Realtors® Remain Leading Advocates for Fair Housing Laws

As outspoken supporters for fair housing issues and homeownership, Realtors® will join the nation in recognizing “Fair Housing Month” this April.

Signed into law in 1968 and amended in 1988, the Fair Housing Act prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status and national origin. Realtors® work tirelessly to support this law, as well as ensure the benefits of homeownership are available to everyone.

“Realtors® are committed to bringing America home,” said National Association of Realtors® President Vicki Cox Golder, owner of Vicki L. Cox & Associates in Tucson, Ariz. “NAR’s members work hard to build communities and an environment where everyone, regardless of race, color, religion, sex or disability can choose where they want to live.”

Through the years NAR has developed education on diversity and fair housing laws for its members. These programs and resources have educated Realtors® on the importance of inclusive housing practices and the promotion of minority homeownership.

One program, At Home with Diversity®, is a comprehensive diversity training course for members. The program provides demographics and statistics that help participants understand their local areas, marketing strategies and guidelines, as well as exercises to build diversity awareness. In celebration of Fair Housing Month, NAR will waive the course fee during the entire month of April for any local or state Realtor® association that sponsors the course.

NAR will also implement a new course that examines the role Realtors® can play in affordable housing. The course will provide guidance on how to expand opportunities to benefit home buyers as well as entire communities. The course will be available to Realtors® in May during NAR’s Midyear Legislative Meetings in Washington, D.C.

“NAR has expanded and implemented fair housing education, programs, and resources for members because Realtors® believe homeownership is an investment in everyone’s future,” said Golder. “And Realtors® across the country pledge to stay committed to this cause.”

Realtors® also strongly support programs that help improve the quality of a neighborhood as a whole while also promoting diversity. As a sponsor of the School of the Future Design Competition, NAR encourages middle school students to redesign their schools to create better learning places that are environmentally responsive and are assets to their neighborhoods. Realtors® serve as mentors to students and as judges at the regional and national level.

In addition, NAR provides funds to state and local Realtor® associations that promote diversity, housing opportunities, and smart growth. The Ira Gribin Workforce Housing Grants are awarded to state Realtor® associations to promote workforce housing initiatives. The NAR Diversity Initiative Grant Program provides up to $5,000 in matching funds for activities that reinforce the role of Realtors® in diverse communities. Grants for programs that support the mission of NAR’s Realtors® Housing Opportunity Program are available through the NAR Housing Opportunity Fund. Associations can also receive financial resources for programs and activities that promote Realtors® as leaders in improving their communities by advancing smart growth.

Restaurant Wednesday

Bound'ry

Featuring a menu specializing in contemporary global cuisine with a Southern twist, Bound'ry offers an extensive beer and wine list and traditional or tapas-style dining. Try the wood-fired artichoke, tuna nori roll, wood oven pizzas, planked trout, double pork chop, fresh seafood and our exclusive Creekstone USDA Prime all-natural steaks. Enjoy seasonal outdoor seating.

location:
911 20th Avenue South
Nashville

615.321.3043
pansouth.net

Restaurant Wednesday

Sunset Grill

Located in the heart of Hillsboro Village, Sunset Grill is the jewel in the triple crown of Nashville's most successful independent restaurateur, Randy Rayburn. The California-influenced cuisine has remained contemporary and fresh for almost two decades with daily specials that lure diners off-menu. Sunset serves 65 wines by the glass and 500 by the bottle. Offering free shuttle service to downtown hotels.

2001 Belcourt Ave
Nashville

615.386.3663
sunsetgrill.com

Restaurant Wednesday!

Ombi is a warm, modern space on Elliston Place, bringing contemporary dining to Midtown Nashville. Chef Jason Love and bar manager Terrell Raley serve inventive and flavorful food and cocktails.

Location:
2214 Elliston Place
Nashville

615.320.5350
ombirestaurant.com

Restaurant Wednesday

Although PM could be considered Thai-fusion, most of the fare created by chef/owner Arnold Myint incorporates flavors from all around the globe. From creative cocktails, boutique wines and speciality beers to curries, burgers and sushi, the menu has something to offer everyone.

location:
2017 Belmont Boulevard
Nashville

615.297.2070
pmnashville.com

Realtors® Partner with National Community Stabilization Trust to Revitalize Neighborhoods Wracked by Foreclosures

The National Association of Realtors® has joined forces with the National Community Stabilization Trust to help rebuild American communities devastated by the foreclosure crisis.

The collaboration will bring Realtors and the more than 1,400 state and local Realtor® associations into a side-by-side relationship with leading national nonprofits, as well as with state and local leaders, to develop comprehensive and targeted plans to rebuild communities. The partnership was made possible by the new federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which provides $6 billion to reclaim neighborhoods wracked by high levels of foreclosed and abandoned property, property disinvestment, extremely low prices and low resident confidence.

“Realtors® build communities and have the market expertise and property transaction tools to help local housing organizations understand local market conditions and how to put foreclosed houses back into the hands of stable homeowners,” said NAR President Vicki Cox Golder, owner of Vicki L. Cox & Associates in Tucson, Ariz. “Working in this partnership with NCST gives Realtors® a seat at the community table to perform a leadership role in restoring vitality to communities across this great nation.”

“Neighborhoods across America have been decimated by high concentrations of abandoned and foreclosed homes. To reverse neighborhood decline, we need the Realtor® community working hand in hand with other housing providers,” said Craig Nickerson, president of NCST. “This ambitious new campaign will harness the unique abilities of Realtors® to remarket newly renovated homes and to rebrand the tarnished image of hard-hit neighborhoods.”

Through a nationwide network of state and local associations, Realtors® have been engaged in foreclosure prevention efforts since early 2009 as part of the NAR’s Foreclosure Prevention & Response Program.

“The outstanding leadership of many state and local Realtor® associations over the past year to become active participants in community problem-solving has proven that Realtors® are a valuable local community partner,” said Golder.

She cited strong efforts by the leadership in the Chicago Association of Realtors®, the North Metro Realtors® (Minn.) Association and the Realtor® Association of Great Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) as examples of Realtors® working through NSP to revitalize neighborhoods.

While NAR and the NCST will be working nationwide on this new initiative, a focus will be placed on enhancing capacity in states experiencing the highest levels of foreclosure and abandonment.

Beginning January 27, NAR will initiate contact with targeted state associations, based on severity of foreclosure problems. In addition, NAR will provide in-depth training and education materials developed and provided by NCST on www.realtor.org/foreclosure.

The National Community Stabilization Trust is a nonprofit organization that facilitates the transfer of foreclosed and abandoned properties from financial institutions nationwide to local housing organizations, and provides access to financing in order to promote productive property reuse and neighborhood stability. In collaboration with state and local governments, the Stabilization Trust builds local capacity to effectively acquire, manage, rehab and sell foreclosed property to ensure homeownership and rental housing are available to low- and moderate-income families. Visit www.stabilizationtrust.com to learn more about the National Community Stabilization Trust.

MBA buys last house on Brighton

A project 14 years in the making is likely to come to fruition this summer.

Montgomery Bell Academy has bought the last of 15 houses along Brighton Road, becoming the sole owner of a strip of land that could eventually serve as tennis courts and parking.

Metro Traffic and Parking Commission recently approved the all-boys school’s request to seal off Brighton Road, a city street about a quarter of a mile long that runs between MBA’s sports fields and acquired properties.

The school now needs the final OK from Metro Council to close the street, a process that requires three rounds of votes, expected in March.


“It does look positive, largely because we’ve spent a lot of time with the neighbors over 15 years, and people trust us a little more and know that we’re doing some things to improve the neighborhood,” said Brad Gioia, headmaster at the school.


Brighton Road closure is an integral piece of a larger, multimillion-dollar project to build underground parking with a soccer field atop it off Wilson Boulevard, make environmental upgrades in a creek buffer zone, add parking and relocate tennis courts.


The second phase of the initiative calls for a new classroom building and a new dining hall in the middle of campus, Gioia said.


But, like most major development projects, this one, too, has involved numerous meetings with neighbors, whose concerns range from projected increase in traffic to aesthetics.


“One concern has to do with screening the activities that go on campus from the residents of properties. MBA has been agreeable to build a berm,” said Irwin Venick, president of Woodlawn West Historic Neighborhood Association.


His house on Kimpalong Avenue backs into the almost vacant strip of land along Brighton Road that will be converted into tennis courts and parking spaces.

“One of our feelings is that MBA should be treating the back of its property as well as it treats the front of its property, and a berm goes a long way in that regard, and we appreciate them moving in this direction.”

Nashville businesses rush to help Haiti

The devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on Jan. 12 has invited a wave of giving. In the first 48 hours hours after the crisis, the American Red Cross raised $5 million thanks to people texting “HAITI” to 90999, which results in a $10 donation that will show up on the donor’s phone bill. Nashville businesses are supporting the relief efforts in a variety of ways. Here are some of them:

HCA Inc.: The Nashville-based hospital operator said it will match employee contributions in order to make a total contribution of $1 million to organizations such as the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. Employees, physicians, facility volunteers or others affiliated with the company can give directly to a special relief fund, "The HCA Haiti Relief Fund," administered through the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. Tax-deductible donations to this fund may be made by either check or credit card at www.cfmt.org/HCAHaitiReliefFund. The company also is coordinating medical supply donations from its facilities across the country through its East Florida Division, based in Ft. Lauderdale. Working with Food for the Poor, a South Florida relief organization, facility supply officers are arranging for collection and delivery of supplies. HCA's temporary staffing agency, All About Staffing, is also accepting the names of HCA clinical staff and disaster-trained employees who are interested in volunteering, and will apprise them of opportunities once the situation in Haiti has stabilized. "The devastation in Haiti is almost incomprehensible," HCA Chairman and CEO Richard M. Bracken said in a statement, "and some members of the HCA family have been personally affected. We wanted to act quickly to provide assistance from the company and to establish an effective mechanism by which our people could fulfill their desire to help."

Dollar General: The Goodlettsville-based company has donated $100,000 to International Red Cross to aid in the recovery effort, and is encouraging employees to make donations at www.redcross.org.

Fifth Third Bank and United Way of Williamson County: The bank is working with the United Way of Williamson County to solicit relief supplies, which can be dropped off at the bank's branch at 5000 Maryland Way branch in Brentwood or at United Way's office at 207 Gothic Court Suite 107 in Franklin. Most needed are donations of water, baby formula, medical supplies and blankets. Pain relievers, flashlights and batteries, and personal hygiene products are also needed. You can reach the bank branch at (615) 377-5384 or the United Way office at (615) 771-2312.

Nissan: Franklin-based Nissan North America has donated $25,000 to the Red Cross and $52,000 to Habitat for Humanity. It is also offering to match employee contributions up to a total of $25,000. Nissan Canada Inc. donated another $5,000.

Soles4Souls: The Nashville-based charity is working with donors to send shoes and relief supplies.The charity already had 30 cases of shoes in shipment to Haiti when the earthquake struck. Now it is working with partners to deliver at least 1 million pairs of shoes, as well as an aid package of food, bottled water, medical supplies, tents, blankets, flashlights and baby products. Nashville's Hopepark Church and KIWI Shoe Care are assisting in the effort. On Sunday, Soles4Souls' Founder Wayne Elsey will be present at Hopepark to discuss the charity and raise money for relief efforts. Soles4Souls announced Friday that beginning today, Shoe Carnival customers will be invited to make a donation at checkout.

The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee: The Community Foundation is establishing a Haiti Earthquake Response Fund. Grants from the fund will be made to nonprofits and aid groups for response, clean-up and restoration efforts in the aftermath of the disaster. Donations to the fund can be made online at www.cfmt.org or by mail to the Community Foundation.

Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw movie to begin filming in Nashville

An Academy Award-winning actress and a multi-platinum selling country hunk are teaming up on a project that is bringing an injection of cash to some Nashville-area businesses.

No, it’s not Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw are starring in a $15 million movie that begins production this week in Nashville. The production company, Screen Gems, planned to hire local residents for 75 percent of the film’s crew and 90 percent of its cast (an open casting call was in December). The movie also stars Garrett Hedlund of Friday Night Lights (the movie, not the TV show), and Leighton Meester of Gossip Girl.

“I am thrilled the director and producers of 'Love Don’t Let Me Down' have chosen Nashville and its residents to help bring their story to life,” Perry Gibson, executive director of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment and Music Commission, said in a news release. “Having a production of this magnitude in our state will provide a significant number of jobs for our production community and the project’s spending will provide a real boost to the local economy.”

Photography is expected to last through the first week of March. Pre-production began in November and post-production is expected to end in April.

Screen Gems said it expects to spend $7 million to $8 million in Tennessee, which should qualify the company for a 32 percent refund on qualified expenses thanks to incentives offered by the film commission and the state Department of Revenue.

Writer and director Shana Feste describes the movie as “a rising young singer-songwriter (Hedlund) who becomes involved with a fallen country singer (Paltrow). As they embark on a career resurrection tour with her husband and manager (McGraw) and a beauty queen-turned-singer (Meester), romantic entanglements and old demons threaten to derail them all.”

Restaurant Wednesday

Midtown Cafe is known as the place for a power lunch as well as a favorite choice for couples wanting an intimate romantic evening. Midtown Cafe offers great, unpretentious food under the precise eye of Executive Chef Brian Uhl. Fifty wines by the glass and 150 by the bottle keep Midtown on the top of every "Best of" list. Free shuttle services for downtown hotel guests.

Location:
102 19th Avenue South
Nashville

615.320.7176
midtowncafe.com

Music City Center enters home stretch

As the proposed Music City Center convention hall enters a final week of debate, activists on both sides of the issue are fortifying their positions.

Also, Metro Council members continue to educate themselves on the $585 million project that would replace Nashville Convention Center with a new downtown venue.

Both the Music City Center Coalition and opposition group Nashville’s Priorities have sent e-mails in an effort to galvanize their troops. In a message this morning, the coalition urged supporters to attend a rally on the steps of the Metro Courthouse today “to show community wide support for the Music City Center.”

“The Music City Center will create thousands of new jobs and strengthen our local tax base at no cost to local taxpayers,” the e-mail states.

The latest study of Music City Center predicts the proposed new downtown convention hall would generate $134.9 million in new annual spending in Nashville by 2017 and support 1,524 jobs.

In a Friday evening e-mail, Nashville’s Priorities President Kevin Sharp seized on the results of a public opinion poll commissioned by WSMV-TV. The poll of 401 Davidson County registered voters found that 26 percent support the project, 50 percent oppose it, 21 percent are undecided and 3 percent are unfamiliar with the proposal.

In addition to noting the poll results, Sharp encouraged Music City Center opponents to sign a petition urging a public vote on the proposal, contact their council members and attend a public hearing tonight to voice their concerns.

Related upcoming events:
Today, 3 p.m.: The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau are holding a briefing for their members at the DoubleTree Hotel downtown. Mayor Karl Dean and Metro Finance Director Rich Riebeling will speak and take questions.

Today, 4:45 p.m.: The Music City Center Coalition’s rally begins at 4:45 p.m. on the Metro Courthouse steps.

Today, 5 p.m.: A joint meeting of the budget and finance committee and convention, tourism and public entertainment facilities committee of the Metro Council at the Metro Courthouse. The meeting will begin with a question-and-answer session for council members. That will be followed by a public hearing on the project that is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, 6 p.m.: Souncil members Frank Harrison, Jamie Hollin, Mike Jameson, Erik Cole and Karen Bennett will host a community discussion of the project at the Metro Police Department East Precinct.

Tuesday, 7 p.m.: Council members Kristine LaLonde, Jason Holleman and Sean McGuire will hold a community discussion of the project at West End Middle School.

Thursday, 5 p.m.: at the Metro Courthouse, Metro Council’s budget and finance committee and convention, tourism and public entertainment facilities committee will deliberate the proposed financing package for Music City Center.

Jan. 19: A final vote on the financing package is scheduled for a full council meeting.

Nashville Business Journal - by Brandon Gee Staff Writer

Arts: Nashville opens host of music, art venues

Music City broadens cultural offerings beyond the honky-tonks
Nashville Business Journal - by Linda Bryant Contributing Writer

At the turn of the millennium, Nashville’s downtown was known for its honky-tonks, but fine arts — or any other art form other than country music — weren’t part of the Music City brand.

Flip the calendar forward 10 years to Jan. 1, 2010, and there’s a different way of life percolating in the downtown core. The artistic and cultural choices have broadened. Downtown residents have increased from about 500 in 2000 to about 5,600 in 2009.

The expansion and addition of arts venues since 2000 include the $23 million Frist Center for the Visual Arts, which opened as Nashville’s first major visual arts museum in 2001. A wave of growth followed.

“We were not thought of as an arts town,” said Ken Roberts, former chairman of First American National Bank and president emeritus of the Frist Foundation. “But in the past 10 years, we have become a great arts town, far better than the community knows. I don’t think you can measure the amount of people who have come here because of it.”

Nashville-A Great Place to Live!

Corporate relocations, industry growth define decade of transformation for Middle Tennessee
Nashville Business Journal - by Brandon Gee Staff Writer

From an economic development perspective, the first decade of the 21st century in Middle Tennessee was marked by blue-collar losses and corporate relocations. Could the next 10 years be defined by solar energy and electric cars?

Recent years have been dominated by bad economic news. Middle Tennessee has lost jobs in nearly every occupational category. In this final year of the decade alone, the metropolitan area lost about 30,000 private sector jobs. The metro area’s unemployment rate, which stood at 3.4 percent when the decade began, now hovers above 9 percent.

But despite a gloomy close, local officials say the decade overall was a good one for the region and has left Nashville well positioned for the future.

“I think you would have to say, overall, Nashville’s story has been a very positive story,” Nashville Mayor Karl Dean said. “... There is a strong story to tell, and I love doing it.”

Proposals for a new convention center and a medical trade center downtown are being touted as boons to the existing health care and tourism industries going forward, and growth industries such as higher education, renewable energy and professional services have gained a foothold here as well.

Losses have centered around the manufacturing industry, including major downsizing at the General Motors Corp. plant in Spring Hill and the loss of Peterbilt’s truck assembly plant in Davidson County.

Those two losses alone represent about 9,000 jobs, but the long-term statistics back the positive assessment of the decade. From January 2000 to October 2009, the number of non-farm jobs in the metro area has increased from 683,700 to 727,500, a gain of 6.4 percent.

Manufacturing was the most glaring exception. Jobs in that category fell 33.4 percent, from 95,400 to 63,400. But manufacturing losses have been covered by gains in other sectors. Employment increased 39.4 percent in educational and health services, 20.4 percent in leisure and hospitality, and 9.8 percent in professional and business services.

By near consensus among officials interviewed by the Nashville Business Journal, the biggest economic development coup of the decade was the relocation of Nissan North America’s headquarters from California to Williamson County — if not in terms of jobs, then certainly in terms of notoriety.

“It’s marketing you could never pay enough for when a company makes that kind of decision,” said David Penn, director of the Business and Economic Research Center at Middle Tennessee State University.

The move was announced in 2005, and the relocation was completed in 2006. After working out of temporary facilities in downtown Nashville, the company opened its new Nissan Americas campus in Franklin in 2008.

Previously, in 2004, the Nashville area added 31 company headquarters and major facilities representing more than 11,000 new jobs. That list included two companies with annual revenue of more than $100 million: industrial filtration products maker Clarcor Inc. (NYSE: CLC) and Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (NYSE: LPX).

In the intervening years, Nashville twice was named the “hottest” city in the United States for business relocation or expansion by Expansion Management magazine, and the state ranked third on Site Selection magazine’s 2007 Governor’s Cup rankings.

Keith Herron, Mid-South region president for Regions Bank and co-chairman of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Partnership 2010 economic development initiative, said the national attention was unprecedented.

“What’s happened is you have an economy that’s made up of really a bunch of industries across the board,” he said. “The city is attracting so many bright people with great ideas.”

Regional growth
Matt Largen, director of the Williamson County Office of Economic Development, said five corporate relocations alone — Nissan, Mars Pet Foods, Healthways, Community Health Systems and Verizon Wireless’ state headquarters — have created 5,700 jobs that didn’t exist in Williamson in 2000.

The county also has suffered some losses. Some examples include PlusMark, a wholly owned subsidiary of American Greetings Corp., closing a Franklin plant in 2004 that 750 people worked at; Worthington Precision Metals closing a manufacturing plant in 2006, idling 117 workers; and Plastech Engineered Products doing the same in 2008 at a plant that employed 220 people.

But overall, Largen said it was a great decade for Williamson County, and he agreed that Nissan’s move was the most important. In addition to the 1,300 high-paying jobs it brought to the county — which joined thousands more that already existed at the automaker’s Smyrna manufacturing plant — Largen said the high-profile move has put Williamson County on the lists of other companies evaluating relocations that it never could have attracted before.

Wilson County also experienced tremendous growth over the course of the decade. Its population grew from about 89,000 in 2000 to more than 110,000 today. The growth occurred despite the loss of 1,000 Dell Inc. jobs to Nashville and Toshiba America Consumer Products closing a 1978 plant that employed as many as 1,200 people at its height.

But losses have been offset by industrial announcements from the likes of Kenwal Steel, Leviton, TACLE Seating U.S.A. and Permobil Inc., and gains in other sectors.