Busy, busy, busy

This weekend has a lot of things that could keep you busy.

Parks and Recreation will host a screening of Kung-Fu Panda at Rotary Soccer Park, off Mayfield Drive. Gates open at 6:30 p.m. and admission is $1 per person. Movie begins at dark, but inflatables and concessions will be avaialble beforehand.(Youtube Trailer)

and if you're wanting to get wet.

Second Annual Boat Day & Fourth Annual Water fest July 11th

This event is free and open to the general public. Join the Town of Smyrna and the Stones River Watershed Association for an opportunity to try out a variety of canoes and kayaks, either solo or in tandem, while on calm water surface. Experienced paddlers from the Tennessee Scenic Rivers Association will be on hand to demonstrate skill and safety requirements. Minors under 18 years of age must be accompanied by an adult.

Located at the Stewart Creek Recreational Area, west side of Weakly Lane, just north of the Smyrna Town limits. Adjacent to the boat ramp on the Corps of Engineers property. Everything begins at 9am and runs till 1pm. Contact Greg Upham at 355-5701 or by email at greg.upham@townofsmyrna.org for more information.

Looks like fun.

Smyrna Crime Stoppers

This video is posted on one of the Smyrna Police websites and I thought it should be shared with you.

Meeting that you might want to attend

With the issue of Nissan in the air the company and Department of Energy will have a meeting tonight you might want to attend.

The U.S. Department of Energy will conduct a meeting Thursday to obtain public comments regarding preparation of an environmental assessment for its proposed action of issuing a federal loan to Nissan to support construction of its battery manufacturing and electric vehicle production project in Smyrna.

The meeting will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Smyrna Room at the Smyrna Town Centre, 100 Sam Ridley Parkway East.

I have some questions on their lithium-ion batteries that I would like answered.

A big heartfelt Thank You......

I am a new home owner as most of you already know and last month during a storm here in Smyrna we had winds that split a tree that is in the right of way near my back yard. The tree split where the big branches grew apart and it was just Entangled in another tree. These trees are a part of the old neighborhood and I hated to see this happen for I enjoy them in my back yard and they bring me many evenings of nice cool shade. Well I had called several tree removal services and they quoted me a high price which I could not afford at this time. One gentleman told me to leave it but since it was in the easement of my property I should try to call the city and ask them. Well I had already done this and the one lady told me it was on my property and I would have to deal it myself. I thought hmmmmm maybe I should just let it fall and see what happens. The cost to have it cut down would be the same as my deductible and why spend the money now? Well this morning as I was sitting on the couch I noticed a truck in my back yard and thought WTF! I went outside and this nice man told me someone from the city came out to look at this tree and they decided to have him cut it down at the city's expense. Why do you ask the city pay for it? Well the tree is hanging over the side street here and this street is very busy with people speeding up and down it and if the tree were to fall someone could be killed or even worse me! I sit in the back of the house most of time. I just want to take this time to say Thank You to the city of Smyrna of doing this and making things right. The tree is maybe one foot off the street as for the others that sit here too. The easement should be the city's responsibility and I am glad they saw this as a hazard. Once again THANK YOU!!!

And they're off!!!

Tonight is a big night for the package liquor board with their applications and we have three contenders.

Certificate of Compliance Applications:
1. Smyrna Wine & Spirits, 800 Isabella Lane (Lee Tashie Partners)
2. Sam Ridley Wine and Spirits, Inc., 611 President Place (David Lee Nettles)
3. Smyrna’s Divine Wines & Spirits, 291 Sam Ridley Parkway, Suites 100, 105 and 110 (Shirley Eilene Hasan)

Two of the addresses are within throwing distance of Home Depot, and the other looks to be in or near the new strip mall on the corner of Sam Ridley and Weakly lane.

Interesting viewpoint

A Tennessean news article says that the large number of possible jobs might not be as glorious as some are hyping.

Nissan's plans to create up to 1,300 jobs to build electric cars and batteries don't necessarily mean more overall employees at the Smyrna factory.

More than 5,000 workers, including about 4,000 employed by Nissan, remain at the plant after voluntary buyouts, and it's difficult to say what the net gain or loss will be by 2012 when the company expects to launch production of the EV emissions-free vehicles, a Nissan official said.

It will create new jobs, but the article implies the number of NEW hires might not be there.

Sugar and spice...and video

 

This video goes along with a nice article on the subject.

Fireworks

The fireworks we see require a lot of preparations and you might enjoy this video from a Smyrna fireworks show setup from the early 90's. Note that this setup is for hand igniting, and not the electronic style now used here.

Jobs coming to Smyrna

The Obama administration announced that Smyrna would be one of three sites getting a pile of money for retooling.

$1.6 billion to Nissan North America to retool their Smyrna, Tennessee factory to build advanced electric automobiles and to build an advanced battery manufacturing facility.

Another article said that this could bring a thousand new jobs to our town. How many will be filled with the temp-to-full workers is unknown, but jobs are jobs.

A $1.6 billion federal loan for Nissan North America Inc. to build a zero-emissions electric car and battery packs to power them could eventually create more than 1,000 new jobs at the automaker's assembly complex in Tennessee.

The batteries will be built in a new plant to be constructed here in the near future.

Maybe they can

I like when people leave comments as it shows that we get one or two readers a day. One comment from earlier this month has stuck with me and I have pondered if I should reply in this manner. What the heck I say. Here goes.

I posted on the town's seeming inability to post online the hot topic Package Liquor Ordinances in draft form so people could view them before the final council vote. I stated the following...

I'm not sure what pisses me off more. The fact that such a simple act as posting draft ordinances online to show respect to the residents of Smyrna is not done, or the fact that I have brought this to their attention several times in my column and here and they still do not do it.

That pretty much sums up my view in a nut shell (where the heck did that saying come from?).

An Anonymous commenter said the following.

...if you put a draft ordinance on the city's website, people take it as gospel. It doesn't matter how many warnings you put up on the page to let them know it's just a draft.
--------
I know Metro puts these types things on their website and I like the way they do it, but THIS ISN'T METRO.

While this is nice in theory the truth is that Smyrna does put online in draft form non-hot topic drafts.

Like this one that is on the website as I type. Two versions of subdividion changes and regulation for people to view before the final vote.



This is a draft ordinance in two different layouts. At 230 pages plus each I feel that ordinance changes of 10 pages could just as easily be placed online.

Smyrna can do it for the business end of the town government, then they should do it for all of the town ordinances and codes changes.

The next part of his comment said this.

It drives me crazy when people compare smaller cities to Metro. They have many more resources and employees than the smaller cities. Of course they are going to have more.

The problem with that is Smyrna does compare itself to other towns so why shouldn't I? Smyrna looks to nearby towns to see what they are doing for guidance...I simply did the same.

Smyrna can and does put online drafts, but they do not post online ordinance drafts such as the package liquor sales and that is a failing in my view.

ignore any grammar errors as my MS word is not working.

New Farmers Market is open

The new facilities for the Farmers market in Murfreesboro is open and from the pictures posted on WGNS website it looks nice.

The market is open from 6:00 am to 11:00 am on Tuesday and Friday of each week (including holidays) from the 2nd Friday in June through the last Friday in October. It is operated from the Lane Agri-Park Community Center located at 315 John R. Rice Blvd. in Murfreesboro. Vendors sell locally grown produce, plants, and certain processed foods. Contact the Rutherford County Extension office (615-898-7710) for operating guidelines or other Farmer's Market information.

I wonder if they will sell chickens there?

Community yardsale for a cause

A letter from a reader about a big yard sale with charitable overtones.

Hi --

It would be a huge help if you could post this!!!

My 6 year old son has a developmental disability that mirrors autism at about 90% - but because he doesn't fit neatly into any diagnostic categories, the therapies and testing that he needs are not always covered by insurance. Our medical bills, understandably, tend to get out of control. We are trying to catch up on medical bills and pay them off (or at least get back to zero so we can start all over again!), and to that effect we are having a multi-family yard sale on Saturday June 13th on Stonemark Trail (across from La Vergne High School, off Chaney.)

Included in the yard sale:

boys clothing, age 4 to 7 (school clothes AND play clothes)
girls clothing, age 2 to 6
several girls party dresses, age 2 to 6
baby clothes -- mostly girl
women's clothing - L and XL
men's clothing - L and XL
shoes: girls, boys, women's

a Boppy
an Eddie Bauer infant car seat with two vehicle bases
toddler ride-on toys
golf clubs
lots of children's books
VHS, DVDs, and books
stereo with two speakers
2 table lamps
Precious Moments wedding figurine
Fisher Price Shake & Go Speedway + 2 cars
and lots of other random stuff!

Shoppers will also have an opportunity to buy Lance Armstrong "Livestrong" bracelets for 50 cents each. My bike-riding husband is participating in the LIVESTRONG Challenge in Austin, TX in October. Proceeds from bracelet sales will go directly to the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Thanks, and hope to see you on Saturday!!!

The cause is good, so go for it.