Tom Kovach
Calling all cars...
Volunteers needed to make serious "music" in Nashville
By Tom Kovach
Several years ago, as WorldNetDaily had reported at the time, citizens came together to participate in a series of events that grew into a movement known as the Tennessee Tax Revolt. The sounds of car horns constantly honking put state legislators on notice that the citizenry had caught on to their tax-increase plan. It worked, and Tennesseans prevented a sales tax from being implemented.
Well, it's time for another gathering of horn-honking patriots on Capitol Hill in downtown Nashville. And, despite the spin contained in this recent article in the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the brouhaha that is building over Governor Phil Bredesen's planned pet project is much more than a mere neighborhood dust-up. This fight has national implications. Can elected officials do whatever they (and/or their wives) feel like doing with our money? Or, can patriotic Americans still exercise constitutional checks upon unconstitutional behavior?
Bredesen's "bunker"
At issue is a planned entertainment facility — two full floors below ground — to be built in the front yard of the Governor's Mansion. (Interestingly, the current governor does not even live there.) The facility has come to be nicknamed "Bredesen's Bunker," or "Phil's Folly." Even sources that are kind to the governor have reported the project's cost at 19 million dollars. (Only two months ago, that estimate was 12 million dollars.) And, the kindest estimates report that TN First Lady Andrea Conte has only raised $8-million in private donations. And, the plans for the party hall ignore local codes and safety considerations. (Interestingly, the company that designed the facility is called Archimania.)
hazardous waste
Officials at the planning department of the City of Oak Hill (an upscale Nashville suburb that is home to many country-music stars) are perplexed by several aspects of the party hall's design. The governor's reports to the media include total occupancy of 499 people, or dining space for 160 people. But, the final engineering drawings (released on Tuesday afternoon) show that the party hall can hold more than 1,200 people. Similarly, some reports are that the $19-million figure is for the total, three-phase renovation of the Governor's Mansion. Other reports say that the "bunker" alone will cost that amount, on top of a similar amount already spent on renovations to the mansion itself. When the final plans were released by the architect on Tuesday, I was the first private citizen to examine them. One of my observations was that the large dining area is on one end of the facility. The stairs are on the other end of the facility. The kitchen is in between. (It is a full, restaurant-size kitchen.) The kitchen is equipped with a Halon fire-suppression system. Halon depletes oxygen from the air in order to extinguish the fire. If the Halon is released, what happens to the occupants of the party hall? Is it even possible for 1,200 people to get out in the 30 seconds between the sound of the alarm and the release of the Halon? If not, then isn't the entire concept of the facility a "hazardous waste" of taxpayer money?
why underground?
Another objection to the building of Bredesen's Bunker is the idea that the "schmooze palace" could be used to circumvent the state's Open Meetings Law. The party hall is large enough to hold every member of both houses of the state's legislature, plus their staff members, plus most of the registered full-time lobbyists. Significant meetings could be held under tight security, and totally out of public view or access. Governor Bredesen, in defending the project, specifically said that it could be used for "business recruiting." Notably, the governor recently returned from a trade mission to Communist China. (Bredesen complimented the Chinese big way of doing things, such as an $8-billion airport, and wrote, "... we need to rediscover that audacity here at home." Apparently, he has.)
Speaking of audacity, there has been little said about possible uses for the "Conservation Hall" facility. (What does putting two dozen panels of glass, each 38 feet high, into the ground have to do with conservation, anyway? Tennessee has millions of trees growing the natural way. We don't need to "conserve" one in a $19-million underground test tube.) Would it be possible to rent out this party hall for political fundraising, much as Bill Clinton did with the Lincoln bedroom of the White House? (Apparently, variations of this have already been tried in the states of Washington and Arkansas.)
VERY small window...
There is only a very small window of opportunity for action to stop Bredesen's Bunker. This fact has angered neighbors and lawmakers alike. On Thursday evening, there will be a public meeting of the Oak Hill planning commission to discuss the newly-released final plans. But, there has been a report on local talk radio that blasting is already scheduled to begin on the 27th of December. (Conveniently, the TN General Assembly is not scheduled to convene until next month.) One engineer told this writer that, because of the terrain in Oak Hill, blasting at the Governor's Mansion site could cause water to shoot up inside the homes of nearby residents. (Of course, it would only take four sturdy trucks — parked strategically at either end of South Curtiswood Lane — to prevent the work crews from getting to the job site. Curtiswood residents can e-mail me via my Web site.)
he who blasts first...
Under the premise that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," I plan to emulate the patriots of a few years ago. At noon on Friday, the 21st, I will begin circling Capitol Hill in downtown Nashville. I will blow my car horn at two locations: directly in front of the State Capitol, and directly behind it (near Bicentennial Park). I hope that other people might feel, and act, as I do. If so, then perhaps our "blasting" will prevent the governor from blasting. If we fail, then Governor Phil Bredesen will succeed in blasting holes in several of the principles that built America. And that, fellow citizens, has implications nationwide.
© Tom Kovach
Several years ago, as WorldNetDaily had reported at the time, citizens came together to participate in a series of events that grew into a movement known as the Tennessee Tax Revolt. The sounds of car horns constantly honking put state legislators on notice that the citizenry had caught on to their tax-increase plan. It worked, and Tennesseans prevented a sales tax from being implemented.
Well, it's time for another gathering of horn-honking patriots on Capitol Hill in downtown Nashville. And, despite the spin contained in this recent article in the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the brouhaha that is building over Governor Phil Bredesen's planned pet project is much more than a mere neighborhood dust-up. This fight has national implications. Can elected officials do whatever they (and/or their wives) feel like doing with our money? Or, can patriotic Americans still exercise constitutional checks upon unconstitutional behavior?
Bredesen's "bunker"
At issue is a planned entertainment facility — two full floors below ground — to be built in the front yard of the Governor's Mansion. (Interestingly, the current governor does not even live there.) The facility has come to be nicknamed "Bredesen's Bunker," or "Phil's Folly." Even sources that are kind to the governor have reported the project's cost at 19 million dollars. (Only two months ago, that estimate was 12 million dollars.) And, the kindest estimates report that TN First Lady Andrea Conte has only raised $8-million in private donations. And, the plans for the party hall ignore local codes and safety considerations. (Interestingly, the company that designed the facility is called Archimania.)
hazardous waste
Officials at the planning department of the City of Oak Hill (an upscale Nashville suburb that is home to many country-music stars) are perplexed by several aspects of the party hall's design. The governor's reports to the media include total occupancy of 499 people, or dining space for 160 people. But, the final engineering drawings (released on Tuesday afternoon) show that the party hall can hold more than 1,200 people. Similarly, some reports are that the $19-million figure is for the total, three-phase renovation of the Governor's Mansion. Other reports say that the "bunker" alone will cost that amount, on top of a similar amount already spent on renovations to the mansion itself. When the final plans were released by the architect on Tuesday, I was the first private citizen to examine them. One of my observations was that the large dining area is on one end of the facility. The stairs are on the other end of the facility. The kitchen is in between. (It is a full, restaurant-size kitchen.) The kitchen is equipped with a Halon fire-suppression system. Halon depletes oxygen from the air in order to extinguish the fire. If the Halon is released, what happens to the occupants of the party hall? Is it even possible for 1,200 people to get out in the 30 seconds between the sound of the alarm and the release of the Halon? If not, then isn't the entire concept of the facility a "hazardous waste" of taxpayer money?
why underground?
Another objection to the building of Bredesen's Bunker is the idea that the "schmooze palace" could be used to circumvent the state's Open Meetings Law. The party hall is large enough to hold every member of both houses of the state's legislature, plus their staff members, plus most of the registered full-time lobbyists. Significant meetings could be held under tight security, and totally out of public view or access. Governor Bredesen, in defending the project, specifically said that it could be used for "business recruiting." Notably, the governor recently returned from a trade mission to Communist China. (Bredesen complimented the Chinese big way of doing things, such as an $8-billion airport, and wrote, "... we need to rediscover that audacity here at home." Apparently, he has.)
Speaking of audacity, there has been little said about possible uses for the "Conservation Hall" facility. (What does putting two dozen panels of glass, each 38 feet high, into the ground have to do with conservation, anyway? Tennessee has millions of trees growing the natural way. We don't need to "conserve" one in a $19-million underground test tube.) Would it be possible to rent out this party hall for political fundraising, much as Bill Clinton did with the Lincoln bedroom of the White House? (Apparently, variations of this have already been tried in the states of Washington and Arkansas.)
VERY small window...
There is only a very small window of opportunity for action to stop Bredesen's Bunker. This fact has angered neighbors and lawmakers alike. On Thursday evening, there will be a public meeting of the Oak Hill planning commission to discuss the newly-released final plans. But, there has been a report on local talk radio that blasting is already scheduled to begin on the 27th of December. (Conveniently, the TN General Assembly is not scheduled to convene until next month.) One engineer told this writer that, because of the terrain in Oak Hill, blasting at the Governor's Mansion site could cause water to shoot up inside the homes of nearby residents. (Of course, it would only take four sturdy trucks — parked strategically at either end of South Curtiswood Lane — to prevent the work crews from getting to the job site. Curtiswood residents can e-mail me via my Web site.)
he who blasts first...
Under the premise that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," I plan to emulate the patriots of a few years ago. At noon on Friday, the 21st, I will begin circling Capitol Hill in downtown Nashville. I will blow my car horn at two locations: directly in front of the State Capitol, and directly behind it (near Bicentennial Park). I hope that other people might feel, and act, as I do. If so, then perhaps our "blasting" will prevent the governor from blasting. If we fail, then Governor Phil Bredesen will succeed in blasting holes in several of the principles that built America. And that, fellow citizens, has implications nationwide.
© Tom Kovach
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