Nashville Receives Federal Funds For Neighborhood Clean-Up

Channel 5 News NASHVILLE, Tenn.- Nashville is getting $4-million from the federal government. It's all to help clean up and re-sell foreclosed homes. Metro has about 3,000 houses in foreclosure. Some of them are neighborhood eyesores. The Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency says their plan is to secure those properties and resell them to stabilize the neighborhoods. That money though, isn't coming until next year

Publix shopping center on its way up

Mt. View Marketplace developer starts work on Murfreesboro Pike siteBy SUZANNE NORMAND BLACKWOOD • Staff Writer (Tennessean) • October 8, 2008 The dense residential development along Murfreesboro Pike was a huge factor in the decision to build the new Mt. View Marketplace, which will be anchored by Publix. "I think it's a great amenity for the area," said Jason Keckley, broker with Great South Real Estate & Development, which is handling the leasing for the shopping center. "There's a lack of grocery stores in the area," he said. "We saw a need for grocery and retail." The site is now being developed for the shopping center, which has been anticipated for a while. "It's still pretty early in the process," Keckley said. But, he added, "everything's still on schedule." When complete, the center will have 60,000 square feet of restaurant, office and retail space. Other tenants would likely include a clothing shop, hair salon and providers of financial, medical and dental services. "We want an appropriate tenant mix that's going to be good for that community," Keckley said. The shopping center is being built in front of Bradburn Village, a Beazer Homes community on Pin Hook Road. David Hughes, president of Beazer Homes Nashville Division, said the same property owner sold the property for Bradburn Village and Mt. View Marketplace. "We knew it was there from day one," he said. "We viewed it as a positive." Hughes said sales have picked up on the homes at Bradburn Village since development of the Mt. View Marketplace site began. The center provides convenience to residents, who can walk to the grocery store, a restaurant or the salon, he said. Mt. View Marketplace first got attention when a sign went up in the area more than a year ago saying, "Publix Coming Soon." The planned center, which is being built by PGM Properties, made the news when neither PGM nor Publix would confirm that a Publix store was going there.

State to begin revoking licenses for overdue child support payments

More than 15,000 parents who are not paying child support face losing their driver’s, professional and/or recreational licenses if they don’t pay up soon. Letters from the Department of Human Services warning delinquent parents are being mailed now, informing parents that if they are behind at least $500 in their child support and haven't made a payment in more than 90 days, they could lose their licenses. More than 20,000 licenses could be revoked. Revocation letters have been sent to non-paying mothers and fathers in every county in Tennessee, covering more than 2,250 cases in Davidson County, 4,500 in Shelby County, 1,350 in Knox County and 1,150 in Hamilton County. At least 18,000 driver's licenses could be revoked. More than 400 professional licenses issued by the Departments of Commerce and Insurance, Health and Education are also at risk. About 1,200 hunting and fishing licenses will also be subject to revocation. There are currently 260,000 child support cases under court order in Tennessee. Of these, roughly 55 percent pay their court ordered support in a timely manner. —RACHEL STULTS (Tennessean)

Gun found in Antioch student's trunk

WKRN Channel 2 Posted: Sep 9, 2008 10:43 AM CDT Updated: Sep 9, 2008 01:19 PM CDT A 17-year-old senior at Antioch High School in Nashville was arrested Tuesday morning after a gun was found in the trunk of the car the student was driving. Police said the .45-caliber pistol was located during a random search by school security. While the gun was not loaded, a magazine containing seven bullets was also found in the vehicle. The teen told police he borrowed the car and did not know the gun was in the trunk. He was charged with carrying a gun on school property in juvenile court.

134 Metro police cars parked to save gas

By KATE HOWARD • Staff Writer (Tennessean)• July 22, 2008 The Metro Police Department has parked 134 cars to comply with the mayor’s call to reduce the fleet and save money on gas. With the largest fleet of cars in the city, the police department made the biggest cut. More than 10 percent cut of their fleet of 1,292 vehicles are now parked in a lot off Murfreesboro Road with the keys turned into Metro government. According to a list provided by Metro police, many cars belong to school resource officers who will now be required to drive personal cars to their jobs at local high schools instead of marked patrol cars. Many of the remaining cuts are detectives’ vehicles, patrol cars and vans used for SWAT or evidence collection, and motorcycles used to patrol the downtown. Metro police spokesman Don Aaron said that many of the cars were backup vehicles or cars that department heads thought would be the least likely to affect their core function of patrolling the streets."There's an impact to the extent that there was a loss of some extra vehicles at the precincts, but as far as impacting zone cars in the patrol function, there's not," Aaron said. Mayor Karl Dean in June called for the parking of about 400 cars citywide, for a potential gas savings of up to $1.4 million. At Metro police, the decisions on what vehicles to park were left up to the commanders of each division, according to Aaron. There are also 47 cars that are no longer being taken home by staffers, Aaron said.But patrol officers who live within Davidson County are still allowed and encouraged to take their cars home to their neighborhoods, for readiness in case of an emergency and a deterrent to criminals.While school resource officers have lost their vehicles, Aaron said precinct commanders are working out fixes so every high school has a marked car in the lot once school is back in session. Middle schools may not, he said. Michael Craddock, Metro councilman and chairman of the public safety committee, said he is worried about the impact the cuts may have on the city’s safety.“We just graduated 46 officers Thursday night,” Craddock said. “What are they going to ride in? I’m extremely concerned right this moment that we’re taking police cars off the street. Until I receive an explanation of this, I’m extremely concerned.”Aaron said there's no loss of force on the city's streets, and they have not moved any officers to bike or foot patrols. He said there's no need to worry about new officers, either; trainees work in two-person cars for their first five months, and their needs will be addressed when the time comes. The police will also be adding 86 new cars by September. Some will replace wrecked or inoperable cars, but about 35 will be replenished stock.The Nashville Fire Department also parked 33 of their 329 vehicles and cut their take-home car assignments nearly in half, from 53 to 30, according to information from the mayor's office.But no ambulances or fire trucks are among the cuts, Nashville Fire spokesman Charles Shannon said. Most of their parked cars were also backups.

Signs, Signs, Everywhere there are Signs...

Please keep our district free of these signs. They will taken away if they are seen...

Early Saturday Morning, people volunteered their time to take down the signs...Let us keep our community sign free.......