Chicken Wednesday

Hello and welcome to this weeks edition of Chicken Wednesday where a few articles will point out and hopefully dispel a few bad ideas about backyard chickens.

In Madison Wisconsin backyard chickens are good neighbors.

Janesville council members are considering changing Janesville’s ordinances to allow residents to keep a similar number of backyard chickens. Ordinances now allow chickens only in outlying areas.

People who have spoken out against the idea say chickens are noisy and smelly.

The Rettammells countered those arguments, as did two of their neighbors. The Rettammells’ chickens are more quiet than surrounding dogs, they said. Chickens don’t smell if their waste is taken care of, just like any other animal.

Even though the backyards in the Rettammells’ southwest Madison neighborhood are close together, some neighbors didn’t know chickens had moved in until the Rettammells told them.

I liked how some did not even know they were there until told....unlike howling dogs. That's being a good neighbor.

Other towns have joined the backyard chicken movement.

The Columbia, Missouri, City Council approved an ordinance that allows residents to raise chickens within city limits. In passing its urban-chicken ordinance, Columbia joins Springfield, Independence, St. Louis, Kirksville and Kansas City, Missouri.

While some are still fighting to get the ordinances changed.

Vickie Morgan thinks she won’t ruffle too many feathers with her crusade to bring backyard chickens to Burton.

The retired Grand Blanc school bus driver has asked the City Council to change an ordinance so she can raise hens on her half-acre that will allow hens to cluck around on Morgan’s half-acre yard on Springfield Street.

“I’ve just always wanted chickens,” said Morgan, who has lived in a suburb or city her whole life. “I’ve been told they’re like pets and just to have your own eggs — that’s what gets me, I guess.”

Morgan isn’t alone. People in other communities also are flocking to the idea of backyard chickens.

I'm one of the people "in other communities" who are flocking to the idea....but finding that bad ideas and rumors of the effect of backyard chickens are the greatest enemy to this growing movement.

Here is a video of some backyard chickens in an urban setting suffering the horrors of snow.

The wait grows longer

The Smyrna AM did a long interview with Mayor Tony Dover about his administration and the future of Smyrna. One part stood out and will be a heart breaker for those who have been waiting for a bookstore in town.

Q: A development that included JC Penney, Best Buy and Books-a-Million was slated for Sam Ridley Parkway last year, but seemed to be dropped by its developer. Can you explain briefly what happened with that project? And do you believe that a development like that might find new life in the Rocky Fork Road area?

A: It is my understanding that the original developer is no longer the owner of the property but there still may be an opportunity for those retailers to come to Smyrna. Since development in the Rocky Fork area is still a couple of years in the future and we need to continue to encourage retail growth, I would like to see them move forward sooner rather than later on Sam Ridley.

We might still get them, but the plans as they had been publicized are now defunct. The one store that Smyrna needs so much in my view just got delayed.....Danm!

The news that Hollywood Video is also closing was announced today also.

WGNS Radio Show - Smyrna Issues - 2-4-10 - Part 1

Flames!

I was picking up a prescription at Walgreens on Old Nashville highway and saw the Pentecostals of Smyrna church bus in its regular place. I looked closer and noticed something that put a big smile on my face.



When they painted it and put their name on it they took the time to add purple flames....that is so cool in my view. Flames on a church bus. I love it.

Snow Timelapse in Smyrna, TN

The season of love

We feel it is a bother to buy a funny hallmark card from Walmart, so the investment these people made into 'love' should be noted this romantic holiday season.

Flirtation, Fans and Flowers: Victorian Courtships Exhibit
February 02, 2010 - February 28, 2010
Did you know that Victorian Valentines could cost as much as a day rental for a carriage? This program explores the courtship customs of the Victorian Era. The romantic language of flowers and fans will be presented.
Regular admission rates apply.
Contact: Oaklands Historic House Museum,
(615) 893-0022

UPDATE FROM SMYRNA BOWLING CENTER....

This was posted last night on our website from the new GM Mark Hubbuck:

To all of our extended Smyrna Bowling Family…thanks so much for the thoughts, prayers, comments, and offers to help us during this trying time! Roy & Sue are strengthened by the show of support this community has already given. We are all working very hard to do what we can to reopen as quickly as possible, but this will be a slow process. The damage was quite extensive, and we are still in the beginning stages of repair. Please stay tuned with us as we will give updates every few days to keep all informed.
Our community is such a great one to live in and I know once we reopen  everyone will be stopping by to show support. Thanks to all who are concerned.

Smyrna Bowling Lane images

Mark Gunn aquired some more interior shots of the Bowling lanes and it is simply bad.





Credit to Timbo and a mechanic there...maybe the same person. The DNJ has a good write up on the story.

I drove over and took this picture of the backwall and a lot more then just the roof was badly damaged.

Breaking News smyrna bowling center closed!!!

As of right now today 1-30-10 the smyrna bowling center will be closed until futher notice. Our ceiling caved in over night on lanes 1 through 15 and the building has to be checked to see if its safe. watch the blog and out website for more details to come.

thanks

Saving our past

This was posted on the "Smyrna" facebook page.

"Smyrna is working with a local church to move an old historical schoolhouse to grounds near the Smyrna Library. Some folks might recall the old "Tipperary" school house near Division Street. A small and very simple one room schoolhouse. Kudos to the city and the church for preserving it and making it more visible close to the Library."

This is very interesting. Nothing online or in the papers.

This is where you live

Reader Cynthia pointed out that she has a Smyrna address and lives in district 3...so I went and looked closer to the map on the county website.



She is correct. District 3, the blue'ish section on the right, does connect to Smyrna, and here is the updated information on county seat candidates.

COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 3 WILL P JORDAN 1/8/2010

COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 9 STEVE SANDLIN 1/8/2010

COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 10 ANTHONY R JOHNSON 1/8/2010
COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 10 BRAD TURNER(facebook link) 1/11/2010 certified on 1/19/2010

COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 11 CHRISTOPHER S DEAL 1/21/2010 certified on 1/26/2010

COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 12 RICHARD B HALL 1/13/2010
COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 12 ROBERT STEVENS 1/4/2010 certified on 1/7/2010

I'm still stuck on who Christopher S. Deal is...so dear readers please ask around. This person lives in the 11th district somewhere,s and I would like to find something out about them

Who will run?

Smyrna is mostly covered by four county commission districts. 9, 10, 11, and 12. Every four years all seats are up for grabs and as of right now the following is where things stand according to the Rutherford County election commission.

As of right now in district 9, 10, and 12 the incumbents have picked up a petition but if they have filled one it has not been posted on the RCEC website. The first date following the name is when they picked up a petition in their name, the second, if there is one, is when it was certified.

District 10 has a contender that is active in the Republican party in Rutherford county but only has a facebook page to put out information. In District 12 the contender is a local lawyer and I linked to his professional website.

COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 9 STEVE SANDLIN 1/8/2010

COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 10 ANTHONY R JOHNSON 1/8/2010
COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 10 BRAD TURNER(facebook link) 1/11/2010 certified on 1/19/2010

COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 11 CHRISTOPHER S DEAL 1/21/2010

COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 12 RICHARD B HALL 1/13/2010
COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 12 ROBERT STEVENS 1/4/2010 certified on 1/7/2010

The odd one out is Christopher S Deal. I can find NOTHING on him or her, or even a listing on whitepages.com. If you know of anything give me a yell.

As the deadline for petitions is April 1st this list will grow so expect updates and a master list of candidates and their possible websites.

Trash in Smyrna....sort of.

The first Chicken Wednesday of the year

From the folder "another town simply doesn't get it" we have four felonious chickens.

Margo Powers doesn't want to be "the chicken lady." The 34-year-old mother of three is frankly surprised that the four laying hens in her backyard are creating a squawk in her neighborhood.
....
Keeping urban chickens is a growing trend in a society increasingly interested in where its food comes from. The city of Sacramento is considering legalizing egg-laying chickens, drafting policies that are expected to go before the legislation committee in March.

Wait! The city is considering legalizing egg laying chickens... Hell. That's more I received from ours.

I wish her luck and all the other backyard chicken hooligans.

The Earthquake in Haiti

I'm in the midst of helping World Vision with some radio spots aimed at getting relief into Haiti. If anyone can spare a few dollars to help them respond to this disaster, they're one of many good aid organizations.

You can donate here: World Vision

The death toll is unbelievable. If you can't give - pray. Haiti has systemic problems that are now exponentially worse. I wish I could fly down there right now and start digging. As it is, I'm at least getting a small chance to help from here and I thank God for that. What a horrible disaster. If anyone has any other ideas or suggestions on how to help, please chime in.

Thanks, Smyrna.

-DYG

Music in Smyrna

Music fills the air in Smyrna and here are a few examples

If you've ever driven past the VFW post you have likely seen the sign for Bert and friends.. well here they are.



Now some musicians are starting young such as Jeremy and Jaci Robertson (myspace) and their cover of "No air"



Now for those who feel music should have a certain amount of energy we have Phocian Gate (Myspace), a group self described as "Death Metal / Metal / Progressive". here is their live performance of 'Downfall'.



A rather wide variety of music all in our own town.

An open house.

January 9th, Saturday the Masjid Mahmood Mosque of Smyrna Tennessee had an open house for the community. The Mosque is housed in the building that once housed the Risen Life Fellowship on Maple Street. The Masjid Mahmood Mosque is part of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. This reform movement in the Muslim religion started in India near the end of the 19th century.

The open house started at 11am and after a meet and great we enjoyed a nice talk by Imam Azhar Hanif Sahib from St. Louis. He spoke of the issues of being Muslim in the world today and specifically of being one in America. The speaker spoke to the guests as if to calm any worries about the new neighbors in our midst. He spoke of the Ahmadi‘s communities view of Jihad as a struggle to improve one’s self, to fight against the desires of man and was not associated with the Muslims normally seen on CNN an Headline news.

I leaned and whispered to my wife that the speaker was “preaching to the choir”. I suspected that people who would dress nice and go to an open house would not have such a negative view of the Muslim community to start with and would understand that the extreme minority does not represent the majority.

We then had a question and answer period that addressed questions on the perception of Muslims, my question on if as a reform community do they still ascribe to the tradition 5 pillars of Islam, and to other subjects.

At about 1 we broke for Lunch. Indian cuisine was the main course and all I could identify was a chicken dish and a rice dish, the name of the other dishes eluded me, but were all flavorful and spicy. I do wish I knew how to make that flat bread they had piles of.

All in all I enjoyed their open house and am glad they chose our town to create a center in. Smyrna for all it is, is sadly lacking in diversity. While the smattering of Spanish language signs might seem too diverse to some, I wish a more flavorful existence. This is a welcome step in that process.

2009: Smyrna Home Sales

First, welcome 2010! As the real estate agent who occasionally writes for this wonderful Smyrna site, I felt it important to provide an overview of the city's housing market from 2009. First some disclosures: these only include residential listings - not condos or land - unless the listing agent categorized the condo or land under residential in our local MLS. Also, I am not an economist... these are numbers I pulled from the search criteria available to me. I didn't "drill down" a lot (for example, I can't tell you that $200,000 sales were down 32 percent or up four point oh eight percent), but if you have specific questions let me know and I can try to find the answers for you.

Overall Smyrna's housing market was surprisingly healthy in 2009. Yes, it was down in the number of homes sold in a five year period, but the drop between 2008 and 2009 nearly leveled off as compared to between 2007 and 2008.



The value of homes remains fairly strong, especially when compared to neighboring LaVergne. This graph shows the total number of homes in a three year period that sold for under $125,000.



Now let's look at the number of homes that sold, by city and by price.



Clearly LaVergne sells many more homes that we can call "affordable" (they cost less) while people pay more in Smyrna. And for you who want more details than just statistics, here's where we are as of today.

HOMES CURRENTLY FOR SALE – 305

Less than $150,000
Total now for sale – 120
Average days on the market – 101
Longest days on the market – 369 (three new construction homes)
Least Expensive: $69,000 in Sagefield subdivision, 950 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath

$150,001 or Greater
Total now for sale – 185
Average days on the market – 114
Longest days on the market – 625
Most Expensive: $1.5 million 5 acre property with 2008 square foot house, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths. Priced because it backs to Sam Ridley Parkway, so potential commercial. (This is the home with the longest days on the market)

HOMES CURRENTLY FOR SALE, but under contract and PENDING – 35

Average Price – $180,463
Average days on the market – 58
Least Expensive – $49,900 (8 days on the market)
Most Expensive – $349,900 (170 days on the market)

HOMES CLOSED IN 2009 – 511

Up to $100,000 – 60 closed
Least expensive – $8,500 condemned home on Church Street sold as-is; $39,417 on Enon Springs with 1057 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath; and $50,000 on Enon Springs Road with 1010 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath.

$100,001 – $125,000 – 95 closed

$125,001 – $150,000 – 121 closed

$150,001 – $200,000 – 160 closed

$200,001 and up – 124 closed
Most expensive Smyrna home sold in 2009: $740,000 in Hidden Valley Farms, 5065 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3 full, 2 half baths, 78 days on the market.

Expired Listings in 2009 – 308
Withdrawn Listings in 2009 – 396
NOTE: These numbers simply indicate when a listing was either withdrawn (and perhaps re-listed) by owner or it expired (and could also have been listed again).

AND THE UGLY

Current homes listed that are “Distress Sales” – 38
Pending homes in distress – 6
Homes that closed in 2009 as a “Distress Sale” – 150

How do I define a distress sale? A home that has been foreclosed and listed by the VA or HUD or is indicated as bank-owned. In addition, homes that are listed as a short-sale, foreclosure sale, or if it says in the remarks words to the effect of a bank or third-party approval required.

Average price of distress sales: $144,796
Average days on market for distress sales: 106
Number of distress sales for homes valued at more than $175,000: 10

Those are the numbers!! If you have any questions about real estate in middle Tennessee, please feel welcome to contact me. I can be reached by phone (615) 491-2161, office (615) 459-4040, or email kathy at bobparks dot com.

The weather outside is.....

simply lovely. I love winter. The brisk air, the cool dry wind brushing against my face. I'm in love with the cloudy overcast sky and lack of sun. Yes I'm a winter wonderland resident.

Some people might not like winter weather. The workers at the new VA call centre. I noticed last weekend that the wind had blown down almost all of the chain link fence around the parking lot. I was surprised as I did not think the linkage would offer enough resistance...but it did.

My moms front yard most definitely does not like the weather. We had parked my '79 3/4 ton Suburban truck there during new years and due to the rain we had to spin the wheel and create two nice deep furrows across her yard. That Tennessee red clay soil is slicker then boogers.

The last few weeks have seen broken pipes, see Chips 'fun' right before Christmas, and other cold related fun issues. (why does twitter ask us to sign in when we pull your page up chip?).

The one problem is that the weather and holidays have made me feel worn. I'm returning and hope to post more often. Honest.

remember to drop off your tree

Remember to drop off your trees at Lee Victory Recreation Park, 110 Sam Ridley Parkway. Drop-off period will be December 26 to January 17. Please remove all lights and decorations from the tree and drop it off at the designated area only. The chips from this program will be placed on new and existing trails and playground surfaces. For more information, contact Monty Perkins, Smyrna Parks & Recreation, 615-459-9742 X2612.