Further Water System Remediation Update:

The City continues to work with TDEC to resolve and prevent any and all problems with the water system. Below, see the latest correspondence from TDEC on the issue.

CCOF Update:

Here's my information regarding the pending sale of the Country Club of Franklin to the City of Franklin.

The closing on the battlefield park is tentatively set for late November 2005. At that time, Franklin's Charge will be required to deliver $2.5 million to the City to acquire the property from its current owners (Rod and Kay Heller).

Franklin's Charge continues to raise funds. In July, Franklin's Charge announced that it had reached $2.5 million in cash and pledges. However, Franklin's Charge continues to raise funds to cover anticipated closing costs, cover interest expense on the loan discussed below, and to reduce the principal amount of the needed loan.

Of the $2.5 million in cash to be provided at closing on behalf of Franklin's Charge, $500,000 will be provided by the American Battlefield Protection Program; $400,000 from the Civil War Preservation Trust, and the remainder of the cash directly from Franklin's Charge.

The majority of funds provided by Franklin's Charge will be made available through a loan provided by AmSouth Bank, National City Bank, First Tennessee, Regions Bank, Pinnacle Bank, and SunTrust Bank. The loan is based on the pledges and commitments made by many individuals and businesses in our community. Most of those pledges are payable over five years.

Franklin's Charge is well aware that in order for the battlefield acquisition to be accomplished, Franklin's Charge will be required to deliver at closing $500,000 from ABPP, $400,000 from CWPT, and $1,600,000 in other cash proceeds (a total of $2.5 million).

The Big Shill

Even a cursory inspection of my physique, such as it is, should lead the observer to be willing to take my word for it when I say a restaurant has good food.

For purposes of this post, let me give you my definition of a meat and three restaurant. At a meat and three restaurant, the parking lot will have some number of trucks that actually go to real work sites regularly. In those trucks will be a truck box and in that truck box there will be real tools. The real tools will be used by men who know how to use them.

In a meat and three, there are no sandwiches cut into fourths. There is no fruit tea. One is not likely to find a table of nice ladies in purple dresses and red hats. Any kind of _______ salad on the menu is most likely potato salad, and it won't come on a bed of lettuce with grapes next to it.

In a meat and three, the green beans will be dark green (as in cooked, not bright green and stiff) and there will be pork of some kind in with the green beans. Most often, one could expect to find corn bread on the menu. If you cannot get mac and cheese, it is because they ran out, not because they didn't make any.

If you like a meat and three as I have defined it, you must try COOL CAFE at 1110 Hillsboro Road, Suite B200 (at the corner of Hillsboro Road and Mack Hatcher Bypass behind the Mapco and the bank). I've been there three times in the last week. Trust me, this is real and really good food.

I wouldn't normally be such a shameless shill in a forum such as this, but the place is new, the owners (Tim Ness and Susie Hughes) seem like good people and, in case you missed the point, the food is great.

On any given day, they have two or three meat choices and about eight vegetable choices. A meat with two vegetables and a glass of water comes to $7.50. The portions are very generous. The menu changes day to day, but you can call to find out what is on the menu (599-0338). They do sit down lunch in a clean environment 10:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. weekdays and they do takeway service until 7:00 p.m. weekdays and Saturdays 2:00 - 6:00. Every day I've been there, the customer mix has ranged from suits like myself to the guys in the real trucks to groups of women, sans red hats.

If you think you like a meat and three but you don't like Cool Cafe, let's you and me never have lunch together.

The Devil Is In the Details

The vast majority of people who have expressed an opinion to me about the City's purchase of Harlinsdale Farm to create a public park have been very excited about the concept of having that landmark open to the public and preserved as green space. Support for the notion of Harlinsdale as a park is overwhelming when Harlinsdale as a 2.2 units/acre PUD as an alternative is contemplated.
Last night, the City hosted a forum for the public to see a preliminary concept plan rendered by the consultants. Almost 200 people showed up for a meeting that lasted nearly three hours. Again, most people present really liked the idea of the property becoming a park.
However, there are numerous legitimate concerns. Foremost among the concerns expressed last night were the sentiments of neighbors in Chestnut Bend and Harpeth Meadows regarding the idea of pedestrian trails through their neighborhoods linking, via pedestrian bridges, to Harlinsdale. See the map below from the Harlinsdale Master Concept Plan.



For the complete Master Concept Plan, visit this link: http://www.franklin-gov.com/.

A couple of points are in order. First, the Master Concept Plan is just that, a concept. There have been no commitments, express or implied, to any of the results that are presented as concepts. There is no funding in place for the pedestrian walkways or bridges, or any of the rest of the concept plan. From my perspective, I wanted the planners to think big, ignore the potential politics of the deal, and render a hypothetical, perfect-world concept of what could be done.

With that in mind, I think we must acknowledge that pedestrian access to Harlinsdale Park is paramount. We would be doing a disservice to the users of the Park if they all had to drive on site to enjoy the park. So the planners, I presume, contemplated as many ways to deliver pedestrians to Harlinsdale as possible.

Now we have the concept plan in hand. Now the real world intersects with the hypothetical world. Residents of Chestnut Bend were quick to point out, and fairly so, that the trails in Chestnut Bend are privately owned by the homeowners' association there and many Chestnut Bend residents are not ready to embrace public trail linkages to their private trails, particularly not with the potential volume of pedestrians that Harlinsdale could bring. Parking, too, is a problem. Likewise, the residents of Harpeth Meadows were fairly unanimous in their opposition to a trail cutting through their neighborhood to link the Bicentennial Park to Harlinsdale. They, too, are not amenable to becoming a parking area for users of Harlinsdale Park. All of these points are fair and reasonable.

The concept plan now begins to be revised. I would imagine that the numerous and very strongly held opinions registered last night will have an impact. I, as the alderman in which Chestnut Bend, Harpeth Meadows and Harlinsdale are all found, and the chairman of the committee that oversees the Parks Department took note of the opinions expressed.

I believe the concept plan should be revised to accomodate pedestrian access to Harlinsdale in a way that does not unduly burden the residents of the neighborhoods adjacent to the park. Specifically, I believe the trail through Harpeth Meadows is very problematic and perhaps even unnecessary. I would far rather spend that same money creating a nice sidewalk link from downtown to Harlinsdale by way of Franklin Road. This would be an amenity to the neighborhood, a benefit to downtown and the Factory, and serve people who might have no interest in Harlinsdale.

I also believe that the Chestnut Bend trail system should be respected as private property and that any trail linkages from the west side of the Harpeth River into Harlinsdale should be done, if at all, with minimal intrusion into Chestnut Bend. Various suggestions for moving the pedestrian bridge on the west side of the park were given, and I think in some fashion the property rights and concerns of Chestnut Bend homeowners can be addressed while still creating a pedestrian link to the west side of the river.

In sum, I was very pleased to see so many residents interested in the plan and participating constructively in the process. I am optimistic that the revisions to the concept plan will improve the plan and mitigate the legitimate concerns of the nearby residents.

Six Days a Week

One or both of my sons have football practice Monday-Friday. I coach my younger son's team. Saturdays, they each have a game.

Update: Franklin Water System Remediation

Alderman McLendon's responses to the Franklin Firefighters Association Questionnaire: