When I asked my college French professor for permission to take classes at Belmont University in the summer of 1992, he replied by asking, “What the hell is Belmont?” He eventually agreed to let me study away from my alma mater after I explained, but he had no idea that Belmont was a small Baptist school in Nashville. Very few people who lived outside of Tennessee did, unless they had a direct connection to the city or the school.

On the heels of major campus upgrades, back-to-back NCAA basketball tournament appearances and next week’s Presidential Debate, people are taking notice of Belmont here and around the country. U.S. News and World Report recently named Belmont one of two schools that “everyone should be watching” because of its “striking improvements or innovations.”

That’s a far cry from the quiet, insular institution that was Belmont College when I was growing up in the 80s and early 90s. I’m proud that Belmont is playing an active role in our community and emerging on the national scene. It wasn’t that long ago that Belmont and its peer, Lipscomb University, had largely inward focuses that called for little, if any, relating to the greater public. It’s no coincidence, in my opinion, that both universities are enjoying unprecedented success and accolades during an era where they are engaging people and organizations outside their campuses.

(It should be noted that Lipscomb hosted today’s annual meeting of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and that the school is routinely hosting nationally prominent speakers, many of whom don’t necessarily agree with its conservative Christian philosophy and mission. Regarding the latter, I’m encouraged to see Lipscomb respectfully consider points of view that it may or may not align with its own.)

I agree with Metro Council Member Erica Gilmore that a ban on single-beer sales in Nashville’s “urban core” is probably a good idea:

“I think we have a better grasp of how to deal with it,” Gilmore said. “Just traveling to Denver, it was really clean. It was really amazing actually. You think, ‘When I walk downtown, I wish our downtown could be like this.’” Gilmore believes single item beer sales contribute to vagrants loitering around downtown and leads to littering. “You have people loitering round, hanging around with bottles, it does not look attractive,” Gilmore said.

I don’t believe, however, that this is a comprehensive solution for vagrancy, littering or homelessness. Did Gilmore talk to anyone in Denver government, or did she just witness the cleanliness of a city hosting one of the most significant events in its entire history? I’m sure that downtown Denver was practically spotless, and downtown Nashville likely will be when it hosts a presidential debate next month. I’d like to know what Denver public officials have done to make their downtown area cleaner. I’d also like to know whether it is typically clean or whether it was merely especially tidy because of the Democratic Convention.

Reduced access for people who are abusing alcohol, including people who are homeless, can’t hurt. It won’t stop everyone, but it is one more layer of deterrent. Does anyone who does not have a substance-abuse problem urgently need to buy only one beer while they are downtown? If they need one single beer that badly, couldn’t they plan ahead or head to the suburbs? I think this legislation can be effective, if approached reasonably, but it won’t do what would help people who are homeless: Help them secure housing and learn the life and career skills needed to hold jobs and earn better wages.

We are especially lucky that Hatch Show Print didn’t go out of business somewhere along the way:

After years of financial struggle, Hatch Show Print is booming. CNN hired the business — whose designers handcraft posters using wood or metal blocks in much the same way printers did for hundreds of years— to design and create nearly all of its promotional materials for its presidential election coverage. Belmont University will hand out Hatch Show Print posters to everyone who attends the upcoming presidential debate on the college campus.

Clients from Nike to Neil Young have been ordering posters from the shop. The Ryman Auditorium continues to offer a Hatch Show poster to all its artists to go with each show and be sold to concertgoers. Hatch Show has been doing the Ryman’s posters since at least the 1920s, and its vintage designs have become an integral part of Nashville’s image.

Hatch Show Print is uniquely Nashville, and I’m thrilled to see that the nation is increasingly taking notice. I’m all for technology and everything that digital advances allow us to do, but sometimes there’s no replacing authentic, old-fashioned artistry. I applaud Gaylord Entertainment and the Country Music Foundation for recognizing this treasure in our midst and for preserving it.

I agree with Gail Kerr that the current convention center site will be an “enormous opportunity” once the new convention center opens its doors.

“It needs to be a signature thing for downtown Nashville,” said Rich Riebeling, Metro finance director. “I think the potential is unlimited. Whatever gets done needs to enhance the Ryman, and have some sort of green space. I don’t know what the right answer is.”

Should the city level the old convention center and offer the land up for redevelopment to the higher bidder? Build a park? A downtown high school? Or (please, no) another high-rise condo tower?

My first thought is that I’d like to see a public space along the lines of the public square in front of the Metro Courthouse that features a parking garage beneath it. This would be a good balance between pragmatism and aesthetics, in my opinion. It would be challenging to make that kind of public square or space work since the property slopes downhill toward the river, but I think it’s workable. I’d like to see a study committee of some sort take on the task of determining the best use of the property for the city, and the fate the old thermal transfer site that may or may not become a minor league baseball stadium needs to be decided, too. The former needs to precede the latter, I think. Together these two properties represent major opportunities to make downtown more welcoming, more attractive and more cosmopolitan for all of us.

I found it surprising that Nashville ranks in the middle of the pack in terms of volunteering, according to a study by the Corporation for National & Community Service. The Volunteer State as a whole is ranked in the bottom third nationally, which is even worse. Nashville’s volunteer rate now trails the U.S. figure, so the city is below average in donating its time.

I expected to see Nashville in the top 10. Considering how vibrant and active our nonprofit community is, I’m scratching my head at how the city landed where it is. I can’t blame it on tough economic times, either, because that’s likely influencing all of the results, not just Nashville’s, and these numbers are for 2007, when the downward trend was only beginning to emerge.

This is a little unusual for me, but I agree with Joe Biddle: TSU deserves to play its home games on its campus. Playing games at LP Field was a consequence of the original NFL stadium proposal. TSU was permitted to play games at the Titans’ stadium in order to reduce minority resistance to the roughly $300 million dollars required to build the facility (and especially to tens of millions in state funding included in that total). What TSU really wanted was an upgraded Hale Stadium, the outdated field that alumni and fans call “The Hole.” The Tiger community should have an on-campus stadium that it can show off with pride, not a “home” stadium in name only.

If this kind of news is going to go away, Titans cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones is going to have to decide that he wants to stay away from trouble more than he wants to party:

The aftermath of a weekend in Las Vegas is ugly: three people shot at a strip club, with one still in critical condition. A combination of celebrities with money and strippers fighting over it started a melee that led to the bloody scene. It happened Monday at 5 a.m. at Minxx Gentleman’s Club off the Vegas strip.

Pacman Jones was in the middle of it all, though on Tuesday his lawyer [Worrick Robinson] reiterated that the Titans cornerback is not a suspect … “[Las Vegas police Sergeant Jon Sott] told me he was really disgusted at the way there were attempts to implicate Pacman,” Robinson said. “But they said again he is not a suspect, and they don’t see anything changing. He said they have a description but it’s not Pacman. … I think this chapter is close to being closed…”

After a judge dismissed a case against him earlier this month, Jones said he had learned his lesson and would try and do a better job of picking his spots to hang out. [emphasis added] “Maybe I’ll chill out as a jazz bar or something with some older folks,” he said. As for what Jones took out of Monday morning’s incident, Robinson said: “It scared him. Pacman said he was scared and he’ll tell you he heard the gunshots and they stepped it up and got out of there. I think this is pretty much behind him now, but yeah, it scared him.”

I’m not convinced yet that this incident or ongoing trouble is “behind” Jones. The problem, in my opinion, is that trouble continues to be “in front” of him. When you are trying to overcome negative public opinion, being confirmed as a non-suspect is not enough.

Josh Tinley makes a good point about the recent report ranking the Titans poorly for fan loyalty (28th out of 32 NFL teams): The team’s first season in Tennessee, when home games were played in Memphis, drags down the attendance numbers that drive the loyalty scale considerably.

I’m not sure he’s completely right, though. Fan support for the Titans has been high for most of the team’s time in Nashville, but I think it’s been pretty low the past couple of seasons. I would be curious to see an assessment of actual attendance instead of paid attendance. What I’m getting at is: Are the fans actually going to the games while the team is losing? I”m thinking that some of those sellouts actually include a decent number of empty seats.

One thing is for sure, if you ask me: Titans fans, including myself, were spoiled from the start by the team’s performance. Landing in the Super Bowl in the team’s first season in the Coliseum and posting double-digit win totals for several years will do that. Now we’re learning how to deal with the lean times, too.