to slap the 2 percent.

In 2016, then San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick began protesting what he saw in policing and the black population by not standing for the anthem. Actually, he sat for the first two preseason games. Then, Nate Boyer, a green beret who served multiple tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan, suggested to Kaepernick that kneeling would be much more respectful to him and other veterans rather than just sitting. 

Repeat: Boyer advised that kneeling would be much more respectful than sitting.

The kneeling began after that suggestion from Boyer. The green beret. The decorated military man who also played football.

An odd fact: we found out this year that NFL running back Marshawn Lynch had been sitting for the National Anthem for eleven years. 11 years - for no apparent reason. And no one cared. But Lynch is one of the most eccentric people in the world and no reporter probably even cared what he did on the sidelines.

Kaepernick on the other hand, a few yards short of winning a Super Bowl, was a different matter. Easily recognizable across the NFL and American sports landscape. 

As we found out this year, Kaepernick essentially sacrificed his NFL career for his stance. I don’t think he cares that his football career is over; he is taking his fight onward through his foundation. That what makes America great – creating nonprofits for a cause or for a stance.

Number 45 fired up the NFL base of players and owners calling any NFL protestor a son of a bitch. Even ardent number 45 supporters such as Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was not happy with that comment. But as with a lot of things in America today, the disdain was short lived.

Despite the decrease in television viewership for NFL games, the advertising money has increased. Why? Well, NFL games were an anomaly for the last few years. Television viewership in general had decreased the last few years but not for NFL games until the last two years. For advertisers on television, NFL games are still gold even with the decrease compared to other television advertising options.

But as American ways of seeing things and watching things continue to change, I think television viewership in general across the board will change significantly. Cord-cutters have increased; people who stream online are not counted as viewers. Traditional pay TV (cable, satellite, telephone companies) lost 1.7 million subscribers in 2016 and more than 2.6 million cut the cord through September of 2017. Cord cutters use streaming Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime companies plus free over-the-air antennas to supplement their viewing.

Plus, football’s violent nature has been documented to affect the human brain. There are some longtime football families who no longer want a part of it.  This new cultural outlook has affected the game as well. 

We are on a shifting scenery of change, not very comforting to those of us who want the world to slow down a little – it’s easy to take advantage of these shifts for political gain. And again, that may be short lived too.

Hamilton County Government With Blinders On

One thing you can say about the county mayor and most of the county commissioners in Hamilton County, Tennessee; they are insistent about no property tax increase.

One can say there is fear - don't want to be ridiculed on a billboard nor face the wrath of election recall by local tea party activists. But it is much deeper than that.

Our county government leaders blindly place all of their eggs into economic growth - growth will give us necessary revenue increases they reason. That's what happened in the late 1920s too; see how that went.

It doesn't matter what the policy is - there are always strengths and weaknesses. And dependent on economic growth, cutting spending and not increasing revenue has weaknesses. Don't let anyone try to fool you that it doesn't. Every policy has pros and cons. 

I don't believe in political cycles either on the local government level. Local government doesn't change on cycles; they respond to the needs of the community. Except for this county government we have now - it only responds to the needs of economic growth; not to the community. I don't think a county government responding to public education needs or to community needs is ever coming back to Hamilton County.

My prediction - there will continue to be a strong resistance to a property tax increase in Hamilton County for a long time. But there will come a time that economic growth doesn't pay the county government bills; and that, would be the worst time to increase property taxes.

Something's got to give

My fellow Rock Chalk Jayhawker, reporter Kevin Hardy of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, wrote a quote from a school principal about the funding of schools in Hamilton County: something's got to give.

That's exactly right.

Something does.

Superintendent Rick Smith was appointed county school superintendent because he was one of Hamilton County's developed educational leaders. And by no means is that a derogatory statement - Tennessee PTA just awarded Smith the Superintendent of the Year award. And justly deserved. We do have highly qualified educational leaders within this county.

But Smith was appointed to be able to overcome that outsider tag that dogged previously appointed school superintendents in Hamilton County. They had to endure that tag each time budgets and school financing came up. Smith would be treated differently so went the reasoning.

Well, that's not happening either.

Despite traveling to all parts of the county holding public meetings and holding school staff meetings, it seems that nothing is going to give as far as increased taxes and school funding. A part of Smith's proposed budget increase - approved by the county school board - is to double the block grants to each school. Do we really expect our schools to operate on the same amount of block grants as in 1998?

Apparently Commissioner Joe Graham, who derisively calls this the Rick Smith Tax Increase, does. And so do other county commissioners who have painted themselves into a corner running as candidates on a no tax increase platform.

As the lame-duck president of the Hamilton County Council of PTAs (I only have 13 days left as of this post), I was pleased that the council's board of managers took a position back in November 2014 to support any budget increase by the school board. It is not the PTA unit's job to raise money for public school operations nor for school staff. That is the government's job plain and simple.

It seems strange to me that the county commissioners and the school board are elected by exactly the same electorates in each district. Yet, an overwhelming majority of school board members supporting a budget increase is meeting resistance from county commissioners representing the same people. How odd.

I wonder what it will take, or what needs to happen, for a majority of county commissioners to support increasing taxes for school funding. Something's got to give.

Nashville. Parthenon. And Homage to Athena.

The Parthenon, Nashville.

I've drove by Centennial Park many times in Nashville. It is after all located in the uber-hip West End part of Nashville. Not too far from the fave foods of P. F. Chang's. And not too far of a long drive from the Tennessee PTA office over on Acklen either.

Well the family and I were in Nashville yesterday and to spend a little bit of time before heading over to Vanderbilt, we decided to go to Centennial Park, at first, just to walk around. My wife found a lovely swing to sit in and read her book.

My son and I were intrigued by the Parthenon. He always wanted to see the statue. Me being naive on the Parthenon had no idea what statue he was talking about. But I did take this great picture of the Parthenon. This was taken facing generally westerly looking across the park lake. There is a circular drive on the front side where lucky drivers can park their cars and have a short walk to the entrance. So, David and I decided to hike over to the Parthenon and see what was inside this amazingly constructed replica. I say westerly above to point out that the front of the building faces east. Which is the direction Athena faces.

What I discovered inside was a little bit unsettling. After all, I grew up instilled that Nashville was the belt buckle of the Bible belt. The honest-downhome-goodness of country music. More Southern than Global. So Nashvillians thought of their fair city as the Athens of the South? And to pay homage to that they decided building a replica of the Parthenon with a big statute representing a mythical god holding another mythical god along with Medusa and a serpent was a good thing? Well, we all have our little quirks I suppose. But as I say in the end of this post, what a gift to the city in educational value about learning history and culture.

So after perusing a lovely art gallery on the 2nd floor -- well worth the 6 dollars admittance fee to view the gallery by the way -- we climbed the steep stairs to the 3rd floor.

A 42-foot statute placed on a massive marble pedestal, gilded in gold (the real stuff) faced east protected by massive 1-foot-thick, 7.5 ton each bronze doors. Wow. I'll let the pictures below tell their story.

The architecture of the Parthenon is a real joy to see. One really has to go inside to see the artistic touches in completing this building. The amount of money sitting in one spot in the form of the Athena statue is amazing to see. The historical and artistic explanations enlightens many about the past Greece culture that has affected our society so much.

JFK and the American Political Watershed

Well, it has been a while since I posted on here. Four major things going on at once makes my blog, especially this, my hard-edged blog, back burner existence.

Today, everyone knows in the United States by the wealth of media and social media information that today is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of a young President.  Forever scarred into American memory.

JFK poured so much into the American soul: ask not what your country can do statement; Peace Corps, NASA; nuclear arms control. We still have these today.  We as a country have been blessed by their presence.

After making the right decisions over the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK was a certifiable political rock star. His approval ratings in February 1963 was sky high over 70 percent.

But by the summer of 1963, his ratings had plummeted.  Unknown to him, as there was no crystal ball, he had no idea that the Republicans in 1964 would nominate someone easily beatable in Goldwater. JFK's sudden drop of approval came in large part in the hands of Democrats in the South. JFK had made a speech equating civil rights as an American moral issue and that black men and women should have those rights. This was said in the midst of the Jim Crow South. De facto American apartheid. JFK backed publicly on TV legislation that would become, after his death, the Civil Rights Act.

The razor-thin victory in 1960 haunted JFK's advisers; losing the Democratic vote in the South was not a strategy for re-election in 1964.  Despite the haranguing, JFK's advisers were not supporting any trip to Texas, especially Dallas. Adalai Stevenson was pelted with angry taunts just a few weeks before JFK's fateful Dallas visit.  But Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson insisted that JFK had to go to Texas; the vice president's home state.  The 1964 primaries would be starting in February, and the state of Texas support had to be shored up was Johnson's line of reasoning. So to Texas, JFK went.

His death was the watershed moment of the body of American politic. Nothing has really been the same ever since. I would even say the decline of America began in November 1963.

The rebellious movement of the Sixties was tantamount to societal disillusionment.  Individual greed over societal compassion that started in the Seventies, and still evolving today, grew out of that disillusionment.

My apologies to Don McLean--Bye bye American Pie, Drove my Chevy to levee but the levee was dry on the Day America Died. 

Constitution Week 2010 Video Clip from Chatt State Students

I keep re-posting this YouTube playlist on my Constitution Week guide at work. It is such a great collection of quips of what the First Amendment means.  There are two, very short video clips in the playlist; here are my favorite quotes:

Clip One:
I think it's awesome. I fought for this country so that we can have that right.
2 minute 17 mark to 2 minute 22 mark

Clip Two:
My right to look at dirty filthy nasty pornography anytime I choose just because I like to.
44 second mark to 50 second mark

I don't give a #@$* if you're a homophobe or not, you need to get over it.
55 second mark to 59 second mark

And now the two video clips. Enjoy! I always do when viewing this playlist!

Praying Each Month for School Safety

Ok--I read a weird article today about a group of people going into the schools, laying hands on school walls and praying for safety of the school. Each month.  Wow--talk about some weird stuff.

Hey I'm as Christian as the next person but this seems really odd.  But if a group of people want to go lay hands on school walls each month, let them pray. We all want school safety and our children to be safe.

But I'm not supporting it.  It's a real throw into the face for other religious beliefs--you're Jewish? Get out of the way and let us pray.  We are all instructed to have prayer in appropriate places, not as a tool to flaunt ourselves as holier than thou. This to me is exactly what this is: flaunting with an extra slap in the face in a government building.

And then the comments on Facebook. Some of these comments are disturbing--there are people like this in Chattanooga? Wiccans are threatening to go into schools and throw salt. Ok--this type of absurdity is why the Bill of Rights freedoms were outlined.

Unlike some clueless Facebook commenters who stated that this country was founded on Christianity--it was really founded on freedom from persecution no matter the religious beliefs!! 

The First Amendment protects all religious beliefs from government designation. No Founding Father wanted one religion above another. Freedom FROM not freedom for. Big, huge difference. Hey, you want to be a Druid like many Founding Fathers were, find your tree; no one is going to stop you. 

The Thing I Think is Hypocritical Christian

I think most people know that I lived in a parsonage when in high school. But by then, my theological beliefs were beginning to formulate. 

I tweeted a while back that my theology was heavily influenced by Liberation Theology (anybody who is impoverished gets an automatic ticket to heaven) but mixed with a heavy dose of Pentecostalism. And sprinkled on top by Jesus Christ Superstar.

During the 70s, many Methodist churches were experiencing the rockin and rollin feel of Pentecostalism. I was saved in the midst of Pentecostalism and baptism by the Holy Spirit. I can't tell the gifts I received that night; I only share when I feel led.

But the modernistic approach to the Gospel as interpreted by Jesus Christ Superstar and by the ministers I heard expounding on theology of love and that each of us is already saved really laid heavy on my heart.

So you would think that a hip liberal Christian like I am would be ok with pre-marital/living in sin sex.  I am not.

It just really bothers me that any Christian would think that having casual sex is acceptable to do repeatedly or living together is acceptable. That to me is just hyper-hypocritical.

Now this is not a knock on homosexuality. To me marriage is marriage whether is straight or it's LGBT. That's not the point I'm making here. But pretending that having sex outside the bounds of marriage is OK as a Christian--that has always bothered me.

President Obama is No Democrat

President Barack Obama has been labeled as a far left-wing liberal, a socialist, a man bent on destruction. All so laughable. All so ludicrous. What is Mr. Obama really? Just a Moderate Republican masquerading as a Democrat.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out whose playbook Obama is copying. A Republican president, who was considered in his day a conservative: Richard M. Nixon.

Where does Obamacare and Romneycare come from--Richard Nixon's proposal to Congress for a national health insurance exchange. Wow. Just really original left-handed stuff. Not.

Where does propping up corporations with block federal grants and labor and wage control come from? Straight out of Tricky Dick's political handbook.

How about using the IRS to punish enemies and wiretapping domestic surveillance? Ooh, once again the Nixon's "Plan for America" handbook.

Obama pushing the envelope into far leftist liberalism? How about history repeating itself instead. Even our European political scientists can see there's hardly any difference between Mr. Obama and mainstream Republicans. These guys from Europe practically have Obama and the Republicans living at the same political philosophical address.

The only real liberals Americans ever had a choice of electing as a modern US president were in 1968--Hubert Humphrey; 1972--George McGovern, and 2000--Ralph Nader.  Everybody else claiming to be left has been milquetoast at best.

So what am I saying?

Ideas from a 1970 Republican president are being called socialist. Anyone saying that Obama is a socialist is useless to the current political discussion. Obama a far left-wing liberal? Please, no left wing organization claims him.

That is what we have in today's American political discussion--a rabid, lunatic fringe of a right-wing hiding behind an eminence front of talk radio and the Tea Party and lobbing political grenades only because they can without any acknowledgement of the damage being done by their actions.

And, that, my friends, is sickening.

Clarkson's No Fear Performance at Inauguration

If this performance of My Country Tis of Thee doesn't tug your patriotic heartstrings, then you and I are on different planets.

Kelly Clarkson--full of nervous energy. Who wouldn't be? Does she lip-sync or go live?
The President just finished his Inaugual Address-who would want to follow that.
Surrounded by dignitaries, television cameras and 800,000 people on the National Mall.
Facing directly into a cold wind.

But she gave a gutsy performance, singing live, no lip-syncing controversy here!

Kerry Breaks Stain of Presidential Candidate Loser

Before Adlai Stevenson losing to Dwight D. Eisenhower twice (1952 and 1956), losing presidential candidates often stayed politically active, or were consulted publicly as elder statesmen, or were asked to run for president again, a la Stevenson in 1956.  Then the culture of America changed about the loser tag, and for the last 55 years, the losing major party candidates were considered toxic.

That is until John Kerry.

Before getting to Kerry, let's look at losing candidates from 1976 on, not counting incumbent presidents who lost (Ford, Carter, Bush I) because a losing incumbent still gets a presidential museum. And six years must have passed since the election (so no 2008 or 2012 assessment yet).

1984: Losing candidate = Walter Mondale

Before losing, Mondale served in the U.S. Senate from 1964-1976; U.S. Vice President from 1977-1981.

Mondale got a plum 3-year job as US Ambassador to Japan but that doesn't count as an elected official nor as a significant poltical appointment.

1988: Losing candidate = Michael Dukakis

Before losing, Dukakis served as Governor of Massachusetts from 1975-1979 and from 1983-1990.  After losing, Dukakis finished his term as governor and hasn't done anything political since.

Dukakis did effect one major campaigning change--the two major candidates after convention run a "poltical sprint" to November. Dukakis with a 17-point lead in the polls took time off the campaign trail after convention to be Governor of Masschusetts.

2000: Losing Electoral College Candidate = Al Gore
(winning popular vote doesn't count)

Before losing the Electoral College vote, Gore served in the U.S. House from 1977-1985, the U.S. senate from 1985-1993; and U.S. Vice President from 1993-2001.

Gore has accomplished a lot since the 2000 election but nothing in the elected or significant appointee arena.

2004: Losing candidate = John Kerry

Before losing, Kerry served as Lt. Governor of Masschusetts (with Gov. Michael Dukakis) from 1983-1985; and the U.S. Senate from 1985 to current.

After losing in 2004, Kerry not only finished the remainder of his 6-year term in the Senate, he was re-elected to another 6-year term in 2008 and became the chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Kerry has wielded great influence on U.S. policy as a U.S. Senator and as a Chairman of an influential Senate committee.

Now he has been nominated to replace Hillary Clinton as U.S. Secretary of State. His nomination to this high level Cabinet position is expected to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

John Kerry has broken free from the stain as a major party presidential candidate loser and never lost stride influencing U.S. policy, and he continues to be consulted about political strategy.

The nine senators should channel Mary Ellen Lease

So, the Republicans have won a supermajority in each of the Tennessee state houses.  Nothing can stop a supermajority imparting its will.  And there are 9 Democratic senators. In the Tennessee State Senate. Being a Democrat in the state senate is a lonely place to be.

My advice for the nine? I would take a page from the Kansan Mary Ellen Lease and shout. "Raise hell and not corn!"  If it were me as one of the nine, I would become an angry, jaded senator.

I would stage walkouts, refuse to vote, be irreverent, ridicule, accuse, burn bridges, and scorch the Earth. What is there to lose? Be redistricted? Not until 2021!

These nine shouldn't be quiet to play the game of statemanship. If they have the cojones, they need to be a pain, to be defiant, to be a dissident. That is the only power game they have left.

 

2010 Chatt State Students on 1st Amendment

Despite that these two videos in this playlist were created in 2010, I think they are still a great listen and still makes me ponder when I hear these college-student responses to what the 1st Amendment means.

Honor Lincoln Park when the Extended Central Avenue is Built

Lincoln Park. From about 1918 to about the 60s, this park was the only recreational facility for African Americans in Chattanooga. Warner Park was a white-only park.

Lincoln Park had the distinction of being the first African American park in the South with lighted softball fields. African Americans from all over the South came to the fields at Lincoln Park to be able to play softball at night.

The park grew in popularity in the late 1930s with a new swimming pool: a pool so large that it was described in the media of the time as the finest pool for Negroes anywhere in the South.
This 10-acre park also had basketball courts, playground, and a zoo.

Now sadly looking around, dilapidation rules the day in former Lincoln Park. After desegregation, the city of Chattanooga couldn't afford keeping two large parks running. The pool closed in the 60s and in 1979 the land was given to Erlanger in exchange for land in Glenwood. In 1996, a plaque was made to honor the park and a stone archway was dedicated to honor those who used the park.

Fast forward to June 2012.  The City Council approved extending Central Avenue north to Riverside Drive.  The amount of time saved for ambulances definitely justifies the extension.
But there is a lot of planning to do. I noticed that the intersection of Blackford and Central was quite busy. I think the traffic pattern will require a traffic light at that intersection.  The Blackford/Central intersection is also a strange 5-way intersection. I think one of the smaller streets will need to be closed to access Central to make it a regular 4-way intersection.
The extended Central Avenue will cross railroad property and Citico Creek.

Wouldn't it be appropriate if the City Council would honor the existence of Lincoln Park by adding signage when the new part of Central Avenue is built as the Lincoln Park Parkway?

Critique of Hamilton County Commission Redistricting

So the Hamilton County Commission finally decided on redistricting for county commission districts.  This is not an easy task.  But it is an important one for anyone eligible to vote.  Why?

County commission districts set the parameters for the county election office and board to determine what the precinct lines will be.  The precincts will be used to determine what city council districts will be and what state house and state senate boundaries will be.  Some pretty hefty stuff not to take lightly.

So I have some problems with this redistricting plan passed by the commission.

First, I disagree with the premise that county commission districts could not crossover the Tennessee River.  Really, in this day of the Internet and texting and automobiles, we can't have county commissioners and school board members living on the other side of the river?

Now, I can understand that districts 1 and 9 should not have crossover lines over the river.  The foresight of not having a river bridge north of the Thrasher Bridge is just astounding.

But district lines for districts 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 could certainly cross the river at will.

I have a problem with three eastern districts in the county being way more people than in the western districts.  And part of this blame lies within the convenient fear of not crossing the river.  This reluctance has created three districts with more than 40,000 people in each and three districts with less than 35,000 each.  That disparity in representation is significant to me.

I do support the objective of creating two majority minority districts.  This would be districts 4 and 5. District 4 is an interesting ethnic blend.  Over 4,000 district 4 residents are Hispanic and about 28,000 are African-Americans.  That leaves about 9,000 who are neither.

But I thought the eastern, fast growing districts in 7, 8, and 9 had an interesting ethnicity:  combined the three districts have over 13,000 African-Americans and over 5,000 Hispanics.  I think the county commission district missed an opportunity to have a stronger Hispanic voting bloc by not adding East Lake and Ceder Hill current precincts to District 8.  Someday, there will need to be consideration for doing that type of planning.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is the ethnic-challenged-district that is District 1. The lack of ethnic diversity by a huge percentage might give the perception of racial gerrymandering even though we all know in Hamilton County that is not the case. Maybe the lack of a bridge over the Tennessee River in the northwestern part of the county that is tucked underneath the Cumberland Plateau has created a visible trace of being cut-off.  But a mere 1,200 people out of 34,000 plus are identified as either African-American or Hispanic in District 1.  It's easy to see how representing one district has a wide gulf of difference for representing another district.  And again for me, I have a problem with that concept in the redistricting plan.

The Rising

One of Bruce Springsteen's finer musical achievements, his album The Rising written out of the tragedy that was 9-11.  The song "The Rising" is about a fireman who loses his life saving others that day.  This video has the powerful lyrics:  "Can't see nothin in front of me" start the song about the firefighter crawling in the darkness of 9-11.

Hamilton County School Board and 2011 Superintendent

So, the Hamilton County school board has appointed an interim superintendent who wants the job on a more permanent basis.  Not anything earth shattering here.

So, the Hamilton County school board wants to be able to hire a superintendent with only 15 days notice and without doing any type of search: national or regional.  While possibly not the best way to search for a new superintendent, that is the system I grew up with in Kansas.

In fact, it was not unusual for a school system in one county to hire a good leader principal in another county as superintendent. That always added fuel to the football rivalry. 

And I don't recall a public notice ever going out before anything liked this happened.

So, it finally happened in 2011.  I wondered how long it would take for people to realize that the school board could appoint a local school leader as superintendent, or even a rising star school leader from Bradley, or Dade, or Walker, or Marion counties.  And learned that person can be signed to a four-year contract or more.

Are there people outside our region who can be Hamilton County school superintendent?  Of course there are.  That should never be forgotten.  But local leaders have an important value to the people of this county and area.  And that has been forgotten.

The unfortunate thing is how all of this happened.  There wasn't any collusion among five voting members of the school board?  It sure seemed that way.  There wasn't any steamrolling of this through the board ignoring the concerns of those not voting in the majority?  It sure seemed that way.  This can not be a proud moment of how this was done for the five school board members who supported these changes. 

And how it was done could lead to ramifications down the road.  Will districts 8 and 4 ever collaborate on an educational issue during this superintendent's term? If not, what ideas will never be hatched from this never-to-be collaboration? 

In physics, there is an opposite reaction to an action.  The same is true on a school board, whether it is now or in the next decade.