I have visited Blacksburg, Virginia, a few times in the past and found it to be a sleepy college town in the midst of lovely countryside between Roanoke and Bristol. The scene there today is much different, and I can’t imagine what it must be like for those who are there. From Charles Steger, President of Virginia Tech, via the Wikinews page now attributed to this tragedy:

Today, the university was struck with a tragedy we consider to be of monumental proportion. There were two shootings which occurred on campus. In each case, there are fatalities. The university is shocked, and indeed horrified. I want to extend my deepest and most sincere and profound sympathies to the families of these victims, which include our students.

At about 7:15 this morning, a 9-1-1 call came to the university Police Department concerning an event in West Ambler Johnston Hall. There were multiple shooting victims. While in the process of investigating, about two hours later, the university received reports of a shooting at Norris Hall. The police immediately responded. The shooter in Norris Hall is deceased. There are multiple fatalities. The number of fatalities has not been confirmed, victims have been transported to various hospitals in the immediate area and the region to receive emergency treatment. We will proceed to notify the next of kin as the victims’ identities are available.

Based on the lives lost, this incident is already beginning to remind me of Columbine. I hope that the proximity of its anniversary (April 20, 1999) has not factored in this event. I am saddened to see so many lives change so suddenly for such a senseless reason, and I am saddened to see another community arriving at “one-word” status when it comes to invoking memories of terrible events.

Bruce Barry asked most of the questions today, and Gentry covered enough territory with his lengthy answers that I didn’t have to ask any of my own. When asked how voters should make a decision about the mayoral race, Gentry said what sounded like a pretty standard talking point for any political candidate: “They should look for the candidate that best suits them and connects best with them.” Fine, I thought to myself, but I haven’t heard anything new here yet.

Then he leapt dramatically off the campaign path and began speaking his mind. It was refreshing. “The day of having a mayor who sits atop the country or the city and governs from 20,000 feet is over,” he said, making an indirect but punctuated allusion to Bill Purcell and Phil Bredesen. “Nashville has come to the point where it needs a mayor who not only has a vision for larger projects and initiatives … but who also has the ability touch people and their interests and concerns.”

“Do the communities here really connect with each other,” Gentry continued. “And are we really happy with each other? Are we ready to come together collectively to raise our schools’ graduation rates, reduce crime and make poverty fall? No, not really.”

This wasn’t a canned monologue or a campaign platform. I sensed that these words were close to Gentry’s heart. He went on to acknowledge the “great, wonderful direction” that Nashville is headed in but didn’t hesitate to point out that most residents “are not connected to that growth.” Gentry implied that as mayor, he’d favor revitalizing the riverfront, building a convention center and doing many of the civic initiatives that have been frequent topics of conversation at this point in the race, but he also said that as mayor he would work to do more than that. He said that the race should be “about the person” best suited to lead the city and that voters want to be able to trust that person.

I think he’s right, even for a cynical local electorate that has heard plenty of tired stump speeches saying all of the right things. I’ll share more about what Gentry had to say soon, but in the mean time I’ll say this: He may or may not earn the right to be our next mayor, but he definitely deserves to be heard–and considered–between now and August.

I have a confession to make: I like Howard Gentry, and he surprised and impressed me today at a blogger forum he hosted at his campaign office. Let me make this clear: I liked and respected Gentry and said as much back in December, but I wasn’t expecting what I saw and experienced from him in person today.

In my opinion, Gentry is a candid, genuine, hospitable and idealistic candidate, and he’s the kind of person who ought to be a mayor. (OK, he’s a little long-winded, too.) Today he gave the straightest, most honest answers of any of the candidates I’ve met so far or read about in the paper. I’d have to put David Briley second in that category, followed by Karl Dean, Buck Dozier and Bob Clement.

Gentry closed with an off-the-cuff comment that summarized his approach: “I know I didn’t provide y’all with a four-step platform and my core issues” and quipped that he’d be sure to print a brochure to put them on paper soon. His point, I think, was that the other candidates in the race all have their messaging, their nuanced answers and their hollow rhetoric, but Gentry has passion and sincerely wants to make a real difference, not just say the right things. Whatever the outcome may be, I left with the impression that Gentry means what he says, and that says a lot.

I’m sure the rest of the field consists of relatively decent, well-intentioned people (and that includes Clement), but if I had a grandmother who needed to be safely carried across the street or I accidentally dropped my wallet on the sidewalk, Gentry is the candidate that I would hope would be the first to arrive at either scene. He is a trustworthy figure.

In my personal opinion, it would be unwise to do business with this company. Beyond the post referenced at that link, which is also available from Google, I have based my opinion upon this cease-and-desist letter. This letter has also been mentioned here.

I’m conflicted about concerns that an expected mayoral runoff election would fall on the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah this fall. The Tennessean’s Gail Kerr calls the situation a “mess” and calls out Mayor Bill Purcell for not doing anything about it:

From February until his plane leaves today [for China], the mayor could’ve issued an executive order changing the runoff. With the election commission’s cooperation and no legal challenge (and who would challenge it?), it would have stuck. He could have asked the state legislature to create a law superseding Metro’s charter on years when a religious holiday and an Election Day conflict. But he didn’t do anything.

I agree with Kerr and others quoted in the article that holding the election on this major holiday is a mistake. It isn’t respectful toward the city’s significant Jewish population and, as Kerr observes, we would never schedule an election on Christmas or Easter.

At the same time, I think Kerr overstates how Jewish voters will be “disenfranchised” and unable to vote. I sincerely hope the city will change the runoff election date, but voters of any faith or philosophical calling should vote early if any election day falls on any date that is not suitable for them. Let’s change the date, but let’s also look for ways to encourage more people throughout the city to take their participation in democracy seriously enough to take part one way or another, regardless of flawed scheduling decisions.

City Paper reporter Bill Harless has more this morning on Howard Gentry’s modest fundraising tally announced yesterday:

“The truth is — I’m not concerned. We’re running our campaign the way my campaign is run, and we’re touching people — we are moving across this entire city, we are raising enough funds to pay for our efforts to this point. In our account, we have a plus balance, which means that our bills are getting paid. We’re fully staffed, and we’re moving forward,” Gentry told The City Paper.

“If you look at races across the country, and even locally within our state, everybody’s talking about money, money, money. And I have been consistent the entire time saying that my campaign was not going to be defined by money and that I was going to raise what I needed to raise at the times I needed to raise it,” he said.

Gentry acknowledged that it is never “fun to be considered in last place, and, of course, financially I guess it puts me there, but money alone cannot determine [whether this] puts me in last place in this race.

“It is time that someone succeeds in a manner that is not dictated by how much money they have but by their ability to connect to the public and have the public trust. And I just choose this direction,” Gentry said. “And don’t count me out until the race is over.”

He said he would not take “defensive position” about the amount of money his campaign has raised, saying “I think it is more of a concern to political pundits and to the press than it is to me.”

As I said yesterday, I do hope that money alone does not determine this race, especially because I personally do not think that current fundraising leader Bob Clement is the best candidate to lead the city forward, but I also doubt Gentry would be saying all of this if his numbers had been better. At the same time, what else can he say at this point? I applaud Gentry’s candor for acknowledging that his fundraising may have him in “last place” currently and respect his intention to persevere.  I’m curious to see how Gentry’s position and his talking points evolve as the race picks up over the next couple of months.

From Howard Gentry’s campaign via email news release:

(Nashville, April 10) The Howard Gentry For Mayor Campaign raised $55,230 during the January 16, 2007-March 31, 2007 reporting period, according to the disclosure the campaign filed today with the Davidson County Election Commission.

That brings the total raised so far to $210,823. The campaign has $87,004 on-hand now. The vice mayor has made no loans or contributions to his own campaign.

“This is an exciting time for the campaign,” chairman Bo Roberts said. “Our ‘Believe!’ message is resonating with the public and our effort to elect Howard Gentry as mayor gains strength each day.”

This figure places Gentry fifth among the five major candidates. As I mentioned earlier, hopefully money is not the only significant factor in this race, but it does point toward Clement, Dean and Briley emerging as the leaders of the pack at this point. I’m curious to see when the ad blitz begins and how each candidate approaches it. In the case of Dean in particular, there is much name recognition to be developed.

Catherine McTamaney has the following quote in the header on her blog. These are great words that I think could sure use some widespread application:

Sometimes I wonder if we shall ever grow up in our politics and say definite things which mean something, or whether we shall always go on using generalities to which everyone can subscribe, and which mean very little.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor, to answer your question, not yet, but maybe someday.

Buried in the Local News section of today’s Tennessean is a brief article by reporter Michael Cass disclosing that mayoral candidate Buck Dozier raised $70,000 during the most recent reporting period. It can’t all be about the money (can it?), but Dozier’s total significantly trails Bob Clement ($175,000), Karl Dean ($165,000) and David Briley ($131,000). As Cass observes, Dozier has raised more than $400,000 overall, but the bulk of those funds were raised over the course of last year, when Dozier was the sole candidate for the office for a significant portion of time. He now has roughly $210,000 in hand. Dozier was all positive in comments about his fundraising efforts in a related news release:

“We continue to demonstrate that our campaign is in for the long haul, and that we will have the resources we need to run a strong, competitive race for mayor.”

I’m wondering if he is demonstrating just the opposite. Despite assumptions across the city that the five candidates are headed toward a runoff, is it possible that the field might narrow in the weeks ahead?

Howard Gentry, the fifth “major” candidate, has yet to disclose his results for this latest reporting period but must do so today. This may be a mere formality for Gentry, but it may also signal an eleventh-hour scramble to assemble every last possible cent prior to the deadline. It is important to note that Gentry raised $101,000 in the last reporting period and waited until the deadline on January 31 to report then, too. I’m very curious to see where Gentry falls in comparison to Dozier and what both totals will mean for a race that is just beginning to heat up.

Karl Dean embraced the idea that Nashville should be a more environmentally responsible city while at last night’s Sylvan Park Neighborhood Association meeting. SPNA member and Richland Creek Watershed Alliance founder Monette Rebecca asked Dean what he planned to do to preserve the environment if elected as mayor.

Dean replied, “I’d like for the city to lead by example.” Echoing the green building emphasis that opponent David Briley has championed recently, Dean also said that he would like to make all of the city’s buildings more energy efficient. He specifically recommended conducting an audit of existing buildings to determine current energy efficiency and converting the city’s automobile fleet to biodiesel fuel.

Dean praised the development of the city’s network of greenways over the past several years and said that, as mayor, he would expand the system. He also said that he would like to expand recycling “to commercial areas and all over the county.” He said that Nashville is only capturing a “small amount of recyclable goods.” Dean also advocated for establishing an incentive program or a competition where schools would be encouraged to look for ways to conserve energy in exchange for keeping the money they save as part of their budgets.

Mayoral candidate Karl Dean spoke at last night’s Sylvan Park Neighborhood Association meeting for about 15 minutes and continued to draw parallels between himself and Nashville’s most recent two mayors, Phil Bredesen and Bill Purcell. He mentioned that Nashville has been blessed with 16 years of strong leadership from both men and said that he sees similarities between himself and each of them. Dean noted that although the two mayors had fundamentally different leadership styles and personalities, “both of them got the big things right.” Dean went on to say that “Bill doesn’t like for me to say this, but we met in jail,” referring to their initial meeting while both were serving the public years ago.

Dean has made this comparison previously, and it’s not a bad set of talking points, based on how popular Bredesen and Purcell have been. We’ll see whether the comparison sticks over the next few months.

Councilman Eric Crafton declared at last night’s public safety forum that he wants to add more officers to help the police department fight crime. He went on to ask Commander Mickey Miller how many more officers he needed.

Miller replied, “I’ll take every officer you give me.” When pressed by Crafton to be specific and asked whether the need was more like five or fifty additional officers for the West Precinct, Miller said that he could use 20 more officers and that the precinct was “about 20 short” from its total staff in 2005. He went on to say, “If we had triple the officers we do now, we could cover all of the hot spots at one time.”

WSMV-TV’s Larry Brinton and others have reported on Nashville’s high resident-to-officer ratio, which compares poorly with other cities in the state and around the nation:

“As of Jan. 19, Metro police has 1, 220 sworn officers, even though it’s authorized to have 1,311. If the very latest census of 609,000 residents in Nashville is correct, that’s one Metro officer for every 500 citizens. That’s a little bit unusual since seven years ago it was an officer for every 456 people. The city had more officers at the time but with a smaller population. There are some satellite police departments in the county, but the Metro Police Department covers all of Davidson County. Compared to Tennessee’s [other large] cities, Nashville’s police force needs more officers. There are four recruit classes scheduled this year. Memphis has a city police officer for every 341 people. Knoxville has one for every 433 people and Chattanooga has an officer for every 360 residents. Baltimore has an officer for every 214 citizens. St. Louis has one for 234 people, and Cleveland has an officer for every 262 residents.”

Crime is historically low in Nashville, according to recent reports, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. Imagine how the situation might get even better if there were more officers on duty.